Delicious Baked Fudge...

I had my Thursday all mapped out for myself. I had dinner put together and baking in the oven (macaroni and "cheese" with hidden vegetables) by the time my husband was home. The dishes were done, the kitchen was sparkling. The kids were fed and wearing semi clean clothes (nothing that would stain, at least). The house was tidy and a fall scented candle was even lit. I wanted nothing to come in between me and my run.

Before going upstairs to grab a pair of socks, I peeked out the window, just to see what my running conditions would be like.

BOOM! Like a scene from a movie, thunder crashed at my hopes of a trip to the track, and I ended up planting myself firmly on the couch with a big pout hanging off the edge of my lips. Every 5 minutes or so, I'd set myself up for disappointment and look out through the blinds at the blackened sky, imagining myself stomping through the puddles in my running shoes, my ponytail swinging back and forth, Tilly and the Wall blaring loudly through my ipod ear plugs. And then, in my vision, I'd get struck by lightning (don't put it past Texas), quickly regain my unsatisfying reality, and return my focus to the television.

Well, at least I wouldn't miss The Vampire Diaries (which I thought was lame, by the way, but you know I'm going to watch it again next week).

Eleanore was bored, flopping herself around from couch to floor, wall to stairs, toy to blanket. I was bored, typing myself from blog to twitter, flickr to facebook, etsy to google. And then I accepted the fact, that I was not going running. The rain hadn't stopped in hours (of course, on the one night that I planned to start my 5k training), my eyes were still catching flashes of lightning with random blinks, and the sun was going down. I slumped down on the not so comfortable couch (we did that on purpose), and I hated it.

What could possibly make this night better?

"Eleanore... are you bored?", I asked.
"*sigh* ...yeah", she responded.
"lets make something with chocolate and sugar", I said, strongly.

If we were going to be trapped inside, we might as well do the opposite of what I was originally planning on doing. Eat sugar. Eleanore of course started jumping up and down, thrilled at the thought of licking batter. Especially, chocolate batter. Because I'm paranoid that we're all going to get salmonella, I buy egg beaters (its pasteurized), specifically for baking, so that the batter can be consumed safely, and in mass quantities. If you're going to eat the batter, you better do it right.


Earlier I had been hopping around over at The Pioneer Woman, and had come across this recipe, for baked fudge. It seemed simple enough. We had all the ingredients. Why not.

If you clicked over to her site, you can see that she had fancy baking dishes to use for her fudge. I however, did not, but still liked the idea of serving the fudge in individual portions rather than baking it in a brownie pan. I used my silicone cupcake cups instead.


She had described the "baked fudge" as being gooey, and kind of like a brownie batter. Um, yes please, count me in. I had a little bit of the mixins leftover, so I poured it into my mini muffin form, and let it rise like a normal cupcake, rather than sitting it in the water for the "gooey" affect.

Right about the time that The Vampire Diaries was starting, the oven started beeping, and our delicious Thursday night treat was ready. We made the mistake of eating some while it was still hot, which dulled down the crunch of the top layer, but was still good. Awhile later, we tried some again after it had all cooled, and it was much like heaven. So much so, that we ate... it all.

After the show was over, and I was full of chocolate and sugar (Eleanore had gone to bed and didn't even get to taste any of the cooked stuff, so we saved one for her and put it in the fridge for her snack the next day), I looked outside, and it had stopped raining. It was still sprinkling, it was nearly pitch black, but... I could still get a run in. So I laced up my Adidas, put on my running hoodie (I had been dying to wear it for months now), and took myself down to the gym to squeeze in 2 miles.

I fell in love with it, running at night, by the way. More about that another time though. You're wanting the recipe for the baked fudge, aren't you?

Delicious Baked Fudge: (by the Pioneer Woman)

-2 eggs (I used egg beaters, for extra cautious batter licking)
-1 cup sugar
-2 heaping tablespoons cocoa (I didn't think this was enough, I'd add more)
-2 tablespoons flour (I used gluten free flour, of course)
-1/2 cup butter, melted (smart balance, here)
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract (go ahead, double it up)

Preheat oven to 300 to 325 degrees.
Beat eggs until light in color. Beat in sugar until just combined.
Add cocoa, flour, melted butter, and vanilla extract. Mix gently until well combined.
Pour batter into four large ramekins or 1 8-inch square baking dish.
Set ramekins or pan into a larger pan halfway full of water.
Bake 40 to 50 minutes, or until upper crust is crispy and the rest of the batter is firm but not set. Toothpick should come out…not clean, but mixture should not be overly runny. If you pull it out of the oven and have second thoughts, stick it back in for ten minutes.