The devil made me do it!

For those of you too young to remember, Flip Wilson* was a fabulous comic back in the 70's. And one of his funniest characters was Geraldine Jones.  If you have never seen him do Geraldine, you are really in for a treat because Geraldine introduced "the devil made me do it" to an entire generation and it became a national expression. Here he is on the Ed Sullivan show in 1970. Unfortunately, not in Geraldine's costume, but use your wildest imagination and enjoy the video anyway.

And yes, the devil DID make me do this. There's no saving grace here. None. But listen you guys, it has Milky Way bars! I used to love them. I have much better control these days, barely, but if I'm going to splurge on a candy bar, it's gonna be this one. Dark chocolate version, please.

There was no resisting after I saw the photo of this recipe in the cookbook. So, if you haven't seen it, let me introduce it to you. Lisa Yockelson is a baking journalist, food stylist and prolific cookbook author. Every page in this book has a gem of a recipe and every photo will make you drool. It's such a beautiful book, I actually have it on a coffee table and not in the kitchen. It draws people like a magnet.  The title says it all: Chocolate Chocolate. (And Amazon has it used for $3!)

No doubt the devil will be pushing me to make some of the other recipes (I have post-its all over the book) but let's start with this little gem!

Chocolate Nougat Squares
Adapted from Chocolate Chocolate by Lisa Yockelson

Ingredients:
4 (1.76 ounces each) Milky Way midnight bars
1-1/4 cups unsifted cake flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to tepid
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled to tepid
4 large eggs
2 cups sugar
2-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Method:
Preheat oven to 325°.
Grease and flour a 9 by 9 by 2 inch baking pan.
Refrigerate the candy bars for 20 minutes. Dice the candy bars into 1/2 inch squares. (I cut them lengthwise and then crosswise into 1/2 in pieces.

(Note: I suggest you change this to: refrigerate for 20 minutes, cut into 1/2 inch square chunks, then put in the freezer until you're ready to add to the batter. They will hold up better and not melt completely like mine nearly did and might look more like the photo in the book.)
Sift together the flour, baking soda, cocoa powder and salt. Set aside.

Mix the melted butter and chocolate together.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs for about 15 seconds. Add the sugar and whisk for a minute. Add the vanilla and mix. Add the melted chocolate and butter mixture and stir until combined. Sprinkle the flour mixture over the batter and mix until incorporated.  Add the cold candy pieces.

Pour into the prepared pan and bake 35 to 40 minutes or until set.
Remove from oven and cool on a baking rack for 2 hours. Refrigerate for 1 hour. Cut into quarters and then each quarter into 4 pieces. Remove from baking pan and store in an airtight pan.

*Whatever happened to Flip Wilson? At the end of the 70's he got custody of his children and, wanting to spend time with his family, performed infrequently after that. He passed away from liver cancer in 1998.