I needed a dessert to take to this month’s Ladies’ Luncheon and wanted to do something different. Not having much of a sweet tooth, I decided to make something combining my two favorite “sweet” flavors: dark chocolate and mint. (I used to count the days until the Girl Scout Cookie drive rolled around again so I could get my annual fix of the their chocolate mint cookies).  These are what I came up with, and they satisfy that flavor craving.

BROWNIES:

4 eggs
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 stick of butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp mint extracxt
1 1/3 cups flour
2/3 cups Hershey’s Dark Chocolate Cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 12 oz. pkg. Hershey’s mint chocolate chips

• Preheat oven to 350. Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit the narrow width of a 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking pan, and make it long enough for there to be several inches hanging over each of the long ends. You’ll use these as a handle to remove the finished brownies from the pan.
• Beat eggs until foamy. Slowly add sugar. Blend in melted butter. Add vanilla and mint extracts. Beat for several minutes until smooth and frothy.
• Stir together dry ingredients. Sift into the egg mixture. Mix on medium for two minutes until shiny and smooth. You may need to use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl while doing this.
• Stir in mint choclate chips.
• Bake at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes or until edges of the brownies pull away from the sides of the pan. Let cool completely on a wire rack.
• When completely cool, lift carefully from the pan using the parchment “handles” and place onto a cutting surface. Using a sharp roller style pizza cutter (best) or really sharp knife (2nd choice) cut lengthwise into 4 sections, and then crosswise into 8 sections.

WHITE CHOCOLATE GLAZE

2/3 cups white chocolate chips
1 tsp Crisco shortening

• Put the chips and Crisco in a microwave safe measuring cup and nuke on high for 30 seconds.  Stir. Repeat for additional 15 second intervals stirring after each, until chips are melted and the glaze is smooth.
• Pour into a sandwich size zip lock bag, twist the bag until the glaze is forced into one corner of the bag and, using scissors, make a really tiny snip in that corner.
• Slowly drizzle glaze back and forth over the brownies first one direction, and then the other, to make a criss cross pattern. Put the brownies in the fridge for at least 10 minutes to completely set the glaze.

Rod and I aren’t big on desserts, but when we have friends over for dinner I like to have something sweet on hand to end the meal with.  Fresh fruits make a nice light ending, and these poached pears are just that, with the added bonus of being easy to make and make an elegant presentation.  Add this to your easy gourmet repertoire. 

1 pear per person (Bartlett or Bosc work nicely)
1 qt. water
5 or 6 T lemon juice
1/2 C sugar
1 C water
1 cinnamon stick
1 bottle red wine of your liking

• Peel the pears leaving the stems intact. 
• Add the lemon juice to the quart of water in a bowl large enough to accomodate the pears. As you peel the pears, place them in the lemon water to prevent discoloring.
• Place the sugar and cup of water in a non-reactive saucepan. Over medium heat, stir the mixture constantly until all of the sugar dissolves, then bring the syrup briefly to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, add the pears, cover the pot leaving the lid slightly ajar, and poach the pears for about 20 minutes.  Remove one pear with a slotted spoon and insert the tip of a sharp knife into the base of it.  When it meets only slight resistance the pear is almost done.  When they are all done, remove them to a plate. Reserve the simple syrup.
• Pour the bottle of wine into the simple syrup and bring to a boil over high heat.  Boil the wine for 3 or 4 minutes to reduce it slightly, then return the pears to the pan and cook them gently for about 5 minutes.
• Transfer the pears to a heat-proof bowl. Discard the cinnamon stick.  Pour half of the poaching liquid over the pears and let them cool.  Cook the remaining poaching liquid over high heat until it is reduced to a thick syrup.
• Drain the pears and stand them upright in individual serving dishes. (Margarita glasses or large bowl wine glasses make a nice presentation). Ladle some of the wine syrup over each pear to glaze them and our the rest into a sauceboat to be presented seperately.

My 8-year old god-daughter, Lauren, has an over-the-top shopping gene so it didn’t really surprise me when her mother told me one night this week that they were baking Christmas cookies together and when I asked her what kind she said Lauren wanted to make Nieman Marcus cookies.

If you’re not familiar with the legend of this recipe, it’s a fun read at Snopes.com .

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1-3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 teaspoons instant espresso coffee powder
1-1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

• Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cream the butter with the sugars using an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy (approximately 30 seconds).
• Beat in the egg and the vanilla extract for another 30 seconds. 
• In a mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients and beat into the butter mixture at low speed for about 15 seconds. Stir in the espresso coffee powder and chocolate chips. 
• Using a 1 ounce scoop or a 2 tablespoon measure, drop cookie dough onto a greased cookie sheet about 3 inches apart. Gently press down on the dough with the back of a spoon to spread out into a 2 inch circle. Bake for about 20 minutes or until nicely browned around the edges. Bake a little longer for a crispier cookie.
     
  Yield:   2 dozen cookies

Back-to-back Mary Anne favorites today, one savory, one sweet.  She has been making these for years and said she is always being asked for the recipe but is embarrassed at how easy it is to throw together.  Sounds perfect to me.  Another plus?  The ingredients are staples almost always on hand.

1 box yellow cake mix
1 egg
1 stick of butter
1 box 10x confectioners sugar
3 eggs
8 oz. cream cheese, softened

• Mix and press the cake mix, 1 egg and stick of butter into a greased 9 x 13 pan.
• Mix and spread the sugar, 3 eggs and cream cheese and spread evenly over top of first layer.
• Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes.  Cool and cut into squares.

I found this recipe on the Libby’s Foods website, made it to take along to a party, and the cookies were a big hit.  Easy to make and not cloyingly sweet, they’re perfect with coffee.  The recipe calls for them to be glazed but I wasn’t wild about that so I left mine plain.  I’ve included it here in case you want to give it a try.

2 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t ground nutmeg (freshly ground makes a huge difference)
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 C granulated sugar (I substituted 3/4 C  Splenda Brown Sugar for Baking)
1/2 C butter (1 stick), softened
1 C canned pumpkin
1 large egg
1 t vanilla extract
Glaze (recipe follows)

• Preheat oven to 350.  Grease baking sheets.
• Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a medium bowl.  Beat Sugar and butter in large mixer bowl until well blended. Beat in pumpkin, egg and vanilla extract until smooth.  Gradually beat in flour mixture.  Drop by rounded tablespoon onto prepared baking sheets.
• Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until edges are firm.  Cook on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.  Drizzle glaze over cookies.
• FOR GLAZE: Combine 2 C sifted powdered sugar, 3 T milk, 1 T melted butter and 1 t vanilla extract in small bowl until smooth.