Millie's Fudge Brownies

These brownies are the BEST and ALWAYS turn out yummy! This recipe is from my grandmother which I've altered ever so slightly by adding a little olive oil in the final step to make them even more deliciously moist! Enjoy!

Ingredients:

3 oz. unsweetened chocolate or 6 Tbsp. cocoa
1 stick unsalted butter
3/4 cup sifted flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
pinch salt
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1Tbsp. olive oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8 x 8 pyrex pan and set aside.
Melt butter with cocoa on low heat. Let cool. In one bowl, combine sifted flour, baking powder and salt, and set aside. In mixer, beat eggs with sugar a little at a time and blend for 2-3 minutes. Take chocolate mixture and stir in vanilla. Pour entire chocolate mixture into eggs and sugar mixture and mix until blended. Add flour mixture and blend. Now, while on low setting add olive oil until everything is smooth. Pour into your prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes at 350. Let cool on a rack and watch these sink down into the pan and create the yummiest brownies ever! Yields 16 brownies.

Cream of Tomato Soup

This soup is so easy and so impressive because it's beautiful in color, texture and it tastes delicious! You will want to make grilled cheese sandwiches to accompany it!! I tested it out on our friends along with their 3 year old son and our 1 year old son. They both loved it, so suffice it to say, this is a soup for all ages!

Ingredients:

2- 28 oz. cans of stewed or whole tomatoes OR 8-10 med. to large fresh tomatoes blanched and seeded
2 Tbsp. tomato paste
2-3 cups of vegetable stock
4 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. butter
2 carrots roughly chopped
1 shallot
2 garlic cloves
1 bay leaf
4 Tbsp. flour or cornstarch
2 Tbsp. brown sugar OR honey
1/4 cup cream
salt & pepper to taste

In a large soup pot on medium heat add the olive oil and saute the grated carrots, shallot, garlic, salt & pepper until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the butter until melted, then add the flour and stir until blended. To that add the tomato paste and brown sugar and stir all of this together to create a rough thick paste for the rest of our ingredients. Add the tomatoes and stir until well blended. Add 2 cups of the vegetable stock to start. If it seems too thick at this point, add the additional cup of stock. Throw in the bay leaf and turn to low heat cooking slowly for an hour and stirring occasionally. Take off the heat and let sit in the pot for an hour. Take out the bay leaf and blend the soup in a blender and return back to the soup pot and reheat. A few minutes before serving, stir in the cream, more salt & pepper to taste if needed and heat for an additional minute. This soup will easily feed 8 people. Enjoy!

Roasted Red Pepper Dip

This recipe happened on a whim when I needed a quick appetizer before our neighbors came over for dinner. These were the ingredients I had and as it so happened, it had a wonderful pink color to it which was a perfect addition to our Valentines Day theme dinner. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Roasted Red Pepper - 2 full peppers marinated from a jar
8 oz. sour cream
1/4 cup feta cheese
1/4 tsp. onion powder
dash paprika
dash of fresh grated garlic
salt & pepper to taste
Juice of 1/2 a lime & dash of lime zest


In a small quisinart blend all ingredients. Serve in a chilled bowl with rice crackers or your favorite bread on the side.

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Tempura Fried Tofu

This is so simple and good for you! My son Theo has always loved tofu as long as I can remember, so over the years I have created 50 different ways to cook it. This is my newest creation. It's quick, easy and tastes delicious! I call this recipe, happiness by chance! I made it up completely on the spot the night before last, and my whole family devoured them within minutes. Make this recipe with any vegetable you like as well. I made broccoli along with the tofu since that's what I had handy, but be creative and use this recipe with whatever else you may have in your fridge that would accompany the tofu nicely. Let go of the guilt of eating this tofu fried and serve it on a bed of fresh spinach that's dressed in lemon and sesame oil. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
Block of Firm Tofu
Japanese bread crumbs, about 2 cups +/-
1 egg
3 Tbsp. water
1 Tbsp. Five Spice Powder (contains cardamom, cinnamon, cumin, etc)
Peanut Oil for frying
3 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. toasted sesame oil
1/2 tsp. sesame seeds
Wok

