Buckeye Brownies

Sometimes I want to eat brownies.  Sometimes I just want to eat brownie batter.  

Seriously, though. I LOVE brownie batter.  Yes, with the eggs.  This is the only reason I buy boxed brownie mixes, as the recipe I have for brownies from scratch is so easy to make.  When I want to actually eat brownies, I use the recipe for Evil Brownies - so called because you can't eat just one.

The past few weekends the hubby has asked for brownies.  I would bake a batch from a mix, sending some on the road with him when he leaves and taking the rest in to work for my coworkers to enjoy. I really don't eat a lot of brownies.  But, this weekend I realized that the only mix in the cupboard was for dark chocolate brownies.  I knew this wouldn't fly with the hubby.

The finished product.

The hubby loves peanut butter.  We go through several 40 oz jars of creamy Jif every month.  So, when I realized that I would have to make brownies from scratch, I decided to spruce them up a bit by adding some peanut butter chips to the mix. 

I knew I was going to frost these babies with some medium flavored chocolate buttercream; however, I decided they needed some more peanut butter goodness. So...before making the chocolate buttercream frosting, I made some peanut butter frosting.  Instead of washing my mixing bowl another time, I just made the chocolate frosting in the same bowl. 

Here are the recipes I used. I will admit - I guesstimated on the peanut butter measurements.

Evil Brownies

Evil because you can’t eat just one!

½ cup vegetable or canola oil

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

½ cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup Hershey’s cocoa

¼ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

Chopped nuts, chocolate chips, etc. (optional)

Preheat oven to 350*F

Blend all.  Stir in nuts, chips, etc.

Spread in a greased 9” square pan.

Bake at 350*F for 20-25 minutes or until brownie begins to pull away from pan edges.

Cool in pan.  Frost if desired.

Peanut Butter frosting

1 1/2 cup peanut butter

1 cup powdered sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla

3 Tablespoons unsalted butter

Mix well.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

(Double batch measurements in parentheses)

Hershey’s cocoa

Light flavor 2 teaspoon (1/4 cup)

Medium flavor ¼ cup (1/2 cup)

Dark Flavor 1/3 cup (3/4 cup)

1 cup powdered sugar (2 2/3 cups)

3 Tablespoons unsalted butter (6 Tablespoons)

2 Tablespoons milk (4-5 Tablespoons)

½ teaspoon vanilla (1 teaspoon)

Put all ingredients in mixing bowl and mix well. 

For a glossier frosting, add 1 Tablespoon corn syrup.

Single batch makes 1 cup.  

Side note:  If you add nuts, they are boy brownies.  Without nuts - girl ones. My mom is the one who first told me that. lol

Tuesday Tastes - Sunday Dinner

On Sunday the Hubby and I went to his parents’ house for two reasons.  One – to do laundry.  Our washing machine died on us a few weeks ago, so we’ve been going there every two weeks instead of paying at a laundromat.  Thankfully we can afford to buy a new washer once I get paid on Friday.  Yay!  The other reason we went to the in laws’ was to celebrate Mother’s Day.  Instead of going out to dinner, we came over and I made a meal.  Originally it was going to be just the four of us, but one of Hubby’s sisters and her family came over as well, so I made dinner for eight.

After a few discussions as to what to make, Hubby and I decided to make spaghetti.  Nice and easy.  Of course, I can’t just use a jar of sauce without doing something to it.  Using a jar of Trader Joe’s Roasted Garlic red sauce as a base, I added the following to it: 1 large can of crushed tomatoes with basil, 1 bag of frozen roasted peppers and onions (from Trader Joe’s), 1 large Vidalia onion, 1 ½ pounds of sliced baby Bella mushrooms, 1 ½ cups shredded carrots, ½ pound sweet Italian sausage, ½ pound hot Italian sausage, minced garlic, Italian seasonings, and red pepper flakes. 

