Bourbon Brownies

Let's start this day off right, shall we?  Let's celebrate a day of revelries with two of my favorite ingredients: chocolate and booze!

In addition to celebrating St. Patrick's Day, let's also celebrate my triumphant return, with a little piece of love, originally called the Bourbon-Brownie Petit Four by Better Home and Garden magazine's test kitchen.  They say you can cut out about 64 brownies from this recipe (being that they're petit fours), but I doubled the recipe and struggled to get that since you don't want them to crumble away to nothing.  Let's say one recipe easily makes 2 dozen, and then you can be pleasantly surprised at anything above and beyond that!

Ingredients (brownie):
1/2 C butter
3 oz unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/4 C bourbon
3 T instant coffee granules (I always use a bold roast)
1 C sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 C all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
Ingredients (glaze and frosting):
1 C whipping cream
6 oz milk chocolate chips
6 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
1. In a medium saucepan, melt and stir the butter and unsweetened chocolate until smooth.  Remove and cool.
2. Preheat your oven to 350.  Line an 8"x8" pan with foil that hangs over the edge for easy brownie removal. Grease the foil and then set it aside.   In a small cup/bowl, combine the bourbon and coffee granules and set aside as well.
3. Stir sugar into your chocolate mixture.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating until just combined.  Then, stir in your vanilla and the coffee bourbon mixture.
4. In a separate bowl, stir together flour and baking soda.  Add to the chocolate mixture, stirring until just combined.  Spread batter evenly into your prepped pan.
5. Bake for 30 minutes, then cool on a wire rack. Lift brownies out of the pan.  You can cut off the edges at this point, or leave them if you'd prefer.  I cut mine off (as recommended), but the edges weren't so crusty that I think they would've ruined my squares.
6. Cut brownies into 1" or 1 1/2" squares.  Coat with Semisweet chocolate glaze (see following recipe).
7. Top each glazed brownie with piped Milk Chocolate Frosting rosette (see following recipe).

Glaze and Frosting Directions:
1. In a medium saucepan, bring whipping cream just to boiling over medium high heat. Remove.
2. For Milk Chocolate Frosting, transfer 1/2 C of the cream to a small bowl and add milk chocolate chips - DO NOT STIR.  Let stand for five minutes, and then stir until smooth.  Cover loosely, then chill for about 2 hours, beat with an electric mixer until fluffy, then bag and pipe.
3. For Semisweet Chocolate Glaze, take warm cream and stir semisweet chips in until smooth (helps if you're doing this in the hot saucepan, then glaze over cut brownies.

For whatever reason, I was super annoyed with the frosting and chose not to use it.  The brownies were still amazing and no one would've ever guessed you needed frosting to enjoy these.  So rich and decadent, and while you could detect the hint of bourbon, it wasn't overwhelming.  More people noticed the hint of coffee than the liquor in the brownie.

S'moreful September: PB S'more Brownies

It was only a matter of time before peanut butter was added to this mixture.  This recipe appeals to me for its simplicity, and the way you combine the peanut butter into the mixture to make you feel better about your life.  It's protein, it's healthy, right??

Ingredients:
1 box of your favorite brownie mix (plus it's ingredients, usually oil, eggs, and water)
1 jar (7.5oz) of marshmallow creme
1 C of your favorite creamy chocolate frosting
1 C of your favorite peanut butter

* See how this recipe is bound to be your favorite?  Three of the ingredients are your own personal favs!*




Directions:
1. Make, bake, and cool your brownies in a greased 9"x13" baking pan.  Usually the recipe calls for up to
a 8x8 size, so this will bake in less than half that allotted time.  Watch the brownies, use a toothpick.  You should know what you'd like your brownies to look like.
2. Drop spoonfuls of the marshmallow creme on top of the cooled brownie.  Lightly spread the fluff around.
3. Melt the frosting in a microwave safe bowl.  Pour and spread over the fluff.

4. Melt the peanut butter in a microwave safe bowl.  Pour and spread over the chocolate.
5. Using a knife, spread around the chocolate and peanut butter to marbleize it.
6. Cool in the fridge until more firm.  Cut and enjoy!

OH SO GOOD!!!

Of Pinterest (and other time fillers...)

 So, the 8 gagillion people on Pinterest have already seen this.

But I wanted to try it out.

Ingredients:
Favorite cookie dough (PB Chocolate Chip)
Favorite candy bar (Reese's PB Cup)
Favorite brownie mix (Ghiradelli Triple Chocolate)

Directions:

1. Pre-heat over according to brownie mix

2. Line/grease muffin pans

3. Push in your favorite cookie dough (halfway)

4. Place your favorite candy bar in the middle

5. Top with brownie mix

5. Bake according to brownie box directions.

It took awhile for these brownies to set, so we left it longer than the box directed, but they were amazing just the same!

