Hot Chocolate for One

It's Southern California! Why was I freezing cold one night yearning for hot cocoa?! Computer Man hadn't come home from work yet and I was busy making dinner, but I was so cold I wanted something hot to warm me up! This hot cocoa was a quick and easy fix for an unexpectedly cold evening!

Hot Chocolate for One

Source: Hershey's Cocoa Powder Container (I cut the recipe in half)

Begin by mixing 1/4 cup sugar, 1/8 cup cocoa powder, small dash salt in a saucepan; stir in 1/6 cup of hot water. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture boils; boil and stir for 2 minutes.

Stir in 2 cups of milk and heat but DO NOT BOIL. Remove from heat and add vanilla.

Pour into a large mug, top with marshmallows, and sprinkle with some more cocoa powder. Enjoy!

Unbaked Cookies

Wait! Don't go! Don't be afraid by the title! There's nothing in these cookies that makes them unsafe to be called "unbaked." I promise! These are some of my favorite cookies from childhood. The best part about them? Only 2 people in my house could eat them: me and my dad. My mom and sister loathe coconut, so they refused to touch these cookies. My dad and I would get 2 in our lunches each day and I knew I'd only have to fight him off for the last one! I love the texture, taste, smell, and versatility of these cookies! Enjoy!

Unbaked Cookies

Source: My mom

Yields: as many or as few as the batter makes (I'll explain later)

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups quick cooking oats

1 cup sweetened, shredded coconut

6 T cocoa powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup unsalted butter

Directions:

Mix the oats, coconut, powder, and vanilla extract in a large bowl; set aside. In a saucepan over medium-high heat, mix together the sugar, milk, and butter and bring to a rolling boil; allow to boil for 2 minutes. Pour the milk mixture over the oats mixture and stir well. Drop by large or small spoonfuls onto wax paper and allow to cool completely before you eat them (obviously, the smaller the spoonfuls the more cookies you'll get). Enjoy!

5-Minute Fudgy Brownies

My mom is notorious for always having a Tupperware full of some sort of yummy baked good. In fact, one my bestestestestestest friends, Kalene, would spend the night at my house when we were kids so she could sample all the treats. She'd say things like, "I'm going to go rummage for some baked goods" at two or three in the morning when we should have been asleep. This recipe is especially important to me for a couple reasons. One, I had tried a bunch of brownie recipes in college only to find that they were all for those boring cake-like brownies; I was searching for the brownies that crackle on the top and are really dense and gooey. Two, these brownies are just about the ONLY dessert I make that my husband actually enjoys. He was obviously raised on a different planet: he thinks that plain fruit (no sugar, no whip cream, no nothing) is dessert and that cookies, cakes, and ice creams are too sweet. TOO SWEET? IS THAT EVEN A POSSIBILITY? So when he actually takes two of these brownies I am in heaven; I love it. We had some friends from our Sunday School class over one night and I served these up as a nice finisher to our tri-tip and baked potato dinner. I actually whipped them up while everyone was still sitting around the table just talking and taking the last swigs of their drinks. One of the husbands actually asked me if the brownies were homemade--he had no clue that I was making brownies because these are so quick and easy to "throw together." Enjoy!

5-Minute Fudgy Brownies
Source: Me and Mom
Yields: 1 9x13 pan...so 4 brownies? Ha!

3/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2/3 cup veg. oil
1/2 cup boiling water (exact)
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350. Stir cocoa and baking soda together in the bottom of a mixing bowl on your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add in 1/3 cup of the oil and the boiling water and stir until the mixture thickens. Add in the sugar, eggs, and remaining 1/3 cup of oil. Stir until smooth. Add flour, vanilla, and salt, and blend completely. Pour into a thoroughly greased 9x13 metal baking pan. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the sides of the brownies pull away from the edge of the pan. Don't over bake. Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla bean, chocolate, mint chip, or neapolitan ice cream.


I didn't cut the brownies to show you the inside, but I did poke a hole so you can see how nicely they crack on the top!