So. Very. Delish.  Seriously, I love my pasta sauces.  I rarely brag about myself and really mean what I am saying, but this is one case where I really do believe it.  My pasta sauce rocks.

In addition to spaghetti, we had cheesy garlic toast and a large salad with my homemade vinaigrette dressing.   It’s so easy to make.  I don’t know the exact measurements as I usually just go with how it looks and/or tastes.  The main ingredients are: balsamic vinegar, Mrs. Dash seasoning, garlic (minced and/or powdered), and extra virgin olive oil.  I will sometimes add flavored vinegars, such as raspberry, or some honey and mustard. 

For dessert we had fresh red raspberries and strawberries with vanilla sugar over vanilla bean iced cream with whipped cream. 

Of course, I don’t have any photos of the yumminess.  Instead I am going to share the recipe and photos for Garlic Croutons.  I made these with bread leftover from Sunday’s dinner.

Mmmmm. Roasted Garlic bread

Garlic Croutons

Ingredients:

• Dense bread (my local grocery store sells a roasted garlic bread that is perfect)
• Olive oil
• Garlic powder
• Italian seasonings
• Onion salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400*F
Cut the bread into cubes

Cut the bread into cubes

In a quart or gallon sized storage bag, put olive oil, garlic powder and Italian seasonings.  The amount depends on how much you are making.  I used about 1/3 cup of oil and a teaspoon of each garlic powder and Italian seasonings.


Add bread to the storage bag and close bag.  Coat bread.

Coat with olive oil and seasonings

Place bread cubes in a single layer in a baking dish or sheet pan.  Sprinkle a bit of onion salt on top.  For a more garlic taste, use garlic salt instead.

Single layer in a baking dish

Bake for approximately 10 minutes. 
Let sit to cool.  Once cool put in a storage container or bag.  Enjoy.

Ready to eat! 

Tuesday Tastes - Deer Creek Wine

A few Sundays ago, the Hubby and I decided to head out of town for the day.  We ended up about 90 minutes away at a mall near Pittsburgh.  We walked around window shopping, but we bought a few things here and there.  Before heading home we went to a movie theater and saw The Hobbit.  It was a wonderful day.  

There is a store at the mall that is different from the rest.    In addition to wine accessories and themed items, it is a retail location for a Pennsylvania winery, called Deer Creek Winery.  The best part?  Free wine tastings!  Hubby and I sampled several varieties of wine and ultimately choose two to purchase: Deer Creek Raspberry and Peach Blossom.  

I’m sad to admit that I have consumed most of my bottle of Raspberry wine.  Why am I sad? Because I want more.   Perhaps another day trip is in order.

Tuesday Tastes - Cupcake Creations

Today's Tuesday Tastes comes to you from my other blog, Ama Reads. It was originally posted on August 29.

This is going to be long.  But there are pictures!  Lots of pictures...

At my library, we usually say that August is our down month for programming, as we try to take that month for vacations and to recoup after Summer Reading Madness.  For most of our department it was a relatively calm month.

Then there were my programs.

Most notably, this month I conducted three cupcake programs.  Open to students in 5^th-12^th grades, most of the attendees were middle school students.  I take registration for the program, as I need to know how many cupcakes and how much frosting to make.

This program is initially pricy, as cake decorating supplies are necessary.  However, not including the reusable materials, the cost worked out to about $3 per child attending.

When I first did this program last year, I used some of my personal supplies, not wanting to purchase the items for the library if the programs weren’t successful.  Once I knew that it was a hit, I went to a craft store and bought the following reusable materials:

• Cake frosting dyes – eventually they will run out, but they will last for many programs.  Wilton has a set with 12 colors that is perfect.
• Frosting tips and couplers – I bought around 18 tips, with several duplicates and supplemented with my own (for now).  I bought a dozen couplers. I recommend having at least two of the following:

• No. 5 Round Decorating Tip
• No. 12 Round Decorating Tip
• No. 18 Open Star Decorating Tip
• No. 21 Open Star Decorating Tip
• No. 224 Drop Flower Decorating Tip
• No. 233 Multi-Opening Decorating Tip (for grass, hair, yarn)
• No. 230 Round Decorating Tip (used for filling cupcakes – something nearly all want to do!)

