The Reckless Chef

Happy February 14th, everyone! Hope you’re all enjoying some sweet treats today!

Here’s what came out of my kitchen:

First, some incredible Framboise Lambic Brownies, inspired by McCauliflower’s delicious, chocolatey recipe. I almost didn’t mod the recipe, because it looked perfect just the way it was. But…I can’t cook anything without tinkering with it, so I added a few tablespoons of puréed raspberries to the batter.

 

Click to view bigger, tastier raspberry brownies.

And what holiday is complete without cupcakes? These are dark chocolate cupcakes with pink-tinted buttercream frosting. They’re made with my classic chocolate cupcake recipe, minus the mint extract and switching out the regular cocoa powder in favor of dark.

 

Click to take a closer look at the pretty, pretty cupcakes.

I learned a few new things while I was baking:

• The kitchen floor isn’t the only place I can take food pictures! These shots were taken in natural light, on the living room windowsill. I’m a fan.
• Semisweet chocolate chips can catch on fire. I don’t have photographic evidence of this, but trust me. They can. It’s not pretty.
• When you pop open a bottle of Framboise Lambic, it makes the whole kitchen smell good. Even if you’ve just ignited some semisweet chocolate chips. Bonus!