Chewy Chocolate Cherry Pop Rock Sprinkled Brownies

Buzzfeed recently posted a video ranking different celebrity brownie recipes. This one by Gordon Ramsay is sprinkled in Pop Rocks (or as he calls them, “popping candy.” We tried this recipe out for a pre-Fourth of July BBQ over the weekend.

We love watching all of Gordon Ramsay's shows, but especially Masterchef Junior. I'm always so impressed by the talent of these 8-12 year olds! Plus, there's a lot less drama and Gordon is way nicer to the kids than the adults... 

I have to say, I followed the recipe and mine did NOT turn out as expected. The brownies were so thick that the inside wasn’t cooking so it was liquid inside at the end of the cooking time. Also, it recommended lining the pan with parchment paper, which ended up being more of a hassle than just spraying the pan like I normally do. I was ready to call it a Pinstrosity, but after cooking them for a bit longer and hiding all the crevices in sprinkles and Pop Rocks, they weren’t nearly as horrible looking.

In addition to Pop Rocks, the brownies have dried cherries inside giving them a Black-Forest Cake flavor. It was kind of a strange combination; I think I’d try the same base recipe but with toasted coconut or nuts on top next time.

If you do end up using Pop Rocks, make sure to wait for the brownies to cool and sprinkle them right before serving, otherwise they may end up melting and losing their pop. Also, I got red and blue Pop Rocks for Fourth of July, however, be warned that the color on the packages does not match the color inside. The green package is actually red watermelon inside and the blue package is green tropical punch (the strawberry was the only predictable color).

Hope you have better success than I do if you try these for Independence Day! At least they tasted better than they looked...

Chewy Chocolate Cherry Pop Rock Sprinkled Brownies (adapted from Gordon Ramsay)

Ingredients:

• 1 stick butter
• 1-1/3 cups sugar
• 16 oz dark chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup flour
• Pinch of salt
• 1 t vanilla
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 5 eggs
• 1 cup dried sour cherries
• 2 T milk
• ½ cup Pop Rocks
• Sprinkles

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 pan (I’d steer clear of using the parchment lining)

2. Beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

3. Melt 2/3 of the chocolate chips. I put mine in the microwave and heated on 30 second increments while stirring until liquid.

4. Pour the chocolate into the butter mixture and combine. Add the flour, salt, vanilla extract, and cocoa powder and mix together.

5. Crack the eggs into a separate bowl and beat with a fork until well mixed. Stir the eggs into the chocolate mixture.  

6. Stir in the sour cherries and remaining chocolate chips. If the mixture feels stiff, loosen it with a few tablespoons of milk.  

7. Pour the mixture into the pan and bake for 40-45 minutes or until the brownies are coming away from the side.

8. Take the brownies out of the oven and leave to cool.

*At this point, we were running late for the BBQ, so we cut the brownies much too early, then ended up making a mess. Make sure you allow time for the brownies to cool completely

9. When cooled and ready to serve, sprinkle with Pop Rocks and sprinkles.

*We tried to use more melted chocolate as a frosting, which tasted good but caused the Pop Rocks to melt. If you use them as a topping, they shouldn’t touch anything liquid to remain intact.

Want to try out other celebrity brownie recipes? Check out Buzzfeed's video here: 

Steak Tacos with Chipotle Cherry Salsa

 

Cherries are at their season peak right now here in Florida, so we bought a big bag of them last week.  Then, our neighbor Vimmi gave us even more since she was leaving town & had to clear out her fridge, so we had more cherries than we knew what to do with! 

This recipe was really easy and the salsa itself was amazing – the mix of sweet, tart, and spicy reminded me of this spicy cranberry cream cheese dip I made at Thanksgiving last year.  And the Trader Joe’s Habanero Lime tortilla shells were great – the bag said “medium hot”, but I’d really say they were just mild-medium…just a hint of spiciness.  I’d definitely make this meal again. 

