Birthday Cake Brownies

 I love it when friends have birthdays. Because I get to hang out with them AND make baked goods to celebrate. Observe: my friend and fellow synchronized swimming coach Marsea, who turned 30 this weekend.

This was going to require a birthday-centric treat, of course. With sprinkles.

And chocolate.

Hmmmm…brownies?

Yup. Birthday Cake Brownies.

Birthday Cake Brownies (Inspired by Nick Malgieri's Supernatural Brownies)

Brownie base

4 tablespoons butter
2 ounces chopped bittersweet chocolate
1 egg
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar 
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup flour

Line an 8”x8” square pan with parchment paper. Melt butter and chocolate together. Cool slightly. In a large bowl or mixer, whisk egg, then whisk in salt, sugars and vanilla. Whisk in chocolate mixture. Fold in flour just until combined. Pour batter into prepared pan, prepare birthday cake layer.

Birthday cake layer

6 tablespoons butter, softened
1 egg
1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar 
1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup flour

1/3 cup sprinkles

Beat butter and sugars until creamed, then add egg, vanilla and salt, beat until uniform. Fold in flour and sprinkles, being careful to not overstir. Drop dollops on top of brownie base, swirl a knife through batters to marbleize. Bake at 350 F for 30-35 minutes. Cool in pan in refrigerator, slice once cooled.

Share with somebody special on their birthday.

Brownie Batter Energy Balls

In case you didn’t catch it, I recently started anotherblog – this one about swimming, running, triathlon training, and racing.

Notice that I did not specifically call out biking. It’s because I am terrible at biking.

Anyhow, go visit. I even posted a yummy recipe recently: a recipe for peanut butter cookie dough energy balls, to address the age-old question of “what do I eat before I train if I have to start training before 5 am?”

Today, I’m sharing another answer to this question with you: brownie batter energy balls.

Of course, you can eat these anytime, and there’s no requirement that you go swim/bike/run after. You are, however, required to use good cocoa powder, such as Scharffen Berger.

The cocoa powder is far too prominent to use an inferior product, since the main ingredients are simple and won’t cover up acidic cocoa powder.

Dates and Cashews. Good flavor enhancers, but not enough to carry bad cocoa powder. So get out your best cocoa powder, and get to work.

Brownie Batter Energy Balls

1 pound pitted dates

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup chopped roasted cashews

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

Run dates through a food processor until a paste forms, add other ingredients and run food processor until all ingredients are uniformly mixed. Form into ½ inch diameter balls, chill on a flat plate or baking sheet until solidified, then pack in an airtight container for future consumption.

Assuming you don’t eat them all at once, you know.

Wheat-Free Cashew Chocolate Chunk Cookies

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Everybody loves peanut butter and chocolate together. Anybody who says they don’t is either 1. afflicted with a chocolate or peanut allergy or 2. lying.

But because it’s so universally loved, it sometimes gets overdone. And you need something different. Not drastic, but a little. Something like chocolate and cashews for a flavor twist - and to add variety to your diet, which is healthy.

In cookie form, of course. Because chocolate chunk cookies are good, and cashew chocolate chunk cookies are even better.

Wheat-Free* Cashew Chocolate Chunk Cookies

½ cup butter

¾ cup brown sugar

¾ cup white sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups chickpea flour

¾ cup cornstarch

¾ cup almond flour

¼ teaspoon salt

6 ounces cashews, toasted and chopped

10 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

*If you prefer to make these with wheat flour, simply replace the chickpea flour, cornstarch, and almond flour with 2 ¼ cups of wheat flour.

Mix chickpea flour, cornstarch, almond flour, and salt, set aside. Cream butter and sugars until fluffy, then add egg and vanilla. Add flour mixture, mix until combined and then mix in cashews and chocolate. Refrigerate dough, then roll into ¾” balls, refrigerate again until firm. 

Bake at 350° F for 10-12 minutes, move to a cooling rack and cool before eating.

It’s like peanut butter and chocolate but fancier. Or at least different.

Patric: Rio Caribe Superior 70% Cacao

That pungent cheese-filled chocolate bar I discussed on Tuesday scared me away from complex chocolate creations for a while. I needed the pure stuff. Just plain, high-quality chocolate. I sought this comfort in the Patric Rio Caribe Superior 70% cacao bar, made with cacao from the Paria Peninsula in Venezuela.

