Zulka Sugar Winners and Playing In The Kitchen!

The winners of the Zulka Sugar are commenters #48 Sue (Someone's Mom) from I Need Mom! and #53 Debbie from Mocha Me. Both winners were chosen by random.org. These two just happen to be some blogger friends that I've followed for quite some time and I've made recipes from both of their blogs. I hope you two enjoy the product. Happy baking!

Please email me with your address and the Zulka will be sent your way! Thank you all for entering. If you'd like to purchase the Zulka sugar, I've seen it on shelves at Wal-Mart for about $2.50.

Also I wanted to share a few blooper pics of me in the kitchen. I was asked by my publisher to submit a pic of me working in the kitchen so my brother came over this weekend and took my picture while I made him his birthday dessert. Don't laugh too hard :-)

Monica h

Mother's Day and Mexican Chocolate Brownies

Mother's Day is a bittersweet holiday for me. Of course I have Hayden and he has truly blessed my life in so many ways, but I will always miss my two boys that came before him, Sam and Jack. They made me a mother first, but it wasn't until Hayden that I actually got to experience motherhood. Knowing where I came from and knowing the heartache of losing a child is it hard for me to fully "celebrate" the day. I know there are so many women out there that are missing their children, women who are waiting to become mothers, and then there are children who no longer have their mom's with them on this Earth. To all you beautiful women out there, I wish you a peaceful and loving day. I'm going to spend my day in my pajamas, sipping coffee out of my "Proud Mom" mug and playing with my son. Happy Mother's Day!

As far as these brownies go, they were gone in a day. Chewy, chocolaty and spicy. If you're a fan of Mexican cocoa, you'll love these. 

Mexican Chocolate Brownies from Monica H

• 4 oz. Mexican chocolate, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
• 1/4 teaspoon espresso powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9-inch square dish with non-stick spray and set aside. 

In a small bowl, combine the finely chopped chocolate and the oil. Heat in microwave 30 seconds and stir, Repeat for another 30 seconds until chocolate is melted and the two ingredients are combined. Do not heat for more than 90 seconds. 

In a large bowl, combine the oil/chocolate mixture and the sugar. Stir the ingredients together then add the eggs, one at a time, beating until combined. Add the vanilla. 

Stir in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and espresso powder. Mix until there are no traces of flour, but do not over mix. 

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. 

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean. 

Allow to cool before serving. 

Zulka Pure Cane Sugar Review (Giveaway CLOSED)

I was contacted by Zulka a few weeks ago and they wanted me to try out their sugar. As I was doing my recipe testing for the cookbook, I was going through sugar like it was going out of style. It could not have been a better time to sample their sugar because I was testing recipes that I have made time and time again, which meant if something tasted different I would know. 

Before I tell you my thoughts on Zulka, let me provide you with a few facts about their product. First off, Zulka is real sugar. It is not an artificial sweetener and it is not a low calorie substitute for sugar- IT IS SUGAR. Zulka Morena Pure Cane Sugar is a Non-GMO, (genetically modified organism) minimally processed sugar made from freshly harvested sugar cane. The term Non-GMO means that the sugar canes have not been genetically altered and are more natural. Zulka also does NOT undergo the conventional refining process of most granulated sugars and maintains the the appearance and flavor of raw sugar cane. You can learn more about the Non-GMO project HERE.

When I first heard about Zulka sugar, I was think it would be more like Turbinado sugar than white granulated sugar, but it's not. It's somewhere in the middle, though closer to white granulated sugar. I did a side-by-side comparison of Imperial Granulated Sugar, Zulka Morena Sugar and Sugar In The Raw Turbinado Sugar. The granulated sugar was pure white and uniformly fine in texture and the Zulka had more of a natural hue to it and was a bit coarser in texture. The turbinado sugar was even more coarse and similar in size to sanding sugar and was unmistakably golden in color. Cup-for-cup, Zulka can be used in place of granulated sugar and because it's less processed, more of the natural sugar cane flavor is still there. 

I used it in my favorite cake recipe for Chocolate Zucchini Bundt Cake and could not tell a difference in flavor, though it was slightly coarser in granule size. I was sent a 4 pound bag to try out and used in several recipes as well as in our coffee. I would buy it again but I had issues with the packaging. Since it comes in a plastic bag, I would have preferred a zip top closure to seal the bag. If you typically store your sugar in a separate container it's not that big of an issue, I just would have like to seal it up and store it rather than having to find something to secure that bag shut. If you're looking for a more natural product to stock your pantry with, consider giving Zulka a try. 

If you're interested in trying out Zulka Morena Pure Cane Sugar for yourself, Zulka is offering Lick The Bowl Good readers two chances to win a 4 pound bag of your own. All you have to do is answer the two following questions. 

1). Tell me why you're interested in trying out Zulka sugar  and 

2). Visit Zulka.com and tell me what recipe you would like to make with it. 

I will select two winners at random and announce the winners on May 13th. Please be sure to leave your email address so I can contact you if you win. 

Thank you Zulka for the sugar!