Hug in a Mug Brownie Pudding (single serving)

A single girl molten chocolate pudding cake for when you need a chocolate hug.

I'm going to keep this post short because I know you don't need an anecdote, or bossy directions. 

Good.

You need help.

You need a hug.

You need chocolate.

You need all this things now.

Here it is, a Hug in a Mug:

Better with Warm PB Sauce

Hug in a Mug:
Serves 1

5 Tbs unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg
1/4 cup of sugar
2 Tbs cocoa powder
1 1/3 Tbs all purpose flour
2 Tbs unsalted butter
2 Tbs heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp sea salt

Because some colorful sprinkles will make you smile

Preheat oven to 325ºF and grease 1 ramekin or oven safe mug.
Beat the egg and 1/4 cup sugar until very thick and pale yellow in color (5-10 minutes)
In a pan, bring 1/4 cup sugar and 2 Tbs water to a boil. Cook, not stirring until dark caramel in color. Remove from the heat and add 2 tbs butter and heavy cream, whisking well to incorporate. Add the vanilla extract and salt and reserve 1-2 tbs caramel.
Whisk together the flour and cocoa powder until there are absolutely no lumps. Slowly add the butter and flour mixture to the eggs, folding together with a rubber spatula, fold in the caramel still in the pan.
Pour into a greased ramekin and bake  for about 20 minutes (the top should be cracked but the inside should be fairly liquid)
Cool for 5-10 minutes before eating, while still very hot, topped with the reserved caramel.

Super Gooey Peanut Butter Nougat Brownies

Sometimes you just need chocolate and peanut butter.

Sometimes a Reese's just won't cut it.
Sometimes you just need something so gooey it almost seems under cooked. Really, though, it's not. It's just what you needed.

Sometimes you just really need Super Gooey Peanut Butter Nougat Brownies.
If that time is now, I'll stop talking so you can make these, eat the whole pan, and not feel any guilt, because you just really, really needed them.

Super Gooey Peanut Butter Nougat Brownies


Brownies:
8 oz chopped bittersweet chocolate
6Tbs unsalted butter
2 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup minus 2 Tbs flour
2 Tbs cocoa powder
Peanut Butter Nougat:
5 oz marshmallows, half a standard sized bag
1/2 c smooth peanut butter
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease and line an 8x8" pan with parchment paper.
Melt the chocolate and butter together in the microwave or in the top of a double boiler, stirring every 20 seconds or so.
Remove from the heat and beat in the eggs, sugar and vanilla.
Once combined, add the flour and cocoa in 3 batches, mixing well.
Spread evenly into the bottom of a your prepared pan, reserving about 1/4 of the batter.
Bake for about 30 minutes, or until they're just undercooked.

Just before taking the brownies out of the oven, place marshmallows, salt and peanut butter in a vary large microwave safe dish, and warm until the marshmallows swell and the peanut butter begins to melt. Remove and stir until combined.
Scoop the nougat mixture out over the warm brownies and spread across the top, working quickly so the marshmallow doesn't set.
Dollop the rest of the brownie mixture over the top and continue baking for an additional 5 minutes, or until the top layer of brownie is just beginning to set.
Remove from the oven and cool to room temperature before cutting and serving while the top layer is still soft and gooey.
ENJOY!

FlufferNutter Cookies

My parents make me a grand total of 2 FlufferNutter sandwiches when I was a kid. Both of these 2 sandwiches were for my birthday, and both of them were absolutely amazing. I did not grow up surrounded by sweets, by any stretch of the imagination, which is probably why I am so crazy about them now. Because neither of my parents were really fans of the sweet stuff, both of these sandwiches were adulterated with slices of banana. I'm sure that this was my parent's attempt to make the sandwich resemble an actual meal instead of a dessert, and instill in me a habit of healthy eating, but it sort of had the opposite effect. Instead, it instilled in me a deep love of the combination of peanut butter, marshmallows, and bananas. They have been combined with graham crackers and chocolate in many s'mores, and even found their way into a cookie. A really really good cookie, by the way.

These cookies are made with browned butter and whole wheat pastry flour to really bring out the toffee flavor, and impart a warm flavor that tastes a little like graham crackers. You could totally add a healthy helping of dark chocolate to the mix, something I seriously wish I'd done. Instead, I used chocolate marshmallows, because they were the only ones I had on hand. I found out the hard way that they taste no different from the regular white kind, so I don't recommend spending the extra couple bucks for the brown sort.
The marshmallows will also melt out of the cookies and caramelize on the pan, so make sure you use parchment or a Silpat, and DO NOT overcook these guys, because the caramel surrounding the cookies is one of the best parts.

Mmmmm... Gooey caramelized marshmallow

FlufferNutter Cookies
Makes about 30 cookies

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick of butter
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup gently packed light brown sugar
1 egg, 1 egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla
2 very ripe bananas, mashed
1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
1/2 tsp flaked sea salt

Preheat oven to 350ºF, line 2 large (3 normal sized) baking sheets with parchment paper.
Brown the butter by heating, with salt, over medium-low heat until golden flecks start to sink on the bottom. Remove from heat, cool slightly, and add the peanut butter, mix until smooth, and cool completely.
In a medium bowl, cream together the eggs and sugar. Mix in the vanilla and mashed bananas. The mixture will be not quite smooth.
Whisk in cooled butter mixture. Add flour, baking powder, and salt. When the wet and dry ingredients are well combined, gently fold in the marshmallows.
Try adding them in 4 batches. Marshmallows seem to have a weird magnet effect and don't want to spread out from each other if you add them all at once.
Scoop the dough into 1" balls, tucking in any marshmallow pieces that seem to be coming out of the ball, to make sure they don't spread around the pan too much, press down to flatten slightly. Bake on the middle racks for 9-11 minutes, until golden, but still soft. They will start to smell like the marshmallows that kids used to burn at camp after they're cooked about half way. Don't freak out, they're not burning, they're just oozing caramel. But this also means that you'll have to be super careful about the timing. Remember, when in doubt, take them out. Underdone is always, always, always better than overdone.

Just thought I'd throw in another picture, as if you weren't tempted enough already