Triple Threat Chocolate Cake and the Bachelor

Alright, alright!  Since SO many of you were demanding my recipe (ok, just one person) I thought I would post it on here to share!

This is by far the most simple, sinful, delicious cake you will bake.  Preferably for a trashy TV night...like Bachelor/Bachelorette!

First, a short back story.  In college, my 6 roommates and I would watch TV together and on a particularly bad/hard/lazy/trashy tv day, I would bake this cake for us and we would slowly devour shovel it down our throats.  What?! We're still ladies.  We just know what we like!

Ok, back to the Bachelor this season.  A few thoughts:

1) Love Ben.  He's fun, cute, smart, has a personality and "is available."
Anyone catch last night how that oh-so-humble model kept talking about his hair and touching it (while touching hers) like, in a fetish type way?  And remember when she made that really intelligent comment about last season when he said "I'm available."  Oh boy, it's just too good already!

2) Anyone else want to give Jenna a high five....in the face? 
WHAT A BABYYYYYYY! Why didn't her parents ever tell her to knock that behavior off?  The fact that she's a blogger and writes about "why do boys hate me?" "Why doesn't anyone want to date me?" is the reason why I didn't want to start a blog in the first place.  Too much whining and self pity in the blogosphere.  No one wants to hear that, Jenna!

Oh, and one more comment (amongst many I will not share), did you see the way she entered the room before the rose ceremony?  All puppy dog like?  PUH LEEZE!  Knock that crap off!  You are a woman, not a 3 year old child!  But, you sure do crave attention in the most inappropriate ways like a 3 year old would!

3) A note to Ben: Good luck warding off all the crazies.  I'll be rooting for you on the sidelines at the rose ceremonies, regardless of the producers choices for you.


And now, to more important things...like Triple Threat Chocolate Cake.

Here is my oh-so-simple recipe and directions.  I'll be waiting on the other side to hear you say, "That's it?!"


TRIPLE THREAT CHOCOLATE CAKE


Ingredients:
1 box Devil's Food chocolate cake.  It HAS to be the one with a cup of pudding in the mix.  This is a deal maker and breaker, people!

1 tub of chocolate fudge frosting

1 bag mini chocolate chips

Directions:
Follow the directions on the box for mixing and baking the cake.  I typically use a bundt pan to bake it.

Allow the cake to cool completely, if not almost completely.   This is important for the frosting.

Transfer the cake to a serving dish and use the entire tub of frosting to frost the cake.  Yeah, I said it.

When the cake is completely covered with frosting, sprinkle the mini chocolate chips on top and on the sides.  Even on the little hole on the inside of the bundt.

Enjoy with a cold glass of milk!


Bonus: If you want to make it "fancy" try adding Heath bar bits, peanut butter chips or butterscotch chips.  Heck, crush up a butter finger bar and sprinkle that sucker all over!  You're the boss-act like it!


Until next week, I urge you to eat a healthy amount of chocolate cake.....and stay sane, people!


xo,
Nat

"Biscot"

Around this time of year [Christmas] my family anxiously awaits the most glorious package from Pittsburgh, PA....a package of my Grandma Venneri's fresh baked cookies!  Pizelles, almond cookies, chocolate cookies, snowballs, biscotti, chocolate covered pretzels....the list goes on and on.  Seriously, the best package EVER-second to the package she sends at Easter...don't even get me started!

 Isn't she just the cutest lil' grandma you ever did see?

Here are the cookies she baked for our wedding.  Love!

The past few years, we haven't had a package from Grandma since it's been harder and harder for her to crank out dozens of different types of cookies for all of her five kids and their families.  So, she has passed the recipe along to us kids and grandkids and we have made them for ourselves.  Obviously, they taste quite similar, but lack the extra love (and crisco) that Grandma Venneri adds to her cookies : )

When Ryan and I headed north to King City this Christmas, we made a pit stop in SLO for some Black Horse coffee and a snack to fuel us the rest of the way.  Little did I know that our innocent little pit stop would awaken a slumbering beast inside of me!

We bought a "Carmello" (delicious espresso mixed with caramel and a little milk) and a biscotti as big as your arm.  Seriously, I was in awe of how they baked one that big.

Let me just pause and say:

I          LOVE          BISCOTTI!

Besides Grandma Venneri's "biscot" (biscotti), I have never tasted any biscotti as good as the one at Black Horse.

So, of course on the rest of our drive up to King City I googled the crap out of their biscotti, searching relentlessly for their recipe so I could make it myself and take a bath in biscotti cookies every morning....ok, maybe not that extreme, but I definitely put my researching skills to the test!

And, to my disappointment, the biscotti recipe is nowhere to be found.  It comes from a hipster bakery, OF COURSE!  Hipster recipes don't exist outside of the shop...unless they're on Pinterest.

So, even though Ryan and I are ready to fast from bread, carbs and anything that has grease on it so we can lose the Christmas lb's, I am baking my grandma's biscotti recipe and enjoying it with a piping hot cup of coffee....because I said so!

Want the family recipe?  Sorry, can't share it! : )  However, I will share the two recipes I mashed together from allrecipes.com.

The original recipe, another recipe I used


ALMOND ANISETTE BISCOTTI

Ingredients:

12 ounces butter (room temperature)
1 3/4 c white sugar
6 eggs
2 tsp anise extract
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
6 1/2 c all-purpose flower
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 c chopped almonds

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

2.  In a large bowl, mix cream butter and sugar.  Add eggs, one at a time; beat until fluffy.  Stir in the anise and vanilla extracts.

3.  In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt.  Add them to the egg mixture along with the chopped almonds.  (you might need to switch to a dough hook on your mixer halfway through)

4.  Divide the dough into two parts (or 4, if you want smaller cookies)  Roll the pieces into logs about 15 inches log.  If you have parchment paper, line your cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Flatten the logs out until they are about 3 inches wide with a slight hump going down the middle.

5.  Bake for 30 minutes.  Loaves should come out firm.

6.  Cut the loaves into diagonal slices, about 1/2 inch wide each.  Place the slices on their sides back on to the cookie sheets.  Toast each side for 5-8 minutes each, depending on how crunchy or soft you want them to be.

Careful!  You might discover your dough is soft in the middle and not completely cooked if you only do 2 loaves.  That happened to me my first time!  So, just toast them a little longer on each side and it will cook through while toasting the rest of the cookie.

7. Enjoy with a cup of your favorite coffee, tea or milk!

Cheers!,
Nat