Super Fudge Brownies

Tags

baking, Brownies, butter, chocolate, cocoa, food, paula deen, recipe

I should not tell you what’s in these brownies.

My jaw dropped when I saw the ingredients.

But I reversed it into a sinister, giddy little grin when I started melting the butter, stirring in the cocoa powder, beating in the eggs, and measuring out the sugar.

Homemade brownies are so simple to make, yet so rich and decadent.

And these are absolutely Paula Deen approved. (But don’t worry, you won’t get Type 2 diabetes unless you eat 5 of these a day, sandwiched between a bacon and doughnut sandwich.)

Super Fudge Brownies (From Fine Cooking)

Ingredients:

• 3 sticks unsalted butter (1 1/2 cups)
• 1 1/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 3/4 cups sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 5 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 2/3 cups flour

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line a 9 x 13 pan with aluminum foil, leaving 2 inches hanging on each side. Spray with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. Put the butter in a large 4-quart saucepan over medium-low heat and stir until melted. Take the pan off the heat and whisk in the cocoa powder until smooth. Add the sugar and salt and whisk until well blended.
3. Check the temperature of the batter with your finger. It should be warm, not hot when you whisk in the eggs.
4. Whisk in 2 of the eggs, then the other 3 until blended. Then whisk in the vanilla. Sprinkle the flour over the batter and fold gently until just incorporated.
5. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 35 to 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few crumbs clinging to it.
6. Let cool on a rack for 2-3 hours. (Or. Eat it hot out of the pan — but they’re easier to cut when they’re cool.)
7. Try to forget the ingredients you put in here while you eat these and/or share them with people who compliment you and ask you what’s in these — then say it’s a secret family recipe and you can’t reveal your secret

My Two Cents: I’ve said all I can say about these mischievous little bundles of butter and chocolate.

Banana Chocolate Chip Bars with a Nutella Swirl

Tags

baking, banana bars, bananas, bars, Brownies, chocolate, chocolate chips, food, Nutella, recipe, recipes

Long weekends always almost call for delicious desserts.

My mom invited my whole family over for a turkey dinner last night (Thanksgiving Part 2!) because she snagged an extra $5.00 13 lb turkey the week before Thanksgiving. So I thought I’d bring something for dessert.

I wanted to go beyond the standard cake or brownie. And I’ve been cookie-ed out since Christmas. I had 3 bananas on the counter and thought, “hmmm something with bananas.” Then I remembered I had Nutella. And bananas and Nutella are always a good pairing. “hmmm….I wonder if there’s a brownie recipe out there for this.”

Of. Course. There. Is.

And it exists here on this gigantic INDEX OF AMAZING NUTELLA RECIPES:

http://www.nutelladay.com/nutella-recipes/

If you have never seen this index, bookmark it now. There is literally every single kind of sweet decadence that exists with Nutella in it on this page. Brownies, cakes, cookies, pancakes, candy, pizza, you name it. So sure enough, they had my banana and Nutella combo in bar form. And you bet I made it.

And you bet that it was a hit!

Banana Chocolate Chip Bars with a Nutella Swirl (Adapted from The Onyx Plate)

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted (1 1/2 sticks)
• 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 3 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 egg
• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup chocolate chips (semi-sweet or milk chocolate)
• 3/4 – 1 cup Nutella

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 13 x 9 inch baking pan with cooking spray, or line with parchment paper.
2. In large bowl, mix together the melted butter, brown sugar, and white sugar.
3. Mix in the vanilla, egg, and bananas.
4. In a separate bowl, sift together the baking powder and flour, then gradually add the flour mixture to the banana batter until just incorporated. The batter will be lumpy because of the bananas — do not over mix.
5. Fold in the chocolate chips and spread the batter out onto prepared pan. Melt the Nutella in the microwave for 30 seconds to make it easy to spread. Then drop it onto the batter in dollops. Take a knife and cut through the Nutella to make the swirls.
6. Bake for 35 minutes or until the center springs back when you touch it. (The toothpick test might not work so well here since the Nutella may mess you up.)
7. Let cool for 30 minutes to 1 hour in the pan before cutting and serving —- if you can wait that long!

My Two Cents: Between 11 people, there were only 3 small pieces left in this pan by the end of the night. These bars were like banana bread, but better. You didn’t have to slice the bread and have it crumble in front of your face. You didn’t have to deal with a gooey dense center (even though those are good on occasion). Instead, this turned into a banana-y, Nutella-ness, cakey, beautiful, blond (not quite brownie), Bar.

In essence, an oodle of yummness.

Try it and taste for yourself!

