Comfort Foods and Indulgences

We made these for a crowd and watched them vanish in five minutes…My husband and I do not need brownies; we’ve eaten enough of them already to meet our lifetime quota and to account for certain body changes that I will not describe here. But Tom is a hopeless chocoholic, so on the occasions when I make brownies to curry favor with my kids’ friends, I have to keep an eye on them.

For a long time, when brownies disappeared from the cooling rack and my husband seemed the obvious perpetrator, he would issue a denial and look meaningfully in the direction of Oliver, our dog. So I thought the golden retriever was both amazingly athletic (how did he reach the brownies I placed behind the kitchen sink?) and had a remarkable tolerance for chocolate, a substance that is notorious for making dogs ill.

But then, on a recent occasion, I left a hot brownie batch on the counter to cool and took Oliver for a walk. When I returned and noticed that the baking pan was half empty, I did a breathalizer test on napping Tom. Sure enough: chocolate breath. (And a messy crime scene: brown crumbs on the sofa.)

I keep seeing all these different versions of burgers in the summer issues of magazines. I want to try them all! This particular recipe stood out because I love the idea of the ingredients together…hoisin and Sriracha. I love them both but had never incorporated them into the same meal.

The original recipe had things a little differently, and I changed them for a couple of different reasons.  First of all, I believe the cucumbers were added to this burger to give it a textural change while eating, soft burger-crunchy cucumber. However, when I thought about it, I knew that placing a hot burger on top of cucumbers would equal a mushy-cucumber result. The recipe also called for grilled scallions in 4″ slices as a topping.  

What I did instead was make a relish with the Sriracha mayo, cucumber and grilled scallions.  I knew this would give a more crunchy result, and I still added more thinly sliced cucumbers to the ensemble, just for fun and looks.  One of the key flavor ingredients was using sesame oil to brush onto the scallions while grilling. This flavor really carried over nicely to the mayo-relish combo, so don’t leave this out.

Friday’s I clean out my fridge.  I had about two cups of both cream cheese frosting and butter cream frosting left over. Rarely do I throw food away, but there are those times that something just cannot be saved.  In the past, I have found myself whipping up a soba salad to avoid getting rid of a few cucumbers, almost yucky tomatoes can be turned into fresh, roasted salsa or bacon hash, and zucchini inevitable becomes a cake.  Upon cleaning out the fridge, I did in fact have two zucchini’s that needed some attention. The light bulb went off and a chocolate zucchini loaf with cream cheese frosting was born.

This cake was delicious.  It will become my go to cake when I need something in a quick pinch. 

Daddies, avert your eyes, because this is what your family will be serving you in bed on Sunday morning (Father's Day).  However, it's so good, the kids might help you eat it all.  And Mom, it's so easy to make, the kids can take all the credit...they will love that.

A few months ago, I didn't even know what Biscoff spread was. I kept seeing it everywhere in the blogs and finally I could no longer resist, I just had to try it.  Honestly, I wish I hadn't. It's so addicting, sweet and good...it can only be described as crack.

My favorite way to eat it....with a spoon.  If you are on a diet, I strongly suggest not bringing this into your home.  It will call to you, as it does me, from the cupboard with its creepy siren song....ugh. It always wins. I give in. Every. Single. Time.

I already fed this French toast to my husband and after one bite he looked at me and said, "Good grief, this is dangerous."