Mini Vans and Chocolate-Peanut Butter Bars

Hello, my name is Meghan and I drive a mini van.

Wow. Getting that off my chest feels a lot better. Are we still friends? I hope. Because driving a mini van and spending a lot of my recent time washing baby clothes has made me feel like I need to do other Mom stuff, like, you know, bake.

Momma left me a couple of magazines she bought for her flight down here, and when I was going through my overwhelming stack of periodicals I found a what I thought looked like a pretty tasty recipe in a Health magazine she left.

Valentine's Day, With Chocolate

Celebrating Valentine's Day the weekend before the official holiday is becoming the norm around this place. We did this last year, too, I remember. Except last year the husband played golf the weekend before Valentine's day, and I made fabulous cannoli. 

This morning we woke up to a thermometer that read 16 degrees. No golf for the husband today.

And when I tried my hand at making flourless chocolate cakes for us to have after opening cards tonight, they came out nothing like the cannoli from 2011. Flourless, in my book, does not yet equal fabulous.

Homemade Peppermint Patties

It was all my grandma's idea. When my momma was dating Da in high school, my grandma started putting Fig Newtons in the freezer. She did it so all of my aunts' boyfriends - and Da - would keep their mits out of the cookies. Mama was sure the freezer would be the perfect deterrent. 

Little did she know she was starting a family tradition.

Frozen Peanut Butter Pie - A Pie for Mikey

Some things in life just go together: Sunday mornings and a New York Times, summer and campfires, plaid shorts and golf, chocolate and peanut butter, me and the husband. 


I could tell you all about how I held my hand to my chest and fought back tears as I read Jennie's latest post and how much it made me stop and realize how very blessed I've been. Instead I'm just going to tell you to enjoy dessert tonight and forget about the two loads of laundry that are waiting to be folded and put away. And don't worry if you have little piles of brown dog hair resting against the woodwork in your living room.

Love one another; linger over dessert. Be thankful for the day you were just given - even if your dessert comes out looking like this.

Double Chocolate Pudding Pie

Homemade Chocolate Pudding Pie

As I've told you before, the husband isn't a big fan of cake. So I knew when his big day came around he wouldn't be asking me to bake him anything. Luckily, he does still enjoy a good ol' chocolate dessert. (If the man didn't eat chocolate or cake, we may have had to rethink this whole marriage thing.) 

I really wasn't sure what he'd want for his birthday dessert, so I gave him a couple of options: Key Lime Mousse or Ellie's Double Chocolate Pudding Pie. For the record, I don't think it was an easy decision. He's a huge fan of lime and has been eyeing a frozen lime dessert in my Heartland cookbook; I really thought he'd choose the mousse. But he went with the pudding pie. 

Chocolatey Stout Cakes

Chocolatey Stout Cake

The husband does not like cake. But he was in charge of making dinner tonight, and I wanted to make him something special for giving me the night off. He totally deserved a treat: As soon as I stepped out of the car I could smell him grilling. He made the most amazing grilled jerk chicken and cut it up into bowls of Alfredo noodles. (I also threw some green beans and tomatoes into my bowl, but he skipped those.) So, no, he doesn't like cake. But he likes beer. And being just a few short days away from St. Patrick's Day, I thought chocolatey stout cakes sounded awfully good - for the husband and me. 


Chocolate Stout Cakes
Inspired by a Recipe From my Momma (I have no idea where she got it)
Makes 1 large bundt cake or 12-15 ramekins or muffins

1 1/4 cup Guinness
1/3 cup unsulphured molasses
1 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 sticks salted butter, softened to room temperature
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips, chopped (mini chips would work well, too)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, and position the rack in the middle of the oven. 

Butter the cake pan (or pans) with butter and sprinkle with cocoa. This will help you remove the cakes once they're baked.

Heat the Guinness and molasses over high heat in a small saucepan. Pay attention - the mixture could easily bubble! Bring the mixture to a simmer and remove from heat; start on the batter. 

Don't count the foam when measuring your Guinness.

Sift together the flour, cocoa, soda, powder and salt.

Cream the butter in a mixture on medium speed for about 1 minute. Add in the brown sugar and beat until light and fluffy, scraping the bowl as needed, for about 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time. 

With the mixture running on low speed, gradually add in the flour and liquid mixtures, alternating. Begin with the flour and end with the flour. Scrape the bowl as needed. Beat the mixture until smooth; add in the chocolate chips.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan or pans, smoothing the top with a spoon or spatula.

I thought I'd make 12 muffins ...

I ended up with enough batter for 12 muffins and three well-filled ramekins!

Bake until a toothpick comes out with just a few cake bits stuck to it. A cake may take 45-50 minutes. My muffins took 35 minutes; my ramekins took 40 minutes.

Serve with cream or a nice glass of milk. Freeze extra cakes wrapped in plastic and tin foil.

As I said, the husband isn't a cake guy. But he gladly licked the bowl while the cakes were baking and happily ate a ramekin as soon as it came out of the oven. When I asked him what he thought about the cake he told me they were chocolatey - but I don't think that was a complaint. When I asked him what he was going to serve me for my upcoming birthday dessert he said, "How about these?" 


I'll admit they were a bit sweet. Perhaps next time I'll switch out the cocoa for unsweetened natural cocoa powder or cut down on the brown sugar a little. But for a first attempt, it was definitely a success. I'd be more than happy if we had these again on my birthday. Maybe I'll even get a few more ramekins by then, hint, hint. If I have a husband who's going to be a fan of mini cakes, I'll need those, won't I?