As the week draws to a close (thank God!) and thoughts turn to the fabulousness that is the Super Bowl (go Pats!) I bet you’re starting to wonder what the heck you’re going to serve the rowdy crowd of male friends and Tom Brady ogling girlfriends who plan to congregate around your TV on the big day. Well, I’m planning to make Super Top Secret Artichoke Dip, a Baked Brie, and possibly Chicken Tikka Masala. I was leaning toward my favorite Ellie Krieger Chili recipe, but I’m still on the fence. It may end up being a game day decision. Or maybe I’ll just say screw it, order pizzas, and call it good. Either way I’ll be cheering on my favorite sexy quarterback hair plugs and all.

The internet is full of crazy, useless, cooking related stuff this week that you and I definitely don’t need but will still secretly covet and bookmark all over the place. This includes:

• Monkey Tea, which I have to admit I almost bought yesterday until I came to my senses.
• Cupcake dresses for adorable little girls with bouncy blonde curls.
• La Vie En Rose Tea which I would only buy out of guilt for not actually having seen the film.
• Slashfood linked to a website that allows you to make your own granola bars and then name them. I played with the “You Bars” website this morning and made a peanut butter, chocolate chip, and nut filled concoction. I think at that rate I’d just have to name it “Why Don’t You Just Eat a Snickers Bar.”
• In addition, they apparently make New York Style Cheesecake Hershey kisses. If you let me try one I’ll be your best friend.

You know how sometimes you’ll find a recipe and really want to make it, but then you start reading the ingredients list and the instructions and it will slowly dawn on you that you’re missing EVERYTHING and there isn’t possibly anyway you could “fudge it” (so to speak). Well that’s what happened to me when I read the recipe for Double Shot Cake. I knew I couldn’t possibly do Diane Mott Davidson’s devilish dessert justice, when I didn’t have a double boiler, parchment paper, or a ten inch cake pan. So I made the horrifying decision to go to the mall–on a Saturday.

My cake baking journey took me to three stores and drained my wallet of about a hundred dollars. It’s my own fault. I’m a cookware snob and I only wanted the All-Clad double boiler insert for my four quart saucepan. They finally had it at Williams-Sonoma. Next, on my list was a cake pan. For some bizarre reason, Davidson wants us to use a ten inch cake pan. Frankly I thought this sized pan was as mythical as a unicorn, until once again I found a set at Williams-Sonoma. Are you sensing a pattern here? I rounded out my ridiculously frivolous purchases with parchment paper. The moral of the story is obviously to always start at Williams-Sonoma.

Note: I entered this pricey concoction in The Kitchn’s “Bittersweet Baking Contest.” Wish me luck!

Line & Butter	The Double Boiler Earns Its Keep
Foamy Eggs	Triple Sifted
Unintentional Yin & Yang	Stir it All Together
Fill	Set Into a Water Bath Very Carefully & Bake

Double Shot Chocolate Cake (Originally published by Diane Mott Davidson in her novel Double Shot)

10 ounces unsalted butter
10 ounces bittersweet chocolate, broken into small pieces (recommended brand: Godiva dark)
3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons extra-fine granulated sugar
2 tablespoons Dutch-style cocoa (recommended brand: Hershey’s Premium European-Style)
8 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Butter a 10-by-1 1/2-inch heavy-duty round cake pan. Line the bottom with parchment cut to fit. Butter the parchment. Set aside.

Fill a 16-by-11-inch roasting pan with 1 inch of hot water, place the roasting pan on a baking sheet, and put it into the oven.

In the top of a double boiler, melt the butter with the chocolate. When the ingredients are melted, remove the pan from the heat to cool slightly. Sift the sugar with the cocoa twice, then whisk it into the melted chocolate mixture.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs until they are foamy. Add the vanilla and the chocolate mixture. Blend with a spatula until very well mixed.

Carefully pour the batter into the prepared cake pan. Gently place the cake pan in the water-filled roasting pan.

Bake about 40 to 50 minutes, or until the cake begins to shrink slightly from the sides and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Place on a rack to cool for 15 minutes, then invert carefully and peel off the paper. Allow to cool completely.

Serve with sweetened whipped cream, best quality vanilla ice cream, or my awesome Espresso Whipped Cream (see recipe below).

Erin’s Espresso Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon very finely ground espresso beans

Combine cream, sugar, vanilla, and espresso and beat until soft peaks form. Try not to eat it directly from the bowl. It’s going to be difficult.

Whole Foods meats are the ultimate in food porn. When I opened up my bag of stew beef I almost swooned. No wonder everything costs $200 a pound there. It’s gorgeous! The ruby red cubes were almost too pretty to put into a messy stew, but let’s be realistic people — a girl has to eat. This simple recipe was a big hit when our friends joined us to watch the Patriots beat The Chargers. In fact, my anti-vegetable cousin was totally duped into eating squash. She was shocked when I told her it wasn’t a potato that she was happily munching away on. So keep the lights dim and trick your kids the old fashioned way, without any of that ridiculous pureed carrot brownie junk. You might just get away with it. PS: if you live near a Whole Foods pick up a loaf of their phenomenal “Seeduction” bread to go along with your secret squash stew. It’s my favorite.

