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this was a hectic week - lots of work and no time to post for picky cook - sad.
while i was working on thursday night i had ashton kutcher on ustream in the background to see if he would beat cnn to a million followers twitter. i felt i was watching history. i believe what happened on thurday will make the social web more accessible to people that are currently not utilizing it.
i was cheering for ashton for two main reasons....
1. i work in the industry and think he is an incredible ambassador for social media.
2. i love it any time the "little guy" beats the "big guy"
so cheers to you ashton for reaching a million followers before cnn!
here is some incredible chocolate cake to celebrate with!
enough tech talk ... this is a food blog! :) ok - one last thing - did you know you can
follow picky cook on twitter?
this molten chocolate cake is everything you would expect it to me and then some. as i usually do, i added espresso powder to enhanced the chocolate flavor. it never fails, it ALWAYS makes chocolate better. when you open the cake up the molten chocolate pours out and mixes with the raspberry sauce - it is amazing. the best part is you can make these ahead of time - keep them in the fridge - and bake right before serving. tastes amazing and convenient - what more could you ask for?
molten chocolate cakes with raspberry coulisadapted from
Jean-Georges Vongerichten via bitten
Ingredients
1/2 cup unsalted butter, plus more to butter the molds
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, the best you can afford
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp espresso powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 teaspoons flour
butter and cocoa powder for dusting the baking dishes
confectioners sugar for sifting on at the end
Method
1. In the top of a double boiler set over simmering water, heat the butter and chocolate together until the chocolate is almost completely melted. Add the espresso powder and vanilla at the end and stir to compbine.
While that's heating, beat together the eggs, yolks, and sugar with a whisk or electric beater until light, thick and glossy.
2. After the chocolate has cooled a bit pour in the egg mixture, then quickly beat in the flour, just until combined.
3. Butter and lightly cocoa powder four 4-ounce molds, custard cups, or ramekins. Tap out the excess cocoa powder, then butter and cocoa powder them again. Divide the batter among the molds. (At this point you can refrigerate the desserts until you are ready to eat, for up to several hours; bring them back to room temperature before baking.)
4. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Bake the molds on a tray for 6 to 7 minutes; the center will still be quite soft, but the sides will be set.
5. Invert each mold onto a plate and let sit for about 10 seconds. Unmold by lifting up one corner of the mold; the cake will fall out onto the plate. Serve immediately.
raspberry coulis
2 1/2 cups fresh raspberries
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice, or to taste
zest of 1 lemon - grated
Puree raspberries with sugar, zest and lemon juice in a blender or food processor. Pour mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl, pressing on solids.
some other chocolate desserts you might enjoymalted chocolate covered espresso bean cookiesoatmeal chocolate chip cookiescaramel peanut topped brownie cakebrownie roll-out cookieschocolate white chocolate biscottichocolate fondue
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these carrot cake cookies almost converted me from a pumpkin lover to a
carrot cake lover. yes, they are that good. the cookie itself is soft
and moist - yet strong enough to hold up as a sandwich cookie. i added
more spice to the mix because that is how i roll. i think it is a major
improvement over the original recipe. i usually could leave the frosting
out of the equation but in this case - the frosting makes these
cookies. the cookie itself is not very sweet and the creamy sweetness of
the cream cheese frosting balances out the cookie with the perfect
amount of sweetness to compliment the spices in the cookie. these carrot
cake cookies would be the perfect picnic or backyard barbecue dessert. 
i love the idea of using rice krispies in a cookie. i have adapted the
recipe a bit by adding toffee and cinnamon but i think the rice krispies
are what make them special. the cookie itself is crisp but the middle
is still chewy. the toffee melts the perfect amount to be chewy but
still hold that toffee texture i love. ever since i made 
these cookies are INCREDIBLE! i am not exaggerating - they are
perfection. the crispy cookie and the white chocolate would be amazing
on their own but the addition of the sea salt - oh my! the salty crunch
on top makes these cookies one of the best i have ever made.Session dataSession data 
these peanut butter and jelly bars fit the bill perfectly. not only are
they simple to make - you can easily double the recipe for a large
crowd. i need my peanut butter to be chunky - the smooth stuff just
doesn't feel like peanut butter to me - so i substituted chunky for
smooth. any kind of berry jam will work great and for those of you
grape jelly fans - that would work as well. i added a bit on honey to
the batter and honey roasted peanuts to the top because i think peanut
butter and honey are naturals together. 
the mixed apple pie was probably one of my favorite pies i have
made because each apple was so different - different flavor and
texture. they combined perfectly. the all butter pastry crust was flaky
and i had a lot of fun making up the top crust. i have done lattice - i
have done full crust - i have done crumble topping. i wanted something
special this time. i took the top crust and cut out circles with a
biscuit cutter and overlapped the circles. it looked like a flower. i
will be using that one again - it makes a traditional pie new again. 
this cake met every expectation i had and then some. i used a different
recipe for the cake because i have one i love and the baked recipe makes
a three layer cake which i thought was overkill. i made everything else
from the baked recipe. this was not an easy cake for me to make as i
seem to be cursed when it comes to caramel but it was worth all the
effort. the balance of the sweet & salty flavors is perfection. the
cake itself is pure decadence but with fleur de sel and caramel it puts
it into a whole other world.
i get why people love these brownies and i am sure they are equally
fabulous on their own but i am telling you they are a little slice of
heaven when marbled with a cream cheese swirl. i upped the amount of
espresso powder and decreased the sugar by a bit because i do that in
most recipes. both adaptations worked really well and i think they
enhanced the deep chocolate flavor in these brownies. 
