In addition to being a writer and an artist I'm also a pretty good cook! A skill I learned partially from my mother who had a few of her own personal recipes that I think would be criminal for the world to lose. SO, here's a few ya'll might enjoy!

Hot Chocolate Squares

Or as we call them Cocoa Squares! These are a bit like Coffee squares or so I'm told and you can actually make them with coffee, but if you have a taste for something maybe a little sweeter I don't think these can be beat also it comes with a quick and easy hot chocolate recipe too!:

Ingredients:

  • 2 Eggs
  • 2 cups of firmly packed brown sugar (really smoosh it down when your putting it in the measuring cup, it should hold the shape of the measuring cup when you put it in the bowl)
  • 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
  • 1 cup Vegetable Oil (I haven't experimented but supposedly Canola oil works very similar in baked goods to vegetable oil)
  • 1 cup coffee or hot chocolate (Do NOT make the hot chocolate with milk. Make it with WATER for this recipe. Do whatever you like if you wanna make the hot chocolate just to drink otherwise, but using milk instead of water will result in a completely different texture for your cocoa squares)
  • 1 teaspoon Baking Soda (and yeah it kinda has to be baking soda, we've tried baking powder and it just doesn't come out the same sorry)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 bag (around 12 ounces) of your preferred chocolate chips (I use milk chocolate but I've got a major sweet tooth)

For the Hot Chocolate:

  • 1 cup of hot water (I generally just use whatever normal sized mug I have to hand)
  • 1/2 a teaspoon of vanilla extract
  • A dash of salt (take the salt shaker and do one quick shake into the mug)
  • 1 level teaspoon of powdered baking cocoa
  • 3 level teaspoons of granulated sugar

Instructions

  • 1. Preheat your oven to 350℉ (180℃)
  • Mix together the eggs, vegetable oil, brown sugar, and vanilla extract until the mixture is smooth.
  • Heat up the water for the Hot Chocolate, put the baking cocoa powder, sugar, and salt in the mug, add the water and mix. Then add the vanilla extract and mix again.
  • Add the Hot Chocolate to the brown sugar mixture and mix until it's cohesive
  • Add the flour, salt and baking soda.
  • Pour onto a large cookie sheet and sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top.
  • Bake for 37 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.