This cleanly molded bar has a subtle coffee aroma and a quick melt.

The melt quickly reveals a bitter, coffee-centric flavor, with just a tiny bit of sugar. Though I enjoyed the creamy melt, which is rare but wonderful in a dark chocolate, I found it to be just a tad bitter for my tastes. It was evident that this bar was made from well-handled cacao, so I will have to try another Patric bar to find a flavor profile that I enjoy more.

Xocolatl de David: Parmigiana-Reggiano (!?)

I like to keep an open mind. Especially when it comes to chocolate. Things like pop rocks and curry can go much better with  chocolate than you might think. I thought of those experiences when I bought this very strange sounding Xocolatl de David Parmigiana-Reggiano bar.

The base of the bar is a 72% cacao bittersweet bar of Ecuadorian origin, and parmesan-reggiano cheese is added, as is salt. The cheese is coarsely ground and well-distributed, as obvious from the first glance at the bar.

The bar has a promising aroma of caramel with just a hint of cheese, so I anticipated a subtle note of cheese.

Wrong. Halfway through, the overly salty and pungent cheese, which is gritty and irritating against the smooth texture of the chocolate itself, totally takes over the chocolate.  There was perhaps a bit of mint flavor in the chocolate, but it was hard to tell with the overpowering and not very tasty cheese there.

Eating this bar is kind of like signing up torace an Ironman: It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Pralus: Venezuela Trinitario 75% Cacao

So all that talk of chocolate treats for Valentine’s Day last week and this week…yeah. Let’s just say it was a good thing that the sneaky significant other decided to give me those caramels and champagnetruffles early, because on Valentine’s Day itself, I was traveling to San Antonio for a work meeting that day. And was in said meeting all day on the 15^th, so I didn’t even get to celebrate “National Chocolate Sale Day.”

But travel does mean one thing: selecting a bar, or bars, of chocolate to take along. I like to go with a smooth-textured, intensely-flavored dark chocolate, since the nice melt is soothing after a day of long meetings, and the intense flavor just completes the experience. I almost always travel with some Potomac Chocolate 82% Cacao Upala, but also like to bring along something else for variety.

This week, I towed along the Pralus Venezuela Trinitario 75% cacao bar, mostly because it boasts a superbly smooth, buttery melt that is nothing short of luscious.

The aroma of this bar is fruity, dominated by raisin and banana, with a hint of caramel as well.

The taste is vastly different from the aroma, however, as citrus and char, reminiscent of strongly-roasted coffee, are dominant. It could perhaps benefit from a little more sugar, but the flavor is enjoyable nonetheless.

And did I mention the amazing texture? It’s really like slowly melting butter, and provides a great escape during a work trip on any subject.

Dolcezza: Chocolate Gelato

So. Valentine’s Day. You’ve got nothing. Nice work, trooper. You could have read my recommendations for gifts last week, but unless you can haul ass over to Cocova or a similar shop in your home city, you’re out of luck.

I can still help you. I’m all about being sneaky, so here’s how you can still stay on the good side of the important chocolate lover in your life.

Take him or her out for dessert. Spontaneously. Romantic, right? Now to find a spot.

Oh, oh! Frozen yogurt?

No. It’s not healthy and it’s icy. Try again.

Oh please. Don’t even start. If a guy got me something from that overhyped shack, it would be the last time he ever saw me.

Let’s get real: gelato. From Dolcezza, the shop that has you covered with storefronts in Dupont Circle, Georgetown, AND Bethesda.

You can’t go wrong. And look at this cozy little seating arrangement.

Romance at its finest.

Now I’ve already reviewed Dolcezza’s Valrhona Chocolate Amargo – but they have a more lightly-colored, less intense “plain” chocolate flavor, too. 

This particular flavor has a creamy texture that has a hint of dryness – almost as if there are specks of leftover cocoa powder floating around. While not as complex or intense as the Valrhona flavor, it has a deep cocoa flavor, with hints of berry and coffee, that lingers nicely; these flavors are accented by a hint of sweat cream, which is more subtle than the sugary frozen desserts that abound.

Though delightful on its own, I’d suggest that this plain chocolate flavor from Dolcezza be paired with another flavor – such as their salted caramel – as this version won’t wash out other flavors like the Valrhona gelato does. For chocolate alone, the Valrhona just can’t be beat.