Drain tofu and cut into 1" cubes OR triangles, whatever suits your eye. I like the cubes as they tend to hold their shape in the process. In a wok, preheat about 2" of peanut oil until it bubbles when tofu is dropped in (about 300-350 degrees). In a small bowl whisk together the egg and water and half of your 5 spice mixture. In another small bowl pour bread crumbs and the rest of your 5 spice mixture. Take a few cubes of tofu at a time and dredge in the egg wash quickly, then immediately dredge in the bread crumbs until completely coated. Drop these into your wok of hot peanut oil and cook until golden brown, turning them around in the oil as needed. DO NOT OVERCROWD YOUR OIL. Repeat these last two steps until everything is done. Now, in a small serving bowl mix together your soy sauce, toasted sesame oil and sesame seeds. Place your tofu on a platter and dip away!

Millie's Art Gallery

Coming soon to Millie's Cafe....

will be an art exhibit of my work. I'm very proud and grateful for the opportunity to share with you some of my prints that represent my journey with food, writing, art and family.

Also coming very soon will be my recipes for....

Tempura Fried Tofu, Gingerbread for Two, Pizza Crust and some of my favorite pizza topping combos, and two more of my favorite chocolate recipes ever!!! my Down East Meets Denver Chocolate Pudding and my Bi-Coastal Fudge Brownies as well as my famous Blondies!!

Chocolate Dipped Macaroons

This cookie recipe is the easiest thing you'll ever make! I happen to love coconut, and most especially macaroons. When I found out how easy these were to make, I decided to give it a twist by dipping them in chocolate and sending em' over the edge. Of course, the chocolate part is optional. If you are a die hard traditional macaroon fan, then keep it simple and enjoy them as they are; a moist and delicious cookie. For fun options, you could add a few drops of flavored extract in your chocolate to create a theme. For instance, add a few drops of orange oil extract and a dash of orange rind to your chocolate if that suits your fancy. You can't go wrong with either orange oil extract or even peppermint oil extract in your chocolate just to add some variety to your cookie platter. Play around with it and have fun! For now, here is the recipe for the cookie and dipping chocolate. Enjoy!

Makes about 2 dozen cookies (+/-)

Cookie Batter
Ingredients:
1 - 14oz. bag sweetened coconut
1 - 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
2 tsp. vanialla extract
parchment paper
cookie baking tray

Dipping Chocolate
Ingredients:
1 - 4oz. bar of Ghiradelli semi-sweet chocolate
1 - 4oz. bar of Ghiradelli 60% bittersweet chocolate (I like to combine the two to make the perfect dipping chocolate)
heat-proof bowl
1 quart pot for boiling water
parchment paper
cookie baking tray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line your cookie trays with parchment paper, one for baking your cookies and the other for drying your freshly dipped cookies. Boil about 2 cups water in your quart pan and then turn off heat. Place your heat proof bowl on top of the quart pan and set aside (the bowl should be about 1" from touching the water).

In a large bowl combine coconut, condensed milk and vanilla and stir until blended. This is a very wet dough. Use two spoons together to drop cookies on your parchment paper, about 1 Tbsp. of dough per cookie. I like my cookies to be bite size, since they are sooooo rich and yummy. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. They should be just turning a light gold color around the bottom edges. Take out and place cookies on a cooling rack. Let cool completely before moving to the dipping stage.

Meanwhile, break up your chocolate into small pieces and place in heat proof bowl suspended over the hot water. Turn the heat back on to a very low temperature to keep the water hot, but not too hot. Your chocolate will melt within minutes, just keep stirring and be patient. Once your chocolate is melted, take each cookie turning it upside down and dip the very top of your cookie into the chocolate then place back onto the other parchment lined cookie tray. Refrigerate these dipped cookies for about 15 minutes until the chocolate is firm to the touch. That's it!