A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the Duncan Hines Apple Carmel Cake Mix and Vanilla Glaze.  For the review, I was also given a box of Triple Chocolate Decadent Cake Mix and Chocolate Glaze.  I figured it was only fair to review this one as well.

This time, instead of a bundt cake, I decided to make cupcakes.  As with the Apple Carmel mix, I was surprised by the filling.   It wasn’t just powdered chocolate.  It had chocolate chips and chunks inside as well!

During my cooking, I acquired a little helper.  Here’s JSL stirring the filling.

When it was all mixed, it took a lot of willpower to not scarf down the filling right then and there.  Maybe they should include 2 packets of filling in each box.  One to put in the cake and one to eat immediately!

Next, we mixed up the cake batter itself.

The cake mix went into the cupcake wrappers and then the filling gets placed on top.

Here’s the worst part… The waiting.

Soon enough, though, the cupcakes were done.  Notice how the cupcake rises around the filling, leaving most of it inside the cupcake.

Next, for the frosting.  Like the vanilla frosting before, this was simple.  Remove the bottle’s cap, microwave the bottle for 30 seconds, put the cap back on, and frost.

I’ll admit, my frosting method was haphazard, but I still think these look like some nice cupcakes.

Want to take a peak inside?  Here it is in all its ooey gooey chocolatey glory.

Of course, cupcakes can look like the most delicious things in the world, but if the taste doesn’t back it up, the appearance is worth nothing.  The taste most certainly backs up the appearance.  B wasn’t a fan of the filling, but then again she’s not a chocolate fanatic like my boys and I am.  They devoured the cupcakes they were given and NHL asked for more.

You might wonder why there’s no photo of NHL eating his cupcake.  That would be because in the time it took me to put down JSL’s cupcake, seat JSL, and grab a cupcake for myself, NHL had finished his cupcake.  I’d say that’s a thumbs up from NHL.  Now, if you’ll excuse me, the remaining cupcakes are calling me and I must try to resist their siren’s call.

Disclaimer: This post was written for Family Review Network & Duncan Hines who provided the complimentary product for review in exchange for my honest opinions.

Last year, I wrote a pair of blog posts about some fudge I made.  During the year, I meant to do a Cooking With TechyDad segment about the fudge, but never got around to it.  With the holidays in full swing, I decided to pull out the old fudge recipe again and this time I took photos.  Let’s begin shall we.

First, of all, you’re going to need to devote your full attention to the fudge for 10 minutes or so.  So lay out your ingredients ahead of time and make sure there won’t be any distractions.  For the ingredients, you’ll need chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla extract.  You can also add a mix-in.  I like using Andes baking chips, but you can also use mini-M&Ms (the big ones are nice too but leave the fudge tough to slice), peanut butter chips, nuts, etc.  If you don’t want to use a mix-in, no problem.  Plain fudge tastes good also.

Now that your ingredients are out, get an 8 inch by 8 inch baking pan and line it with aluminum foil.  Lightly grease this with cooking spray.

Now, measure out 2 cups of chocolate chips and 1 1/2 cups of your mix-in (if using).

Put the chocolate chips in a small saucepan and pour in the condensed milk.

Now stir it over low heat for about 10 minutes or until smooth.

It won’t look like it’s doing much, at first.  Then it reaches what I like to call the “chunky chocolate milk” stage.  (That’s a technical term.)

As you can see below, we’re almost ready, but it is still a bit lumpy.

Ok, *now* we’re done.

At this point, you need to act fast.  Removing the fudge from the heat long will cause it to harden up in your saucepan and nobody wants that.  First, toss in any mix-ins you might be using and give the fudge a few stirs to distribute it all around.

Now, pour the fudge into your 8 inch by 8 inch pan.  Smooth it out as best you can, but don’t worry about it looking perfect.  Jagged edges are part of homemade fudge’s charm.

Stick the fudge in the fridge for 1 1/2 hours (overnight is fine too).  This happens to be one of my favorite parts.  No, not putting the fudge in the fridge.  Scraping the pot and eating the bits of fudge left behind. YUM!

Once your fudge has set, take it out of the fridge, remove it from the pan and carefully peel off the foil.  (Some might stick to it, but it should all come off relatively easily.)

Now you have a big block O’ fudge.

This is nice and all, but I don’t think it looks nice to be nibbling on a hunk of fudge that size.  So let’s slice it.  Since it was in an 8×8 pan, it’s only fitting to cut it into 8×8 slices.  This way, each piece of fudge is 1 inch by 1 inch (approximately).

Make the first slice about halfway in.

