Cookoo for cocoa!

So let me begin with chocolate, or in chocolate to be more precise.   You ever find yourself covered in gooey chocoate all over and just loving every moment of it?  You  ever wake up in the middle of the night and find yourself sleepwalking to the cookie jar? You ever convince yourself that chocolate should be in every every meal? Ha ha ha ha, i do all the time! Yum yum, fun fun, chocolate is the day,  yay! (That's one of my baker cheers)  
 

Let me introduce the always satisfying Cocoa Skellingtons!  Here are some bodies to die for! : ) These treats are skele-tongue licking good. (another pun intended)    

                                                                                                                        

These cookies are a simple treat, not too rich or dense. Quite harmless to eat many many of , and even almost too many of.  Its buttery crispness and soft Guittard cocoa addition make this little plate of buttercream covered-bones a delight to enjoy one after the other.  I tend to have a fondness for darker things (dark chocoate vs vanilla, brown sugar vs white, vampires vs fairies, etc) which is why I used my gingerbread cookie cutter as a body cut-out, but this dough i use is perfect to roll out into any shape your hands or cookie-cutters desire. Would you like a cocoa Xmas tree or Cocoa heart for the party? No problem! It will all be a skele-ton of fun!

The next treat just hovering above these words like a dream bubble, we should enjoy with caution.   These are the very guilty triple fudge brownies. I shall repeat: the 3x fudge brownie. i like to garnish these brownies with walnuts or pecans over the top layer of creamy fudge frosting.  These brownies have three chocolates: Ghiradelli bittersweet choco, Ghiradeli semi-sweet choco , and Guittard cocoa powder. I sometimes throw in some whole chocolate or white chocolate chips in the creamy batter too so nice chucks of chocoalte accompany the nutty crunch. Another secret of these is  the cinnamon, which i have a great weakness for,  so i always slip  a few teaspoons in the cauldren when I 'm not loooking.   These treats are intense.  And I mean intense in a very rich and alluring way. It's goodness to the core kind of intense. I have yet to eat a whole one in one sitting, but i've seen it done. Confession: each tray of these brownies has close to two pounds of chocolate so i rest my case: Guilty for...being a pleasure.  : )    All pleasure!  So I sentence thee to life in the oven! (it's a joke, cuz i know they'll get burned) hahahaha. :)  

Okay, i'm still going cookoo for cocoa and i hope you are too. These next treats are a little more modest than that hotshot oh-i'm-just-perfect-and-so-fudgey brownie cousin. These treats are the very fine but only double chocolate cookie. These cookies are a perfect companion to that lonely ice cream scoop. Speaking of screams and creams, do you like to scream cookie a-la-mode? i do when i bake these. These cookies are so sweet and soft that i dont even wait til they've cooled completely to "test" them for the millionth time. Yum i always utter.  Their chocolate flavor is made subtly complex with a splash of pure vanilla and a sprinkle of espresso powder. And i personally prefer these nut-free so i can indugle in its fine tender and moist chocolate texture bite after bite, but just holla if you desire some almonds or even white chocolate chips in the mix. Sin problema!

 I like to call these next treats snowfudge. Snowfudge is just that:a soft fudge cookie coated in flakes of powdered sugar. Although not as bold in cocoa power as the brownie and double choc chip cookie, its only semi-sweet chocolate composition lacks no chocolate soul. This cookie has an unforgettably amazing texture. Its a fudge you can lightly chew or even let just melt away. Its fudge composition comes close to tasting like chocolate velvet.

                                                                                        
Last and with no yeast : ) the lonemarshmellow chocolate cupcake topped with buttercream chocolate love. I really love making and serving cupcakes. I make all kinds! Cupcakes are like a whole little cake just for you! Hooray for the personal cake.

       Reach out and touch cake!
Something that hears your cravings,
something that waits
something that is baked,
    your own
 personal
   cupcake!

I use again my beloved Guittard magic to get that elegant chocolate taste i demand and I too include whole chocolate chips in the batter, and these whole chips make these cupcakes failproof.

It's quite a blissful feeling to indulge in this kind of homage to Ixcacao. She was not only revered as the goddess of chocolate but aslo of abundance. And though my treats are not nearly as bountiful as i would like, i think I should take a small break from Cookoo for cocoa world. But there are many more chocolate wishes to be granted and this world will be visited again and again. 
Dios se bengiga Ixcacao!