perfect bownies with a side of my words

mimi gave me a brownie pan that has a removable bottom AND a grid that settles into your batter and bakes up 12 perfectly-shaped, pre-cut brownies.

i'm not gonna lie to you, interwebs, i made fun of her. i poked fun of my grandmother. i did it. because everybody likes the middle pieces best! and i have a knife! and geez, they're only brownies!

but, interwebs, i am contrite. take a good hard look at that brownie (on a pedestal, just where it belongs) and tell me it isn't worth the multi-step process. have you ever seen such a beauty??

ingredients:

• 4 ounces unsweetened, semisweet or bittersweet chocolate (that's 2/3 cups chips)
• 1 1/2 sticks of butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup flour

prep:

• spray all the parts of your gorgeous new chicago metallic brownie pan with oil/baking spray
• preheat oven to 350*

actual cooking:

• nuke butter and chocolate for 2 minutes until butter is melted
• stir until chocolate is melted

• add sugar & combine

• add eggs & vanilla
• combine

• add flour
• combine

• assemble pan with bottom

• pour in batter
• tap it gently on the counter

• lower in the grid

• bake for 35 minutes
• cool briefly in the pan
• remove grid gently
• transfer pan bottom to a wire rack to cool completely

thank you, thank you, thank you, mimi!

cookies 'n cream cake

it remains unclear exactly WHO gave my BABY brother permission to turn eighteen, but there is one thing we do know: there was no road test.

whilst enjoying kevin's chocolate cake with coffee frosting in june, i asked leonardo what his preference would be. "well," he said after some consideration, "i can't ask for this again, so... something cookies 'n cream."


the body of the cake is comprised of two textures-- unfortunately this part needs some tweaking, but i'll get to that-- soft white cake and brownie. the frosting was a white "cream filling" butter cream, colored with wilton "white-white" and flavored with clear vanilla artificial flavoring. a bit of granulated sugar gave it that slightly gritty texture. wilton cookies n' cream sprinkles added, ummm, more cookiness. originally, the second texture was going to be a chocolate cookie, but the logistics were fuzzy and an obligation to school and my waistline prevented me from experimenting beforehand. so i did something possibly incredibly stupid: i left one egg out of the brownie layers hoping for a crumbly, cookie-like layer. this may be what propted anna to ask, "is this... toffee?" um, crumbly? not so much. imbued with a facinating tar-like quality might be closer to the mark.

everybody liked it though, especially greg, who ate twice as much as everyone else in a fraction of the time. boy, if you ever need to feel good about something you baked, call greg.

so, moving on...

brownie layer ingredients:

• 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
• 3/4 cups butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 (or 3) eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup flour

cake layer ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter (softened to a mayonaise-like consistancy)
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup egg whites
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tbs milk
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla flavoring

frosting ingredients:

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
• 4 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 tbs artificial (clear) vanilla
• liberal splash of "white-white" to preferred color
• about a tablespoon of milk

prep:

• warm everything up to room temp, or as specified
• grease 8" pans (or foil linings of said pans)
• preheat to 350*

actual cooking:

• nuke chocolate & brownie butter for 2 minutes
• stir until chocolate melts
• add sugar, eggs & vanilla
• add flour
• divide between pans
• bake for 25 minutes
• remove and cool
• preheat to 375*
• grease & flour pans
• combine dry cake ingredients
• add egg whites, vanilla, milk & butter
• beat until combined
• pour into two pans
• bake for 20 minutes
• remove and cool
• whip frosting butter until creamy
• SLOWLY add confectioner sugar
• add granulate sugar
• add vanilla flavoring & "white-white"
• add milk until desired consistancy is reached
• frost & decorate cake

happy



birthday

simba!

super-brownies

i made these in miniature cupcake pans for bill's office farewell party today. you could probably make them as regular brownies, but i think it would take longer... like 35 minutes? not sure.

ingredients:

• 1 1/2 sticks butter
• 4 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate
• 1/4 cup cocoa
• 2 cups sugar
• 7/8 cup flour
• 1 tbs instant coffee powder
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 eggs
• baking spray, shortening or butter for greasing pan
• (about 1 tsp cocoa & 1 tsp powdered sugar for decorating)

prep:

• preheat oven to 350*
• grease pan (or use paper liners, but they stick!)

actual cooking:

• put butter & baking chocolate in a micro-wave safe bowl & nuke for 1 minute or until butter is melted (1:50 for me, but my butter was frozen)
• stir until chocolate melts
• add sugar, coffee powder & cocoa, combine
• add eggs & combine
• add flour & combine
• fill mini muffin tins about 2/3 (i put the batter in a heavy zippy bag & cut off a corner and pipe it in)-- makes about 48 which is TWO pans, so either have two pans or chill the first one in the fridge for 10 minutes in between batches
• bake for 15 minutes
• remove from tin after 5 minutes, allow to cool at least an hour
• (dust with cocoa & powdered sugar, or both)

next time i make these, i think i'll try some mini chocolate chips-- ideally dark chocolate! i don't have a report from the office yet, but bill, kevin & anthony agree that they're AWESOME.