cocoa Archives - Page 12 of 23 - Lovin' From the Oven

Chocolate Chip Brownies with In the Raw

September 10, 2012 by kim 70 Comments

I was lucky enough to receive some “In The Raw” products to use in my baking. I headed over to recipes section on their website and after searching through several different options, I decided on this one: Chocolate Chip Brownies.

I was actually surprised with the variety of food you can make using Stevia In The Raw. You can make breakfast, lunch, dinner, or dessert! I chose to stick with what I knew best … dessert.

I have used Sugar In The Raw before, but only for coffee. I’ve never tried Stevia In The Raw and was surprised at how soft and light the product was. It was like a cloud zipped up in a bag, weighing close to nothing. How is that even possible? Oh well .. all that matters is that it tasted great, and I couldn’t even taste the difference between that and normal sugar (and let me tell you, I LOVE my sugar)!

When I bake something, I share the results with the people around me. By using In The Raw products, I know I’m sharing a better creation because of the all-natural ingredients inside. The better your ingredients, the better the outcome. Living in Berkeley, I’m more aware of fresh produce and food. Why wouldn’t I want the same for all of my other ingredients? You are responsible for everything you put into your body, and by using all natural ingredients, you are taking a step toward a healthier lifestyle.

It didn’t take any additional time for me to sub my regular baking sugar for In The Raw sugars. Actually, it didn’t affect my normal prepping at all. The only difference was the outcome. These chocolate chip brownies were much more cake-like, and they weren’t as heavy as normal brownies. I would love to sub dark cocoa powder in for the normal unsweetened cocoa powder next time to give it a stronger and richer taste. Instead of the chocolate chips, I used dark chocolate discs, which I loved and would highly recommend doing.

If you make this recipe expecting a brownie, you’ll be disappointed. If you make this recipe expecting a cake, then you’ve got yourself a recipe. Throw some icing on top and you’ve really got a keeper. Again, the recipe is from In The Raw.

Chocolate Chip Brownies with In the Raw

Yield: 16 bars

Ingredients

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 eggs
1/3 cup Stevia In The Raw Bakers Bag
1/3 cup Sugar In The Raw
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup low fat buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup semi sweet chocolate mini chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare 8-inch square baking pan with non-stick spray. Set aside.
Combine melted butter and cocoa powder. Set aside to cool. In large bowl beat eggs until frothy. Add Stevia In the Raw and Sugar In The Raw.
Combine flours, baking powder and salt ñ add to egg mixture and stir. Add in cocoa mixture, vegetable oil, buttermilk and vanilla. Stir until blended. Stir in mini chips.
Pour batter into baking pan and bake at 350F about 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Remove from oven and cool on rack.

https://lovintheoven.com/chocolate-chip-brownies-with-in-the-raw/

I have to admit the packaging of the two products is especially convenient for a baker. Since I don’t exactly use a lot of Stevia or Sugar In The Raw in one sitting, I’m able to zip up or close the pour spout on the side of the box. I don’t have to worry about finding a Tupperware to store the remainder of the sugar in or finding a clip to make sure the bag stays closed. It makes my life a lot easier when I can just take an item out of my pantry, use it, and put it back without worrying if it’ll stay fresh or not.

In The Raw has a new app out called the “Au Natural In The Raw” app, where it pixelates your food pictures like this:

It gives you maximum viewing pleasure and lets you cover all that baked (or cooked) goodness in your food photography. Apparently, the majority of photos posted on social media platforms are pictures of food. Can you believe it? I sure can. We consume it everyday and want to share our plates with everyone else. The “Au Natural In The Raw” app makes this a more fun way of sharing your food pictures online. It also makes people take a closer look and consider using all natural ingredients in their next kitchen endeavor.

Your dessert photos will become so hot, so au natural, they will be labeled “too hot” for the web. That’s right. They went and did it. They became deliciously obscene. The metaphorical thermometer on Facebook is about to go up. Your Facebook friends will be in a frenzy. Your photo might even become the most liked photo in Facebook history, who knows? And for extra measure, you can even gain privileged access to the most coveted In The Raw family of secret recipes just for posting your creation.

Now for the good stuff. You can win a $100 Cooking.com gift card! How do you do so? Well, visit the In The Raw website and leave a comment telling me which recipe you’d make!

Rules:

No duplicate comments.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post

b) Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the

following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post

c) Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post

d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.

The Official Rules are available here.

This sweepstakes runs from 9/10/12-9/30/12.

Be sure to visit the In The Raw brand page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ reviews and find more chances to win!