 

Peanut Butter Nutella Brownies

Tags

baking, Brownies, chocolate, food, Nutella, peanut butter, recipe, recipes

I’m a little late in the game to the Nutella obsession.

I actually bought my first jar of Nutella only a few weeks ago.

It’s shameful, I know. But probably for the better. Because more than once this week I found myself in front of the television with a spoon and the Nutella jar….eating far beyond the serving size…..

So I was planning an evening with one of my friends and asked her what she was in the mood to bake. She said “something with peanut butter and chocolate”. And I happened to get that message about 10 minutes after shoveling several tablespoons of Nutella in my face. So I thought “hmm. Something with Nutella. Something with peanut butter and Nutella. Something easy. But something with Nutella.”

Brownies are easy.

So I typed “Peanut butter Nutella brownies” into Google, and instantly came up with about 8 recipes to choose from. I was beaming with excitement.

I was even happier when I ate them.

Peanut Butter Nutella Brownies (Adapted from Noble Pig)

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup cocoa
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup Nutella
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium bowl combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

2. Over low heat, melt the butter. Stir in sugar and vanilla until well combined. Let cool for 5 minutes.

3. Add the eggs to the butter-sugar mixture one at a time, beating vigorously after each addition until all the eggs are incorporated. (It is important to let the butter and sugar cool slightly before adding the eggs, otherwise the eggs might scramble.) Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix well.

4. Mix together the Nutella and peanut butter in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in 20 second intervals until it reaches a runny consistency. Stir that into the prepared brownie batter.

5. Pour the batter into a 13×9 inch baking pan (either greased or lined with parchment paper). Bake for 30 minutes or until toothpick in center comes out clean. Try to let cool before eating. You will not succeed.

My Two Cents: All I have to say about this recipe is, “What. Are. You. Waiting. For.”

Go make these. I had to freeze most of them so I would stop popping them into my mouth. (So yes, that means I have some if you want some!)

Double Chocolate Brownie Cookies

Tags

baking, Brownies, chocolate, Cookies, food, recipes

Well hello there beautiful.

This little bite of perfection came about on a lazy afternoon last weekend. I was hanging out with my sister, Mo, at my parents’ house and we were trying to decide what to do that didn’t involve shopping (or any large amount of money), and obviously the baking light bulb went off in my head.

I asked Mo what she wanted to bake–Cookies? Cupcakes? Brownies? She couldn’t decide, and neither could I…so then I thought…brownie cookies…hey…yeah…

So I went searching–and Ding! We found a winner!

This cookie recipe is amazing. It tastes exactly like a brownie, but it’s not. It’s a cookie! Now I’ll never have to decide between brownies or cookies at parties…because I’ll be making these! But beware, these cookies are not for those who don’t have a strong addiction to chocolate like myself (and my sister). Our eyes popped when we saw how much chocolate went into the recipe. But it was love at first site…

Double Chocolate Brownie Cookies (From Brown Eyed Baker)

Makes about 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 2/3 cups (16 oz) bittersweet chocolate chips (or chocolate, chopped)
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter, room temp
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. Put the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl (or double boiler) and set it over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring occasionally, until completely melted and smooth.

3. In the meantime, stir together the eggs, vanilla and sugar in a medium bowl. Set aside. In another bowl, sift together the flour and the baking powder.

4. Add the melted chocolate and butter mixture to the egg mixture and stir together with a wooden spoon. Slowly add the dry ingredients, folding into the batter until all the flour is incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips.

5. Scoop the dough by tablespoon onto prepared baking sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until they are slightly springy to the touch.  Let cool for a few minutes before eating (because they will burn your mouth if you are too eager like me!)

My Two Cents: You really can’t go wrong with these cookies.

The dough is a little hard to work with, because it pretty much is brownie batter in cookie form. So it’s best to use a scoop if you have it. But Mo and I were pretty good and made decently circular cookies without a scoop, so it’s not necessary

No electric mixer necessary here–just a plain old wooden spoon’ll do!

Baking cookies in my Mom's beautiful kitchen!

 

Mo gives them a thumbs up!

 

 

This post was made possible by the following:

• Mo’s camera
• My mother’s well-lit kitchen
• Ghiradelli’s amazing bittersweet chocolate chips
• The Brown Eyed Baker…seriously. Check her out.

Heart-Stopping Fudgy Brownies

Tags

Brownies, chocolate

Take a bite into heart failure with these fudgy brownies. But I assure you, your heart disease will be well worth it when you do. In fact, you might reach for another one…not caring about the consequences.

I made this batch of brownies for a co-worker who left today (and I’m so sad to see her go…). They were a hit though–I’m glad to see that so many people enjoyed them at the send off.

