Decadent Hot Cocoa with Coconut Milk

It's still cold outside.

I am one of those extra-annoying people who love winter.  I love all the seasons, in their own time, but my love for winter seems to especially annoy my friends.  I can't help it.  Snow is like a magical covering that makes everything beautiful and sparkly.  Plus, what better excuse is there to stay in by a fire and eat all the delicious warming foods and drink amazing hot drinks...like hot cocoa!

Brownies That Can't Be Beet...Or Can They?

Chocolate!

Do I have your attention?

Good.  I mean, it's hard (practically impossible!) to smell food over the web, but if you could, you'd be rushing to my kitchen right now for these brownies.  And I'd probably let you nosh down about 3 of them before I told you what was in them.

Kahlua Spiced Mocha Nuts

Remember when I made Malibu coconut almonds and I told you that there are endless ways you can mix the recipe up?  And also how easy and quick it is?

Well, here's backup for my argument.  Kahlua spiced mocha nuts.  I timed myself making them, and they were, start to finish, 17 minutes.  And I also switched laundry in the middle of that!

Hard Boiled Egg Cookies? Believe it or Not...

Once in a blue moon, I run across a recipe where I just stop and have a total WTF? moment.  This is the story of one of those recipes.

It started as I was internet surfing, and I stumbled upon a this site, which seemed to show hard boiled eggs being used to make cookies.  But it was completely in Spanish.  Which I don't know very well.  No bueno.  So I used the translate button, which then changed the title to "Do not eat: eggs.  Cookies boiled egg".  Ummm...is that a warning?

Banana Snack Cake...No, Even Better...Banana BACON Snack Cake!

I'm not a huge baker, but I do love a good quick bread or muffin that I can throw together and see results quickly.  I love having something warm from the oven for an afternoon snack for my kids to come in from the cold to.

I also like recipes for getting rid of mushy bananas.  My family tends to go through banana phases, where sometimes I can't buy enough, and then other times, I'll get 5 and 3 of them will go brown.  I hate being wasteful, so I package and freeze the mushy ones for baking, if I'm not ready to bake with them right then.  I have quite a few bags of mushy bananas in my freezer at any given point.

Chocolate on the Brain

So, today we went to the arboretum for a wonderfully delicious event: the annual Chocolate Expo and Market.  To me, it might as well be that scene from Willy Wonka where they run into the room where everything's edible and gorge until the greedy chubby kid falls in the chocolate river and spoils it for everyone, only before the river fiasco.  Bunches of local chocolatiers and vendors, with very high-quality artisan goods, and almost all of them have samples of all the products.  Sugar rush like none other.

This is, I believe, at least the third year that my family has made it there to this choco-rific event, and it did not disappoint!  Sample after sample of chocolates and caramels and other sweets, twisted and developed in ways that I usually only get to drool about while watching Food Network.  Get out your wiping cloths, and try not to lick the computer screen.