Next, cut each of these pieces in half and each of the resulting pieces in half.  Now, you have 8 strips of fudge.

Turn the fudge 90 degrees and repeat the cuts.

There you go!  64 pieces of wonderful fudge.

Here’s a close up of the mint, plain and M&M fudge I made.

This recipe makes a *lot* of fudge.

You could easily make a few batches, wrap them up nicely (e.g. using those Chinese food containers that you can buy from craft stores) and give them as gifts.

Now, if you don’t mind, I think I’ll eat a piece of fudge.  *om nom nom nom nom nom nom nom*

I love cooking and baking.  (Maybe you could tell from my Cooking With TechyDad posts.)  While I appreciate creating dishes from scratch, I’m not ashamed to turn to box mixes either.  So when I was given the opportunity to review Duncan Hines’ new Decadent cake mixes and glazes, I jumped at the chance.

I received the Apple Carmel and Triple Chocolate cake mixes and the Vanilla and Chocolate glazes.  The chocolate (both glaze and mix) review will appear in a week or so.  For now, I’d like to focus on the Apple Carmel cake mix and Vanilla glaze.

First some information on the cake mixes and glazes:

Duncan Hines®, the well recognized brand that has been helping families create delicious memories for 60 years, introduces the latest breakthrough in deliciousness at the baking aisle – Decadent Cakes and Glazes. Only Duncan Hines now offers the most premium, indulgent cakes that one can find outside of a bakery. Duncan Hines new Decadent Cake Line with two new incredibly indulgent offerings – Duncan Hines Decadent Triple Chocolate Cake with real chocolate chunks and rich fudge and Duncan Hines Decadent Apple Caramel cake with real apples and rich caramel. With more people entertaining at home and looking for better quality desserts, these decadent cakes are perfect. Both cakes contain zero grams of trans fat and NO hydrogenated oils. They are available in cake baking section of supermarkets nationwide in 20 oz size boxes at a SRP of $2.99.

Simultaneously, Duncan Hines launches Decadent Glazes, a one of a kind glaze designed to elevate the baking experience with a whole new way to top your desserts. Available in Chocolate and Vanilla, Decadent Glazes help home chefs create spectacular desserts with professional results. Only Duncan Hines offers this versatile topping to complement your baked goods or any dessert with a touch of sweetness and flavor. What separates Decadent Glazes from frosting is they are not as heavy or sweet as frosting and are convenient to use. These glazes are available in a 10 ounce squeeze bottle at an SRP of $2.49.

Ok, now on to the cooking.  The mix includes two components.  The normal “cake mix” portion and the caramel mix-in portion.  These were really simple to prepare.  Mix in the required ingredients into separate bowls and you’re good to go.

Notice the lumps in the cake batter.  No, I didn’t neglect to stir enough.  Those are apple chunks.  We’re not talking apple flavoring here, but actual apple chunks!

For a normal cake, the caramel would go in first followed by the apple cake mix, but I decided to make this as a bundt.  This meant mixing the batter first and then tossing it all into my bundt pan.

Baking took longer than the box said, but I attribute this to the bundt pan versus normal cake pan.  As with any mix, you should use the box listed times as guides but realize that many factors (e.g. oven temperatures) can change cooking times.  In any event, I was soon greeted with a finished apple-caramel cake.

I let the cake cool overnight and the next day it was glaze time.  I was impressed by how simple this was.  Simply remove the bottle’s cap, microwave the bottle for a short while, replace the cap and pour your glaze.  Leftover glaze (and we had lots left over) can be refrigerated for later microwaving.

Looks delicious, doesn’t it?

Here’s a slice….

… Oh, rats.  I just realized we haven’t perfected web-to-plate delivery technology.  Oh well, take my word for it, this was quite tasty.  The cake was extremely moist and the glaze was sweet but not overpoweringly so.  The cake didn’t last long at all and now I’m itching to try the chocolate ones (as I’m a huge chocoholic).  This is definitely a product I’d recommend and one I’d eat again.

Disclaimer: This post was written for Family Review Network & Duncan Hines who provided the complimentary product for review in exchange for my honest opinions.

As I mentioned before, we went apple picking two Saturdays ago and wound up with 29.5 pounds of apples.  Some of these found their way into a big batch of Slow Cooker Apple Sauce, but there were still plenty left.  I saw a recipe online for Apple Cheddar Pizza and it intrigued me.  So, for dinner Sunday, I made four pizzas.  Two were the usual sauce-and-cheese affairs, but the other two…

First, as always, we gather our ingredients.

That would be pizza shells, shredded cheddar cheese and apples.  Note, that I used more than those two small apples.  Depending on the size of your apples, you might need three or four per pizza.

