Rich Fudge Brownies for your love- And a contest!

Ok, so you may be thinking, "Hey? didn't she just talk about getting back to eating well?" Yes I did!
BUT, eating well, doesn't mean having to give up your faves. It means, knowing when to eat just a bit, sharing with others or freezing some and coming back for it later. Yup you can freeze a couple at a time and nibble all month long.

These brownies are really rich and chewy. Just like the yummy one's you get from Betty Crocker.
To be perfectly honest, I am not convinced it its worth the effort to make from scratch in this case. As much as I like creating edibles from the basics of the kitchen, sometimes it may be ok to just dump the box and add the eggs. But, these came in really handy this weekend when I realized I was out of other ingredients for my famous cupcakes 30 mins before they arrived.
It was pretty easy, and had pretty minimal kitchen clean up. The less pots to clean the better in my book.

Result: rich, chewy and chocolaty. It was a hit. Especially with Charlotte.

NOTE TO SELF: Do not give an already spicy 2 year old a huge chocolate brownie right before bed. We now know Charley will be like after a night of drinking. Daddy was not laughing as much as I was ;)

Want to give someone special a gift for Valentines Day?
Check out our latest Contest.

Rich Fudge Brownies
Adapted from King Arthur

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 2 1/4 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/4 cups Double-Dutch Dark Cocoa or Dutch-process cocoa
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon espresso powder
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 2 cups chocolate chips

Directions

1) Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9" x 13" pan

2) In a medium-sized microwave-safe bowl, or in a saucepan set over low heat, melt the butter, then add the sugar and stir to combine. Return the mixture to the heat (or microwave) briefly, just until it's hot (about 110°F to 120°F), but not bubbling; it'll become shiny looking as you stir it. Heating this mixture a second time will dissolve more of the sugar, which will yield a shiny top crust on your brownies.

3) While the sugar heats a second time, crack the 4 eggs into a bowl, and beat them with the cocoa, salt, baking powder, espresso powder, and vanilla till smooth.

4) Add the hot butter/sugar mixture, stirring until smooth.

5) Add the flour and chips, again stirring until smooth. Note: If you want the chips to remain intact in the baked brownies, rather than melting in, let the batter cool in the bowl for about 20 minutes before stirring in the chips.

6) Spoon the batter into a lightly greased 9" x 13" pan.

7) Bake the brownies for about 30 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, or with just a few moist crumbs clinging to it. The brownies should feel set on the edges, and the center should look very moist, but not uncooked. Remove them from the oven and cool on a rack before cutting and serving. Enjoy. and don't forget to enter the contest.

Holiday Cookies WK3- Angeletti Cookies

How far back can you remember as a kid? I have a weird memory from when I was 2 and met my first childhood friend. Happy to report that 34 years later, we are still connected on FB.

I can remember a few things from preschool, some family memories during that time. Basically a bunch of wonderful vignettes until I was about 6 or 7. Oddly, these cookies are also on my early memories list.

Can't even tell you why, it's not like they were a family favorite. In fact, any one who knows my mom, knows that from 1975 until 1999 or so, my mom all but blew up our oven when she tried to bake. PS. she's always been a great cook, but baking... well there was one time , never mind, I digress.
Mom has since had a baking epiphany and is now a great baker...

The memory is really bizarre too. I remember being at some church reception in the country. I think it was a shower.. It's almost like the beginning of a bad 1970s crazy movie. Anyway, I had these cookies and they rocked.

Even today as I pulled the ingredients together, baked and set them out for their shoot, not only was my mouth watering, but Jake all but climbed on to the table to get one. Not fun when I am trying to keep steady to shoot. My husband, literally stopped the sentence he was in the middle of, and his eyes grew wide when he saw them..

I shoot, and hand them out.. Soft, and sweet. A little like a scone, but then the sugary double bourbon vanilla glaze hits you.. Ooey, gooey.. Ummm.. Heaven.

Baby Girl didn't get to try any.. I only made a few for the shoot and froze the rest. Hey, her fault for taking a marathon nap. Man eat Man in this house. Better she learns young.

Really easy, really quick. Enjoy.

Angeletti


Makes 36 cookies| Hands-On Time: 30m | Total Time: 1hr 00m

Ingredients

• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled, plus more for rolling the dough
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 
  
• Glaze:
• 1 1/3 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon lemon juice (optional)
• 2 tablespoons multicolor nonpareil sprinkles, for decoration (optional)

Directions

1. Heat oven to 375° F.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the butter, granulated sugar, vanilla, and eggs until blended. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt and mix until just combined (do not overmix).

* You can wrap in cling wrap and freeze until ready at this point, or continue and bake.

