TWD: Dimply Plum Cake

YUM!!!!!!!!!

Wow!!! This was so much better than I would ever have imagined! This is another one of those times when I am very grateful to belong to this group- I don't think I would have made this recipe without a little nudging. Boy am I glad (and so is everyone else that ate it) that I did!!

Big thanks to Michelle of Bake-en for this selection. This was a great diversion from all of the delicious cookies this past week and has become an instant classic/favorite of ours.

Before!                                       After!             

I made this with 8 Italian plum/prunes, which just happened to be on sale and the total cost was less than $1 which was an enormous score given the usually skyrocketing prices of produce. The only change I made to the recipe was not using the cardamon (because I didn't have any) but I would like to try it for the next time. Everything about the cake was so perfect- the plums were outrageous. The cooking time was off by about 10 minutes though and I'm guessing that may be because of the dish I baked the cake in. Either way, it was really, really delicious!!!! We managed to save some for the next day just to see how the taste would change. It was still really delicious. I can't wait to run out and get some of those Italian plums again!

I'll be taking off next week because I will be at my alma mater cheering on my Nittany Lions along with 110,000 of my closest friends but I am looking forward to seeing how the creme brulee comes out!

TWD: Chocolate Chunkers

Thanks to Claudia of Fool for Food for selecting this week's recipe, the unbelievably chocolatey chocolate chunkers. 

I have to be honest, given the amount of ingredients (chocolate chips, peanuts, raisins, etc) that were going into the cookies I was worried they were going to be too "full" to be tasty. I even considered omitting the peanuts or the raisins just to be on the safe side. Then I ended up giving in and the only change I made to the recipe was reducing the amount of peanuts to 1 cup.

The ultimate verdict was 2 thumbs up all around- even my Dad indulged and ate a bunch even though he has been very conscious about reducing the amount of sugar in his diet (maybe the cookies were too good then?) :-) I even liked the raisins and how the moistness played off of the crunchiness of the peanuts and the chips. Next time I'll cut back a little bit more on the peanuts but they definitely will be made again!

TWD: Chocolate Whopper Malted Drops

It only took a month, but the school year has finally calmed down to the point where I have time to bake! Mucho gracias to Rachel of Confessions of a Tangerine Tart for this Chocolate Whopper Malted Drop selection! You can find the recipe on her blog.

The cookies were very easy to make (yay!) and smelled really great while baking. I tossed the whoppers into a mini-prep to quick chop them but ended up with a lot of whopper crumbs along with the chopped pieces. Next time I may just do it by hand so that the cookies have more crunch to them.

Overall they were pretty decent. My husband really enjoyed them and I did like the toffee-texture that the whoppers took on while baking. I actually liked them better the next day :-)