First, I laid out the pizza shell.

Note: If you make your own from scratch or buy dough, that’s great.  Just get it to the “ready to top” stage and continue on from here.

Next, I tossed on a thin layer of cheddar.

I pealed, cored and thinly sliced the apples.  The slices were arranged in a circular pattern on the pizza.

At this point, you could toss on a little cinnamon or your favorite apple-accompanying spice.  I was in a hurry to taste this so on went a second layer of cheesy goodness.

It went into the oven for about 7 minutes until the cheese was melted.

Um, like I said, I was in a hurry to eat this.  So much so that I forgot to take a photo of the whole pie.  Oops.  Want a slice?

If, like me, you forgot decided not to add a spice before, you could always add it now.

Or, also like me, you could make a second pie.

The Verdict

NHL declared this to be the best pizza I’ve ever made.  His exact words!  So I’d say this was a hit.  What’s not to like?  Apples and cheese make a great combo.  And, with about 14 more pounds of apples left, I might be making this again very soon.

As I’ve mentioned before, there’s a Greek restaurant near my parents’ house that had the best chickpeas.  They were marinated in olive oil with onions and spices.  I’ve long wanted to get the recipe or duplicate it, but one ingredient always eluded me.  The last time we were there, though, the chickpeas tasted off.  We suddenly realized the missing ingredient: lemon.

During a Pampered Chef party at CutestKidEver’s house, we found a Greek rub that seemed to contain just the spices we needed.  Score!

So here’s my recreation attempt.  First, the ingredients:

That would be chickpeas (2 cans), a small onion, the Greek rub and some olive oil.  Now, we we chop up the onion.

Drain the chickpeas and pour them into a container.

Now add the chopped onions.

And the Greek rub and the olive oil.

Now mix and marinate for a day or so.

In the end, this was good, but there’s still more to go before I’ve perfected it.  First of all, refrigerating it only leads to the oil congealing.  Also, the onion taste was way too strong.  I might try a milder onion next time or perhaps sautéing it slightly to soften it up and remove some of the strong flavor.  I might also make smaller batches so that we don’t have a huge container of a slightly off version.  All in all, though, this was a decent first try.

(By the way, this was my first post composed using Windows Live Writer. I’m just getting used to it, but so far I love it!)

One can be forgiven for thinking that we are vegetarian. The fact of the matter is that we usually do eat vegetarian. This isn’t because of some moral stance on not eating animals (though I respect those with that moral stance). Instead, it is because we keep Kosher in the house and the price of Kosher meat is exorbitant. So instead of paying an arm and a leg (and trotting out the meat pots, meat dishes and meat silverware), we buy soy products instead.

Just before Rosh Hashana, however, I got the call to pick up a package from B’s grandmother. She had a big bag with challah, gefilte fish, grape juice and other items. On the bottom was a package of quartered chicken. Normally, I’d toss this into the freezer to deal with at a later time, but it was already thawing. So I put it in the fridge, consulted the sacred tomes (aka my recipe books), and came up with a plan.

First, I gathered the ingredients.

For those of you who don’t want to click to enlarge the image, that’s olive oil, pepper, 2 onions, minced garlic, salt, the aforementioned chicken, oregano and potatoes.

Next, I quartered 6 small spuds and placed them in my slowcooker.

Then, being in a cutting mood, I quartered the onions and saved them for later.

Next, I skinned the chicken and put it in the slow cooker over the potatoes. This took awhile and reminded me why I love working with cutlets that have already been de-skinned and de-boned.

Remember those onions? (If not, get your memory checked.) Well, I tossed them in on top of the chicken.

Then came the equivalent of 1 clove of minced garlic into the slowcooker. (Equivalent because I was using pre-minced garlic. Less mess and doesn’t spoil as quickly.)

Now, I mixed a half cup of water with 3 teaspoons of oregano, 1 teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of pepper. Into the slowcooker it went.

Finally, a tablespoon of olive oil was drizzled on top of it all.

I placed the cover on, set the slowcooker to high and let it cook for about five and a half hours.

The best part? No need for side dishes. It forms a whole meal all by itself!

YUM!

I’m a big fan of mousse, but I don’t often get the chance to make it. When I saw this recipe, I knew I’d have to make it. First, we gather our ingredients, all three of them.

That’s heavy cream, milk and Mighty Maple Peanut Butter. If you don’t have maple peanut butter, you could always add some maple syrup to the mix. First, put the milk and maple syrup peanut butter into a blender and blend them together.

Next, pour the egg whites into a bowl and beat them with an electric mixer until they form stiff peaks.