I got this recipe from one of my many cookbooks that I took out of the library the other day. This one is from The Good Housekeeping Favorite Cookie Recipe cookbook.

To. Die. For.

I recommend only making these for a party or gathering because you WILL eat all of them if you make a batch for yourself or a small gathering of skinny freaks who refuse to eat any. (boring)

I also recommend making them in colorful bowls. These are my favorite bowls. I use them for everything. They’re pretty and they have little spouts at the end making it easy for pouring. And they’re so easy to wash–baking gunk slides right off..

So here’s the recipe–

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 sticks butter
• 4 squares unsweetened chocolate
• 4 squares semisweet chocolate
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• 5 large eggs, beaten
• Butterscotch topping (recipe below)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 13 x 9 pan with parchment paper or foil. If using foil–spray with cooking spray.

2. Measure out the flour and salt–combine and set aside.

3. Melt the butter and both types of chocolate in a saucepan over low heat, stirring frequently until smooth.

4. Stir in the sugar and vanilla to the melted chocolate. Add eggs; stir until well mixed. Stir in flour mixture into chocolate mixture until just blended. (The original recipe says to do this all in one saucepan, but I just moved the chocolate mixture over to another bowl and stirred in everything that way–)

5. Spread the batter evenly into the pan and bake for 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

6. Let brownies cool on a wire rack.

Butterscotch Topping

This butterscotch topping is very simple to make and tops off the brownies nicely. You can serve them plain if you like, but make it if you want that extra kick of sugar and flavor—

**Make sure the brownies are completely or almost completely cooled before you make this, otherwise the hot brownies will melt the butter and sugar into a gooey mess**

In a saucepan, heat 5 tablespoons of butter and 1/3 cup of brown light brown sugar. Stir over med-low heat until mixture has melted and bubbled–about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. With a wire whisk, beat in 3 tbsp of bourbon OR 1 tbsp vanilla and 2 tbsp water. Stir in 2 cups confectioners; sugar until smooth.

Spread the topping over the brownies, then oo and ahh at the creamy and dreamy decadence you have created.

Enjoy–!

Homemade Fudge Brownies for your Valentine

Tags

Brownies, sugar, valentine's day

Aw, now don’t you think it’s fitting to take out some flour, sugar and chocolate and whip up some amazing homemade brownies for your sugary-sweet Valentine?

I do! Too bad they’re just for me though Chris was supposed to come down by bus tonight, but the Greyhound service in Maine is less than reliable, so he’s stuck there for another night–then flying out to see his brother tomorrow. So alas, I have an ENTIRE batch of brownies for myself. I had one solemn sugar-coated heart tonight, because he was just dying to be eaten. I’m afraid I’ll have to freeze the rest…Or feed them to the dogs…that I don’t have…

Anyway, if you want something more original than a box of sometimes stale and overpriced chocolates (that often have middles you think are disgusting such as organe sherbert or crusty caramel), then this is perfect! Your lover will think that you are so original, and will love you even more when they take a bite out of them. Then you’ll be oh-so-humble and credit me, Master Baker, for supplying you with this fabulous idea.

Well, someone has to put it to good use, right? Do it for me.

Ingredients: (Note: This recipe came from the inside of the BAKER’S unsweetened chocolate box. They’re called “One-Bowl Brownies”.)

• 4 squares unsweetened chocolate
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup flour
• powdered sugar for coating

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 13×9 inch pan with greased foil, or with parchment paper–whatever you have on hand.

2. Microwave chocolate and butter in a large microwavable bowl on high for 2 minutes or until the butter is melted. Stir the butter and chocolate until the chocolate is completely melted. And I warn you–this smells incredibly delicious.

3. Stir in the sugar, eggs and vanilla. Then add the flour and mix well.

4. Pour into prepared baking pan.

5. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

6. Let the brownies cool on a wire rack for a half hour.

7. Remove the sheet of brownies from the pan by pulling the foil. Do this quickly because these buggers are crumbly. (If you look closely at mine, for example, there is a crack going down the middle of the sheet.) Place on a flat service and grab some cookie cutters and cut out some hearts–or whatever shapes/letters you desire. Take it away. I didn’t have any heart cookie cutters, so I did it by hand.

8. Remove your cute little shapes and sprinkle them with some confectioner’s sugar. Or, use some pink frosting and decorate them with little candy hearts, jelly beans, skittles–you name it. Decorating is the best part. In fact, have a freaking Valentine’s Day party. Why didn’t I think of this sooner?!

What do you prefer–kisses or hugs?

Personally, I’m going for both.

Valentine’s Day is a great holiday <3