A Contest! I’m lucky to have met Abby Dodge on Twitter even if so far we are really only ‘virtual’ friends. I hope know that will change but in the meantime, I’ve loved building a relationship with this wonderful, funny and talented woman. Although I had been following Abby on Twitter, I first really communicated with her when it came to my attention that she was the recipe developer behind this beautiful Peppermint Meringue Cake I made last Christmas.
I wanted to tell her how much I loved the cake so sent an email through her website and was surprised and delighted when she wrote back to me with tips and different flavors suggestions for occasions other than Christmas…how nice was that?!
Turns out she is also the whiz behind my all time most favorite cake ever! My daughter won first prize at a Nieman Marcus contest for employees last year with our version of her Espresso Chocolate Cake that we had found in Bon Appetit magazine. We revised it a bit…but it really is my favorite cake of all time. Not kidding!
Abby is an established cookbook author with seven cookbooks to her credit including many authored under the Williams-Sonoma label (this is starting to sound a bit stalkerish cause I just opened my WS version of Desserts (took a wild guess) and sure enough…recipes and text by…well, you know who! As if that isn’t enough, Abbie is a pastry-chef and a Fine Cooking Magazine contributing editor. Whew!
I was so looking forward to the release of her cookbook Desserts 4 Today. The idea is genius; an entire cookbook devoted to desserts you can make with four ingredients. Yes, as in 4…really!
I love making desserts but sometimes I tend toward the more complicated and time consuming (see those two above!) so having a resource for 125 simpler desserts from a cookbook author I already trusted; I could not wait, I just loved the idea. We all lead such busy lives so we need and crave fast and simple solutions; with this book we can combine that with our passion to make it homemade. So many of the recipes use ingredients you have on hand; the beautiful photos give you a clear idea of what they are supposed to look like and I love that Abby also includes some suggestions for alternates (Switch-Ins)…sure helped me when I decided to make her Nutella Fudge Brownies.
I’ve seen several others make this amazing brownie but despite having a Costco sized supply of Nutella (you know what I mean!) I did not have any chopped hazelnuts on hand so it kept getting delayed. Abby herself reminded me of the Switch-Ins and then Tuesday night the perfect opportunity presented itself. It was my daughter’s birthday and we were supposed to go out for dinner. A late afternoon phone call and plans were changed to meet at Lime, a local Mexican food restaurant where she and co-workers and friends would show up too. A quick call to the manager and I was given the OK to bring in a dessert; what could be more appropriate than the Nutella Fudge Brownies with cinnamon…seemed perfect to finish a Mexican meal!
No kidding…from phone call to completion? Twenty minutes and I had 3 dozen of these adorable bites ready to take with me. I sprinkled the tops with a combination of powdered sugar and cinnamon and they were devoured (yes, I made sure to save a couple for that very gracious manager!).
As I’m sure happens with many of your children, birthdays are seldom just one day of celebration here. Wednesday night was a late night for Lauren’s visual team at Nordstrom’s so it was requested that I make another batch for her to take in to work and this time, with a bit more forewarning, I did dress them up a bit with a Mocha Buttercream Frosting. I can’t deny they were, well, amazing, but remember this was part of a birthday celebration. For everyday, in 20 minutes…I’m still good with them minus the frosting!
Now for the Contest!
To top it all off, Abby has graciously offered me TWO BOOKS to give away to my readers; so excited! One copy I would like to offer to everyone that gets my feed via email. I’ve recently changed to a new paid service for my feed and in the event I lost some readers during the transition I am willing to bribe you to come back! I plan to include all of my email readers in upcoming contests so once a registered reader through email, you’ll be included in all of the contests…but of course I would still love your comments. Please? I’m not begging, really…just love to hear from you.
The 2nd book will be for everyone that follows BOTH Abbie and I on Twitter. Abby is @abbydodge and I’m @vinoluci; just let me know in your comment that you are stalking following us!
I’ll collect your entries, use random.org to determine the winners and announce results in one week….next Friday, the 24th. So you have til Thurday, September 23rd at midnight to enter the contest.
US and Canadian Residents Only
Good Luck!
In the meantime I would not leave without giving you the recipe!
Nutella Fudge Brownies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Nutella spread
- 1 large egg
- 5 Tbsp all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup hazelnuts (not having these, I substituted with 1/4 tsp of cinnamon added with the flour)
Preparation
- Heat the oven to 350
- Line 12 -cup mini muffin pans with paper or foil liners
- Put the Nutella and egg in medium bowl and whisk until smooth and well blended. Add the flour (and cinnamon if using) and whisk until blended in.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tins (about 3/4 full). If using hazelnuts, sprinkle those on top of brownies.