Have some other assorted tips as well.  If you have it, they will use it! But don’t go smaller than No. 5, as the frosting won’t be able to flow through the smaller tips.

Other supplies that will be needed:

• Plastic cups (to distribute frosting)
• Plastic spoons (to mix coloring in frosting)
• Disposable decorating bags (so much easier for cleanup!)
• Toothpicks (to put dye in frosting)
• Scissors
• Paper plates
• Paper towels

Some other tidbits:

• Each attendee gets to decorate two cupcakes
• Plan to make at least 2 batches of frosting per 4 attendees.  Yes, it is a lot, but they will want to use a lot of frosting (or just eat it).  Unused frosting can be frozen up to two months.  Just thaw in the fridge, bring to room temp, then rewhip.
• I provide a copy of the buttercream frosting recipe so they can make it at home. 
• Cupcakes can be decorated with nearly any type of edible item.  Cereal, dried fruit, nuts, chocolate chips, gum drops, sprinkles, coconut, taffy, other candies, cookies…the list goes on and on.  
• There are a ton of great resources and ideas online and in books.  I've collected many web sources on my Cupcakery Pinterest board.

There are two important rules that I tell the kids:

1. DO NOT double dip the toothpicks in the frosting dyes.  That is just asking for a science experiment to grow. 
2. Have fun. 

I usually repeat that first rule about a million times over the course of the program.

Buttercream Frosting recipe

 

1 cup shortening, butter or margarine (I use shortening)

1 pound powdered sugar

7-8 teaspoons milk or water (I use skim milk)

1-2 teaspoons flavoring (for the program I use vanilla…and usually put about 3 teaspoons.  At home I use a mixture of almond and vanilla flavorings).

Put all ingredients in bowl and mix until fully combined.  If the frosting is too thick, add more liquid 1/2 teaspoon at a time.

Some setup photos:

Tuesday Tastes - Hazelnut Fudge Pops

I love fudge pops.  Actually, I love all sorts of frosty treats.  So when I saw this recipe on Pinterest, I knew that I wanted to try making it.  I bought some cute rocket ship-shaped ice pop molds at Target ($1 for the set) and…they sat on my counter for a month.

A few nights ago I decided to finally put those molds to use.  So I pulled up the recipe for the fudge pops.  Two ingredients.  Nice and simple.  Except I never have hazelnut chocolate milk.  What I did have was skim milk and cocoa.  So I adjusted the recipe a bit and added one ingredient. 

See.  Simple.  Milk, cocoa and chocolate hazelnut spread.  Pay no attention the the large container of oatmeal lurking in the back.  

 So first I put the skim milk in my large measuring bowl. 

 

 I then added the cocoa and whisked until frothy. 

 Next came the hazelnut spread.  I used the new Jif Chocolate Hazelnut  spread...

 ...and whisked until mixed very well.

Then it was time to fill the molds! The recipe made more than the molds could hold, so I put the rest into small containers and plopped them in the freezer as well.

Lastly came the most difficult part.  Finding room in my freezer for the molds! 

About 12 hours after putting them in the freezer, I tried the end result (one of the small containers). OMG. Talk about delicious!!  The consistency changed a bit as I dug deeper into the container (perhaps due to the type of milk I used? Will try another time with whole milk), but it didn't matter.  Every bite was a little bit of rich chocolate-hazelnut heaven.  I will definitely make this again!

The recipe:

1 1/2 c.  milk

1/3 c. cocoa powder

1/2 c. chocolate hazelnut spread

Whisk together the milk and cocoa until mixed frothy.  Add chocolate hazelnut spread and whisk until mixed uniformly. Pour into molds and chill for at least 2 hours.