Looking to my blogging mentor Jules (Go Jules Go) I’ve decided to be just like her copy her steal her thunder take her advice and host a giveaway. Since she’s tapped the market on ‘stache glasses, slap bracelets, and even canvas prints, I had to come up with something really clever to give away.
Blogging Mentor and Mentee (Jules and Rache)
I would love to send the inevitable winner a bevy of local products, but since winter squash and old potatoes are all that’s local right now, I’ll allow the contest to dictate the prize.
The Contest: Name That Recipe!
Last Friday I held a Fall Feast at my humble house. Feast we did. For dessert I made a traditional Apple Crisp and these giant chocolate muffin thingies covered in chocolate ganache and served with local pumpkin ice cream. Since “giant chocolate muffin thingies covered in chocolate ganache and served with local pumpkin ice cream” is a rather cumbersome name for this delicious dessert, I thought I’d rely on you, Clever Readers, for a proper name.
Read the recipe, look at the photos, and leave your awe-inspiring and innovative name in the comment section. I’ll even allow you to enter two names, if you think they’re both THAT good. Deadline is Monday, November 26 at 8 am (EST). I have so much faith in you!
But now on to more important things. Mainly, what’s the prize?
The Giveaway: Coffee, Personalized Mug, Fame
What goes best with giant chocolate anything? Strong black coffee of course! A pound of my favorite blend from my local coffee house, Brew Ha Ha. (I’m willing to send tea for those non-coffee drinkers out there. I don’t understand you, but I won’t discriminate.)
AND...
A mug much like this one…
I call it “Blog Self Portrait.” (That one art class in college really paid off.)
I will personalize a mug for the winner–a one-of-a-kind, priceless prize!
You know you want one
AND…yes, there’s more!
Your name and blog name/link (but you don’t need to be a blogger to enter) will appear forever on my Cook Local page next to your winning recipe name.
So what are you waiting for???
Name. That. Recipe!!!!
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For the cake:
(The cake recipe is from Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa Powder tin)
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup 100% Cacoa Cocoa Powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup low-fat milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two giant-sized muffin tins (six to a tin).
Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Beat on medium speed of mixer for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be very, very thin). Pour batter into prepared muffin tins (this recipe makes ten muffins). Don’t fill them all the way to the top!
Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes and carefully remove from pans to cool. Top with ganache.
Decadent but nameless goodness
For the ganache:
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup heavy cream
Place chocolate chips in a medium bowl. Heat the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat, bringing slowly to a boil. When cream is just at a boil, remove from heat and pour over the chocolate chips. Whisk until smooth. Allow to cool a bit before pouring over the cakes. If you’d like a thicker ganache, whisk until fluffy.
For a seasonal treat, serve with local pumpkin ice cream.
Whatchoo think? You have until November 26 at 8 am (EST) to Name That Recipe!
Rachel's Table 
The Devil Made Me Do It Cupcakes or
Died and Gone to Heaven Cupcakes
Two opposite ends of the spiritual spectrum there. Nice. 🙂
My oh my. You make me proud. And I want a custom Rache mug. Badly.
I’ll be back when work stops hating me and I can properly concentrate on all of this goodness.
I learned from the best.
I await your reply with bated breath and a box of wine.
You two are too cute next to industrial stainless steel. With BEER in them, no less. Two of my favorites! (I used to work in the valve and fitting industry AND brewed my own beer at home. Who knew?)
This is totally rigged. Everyone knows Jules is going to win.
You are SO cynical! Not rigged! Jules will win fair and square if she’s got the best name.
You know your name will take the cake, so to speak, since you are such a creative type. Don’t you do marketing for a living? You should be able to come up with something in your sleep.
Yeah, you’re right. I should recuse myself. What about “The Cocoamotion” or “Oh My Ganache!”
Oh my goodness, thanks for the excellent entries. But just let me know if you want to take yourself out of the running because you are TOO talented. 😉
I MUST defeat Jules!!!