Now, fold in peanut butter-milk mixture.

Refrigerate the mixture for a few hours (or overnight), scoop into a bowl and enjoy.

The Verdict:

NHL and B didn’t like this one. I think they might be used to chocolate mousses and so were thrown by the maple flavor. I definitely think that the taste was improved by adding some mini-chocolate chips. Perhaps next time I’ll try making this with the Dark Chocolate Dreams Peanut Butter.

Disclaimer: Peanut Butter & Co sent me the jars of peanut butter to try. The opinions about the peanut butter and the dishes I make with them are my own, though, and have in no way been influenced by Peanut Butter & Co.

I’ll admit right off the bat that I’m not a big white chocolate fan. I’m more of a dark chocolate person, myself. Still, how can you resist a peanut butter called White Chocolate Wonderful?

I found a recipe online for Flourless White Chocolate Peanut Butter cookies and then went to work gathering my ingredients.

That’s brown sugar, white chocolate peanut butter, baking soda, vanilla, white chocolate peanut butter chips and egg whites. First, we combine the peanut butter, brown sugar, baking soda and vanilla.

Now, in a second bowl, lightly beat the egg whites. (Bad, egg whites!)

Pour the beaten egg whites into the first bowl and mix it all together.

Fold in the white chocolate chips.

Now, scoop onto a baking sheet and cook at 350 for 10 to 12 minutes.

When they come out, do NOT try to move them. The cookies will be way too soft. Instead, let them cool for about 5 minutes on the baking sheet before moving them to a cooling rack. Or do like I did and let them cool for 5 minutes on the tray and then remove the aluminum foil – cookies and all – to let them cool for another 5 minutes. You’ll be rewarded with delicious white chocolate peanut butter cookies.

The verdict? Well, these were good, but to be honest, I have another peanut butter cookie recipe that I like more. I guess I like that one more due to the greater peanut butter taste. Still, this white chocolate peanut butter’s good stuff!

Disclaimer: Peanut Butter & Co sent me the jars of peanut butter to try. The opinions about the peanut butter and the dishes I make with them are my own, though, and have in no way been influenced by Peanut Butter & Co.

As you might have guessed, I like peanut butter. I also like chocolate. Especially, Dark Chocolate. So how couldn’t I love this?

DARK CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER!!!!

Excuse me while I clean up this drool puddle. Ok, much better. I keep thinking I should find a proper recipe to make this into but then I think that’d be a waste of Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter. (Cleans up more drool.) Especially when there’s a quick and easy recipe that I love making this into.

First, let’s gather our ingredients. All three of them.

For the record, that’s dark chocolate peanut butter, marshmallow fluff and graham crackers. Now place two halves of a graham cracker down

Open up your dark chocolate peanut butter.

(Oh dear, more drool to clean up.)

Now spread some dark chocolate peanut butter on one half. Spread some marshmallow fluff on the other half.

Next, comes a highly technical procedure which I call “squishing them together.”

Doesn’t that look good? Don’t you want to try a bite?

Sorry, this one’s mine. Get your own!!! (Insert Cookie Monster sounds as I devour my creation.)

Disclaimer: Peanut Butter & Co sent me the jars of peanut butter to try. The opinions about the peanut butter and the dishes I make with them are my own, though, and have in no way been influenced by Peanut Butter & Co.

There are some things that just seem to go together and things that don’t go together at all. Once in awhile, you might be lucky to discover two things which, by all rights, shouldn’t go together, but do. It was in this hope that I opened the Peanut Butter and Company cookbook to the Peanut Butter Grilled Cheese (aka the PBGC) recipe. I’m always game for food experimentation, though, especially when using my family as dinner-guinea-pigs, so I plunged ahead.

The first step was to gather the ingredients: Bread, cheese, and butter.

Of course, I needed the star ingredient: Crunch Time, chunky peanut butter.

This sandwich is a cousin of the Veggie Elvis and so shares some similarities. First, you spread the butter on one side of the bread.

Then, you spread the peanut butter on the other side.

At this point, the Veggie Elvis and PBGC part company. Where the Veggie Elvis added banana and veggie bacon, the PBGC adds sliced American cheese.

Now, just close the sandwich and cook on each side for a few minutes so the cheese can melt.

Finally, put the sandwich on a plate, cut in half (to see the melty PB-Cheesy goodness inside) and enjoy.

This was better than I thought it would be, but perhaps not as good as it could be. The peanut butter flavor overpowered the cheese flavor a tad too much for my taste. Perhaps next time, I’ll try a cheese with a stronger flavor. Maybe a sharp chedder would give the peanut butter a run for its money.