Herb Line-Up	Beef is Beautiful
Peel	Butternut Bites
Dust	Sun-Dried Bits
Saute	Brown
Add to the Pot	Pour, Cover & Simmer

Beef and Butternut Squash Stew (Originally published by Giada De Laurentiis)
3 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
2 pounds stew beef, cut into 2-inch cubes
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup Marsala wine (Note: I used a Cabernet Sauvignon)
1 pound butternut squash, trimmed and cut into 2-inch cubes
1/4 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes
3 to 4 cups beef broth
2 tablespoons fresh chopped flat-leaf parsley (which I forgot to add)
Crusty bread, for serving

In a large soup pot heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions, garlic, rosemary, and thyme and saute until the onions are tender, about 2 minutes. Toss the beef cubes in salt and pepper and flour. Turn up the heat to med-high and add the beef to the pot. Cook until the beef is browned and golden around the edges, about 5 minutes. Add the wine. Using a wooden spoon, gently stir up all the brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Add the butternut squash and sun-dried tomatoes and stir to combine. Add enough beef broth to just cover the beef and squash. Bring the stew to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to low and simmer, covered, for 1 hour. Season the stew with additional salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with the chopped parsley. Serve with crusty bread alongside.

Friends, Romans, Cookbook collectors — if you signed up for gmail a million years ago (like I did) and you pride yourself on the fact that you own your first and last name @gmail.com without a ridiculous amount of letters and symbols following it, then please please please take a moment to check your account settings to see if the secondary email you used to obtain your wondrous email is still active. Hypothetically speaking, let’s say you change your password on a whim after arriving home from watching the Cloverfield monster destroy Manhattan. Then let’s say you get the cold of the century and subsist on alternate doses of dayquil and nyquil for three days straight, and just maybe you happen to forget your password — you’re going to be screwed.

You see, Google’s slick little recovery system is more than happy to reset your password for you, but it emails it to your secondary account. Unfortunately, in my case, that email was linked to a Road Runner account I had in Maine 3 years ago. Oops! Next I had the pleasure of having to wait 24 hours before Google would allow me to try to access my account via a security question. I spent the last 24 hours in a state of abject terror, praying that I had selected a question I could remember the answer to. Literally my whole life is ensconced in my gmail via folders and folders of organized insanity. Photos, recipes, all of the details surrounding the Maid of Honor duties for my cousin’s wedding…talk about anxiety.

Well tonight I said a little prayer and google asked me to prove my worth by telling it who my first teacher was. It took me like 15 attempts before it let me in after I finally remembered my nursery school teacher’s name. You guys, I literally burst into tears. I would have lost my mind if I had to try to recreate my 207 google reader subscriptions. Don’t be like me! Write down your passwords and review your account settings or you might end up being erincooks6789654@gmail.com. And that people, is true horror.

I picked up Amanda Hesser’s book Cooking for Mr. Latte after the holidays at the Harvard Book Store. I honestly had no idea who she was. In reality I thought that it was a new book since it was marked as a staff pick. Later in the evening Google revealed the truth to me. It seems Hesser writes for The New York Times and that her book actually came out in 2004. Apparently, she’s a fairly famous foodie in her own right, albeit at times a controversial one.

In the end I really enjoyed my selection. The short story format was fast paced and I loved how each chapter ended with an array of delicious recipes to try at home. I found myself dogearing page after page while reading on the T, which is a total sin and completely against my usual book etiquette but I didn’t want to forget to try anything. Those folded tabs have since been replaced by colorful mini post-its so you can all relax now.

It was difficult but I finally chose something simple to test. A cookie recipe with an obscene amount of chocolate — two entire bags to be exact (although Hesser used chocolate bars). When I told my cousin and her fiancé what kind of cookies they were eating the response was, “Wow…could you fit anything else in there!?”

Toast the Pecans	Mix the Batter
Chop, Chop, Chop	Fold
Scoop	Cool

Chocolate Chip, Toasted Pecan, Coconut Cookies (Inspired by Amanda Hesser’s recipe in Cooking for Mr. Latte)
Makes 4 dozen large cookies

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of sea salt
24 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 cups toasted chopped pecans
1 cup shredded coconut

Preheat the oven to 325°F

In a mixer cream the butter and sugars until fluffy. Add the vanilla and eggs and beat until smooth.

In a small bowl combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the mixer, beating on low until blended.

Pour in the chocolate, pecans, and coconut. Fold them in by hand with a spatula.

Chill the dough for 30 minutes.

Using an ice cream scoop, drop the dough onto a well greased baking sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes until lightly browned on the edges and cooked in the center. Cool on a rack.

Wednesday night I met Chris after work for some Thai food and afterwards we stopped by Best Cellars to do a little impromptu wine shopping. Now, I’ve always been a big fan of Best Cellars. Previously I’d perceived the store as having a very Gary Vaynerchuk vibe and always thought of it as an approachable and unpretentious place to find and try new wines. Except this time. I innocently inquired of the salesperson if they happened to have any Beaujolais Nouveau leftover from November and was greeted with a seriously disdainful tone and informed that it was out of season. Um…Ok. Excuse me for living. You’d think I’d asked for a glass of Merlot from Paul Giamatti’s character “Miles” in Sideways. After being put in my place I sulked off to the corner, picked out my wines and left.

Well tonight I opened one of the bottles I’d purchased (yes, mostly because it had a pretty label) and it was so delicious that I think I can finally stop being annoyed at my bitchy clerk. Be warned wine snobs — it has a screw top, but it can’t hurt you to try it at least once. So make sure to add Kiss Chasey to your wine journals. Dear Best Cellars, I forgive you — this time.

PS: If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch you can now add ErinCooks.com to your home screen and a pretty pretty icon will appear. Yay!