What else ya gonna do with 2 sticks of butter? Chocolate Hazelnut Gooey Butter Cakes

Back down South, they love love love Paula Deen. My mother bought me a set of "The Lady and Sons" cookbooks and I could feel my arteries hardening just reading the table of contents. Despite the health consequences, I agree with Paula that "butter makes it better" so I couldn't resist playing with this recipe from her for "Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cakes."

She offers that you can easily swap out the cake mix base or the filling ingredients. I took her peanut butter suggestion and made my own variation with Nutella (the hazelnut cocoa goo that stole my heart in college - a jar of that and a loaf of bread was the ultimate broke student luxury). To make it extra decadent, I used a Betty Crocker Dark Chocolate Supermoist cake mix and threw in a healthy pinch of ancho chile powder into the cream cheese filling. About a jar of the Nutella stands in for the can of pumpkin in the original recipe.

I think they are supposed to be served warm, but I like to chill them over night and bring 'em up to room temp before serving. They are like cream cheese brownies on speed. It's a fitting end to my holiday baking. I'm now fat enough to float in case I fall off the boat during my sailing vacation in the Bahamas for Christmas.

Torta Barozzi - Total Chocolate Extreme

J the BF signed me up for a Splendid Table newsletter after becoming an avid listener to their weekly podcast. You would think that me being the foodie freak in the house, I would have already been a longtime fan of the self proclaimed radio show (hosted by Lynne Rossetto Kasper) for "people who love to eat." Instead I resisted getting caught up in yet another piece of media I didn't have time to consume - no matter how fascinating the subject matter. Having it thrust upon me so forcibly made me even more resistant. One recipe changed it all - the Torta Barozzi.

Torta Barozzi is a flourless chocolate cake that has its roots in northern Italy. One evening while waiting for friends at a local bar, I was cleaning out the inbox on my BlackBerry and I came across a "Baker's Chronicles" edition of the Splendid Table email that told the story of this mysterious dessert that was the very embodiment of chocolate in all it's dark glory. I've cooked it 3 times in the last month in a quest for chocolate Nirvana. I've come pretty damn close by following Kasper's tips to use only the highest quality chocolates (Scharffen Berger varieties work well) and being sure not to over-cook the cake. It is meant to be fudgey and moist in the middle. The instructions say to serve at room temp, but if you've been storing in the fridge, nuke a slice for about 15 - 20 secs until it is just about to melt - it's rated-R-good.

The original recipe doesn't seem to be on the Splendid Table site, but is available in Kasper's cookbook, The Splendid Table: Recipes from Emilia-Romagna, the Heartland of Northern Italian Food. Some dude also posted it up on Recipezaar. If you make it, don't skimp and get the cheap chocolate - it does make a difference. As for me, the voice of Lynne Rossetto Kasper is now my steady weekly companion for my Sunday work-outs.