- Bake until a toothpick comes out with wet, gooey crumbs, approximately 11-12 minutes. I’m in dry Denver, I took mine out at 10 minutes.
- Set on a rack to cool completely.
- Serve as is or frost with Mocha Buttercream Frosting if desired.
Mocha Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
- 1 3/4 to 2 cups confectioner’s sugar
- 1/8 c unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 cup warm milk
- 2 tsp dry espresso or instant coffee
Preparation
- Combine butter, sugar, cocoa and vanilla in a medium bow and mix slowly until everything is moistened.
- Combine milk and dried coffee; add slowly to mixture in bowl.
- Beat at high speed with an electric mixer until uniform and fluffy.
- If necessary, add up to 1/4 cup additional confectioner’s sugar until the mixture is somewhat firm.
- Pipe or spread onto the top of cool cupcakes
Other Bloggers Who Could Not Help Themselves and have made Abby’s Nutella Chocolate Brownies:
- Savory Sweet Life
- A Chica Bakes
- The Sensitive Pantry (sort of – checkout this gluten free revision!)
- Make-Ahead Meals for Busy Moms
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Super pretty. Love the photo and now I really want one, maybe two, of those little yumyums and a cup of coffee.
I have been looking for a recipe that incorporates Nutella for a while. There are many, yes, but not like this one. Here the Nutella is the base of the batter, making it the star instead of a guest. I absolutely love it!!! And so easy is scary, I mean, I can do this ANY time. I haven’t tried the frosting since I didn’t had the ingredients at hand, but did frosted them with extra Nutella :) Also did a second batch with some Kisses and Reeses inside :D Will definitely keep playing with this recipe!!!
Thanks Barbara and Abby…. Will have to get the book… I’m curious now :)
You will love the book; so many great recipes but with just four ingredients, also great time savers. Very glad you enjoyed the Nutella Brownies!
Hi will definitely make these, my son loves Nutella. Also, I am now following both of you on twitter. Thanks
Mmm, Nutella and mocha! I am so there! :) I follow both of you wonderful ladies on Twitter.
Thank you Courtney…and I’m over to find you on Twitter too…should have asked everyone to give me their Twitter handle. Duh!
get e-mails, follow you and Ms. Dodge, fantastic recipe. ’nuff said.
I have a huge monster-sized jar of Nutella sitting in my cupboard and no one eats it but I know for a fact that my son and his friends would go nuts (no pun intended) for these brownie bites! Fanatastic, decadent! And great cookbook! Fast, easy, scrumptious! I want! And I just signed up to get your updates on email (what took me so long, right?) and I already follow both you and Abby on twitter, so there :-P xo
I follow Abby on Twitter which is how I found you and I’m following you now too!
ahhh… that explains why your posts haven’t been coming through! signing up for the emails. Those cupcakes are beautiful and are making me drool!
Well, glad you checked…glad I changed but know I lost some readers and especially glad to see ‘old’ (?) friends back!
And thank you…it was truly a big hit of a little bite.
I’m following you guys!!!!
These are some over-the-top perfect cupcakes. Nutella with mocha sounds like a dream come true.
I follow both you and Abby on twitter and I would love that cookbook. I have just become “The healthy food coordinator” for a local parent child center where I often get to cook with preschoolers. I believe making home made desserts with kids helps them to dislike the fake junk. This book would be filled with recipes perfect for the preschool set!
-Robin
I can attest to these brownies’ greatness – in fact, on Twitter not too long ago, there were about 10 of us making these all on the same evening! Of course I follow both you and Abby – Lordy, how many tweets going back and forth between us? And I’m a subscriber as well! The book is divine!!
Oh my GAWSH….those brownies are all kinds of out-of-this-world!!! Seriously yum =)
Love Nutella! Can’t wait to make these for my kids! I love the mocha buttercream frosting too! Yum! :)
Just got the book a few days ago, and I want to make these too!!
Hello Barb, You know I am already a servant in your court and joined Abby awhile back as well just to find out we are both #LeoPower :)
I have a Costco sized supply of Nutella, too! These brownies sound amazing-and so simple.
I just subscribed to your email feed.
I already follow you on twitter, and now follow Abby, as well.
Now that’s a cookbook worth having! I need all the simpler, quicker recipes I can get these days. BTW, your fussy dessert look incredible and I am sure it was well worth the time invested.
I follow you both on Twitter and subscribed again to your blog!
Great book! I’ve got a copy I’ve been drooling through myself. Can’t wait to try these and the mocha buttercream frosting sounds like the perfect topping.
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