Oreo Stuffed Dark Chocolate Brownies

March 15, 2012 by kim 5 Comments

So I know I’m a little late on the Oreo 100th birthday bandwagon, but I did make these brownies on time. I just didn’t get the photo uploading/editing/blogging on time. Either way, happy belated 100th birthday, Oreo!

I remember eating Oreos when I was little, holding them in milk until it practically melted to the bottom of the cup. That’s just the way I’ve always liked my Oreos– soggy and mushy. I never understood how they advertised the way to eat an Oreo. Twist, lick, and dunk? That’s like sticking your tongue in your milk before dipping your cookies. No thanks, I’ll pass.

For Oreo’s 100th birthday, they release a cookie with a funfetti filling rather than their normal cream filling. The result? It sure makes a pretty cookie, but I’d opt for the original over this one. My DB disagrees; He’s all about this limited edition treat. In brownies, however, any Oreo is a good Oreo!

This brownie recipe from King Arthur Flour is amazing on its own, but adding Oreos in between is the cherry on top. They’re dense, fudgy, and extremely chocolatey. You can use regular cocoa powder instead of dark cocoa powder if you prefer a lighter brownie.

Oreo Stuffed Dark Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 1/4 cups dark cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon espresso powder
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup chocolate chips
1 package Oreos
sprinkles (optional)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9×13 pan.
In a pan over low heat, melt the butter, then add the sugar and stir to combine. Return the mixture to the heat briefly, just until it’s hot, but not bubbling; it’ll become shiny looking as you stir it. (This is what creates that shiny top for the brownie!)
When the sugar is heating for the second time, beat the eggs, cocoa, salt, baking powder, espresso powder, and vanilla until smooth in a separate bowl. Add the hot butter/sugar mixture, stirring until smooth.
Stir in the flour and chips until smooth.
Pour half of the batter into the pan. Place the Oreos in a row over the batter. Pour the remaining batter over the Oreos and gently spread to the edges of the pan. Evenly pour the sprinkles over the top of the batter.
Bake for about 35-40 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean.

https://lovintheoven.com/oreo-stuffed-dark-chocolate-brownies/

Thin Mint Stuffed Chocolate Cookies

February 20, 2012 by kim 5 Comments

I was sent some chocolate from Chuao Chocolatier and gladly used them to make these cookies.

Why have I never used chocolate discs before? They’re so much better than chocolate chips.

I was walking to dinner the other day and a little girl standing across the street from me yelled, “GIRL SCOUT COOKIESSS!” at the top of her lungs. Bless her heart. If she hadn’t yelled so loud, I wouldn’t be eating a Samoa right now. Girl scout cookie season really does creep up on you in the best possible way. Too bad it doesn’t last forever.

As if having a girl scout cookie in my hand wasn’t good enough, I had to bake them into another cookie. Soft chocolate-y dough on the outside with a crunchy minty center. Yup, just like the one time I made Oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookies. Cookies in cookies are pretty much the greatest concoction ever. Don’t believe me? Try for yourself.

Recipe from Visions of Sugar Plum, which makes approximately 32 cookies.

Thin Mint Stuffed Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted (I used discs, but feel free to use whatever you have on hand)
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3cup unsweetened dark cocoa powder
2 cups all purpose flour
32 thin chocolate mint cookies

Directions

Cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in melted chocolate, eggs, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder and salt until well combined.
Gradually mix in the cocoa powder and flour until just combined. Chill dough in refrigerator for at least an hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Take about 2 teaspoons of the cookie dough and flatten in the palm of your hand. Place the mint cookie on top of the flattened dough. Flatten another piece of the dough and place it on top of the mint cookie. Fold and pinch together the sides so that the cookie is completely covered, making an even layer of cookie dough around the thin mint. Repeat process with remaining cookies.
Place on cookie sheets, spacing about an inch apart. Bake 10-12 minutes, or until set, and slightly crisp. Cool 2 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool.

https://lovintheoven.com/thin-mint-stuffed-chocolate-cookies/

**NOTE: It doesn’t have to be Girl Scout Season for you to make these cookies. Keebler makes a version that can be bought year round at your local grocery store called “Grasshoppers.”

Still in need of more chocolate? Chuao Chocolatier also sent me these chocopods. They’re the perfect bite sized dessert on the go.

These have caramelized honeycomb pieces in dark chocolate. They have a ton of different flavors, including firecracker (dark chocolate with chipotle, salt, and popping candy), coffee & anise, and leche. YUM!

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