Steak Tacos with Chipotle Cherry Salsa (adapted from Iowa Girl Eats)

Steak Ingredients:

• 1 pound sirloin tip steak
• ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 T Worchestershire sauce (I actually ran out the other day when we made meatloaf, so I omitted this ingredient…)
• 2 t. brown sugar
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed
• ¼ t. red chili pepper flakes
• salt & pepper

Salsa Ingredients:

• ¼ cup fresh basil
• 1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 T balsamic
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 t. honey
• 1 t. lime juice
• 2 cups cherries, pitted and cut in half
• salt and pepper

Rest of the ingredients:

• 1 onion, sliced thin (sweet onion would be better – we only had half a white onion)
• 1 T olive oil
• Pinch of sugar
• Flour tortillas (we used Habanero Lime from Trader Joe’s)
• Shredded cheddar cheese (pepperjack would have been good too)
• 1 t cilantro
• 1 cup spinach
• 1 tomato

Directions:

1. Prepare the steak marinade.  In a small bowl, whisk together balsamic, Worchestershire, brown sugar, garlic, red chili pepper flakes, salt & pepper.  Season steak on both sides with salt & pepper, then place in a Ziploc bag with the marinade and refrigerate for 1-4 hours (it doesn't look very appetizing here, but I promise, it will be delicious!)

2. Meanwhile, prepare the cherry salsa.  In a food processor, combine basil, jalapeño, balsamic, garlic, honey, lime juice, salt, pepper, and half the cherries.  Process until nearly smooth.  Add the remaining cherries and pulse until chunky.  Refrigerate until ready to use. 

3. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add onion slices, season with salt, pepper, and pinch of sugar, then cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and caramelized, about 25 minutes. 

4. Let steak sit at room temperature for 10 minutes.  Grill on high heat 2-3 minutes per side (we just used our George Foreman, which grilled both sides at once, so we didn’t have to flip the steaks…)  Let steak rest 5 minutes before slicing thin. 

5.  Heat your flour tortillas on a skillet to warm them until slightly toasty.  Assemble your tacos as you’d like & enjoy! 

Salty Olive Oil Granola

 

This year I made homemade granola for Christmas to give friends & relatives.  I took the recipe from Buzzfeed (I’d actually posted it as a foodie gift idea in my post earlier in December…)

 

I made 3 batches to start off with, which filled 12 pint sized mason jars with some leftover for us to eat.  It is by far the best cereal I’ve had in my life – and it really isn’t difficult to make at all.  We ended up making another 2 batches since we wanted more for ourselves!

It is perfect to snack on by itself, to eat with milk, or serve over yogurt.  Trust me, you’ll want to make multiple batches.  Rather than doubling or tripling the ingredients all in one bowl, I’d recommend doing one batch at a time.  You’ll need a baking sheet with edges so the granola doesn’t fall off the sides. 

 

 

I topped mine with some festive snowflake napkins and added gift tags. 

Salty Olive Oil Granola (adapted from Buzzfeed)

Ingredients:

• 3 cups quick oats
• 1½ cups pecan halves, broken into pieces
• 1 cup coconut flakes (I used sweetened)
• 1 cup raw pumpkin seeds (aka pepitas)
• ½ cup pancake syrup (maple syrup would be best, but since it’s pricey, I just used regular syrup and it didn’t make a difference)
• ¼ cup brown sugar, packed
• ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 t salt
• ½ t nutmeg
• ½ t cinnamon
• ½ t ground cardamom (if you don’t have this spice, you can just add more nutmeg and cinnamon)
• ½ cup raisins
• ½ cup dried cherries

Directions:

1.  Preheat the oven to 300°F.

2. Combine the oats, pecans, coconut, and pumpkin seeds in a large bowl.  Add the syrup, sugar, olive oil, salt, and spices and toss until evenly coated.

 

 

 

3. Spread the mixture on a large baking sheet with edges.  Bake for 30 minutes, then stir.  Bake for another 15 minutes or until granola starts to brown.  When it comes out of the oven, it will be slightly soft, but it will harden as it cools.

 

4. Once it is completely cooled, add the raisins and cherries.  Divide into mason jars and decorate as you’d like.  It should keep for months in an airtight container (but it tastes so good, there’s no way it’ll be around for that long!)