Brian Lane - Mind Games with a Serial Killer

6 oz. Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

4 oz. Country Crock® tub Butter

4 large Egg Whites, lightly beaten ⅔ cup Honey

2 oz. Apple Cider

If you get your Ginseng in capsule form, empty about 32 capsules into a large mixing bowl. This should be close to 4 oz. of powdered Ginseng. Mix in the Flour, Baking Powder, Ginger, Cinnamon and Brown Sugar. In a double-boiler, mix together the Chocolate Chips, Butter and Honey. Heat them until they combine together in a thick syrup. To the powder mixture, stir in the Milk, Egg Whites, Apple Cider and heated syrup. Mix until well blended. Pour into a paper-lined or well greased muffin tin and bake in a preheated oven at 400° for 20-25 minutes or until muffins spring back to the touch. (Sticking a toothpick into the center of the muffin, it should come back out clean.) Allow them to cool about two minutes, then serve warm, topped with butter. Eat away with someone you love.

Every time I would make these cupcakes, they’d seem to just disappear without any apparent help. I lived alone and I’d swear that I didn’t eat them all. So I figured that the story a friend of mine once told me must be true. You see, refrigerators are strange places… . There’s a Black Hole in each and every one of them! You put something in the refrigerator and then next thing you know, it’s gone. “The Black Hole ate it up!” And for some strange reason, the more people there are in the home, the more that Black Hole eats!!

Cupcakes

2 cups Brown Sugar, packed

1½ cups Lowfat or Nonfat Milk

1 cup Flour

1 cup Sprite® Soda Pop

¾ cup Hershey’s® Hot Chocolate Mix

½ cup Country Crock® tub Butter

3 large Egg Whites

1½ teaspoons Baking Powder

1½ teaspoons Baking Soda

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Icing

3 cups Confectioner’s Sugar

2 cups Hershey’s® Hot Chocolate Mix

1½ cups Country Crock® tub Butter

½ cup Lowfat or Nonfat Milk

Cupcakes: Open the soda pop a couple hours ahead of time to let it go flat. In a large bowl, mix together the Brown Sugar, Flour, Baking Powder and Baking Soda. Add in the Milk, Sprite® Soda and Butter. Stir until batter is creamy and smooth. In another bowl, mix together the Hot Chocolate Mix, Egg Whites and the Vanilla Extract. Mix until this group is creamy and smooth, also.

Frosting: Mix together the Butter, Milk, Sugar and Hot Chocolate mix. Stir together ingredients until they are thick and smooth. Set aside until cupcakes are ready to frost.

Cooking: Preheat the oven to 350°. Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners. Pour cupcake batter into each liner ¾ full. Spoon 1 tablespoon of Chocolate mixture into each liner and using a swizzle stick, swirl the mixture into the batter. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until cupcakes spring back when touched. Remove muffin tin and cupcakes from the oven and let cool on a cooling rack. When cool to the touch, frost with chocolate icing. Then eat all that you want before the “Black Hole” gets them.

I really like strawberries! Always have—always will. A lady friend I used to see a lot had a presence that exuded strawberry. She wore strawberry perfume, strawberry earrings, strawberry incense in her home, strawberry knick-knacks, strawberry everything! But she couldn’t cook worth beans. I altered another recipe to come up with this one for her. Talk about someone being in seventh heaven… !

4 cups fresh Strawberries

3 cups sifted Flour

2 large Egg Whites

1 cup Granulated Sugar

1 cup Brown Sugar

1 cup Country Crock® tub Butter

½ cup cold Water

½ cup Lowfat or Nonfat Milk

1 tablespoon light Corn Syrup

1 tablespoon Vanilla Extract

Cool Whip® Whipped Cream Topping

Betty Crocker’s® White (Vanilla) Frosting

Filling: Remove green crowns from the strawberries then slice them in half. Place them in a large mixing bowl, add the Granulated Sugar and Corn Syrup. Stir to disperse sugar and syrup throughout the mixture. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Shell: In a large bowl, combine 2 ½ cups Flour, Egg Whites, Brown Sugar, ¾ cup Butter, Vanilla, Water and Milk. Mix all ingredients into a thick dough. Divide dough into four equal parts, placing one fourth on a flour dusted surface. Dust flour lightly over dough and roll it out to about ⅛” thickness. Cut three rounds out of the dough about 6” across, dust again and set aside. Repeat with remaining dough.

Assembly: Preheat oven to 350°. Spread butter on ¼” border of each round, then scoop 2 spoonfuls of strawberry mixture into the center of each round. Fold the rounds in half so the buttered edges can be pinched together. Arrange each turnover on a non-stick cookie sheet so edges do not touch. Place cookie sheet into oven and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until shell turns a golden brown. When done, allow to cool or serve immediately. Top with either whipped cream or frosting. May wait until turnovers are cold before frosting is put on and refrigerated until later.

In college, I took a course in effective communication in which one requirement was to write a resume. On it, I was to list my attributes pertaining to the job as well as the areas in which I was weak. The imaginary position I was applying for was one in which I was overwhelmingly qualified. I thought and thought for a weakness that would apply, because I was told that I had to list something. I finally wrote down my greatest weakness: Chocolate! I love chocolate, in nearly all of its forms. This recipe came about because of my love for chocolate and after my first taste of a Peanut Butter Cup.

1 cup Hershey’s® Unsweetened Cocoa

2 cups Salt-Free Peanut Butter

2 cups Lowfat or Nonfat Milk

2 cups Sugar

½ Country Crock® tub Butter

½ cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

2 tablespoons Cinnamon-Sugar

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

In a large saucepan, combine the Cocoa, Peanut Butter, Milk, Sugar and Cinnamon-Sugar, heating over medium heat. Stir until mixture is smooth and creamy. When mixture begins to bubble, remove from heat and add in Butter and Vanilla Extract, stirring until well blended. Allow to cool for 20 minutes, then fold in Chocolate Chips. Pour mixture into non-stick pans to about 1-inch depth and allow to cool to room temperature. Once at room temperature, place pans in refrigerator for a minimum of ½ hour. Cut into squares and serve cold.

I used to avoid Coffee Cake like a cat avoids dogs. Having a severe allergic reaction to coffee, I wouldn’t consume anything that I thought had coffee in it. And I believed that Coffee Cake was made with, naturally, coffee! To my great pleasure, I found that Coffee Cake was nothing more than Spice Cake. So, after coming across a Coffee Cake recipe, I cooked one up. While it was good, it didn’t quite have the taste I liked. Once again, I began experimenting. After a few inedible results—one which not even wild birds would touch— finally I came up with the following recipe. My roommate almost became my girlfriend because of this recipe. Hope you like it, too.

3 cups sifted Flour

½ cup Brown Sugar, packed

¾ cup Country Crock® tub Butter

1½ cups Lowfat or Nonfat Milk

5 large Egg Whites

1 tablespoon Baking Powder