Mamasita Chocolata. Says me:)
Interesting choice, mi amigo.
Ooh. Great idea for a contest! I’ll have to think on this one….hmmm…..
Can’t wait to see what you come up with!
Pump Up the Ganache Cakes
I’m trying to remain objective here, but nicely done!
Me hungry.
Go Gaga Nosh
or
Love On A Plate
Thanks, Peg! It’s so sad that all the love on that plate translates to more weight. (I rhymed! – by accident!)
Perhaps I should point out the exquisite play on words contained in my first offering..gaga, as in crazy. Nosh, as in snack. So go crazy for this snack. And when you say it together out-loud, the last syllable of gaga plus nosh is “ga-nosh”, which SOUNDS like ganache. Get it? Get it? Hello – is this thing on?
Oh Peg, I knew EXACTLY what you were getting at. I kept saying it out loud in fact. It just rolls off the tongue. I’m so happy to see that you were thinking about this enough to come back and explain. That just earned you extra points, but don’t tell anyone. 🙂
Mm. Looks like Chocolite Cellulite to me. ‘Cause that’s where it’ll end up. (And that’s just Dynomite! (I need to quit reading Angie’s blog before this.) I sure could use a mug and some coffee…
PS — I sooo thought of you today cutting mustard greens, collard greens, radishes, bok choy, and buttercrunch lettuce from Bubba’s fields before T-giving. Four bags, $4. Super-duper fresh and organic greens. Ha!! It’s nice to be in Texas sometimes.
Chocolite Cellulite. hehe. Nice one.
Ah, don’t speak to me of your $4 greens! I just paid $3.69 each for two bunches of kale. Well worth it, because Kale is one of my favorite things, but still. Next year I’m growing my own.
“Growing your own.” These days, you can say that with confidence and not even get arrested. 😉
I know what you mean about prices. We pay nearly $3 a head for organic romaine at the grocer and still have to pick the caterpillars out of it. At least this way, my plants still have roots and I can store them on the counter top (in little buckets of water) and pick leaves only as I need — saving the fridge space for our T-giving leftovers!
A giveaway? How Jules-like! 😉 That’s ok, I, too, am doing a giveaway inspired by Jules……for a mug, no less. (Seriously, this is getting freaky. Quit it!). 😉
Ok, here’s mine:
Cocoa Loco Local
Choco-Punkin Mounds of Joy
I won’t link it, but check out my Monday’s post if you wanna enter for MY mug. 😉
This is not a link free zone! Feel free to link any time. I trust you. 😉
Did you see that Jules is having a giveaway too? Great minds…(or maybe we just want to BE Jules?)
Nice entries. I always like the word Punkin.
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Oooh Oooh! I love a good game and a giveaway! I’ve got a few names. Let’s see…
YOCO (You only cocoa once. Sorry, I just had to.)
Rebirth By Chocolate Cake
Cocoa Loco
YOCO! Haha! Nice one. The winner will be announced next week!
PS – I love your new gravatar pic. So very, very cute.
Oh man, Rache. I’m choking! Sloshed in Ganache?!
Just breathe, Jules. You can do this. I read your GEM of a post on Le Clown. YOU can do this in your SLEEP. You can even use the F-bomb if you need to.
And I would say that Sloshed in Ganache is a F-bomb good entry.
Ooh! Some great names thus far. I will declare a conflict with submitting a name since you are about to win my contest and entering this one now might seem a bit incestuous. Like a “takeover WordPress” type of plot.
That choclately pumpkin combo thingy (see…no good with naming anyway) looks delicious by the way!
Wai, is that cleavage on your cup giveaway?!
“Wait”… I’m guessing in Taiwainese that Wai means something else entirely.
Do you think we COULD take over WordPress? Let’s grab Jules, B-Man, and Darla and hatch a scheme.
Yai, that is cleavage on my cup. I should have known your keen sense of observation would come through. I think it’s just the right amount, too.
Yep, classy-level cleavage. Definitely not Kardashian-level or anything.
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