Whiskey Salted Caramels

Well, I've been going back and forth about posting this, but I'm going to share my fail turned some what of a success.

I found this recipe for Whiskey Salted Caramels.  I have never made caramels for caramel sake.  I've made Caramel Corn (a multitude of times), but never just snacking caramels.  I also love whiskey recipes, so I knew this was the recipe for me!

 I did everything that the recipe said to do.

Really.

I know what caramel is like, so I didn't want to mess this up.

When it was ready, I put it on a cookie sheet (lined and sprayed), and put it in the fridge.

I waited about an hour, then put some yummy, yummy salt on top.

After two hours, it was still soft, so I put it back in the fridge.

Left it overnight.

It was more solidified the next day, but it pulled like taffy and wouldn't really stay as a piece of caramel, just a soft, stringy lookalike.

So, what does any self respecting cook do?
Make Brownies!

I just made a triple chocolate Ghiradelli box mix.

Then, I strung out the caramel and placed it on top, just as they came out of the oven.

The caramel melted into ooey, gooey deliciousness.

And I forgot to take a picture.



But they were good. And I'd highly recommend them.  I'd also highly recommend the salted caramels, but you might have to be better at them than I in order to enjoy them as they're supposed to be.

Sorry about that!

Peanut Butter Brownie Truffle

 Here's a very simple, fake/home made recipe that will impress EVERYONE.

For Serious.

First off, make a box brownie mix of your choice.  If you want thick brownies with lots of peanut butter on top, make an 8x8 or 9x9 pan.  I was going to feed the masses, so I made a thin brownie layer in a 9x13.

The original pictures look more scrumptious because they're just plain bigger.

While that is baking, mix up your peanut butter mixture.   Butter, PB, milk, and powdered sugar. Very similar to making the PB cups/eggs, but this has a creamier overall consistency.  Much more spreadable.

Then, BEFORE you start the next step, put it in your fridge to harden up.

I didn't think about that step before I continued on.

It's an important step.  Trust me.

 The reason it should harden is that you have all of this peanut buttery goodness all over you pan.  See the picture?  It's like a soft frosting.

If you don't wait for it to harden, like some of us I know, the chocolate will just make a mess when layered on top.  It becomes more of a peanut butter and fudge swirl effect than a solid three layered one.

This isn't a bad thing, it's just, well, a thing.

And it makes for really bad photos.

However, the dessert is delicious, and I highly recommend it.  I used a double fudge brownie recipe with chocolate chips included. Well worth it!

Taste of Sweetness Saturday: Salted Caramel Brownies

Happy Half-Birthday to Me!!

Last year, I found this recipe for Salted Caramel Brownies over at the Brown Eyed Baker.  (She's amazing, check her out!)   I've made toffee (recipe coming later in the month), but I didn't have a lot of patience for browning the ingredients, so I was a little intimidated to make my own salted caramel.

However, I love me some Ghirardelli Double Chocolate brownies, so I thought I'd make a trade off.  I'll use the box mix (of course, when don't I??) and then make the caramel and insert it into the recipe as needed.

At first, I looked at the caramel recipe and thought, 'really?  Just put sugar in a pot??' But I followed the directions, and sure enough, the sugar melted.  I took it until it was a nice amber color.  If you look at the picture to the left of this paragraph, look to the bottom right of the whisk.  That's probably the best judgement of how deep of an amber I went.  Then, I whisked in the salt, and followed that with the room temperature butter.

By this point, my thumb was cramping from whisking so much!  But, I kept moving, removed the sauce from heat, added the cream, and stirred until we got to this point.  Then the BBE said to let it chill for 10-15 minutes.

This is where I put it aside and worked on following the brownie box mix.  I followed the "thick" brownie route, as per usual, because I'm not a fan of the "cake brownie."

I lightly greased the 8x8, and poured half of my batter into the Pyrex. 

Nice and thick, but not a lot of batter.  I know I didn't want cake, but there better be enough for at least 10 people!!

Then, I made my 9 dollops of caramel on my half layer.  I used about a teaspoonful for each dollop.

Then, I covered this with the second half of my mix and made 9 more dollops on top.  These were far less orderly and discriminate in their placement because I knew there would be 16 brownies cut from here and I didn't want anyone to feel gypped. 

Here,I took a butter knife and lightly swirled the top of the mix, zagging left and right, and then up and down to create this mostly random pattern.  Then, I sprinkled a little sea salt over the top.

I popped it in at 325 and baked it according to the box's directions.  Both the BBE and Ghirardelli said to not over bake.  When inserting a toothpick, there should be a little  that still comes out with it. The brownies sit for 2 hours in the pan so they "finish up" before being cut.

Fair enough. 

The swirls and salt and REALLY noticeable when they come out of the oven! 

The biggest problem with these brownies? You need to make a double batch, because they'll go FAST!!