This chocolate treat should come with a warning label!

We are back again with another edition of baking for the Weekly Wednesday Treat Day that Jeff brings in to share with his co-workers. It will be hard to let go of today's treat in the morning though... these devilish squares are difficult to keep our paws off of!

If you ever feel the urge to over-indulge, these Essence of Chocolate Squares are completely worth the time and effort it took to put them together. The dark base of these candy-like squares is a decadent fudgy brownie that has an alluring addition of vanilla sugar to make them a bit more special. With a large dose of unsweetened chocolate and Dutch-processed cocoa, the thick moist layer fills your palate with an intense chocolate flavor that walks the line on almost being obscene. As if this treat was not rich enough, the base is smothered with a generous, dense chocolate frosting.

This luscious covering is made from confectioners' sugar, butter, unsweetened chocolate, milk, cream and vanilla extract - don't forget to add the pinch of salt called for, this will help to cut the sweetness a touch. Be sure to have all the ingredients ready to assemble the frosting as soon as the brownie is done baking - you want to frost the brownies while they are still hot, but the frosting will begin to set up quickly so it needs to be combined at the last minute. You will also want to have a gentle hand when you spread the frosting on top - the brownies are still a little fragile since they are warm and you don't want to crush them.

The recipe suggests a yield of 16, but these are just so intense that we sliced them into 30 very clean pieces instead so we wouldn't end up in a coma or something!

With just a little chopping and prep work, tonight's dinner of Curried Couscous with Broccoli and Feta came together in a flash. Really, it probably took me less than 15 minutes to prepare this... perfect for a busy weekday! Nutty whole wheat couscous, which takes just minutes to cook, is mixed with crisp-tender broccoli florets, red onion, shredded carrots, plump golden raisins and crunchy roasted cashews. The dressing for this mixture is a combination of sharp white wine vinegar, olive oil, sugar, fresh ginger and salt. Also included are two types of curry powder - I used a regular curry that I picked up in the bulk herb section and also used some hot madras curry powder for more depth and heat. To add some protein to this colorful mound of couscous, chickpeas are tossed into the dish along with a sprinkling of feta cheese to finish it off with a salty edge. If you want to stretch this out a bit or are serving a person who must have some meat for dinner, I think the addition of some chopped or shredded cooked chicken would be a nice fit here.

Recipes
Essence of Chocolate Squares
Curried Couscous with Broccoli and Feta