Baking Day at Grandma's Recipes

Book

Baking Day at Grandma's
by Anika Denise

It’s baking day at Grandma’s! Join the bears and their grandma to create a Chocolatey Wintery Cake, and have some warm Hot Cocoa while it’s baking in the oven.

Cook

Rich Hot Cocoa

Complexity: Moderate, involves stove and blender.
Time: 5 minutes.

Ingredients

3 oz. semisweet chocolate (55% to 60% cacao), coarsely chopped or broken into pieces
¼ cup heavy cream
3 cups whole milk; more as needed
Pinch kosher salt

Directions

Grind the chocolate in a food processor until it reaches the consistency of coarse meal, about 30 seconds.
Bring the cream to a boil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the cream to the food processor and process until smooth, about 10 seconds.
In a small saucepan, heat the milk over medium heat until simmering. Add half of the ganache and salt and stir until smooth (the ganache can be either warm or cold). If you prefer a thinner consistency, add more milk. Serve hot in mugs. One half of the ganache recipe will be left over to frost the chocolate cake.

Cook

Grandma Rosie's Chocolate Cake

Complexity: Simple cake, easy for kids to help.
Time: 20 minutes prep plus 30 minutes baking.

Ingredients

1 cup sugar
½ cup cocoa
1 cup flour
⅛ teaspoon of salt
4 tablespoons of butter (half a stick)
1 cup boiling hot water
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Mix the sugar, cocoa, flour, and salt in a large bowl. Using a small spoon, make a hollow in the center of the mixture. Add the butter in slices to the hollow center.
Stir the baking soda into the cup of boiling water. While it foams, pour it over the butter. Let the mixture sit until the butter melts and the batter cools. Add the egg and vanilla to the bowl and mix all the ingredients well.
Pour the batter into a lightly greased 9x9 baking pan and bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.
Test with a toothpick. The toothpick should come out dry when the brownies are done.
Allow the cake to cool after baking. Frost with leftover ganache and enjoy!