Malted Brownies with Malted Chocolate Candy

When I think of summer, I think of a lot of things.

Hanging out in the backyard on a sunny day, riding my bike, and quenching my thirst with a nice big chocolate malt.

The malt just makes the chocolate richer, more delicious, worth savoring. So when we got a package of Malted Milk Powder from CTL Foods in Colfax, Wis., one of my ideas was to use that malt powder to deepen the richness of chocolate in other instances.

And Malted Brownies sounded perfect. To add to the malted flavor, we added a layer of malted chocolate candy to the top, which also provided a little bit of a crunch to go along with the decadent chocolate and malt brownie. And you can add some of those candies into the brownie batter, too, or you can add your favorite nuts or other brownie topping.

Disclaimer: A package of Malted Milk Powder was provided to us free of charge.

Malted Brownies with Malted Chocolate Candy

adapted from America’s Test Kitchen Family Baking Book

16 brownies

5 onces bittersweet chocolate, chopped coarse

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped coarse

8 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 tablespoons Dutch-processed cocoa powder

1 ¼ cups sugar

3 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

½ teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons malt powder

1 cup chopped Whoppers

1 cup all-purpose flour

½ cup chopped Whoppers

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 8-inch baking pan and line with foil. Melt the first four ingredients together in microwave, stirring often, for a total of 1 to 3 minutes.

2. While chocolate mixture is cooling, in large bowl, whisk, sugar, eggs, vanilla, salt, malt powder and chopped Whoppers until combined. Stir in flour until just incorporated.

3. Transfer batter into pan. Rotate halfway through, and add Whoppers to top and press, chocolate side down, gently into brownies when rotating. Bake until toothpick comes out with just a few crumbs attached, about 35 to 40 minutes.

4. Let cool completely in pan, about 2 hours. Remove from pan with foil, serve.

Disclaimer: A package of Malted Milk Powder was provided to us free of charge.

Chocolate-Covered Wisconsin Brandied Tart Cherries

Christmas is almost here, but before you settle in with your family around the tree, we've got a couple of more holiday treat recipes for you to try.

This summer when we made Brandied Door County Tart Cherries, we knew we would want to use some of them come Christmastime.

We simply covered a bunch in chocolate for some homemade Chocolate-Covered Wisconsin Brandied Tart Cherries. Our friends Peef and Lo at Burp! have a recipe that we've drooled over.

The best thing about these is that most of the work has been done (the canning process takes far longer than anything else). Our recipe simply calls for some chocolate melted, then poured into a mold. Mix up a little dry fondant, cherry juice and invertase (fondant and invertase purchased from Cook's in West Allis) and drop 1/3 teaspoon of the mixture into each chocolate-covered mold. Drop a cherry in each spot and cover with more chocolate, then refrigerate.

Brandied cherries in the mold, before they are covered with chocolate.

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

After last year, I tried to be better about harvesting zucchini from our plant before they hit the ginormous size.

Well, that didn't happen this year. I have 30-plus cups of shredded zucchini sitting in the freezer. So there's nothing I can do but bake and bake and bake.

And, believe it or not, one thing I haven't baked is zucchini bread. So I set off to the kitchen with a recipe from Sugared Whisk.

I loved, loved this recipe. Really the chocolate had such strong flavor that you could barely notice zucchini was in there. Just a hint of zucchini flavor. Perfect.

This recipe will be made again, but with 30-plus cups, I'd like to diversify my zucchini baking. What else should I use my zucchini to bake?

Crave Brothers Chocolate Mascarpone Pie

I was lucky enough to be a winner of a Crave Brothers giveaway. The giveaway included Crave Brothers mascarpone and ingredients to make their Chocolate Mascarpone Pie.

The giveaway included a chocolate cookie crumb crust, semi-sweet chocolate chips, Kahlua and the Crave Brothers Farmstead Classic Mascarpone cheese. All we had to do was mix the ingredients together (after the chocolate was melted, of course), and then spread in the crust and let cool in the fridge.

It was a struggle not to bite into it early. But the wait was worth it.

The pie was rich -- oh so rich -- and unbelievable. The mascarpone was excellent, a great creamy product, perfect for this delightful dessert.