We never really had Egg Nog in our house growing up. I think one of the first times I ever had Egg Nog was when I worked at Starbucks during university and had to try some in their Egg Nog Latte. It was that Christmas that I had the bright idea to throw a holiday party at my house and make Egg Nog from scratch. I figured it couldn’t be THAT hard, and homemade Egg Nog would be pretty decadent. (more…)
Remember the time I decided to go on a Smoothie Diet? Yeah. Let’s pretend that never happened. I blame drinking smoothies 3 times a day for the lack of posts over the past few weeks. It actually wasn’t all bad. I lost a few pounds and learned that I could drink spinach and not gag. It actually tasted pretty darn good! But boy, did I miss chocolate (and pretty much any food that wasn’t in liquid form). At one point, I was even craving a salad. A SALAD! The world works in mysterious ways, my friends.
Well, I survived and I decided to make my triumphant return to you by featuring the most decadent, rich, chocolaty dessert on the face of the earth. That’s right, screw you smoothies! This recipe is an adaptation from a recipe my future Mother-in-Law gave me over Christmas. It was given to her a few years ago by her friend who sadly is no longer with us. My future Mother-in-Law was nice enough to give us some fudge over the holidays and I quickly fell in love (with the fudge…well, and I guess with her too!). She was kind enough to give me the recipe and I had to adapt it to include one of my favourite candy’s ever – Cadbury Mini Eggs! The original recipe called for chopped nuts, but I figured Mini Eggs were crunchy too – so why the heck not? I cannot begin to describe how unbelievable this fudge is. It’s seriously the best fudge I’ve ever tasted. Like, EVER. And that’s not the 2 week smoothie diet talking. It’s soft, sweet and oh, so rich. A little square goes a long way. Topped with the fact that there are delicious morsels of Mini Eggs inside, well my taste buds simply can’t handle it! I actually went into a mini chocolate coma yesterday. Truth.
I don’t have many Irish tendencies. Being Ukrainian, I pretty much have no real reason to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. I think I tried once. I own one of those gigantic hats that is green, white, and full of shamrocks. I honestly have no idea where I even got it from!
I’m always looking for excuses to bake. With Claudia still out of town on vacation, I figured I would play around with a new recipe. I wanted to something for St. Patrick’s Day because it was an easy theme. However, I didn’t want to bake something normal with green food colouring and call it a day – not that there is anything wrong with that! I wanted to do something I’ve never done before. I wanted to bake with beer. But not any type of beer. I wanted to bake with the king of Irish beers – Guinness.
This recipe is adapted from the little epicurean. These brownies are very moist, chewy and flavourful. The Guinness adds a richness in the brownie that could not be replicated by any other ingredient. This is the perfect (sober) way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day…or any day!