1. With floured hands, roll level tablespoonfuls of the dough into balls and place on parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing them 2 inches apart. Bake until puffed and the bottoms are pale golden, 7 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.
2. Make the glaze: In a small bowl, whisk together the confectioners’ sugar, 2 tablespoons water, and the vanilla until the mixture forms a thick but pourable glaze (add more water if necessary).
3. Dip the top of each cookie into the glaze and let set, rounded side up, on a rack set over a piece of parchment paper. Sprinkle with non-pareils, if using. Allow the glaze to set, about 20 minutes. Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Week 2- Holiday Cookies.. Basic Sugar Cookie

I know that they say that getting kids involved while you are cooking is great. They eat better, it's educational, it's involvement.  Today, I say the hell with that. Sometimes you just want to get in and out of the kitchen. I love the "idea" of the kids helping, and really truly do let them get into it.

But some times, what could have been a 10 minute, relatively low-mess project, turns into flour all over my kitchen, some kind of gooey, sticky, drippy thing hanging from my drawer handles and baby girl soaking wet.  

I literally felt like I was playing beat the clock on this blog entry.. I could hear the race horse anthem playing in my head as I quickly rolled out my dough and stamped out my cookies. Then, with a hint of sarcasm in his voice, I can hear my husband taunting me with that phase.. the dreaded phrase of "she's Ah-hup. UGH.. the baby was up from her nap.. Really, just 5 more mins??? 

Honestly, I have no right to complain. Somehow I have been blessed with excellent sleepers at night and naps have always been 2-3 hours for both of them.

But, Charlotte being up meant one thing, a partner in the kitchen, and a partner like Charlotte is like letting a herd of cats into the kitchen.. I love her, but not today..  

My point in sharing this, is that this week's recipe for Holiday Cookies is super easy, and super delicious, but if you have a 2 year old "helping" please plan for more time.. ;)

These cookies for me are amazing. You can use them plain, decorate with royal icing, roll into balls and press chocolate kisses or jam into the center the list goes on. Really fast, really easy, totally yummy.

Enjoy and may your kitchen stay flour friendly..

Basic Sugar Cookie recipe

Adapted from Real Simple

Prep Time: 25mins

Cook time: 20 mins

Makes 36 cookies

Ingredients

•             5 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled, plus more for shaping the cookies
•             ½ teaspoon baking soda
•             ½ teaspoon kosher salt
•             2 cups unsalted butter (4 sticks), at room temperature
•             1 ½ cup sugar
•             2 large eggs
•             2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1.              In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

2.              Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until smooth. Add the egg and beat until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the vanilla.

3.              With the mixer on low, gradually add the flour mixture, mixing until just incorporated (the dough will be stiff). Shape into a disk and (unless otherwise specified in an individual recipe) refrigerate, wrapped, for at least 1 hour or freeze until ready to bake off for the holidays.

4.             Alternately, make cutout cookies by doing the following: Heat oven to 350° F. On a floured surface, roll out each disk ¼ inch thick. Cut into shapes and place on parchment-lined baking sheets; refrigerate until firm. Sprinkle with decorating sugar, if using, and bake until just beginning to brown, 12 to 15 minutes.

Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.

Baked Cinnamon Squares

Such a yummy start to the day. And middle and ending if we are being totally honest..

This morning's challenge was to find something new, simple and yummy for breakfast. I'm not typically a sweets person, but my husband and daughter are. In fact Charlotte just hears the word cake, donut or just plain sweets and her little-fat-2 year old feet come running as fast as she can from wherever she is. 

For this reason, sweets are at a minimum in the house.

I stumbled onto this great recipe a few weeks ago from Cooking with my kid, and thought that it might be a nice alternative to the store bought options and the recipe is really easy, light and surprisingly not chucked full of fat or sugar.

OK, OK.. I know its also not full of any kind of nutrition, but not everything we eat has to be perfect. How else are these kids going to learn Good Karma Balance, if I never show them the dark side?

Since I don't have a donut pan (although these nearly put me in a trance straight to William Sonoma to pick one up) I made them into what I hoped were donut holes. They came out more like squares, so for now, that's what I am calling them.

Prep Time: 10 mins Cooking Time: 10 mins

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 1 egg (lightly beaten)
• 1 6 oz container of non fat organic vanilla bean yogurt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 2 1/2 tablespoons real maple syrup
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon 
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter (melted)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Toss the cinnamon and sugar together, put into a ziplock bag (shake and bake style) and set aside.

In a large bowl whisk together all the dry ingredients.

In another bowl stir together oil, lemon juice, maple syrup, egg and yogurt.

Make a hole in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into the hole.

Gently fold everything together until combined.

The batter will be pretty thick and airy.

With a spoon ice cream scooper drop dough onto greased pan.

If do have a donut pan, fill each pan with dough at this point.

Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Let cool for a few moments and then flip over onto a cooling rack while still warm.

Dip each donut into butter and then place in bag of cinnamon sugar. Shake and place on plate (or directly into mouth)

Makes 6 donuts or 15 squares.

** could use powdered sugar as well.

Results
Love all around! 8 thumbs up.. Jake was more into the plain version so I wish I left more plain. He just didn't want to get messy he said. .