Tuesday, December 6, 2011

A Tired Cook with a Sweet Tooth...in a Jar

A Tired Cook with a Sweet Tooth...in a Jar

It was near the end of my first week at a new job and I was exhausted. It's so stressful to be the new kid, even when you're senior, and by now I had a headache, a backache and I seemed to have pulled something in my knee. I was a train wreck pushing a cart down the aisle of the supermarket to buy some staples and decide what to eat for dinner - grilled cheese and canned soup, as it turned out. But I also felt like something baked and sweet and I was too tired to walk to the bakery.

A Tired Cook with a Sweet Tooth...in a Jar
The box-mix version
I usually dislike the pre-made cake mixes but sometimes the brownie mixes are OK. Brian is a big brownie fan and he's been known to come home with a box here and there and now a box was coming home with me. Back in my kitchen was a nice set of Ball jars, freshly washed and sitting around not doing anything useful. And I've been wanting to try a cake in a jar since I always think it looks so adorable when I see one. I'm sure Brian will think I'm insane.

A Tired Cook with a Sweet Tooth...in a Jar
The jar brownies came out surprisingly good that night although they still had a slight box mix taste. So, over the weekend, I mixed up my own batter for a gooey pudding-like cake and baked up a fresh batch of jars for Brian (who, amazingly, thought the jar idea was cute). It's not much harder than opening a box and you get an adorable individual portion jar of chocolaty goodness...extra yummy with a little dollop of vanilla ice cream or powdered sugar on top. Enjoy!

Ingredients
1 Cup all purpose flour
1/2 Cup sugar
1/2 Cup milk
1/4 Cup cocoa
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 Teaspoons baking powder
1 Teaspoon vanilla
1/4 Teaspoon salt

In a bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Add the milk, melted butter and vanilla and stir until smooth. Divide the batter evenly between four 8 oz. jars and bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly so the jars can be handled but the cakes are still warm. Makes 4 servings.

13 comments:

  1. What a cute idea! I love this! I too am not a big fan of boxed mixes when its so easy to whip your own up from scratch. Thanks for sharing the non-box version of these cute little desserts, looks delish!

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  2. I hope you feel better! I know how tough a switch of environments can be.
    These look fabulous! :) CUte presentation, I have to try this...

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  3. Great idea! Hope the new job continues to challenge you (in good ways!) - it wouldn't be life if it was easy =)

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  4. Mmmmmmmm.....YUMMY! Congrats on your Top 9 today!

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  5. Delicious! Love anything in a Jar.. but brownies from scratch. Yum!

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  6. What a cute idea. They look so yummy! Congrats on the Foodbuzz top 9!

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  7. Wow what a great idea! I will definitely have to try this one out.

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  8. That's so cool! Sorry to hear you're totally stressed, I'm sure the cake made you feel better :) Top 9 can make you feel better too!

    Buzzed

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  9. These are super cute. I love them for a party. I am picturing a few burnt fingers though. I have such a hard time waiting for things to cool off.

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  10. Super cute idea! I've wanted to try this whole cake in a jar thing out for some time now. Definitely must try!

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  11. I love brownies … I love chocolate pudding … jars ade more fun than ramekins … whipped cream on top … extra relish!

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  12. I love brownies … I love chocolate pudding … jars ade more fun than ramekins … whipped cream on top … extra relish!

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