Chocoflan

Normally you wouldn't see me sporting any sort of flan on my site because I'm definitely not a fan. But my cousin, Annie, made it for a party and it was TO DIE FOR!!! I'm serious! It's amazing. The flan topping isn't so much like flan...I would describe it more like a rich custard topping - more like a crem brule topping. Anyway, when you serve it you drizzle a little more caramel topping over the top and it seems like you're eating a decadent, expensive dessert. You MUST try this!!

1/4 cup caramel sauce

For the cake:
10 T butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 t baking powder
3/4 t baking soda
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 1/4 cups buttermilk

For the flan:
1 (12-ounce) can evaporated milk
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
3 eggs
1 T vanilla


For garnish:
1/4 cup caramel sauce

Directions:
Put an oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.
Coat a Bundt pan with a little butter, then coat the bottom with 1/4 cup caramel sauce and put it in a large roasting pan. (The roasting pan will serve as a water bath during baking.)


For the cake:

Add the butter and sugar to a bowl and using an electric hand mixer or stand mixer, beat until light and fluffy, then beat in the egg. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa in a medium bowl. Beat 1/3 of the flour mixture, and 1/2 of the buttermilk into the egg mixture. Repeat, ending with the flour mixture. Blend until well incorporated.


For the flan:

In a blender, combine the evaporated milk, condensed milk, cream cheese, eggs and vanilla. Blend on high for 30 seconds.


Scoop the cake batter into the prepared Bundt pan and spreading evenly. Slowly pour the flan mixture over the cake batter. Cover with foil and add about 1-inch of hot water to the roasting pan.


Carefully slide the pan into the oven, and bake 1 hour (I had to bake mine for about 1 hour 30 minutes), until the surface of the cake is firm to the touch, or an inserted toothpick comes out clean. When cake is done, remove from the water bath and cool completely to room temperature, about 1 hour.


Invert a large, rimmed serving platter over the Bundt pan, grasp tightly together, jiggle a little and flip over. Remove the pan and scrape any remaining caramel from the pan onto the cake and serve!


*The batters may appear to mix when you pour them into the pan, but they completely separate while baking, with the flan ending up on the bottom when it's inverted. Traditionally, it is chilled 24 hours before serving, but personally I like eating it at room temperature.


*For the caramel topping, I just use caramel ice cream topping and it's delish!

*From the Food Network

Cadbury Mini Egg Cookies

1/2 C butter flavored Crisco
1/2 C Butter
1 C brown sugar
1 C white sugar
2 Eggs
1 1/2 t vanilla
1 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
2 1/2 C flour
6T unsweetened cocoa powder
1 10 oz bag Cadbury Mini-Eggs

Preheat oven to 350. You'll need to chop up those Cadbury Eggs. Chop up Cadbury Eggs - just put them in a ziplock bag and bang on them with a marble rolling pin until they look like they have been quartered, but not too small. A hammer would work too.

Cream together the butter, crisco, brown sugar and white sugar. Add in eggs one at at a time and the vanilla. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, soda, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder. Add to the butter mixture to combine and then mix in the candies.

Drop onto a cookie sheet and cook for about 8-10 minutes. They're soft and fudgy in the middle and a little crisp on the edges with crunchy little candy bits throughout.

*I am SOOOOOO SUPER UPSET because I missed the window for the mini eggs this year and got through the season with only getting 2 BAGS!!!! It really is just unheard of. I went to 11 stores in the past 2 days looking for these gems. So I found this recipe, but don't have the goods to produce it! I just want it on my blog so I can always have it to make for next time...so sad. If you are one of the few who has a million bags stashed away for a rainy day, you MUST try these!

*Picture and recipe from Our Best Bites.

Oreo Chocolate Bark

20 Oreo cookies, crushed into bite size pieces
2 2/3 c (about 24 oz) white chocolate, melted
1 t vanilla
3/4 c milk or dark chocolate, melted (for drizzling)

In a large bowl, crush Oreos into small pieces (but not super crumbly) with the bottom of a cup.
Melt white chocolate until smooth and then add vanilla. Add crushed Oreos to white chocolate. Pour onto a wax paper lined sheet cake pan. Don't worry about spreading it to the edges, you just need it to be a thin layer. Let it cool either in the fridge or over night on the counter. When it is fully hardened, melt milk or dark chocolate and drizzle over top. When that has hardened, break into individual pieces. Enjoy!

Homemade Caramel

2 c sugar
1 1/4 c light karo syrup

3 c heavy whipping cream

Bring sugar and Karo syrup to a boil - to dissolve sugar. Add one cup of cream and let simmer, stirring ever so often until a soft ball forms. Add another cup of cream and repeat the process until all 3 cups are used. Pour caramel into wax paper lined 9 by 13 pan. Let cool completely...overnight works best. Pull out caramel with the edges of the wax paper and peal away (it will be a hardened huge rectangle by now.) Cut into squares - it's very firm, but once you bite into it, it's SO soft and melts in your mouth. SO DANG GOOD!

*This is the BEST caramel I've ever had! Now people, this recipe takes time, dilligence and patience. If you don't have 1 1/2 to 2 hours blocked out, don't even attempt it! You HAVE to go through each of the steps precisely and DON'T skip any parts. The key is to let it pretty much simmer for a REALLY long time so that it thickens and becomes the luciously dark brown color. If you go through the steps too fast, the caramel will turn out too runny at first and cool too hard. My guess is that I'm only going to make this for special occasions, such as Christmas. I also think that it would be SO cute to make it along with Oreo Chocolate Bark and Peanut Butter Balls and wrap it up in a cute box and give it away to friends and neighboors for Christmas.

*Another option could be to melt chocolate and put it on top. Of course you would do this after it has hardened. Chocolate caramel...MMMMMM!

*Recipe and picture from Blogging...It's What's For Dinner.

Peanut Butter Balls

1 1/2 c. creamy peanut butter
3/4 c. salted butter softened
1 1/2 T. Vanilla Extract
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (2 lb.) bag of powdered sugar
24 oz. chocolate candy coating, melted

In a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer combined peanut butter, butter and vanilla.Gradually beat in condensed milk and powdered sugar. Beat until throughly mixed. Shape into 1 inch balls and place on a waxed paper lined baking sheet. Refrigerate for 2 hours. With tongs, dip each ball into melted chocolate then place back on waxed paper lined baking sheet and refrigerate until firm. Options: I’ve drizzled them with white chocolate (white and colored with food coloring) and melted cookies and cream candy bar…get creative!