Cookies & Cream Brownies

Hi.  It’s been a long time, too long.  Before I tell you about this super easy &super yummy brownie I’d like to say thanks to everyone who left comments & sent emails asking how I was doing.  It meant a lot and made my day every time I got one.   The kids and I are doing well.  Hopefully this will be a “quieter” year for us.  I don’t know how much I’ll be blogging but I’m not going to let it get to this point again. The awkward, I don’t know where to begin one.  I’m thinking we start with brownies………

Cookies & cream brownies to be exact.  :)  I made them to give as a thank you to a few of the lunch ladies at Babygirl’s school.  I was in charge of planning the teacher’s Welcome Back Breakfast this year and they catered it.  I don’t know if they liked them, but I can tell you these were a big hit with my three.

I adapted the recipe from one I made before that I found on Karen’s blog Mignardise.  I’m not going to give you a recipe for the brownie base.  Just use your favorite one or a  box like I did.  Are you shocked by my craziness?  Don’t be.  I’ve yet to have someone ask me if my brownies were boxed and I haven’t found a homemade recipe that rocked my world so, boxed it is. 

Cookies & Cream Brownies

*One batch brownies with chopped up Oreos added.

*Cookies & Cream Frosting, doubled :)

2 cups powdered sugar
4 Tbsp. butter, room temperature
1 Tbsp. heavy cream, plus a little extra
approx. 8 oreos, crushed well
Combine all frosting ingredients except the oreos and beat with a hand mixer until light and fluffy. You may need to add a bit more heavy cream to get a spreadable consistency. Mix in crushed oreos (more or less). Spread frosting evenly over cooled brownies.

You can fancy these up by topping each bar with an oreo cookie half like I did or you can top the whole thing with ganache thus smothering the “cream” between two layers of chocolate.

Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Desserts

Libby’s Pumpkin Roll

Brownies with PB Chips, Mini PB Cups, & Chocolate PB Ganache

Cherry Almond Pie Bars

Here are the three desserts I made for Thanksgiving.  They were all very good but the surprise standout was the almond cherry pie bars.   Everyone thought thought they were amazing.  Even those that normally go for the pumpkin or chocolate desserts went back for seconds of the pie bars.  Another plus, besides their overall deliciousness they are also waaaay easier than baking an actual pie!

This recipe comes by way of Amanda’s Cookin’ and her blackberry pie squares recipe.  (If you haven’t yet, check her out.  I’ve made a few of her recipes and have been please with each one.  She also has a pretty cool craft blog. )  I’ve adapted her recipe twice now.  The first time I used Lucky Leaf’s blueberry pie filling and upped the lemon factor by adding the zest of one lemon to the sugar. This time around I used Lucky Leaf’s cherry pie filling and subbed in almond extract for the vanilla. 

Almond Cherry Pie Bars, adapted from Amanda’s Cookin'

Bars:

1 3/4 cups sugar
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), room temp
4 eggs, room temp
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
30 ounces cherry pie filling,* (21 oz. is one can of pie filling but I added another half a can)

Glaze:

1 1/4 cups powdered sugar

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

2 tablespoons heavy cream, enough to make the glaze pourable

1/4 teaspoon of almond extract

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Cream sugar and butter in mixer on medium speed until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, until incorporated. Add the almond and beat well. Whisk together flour and baking powder. Turn mixer speed down to lowest setting and slowly add flour mixture until completely combined.

Spread half of mixture onto an ungreased 15x10 jelly roll pan. (Amanda weighted hers out.) Spread pie filling over the top of the batter. Drop remaining batter onto the pie filling layer by spoonfuls.  Spread gently.  (I use a damp offset spatula to do this. Don’t worry about it not being perfect.  It all works out.)

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown. (I took mine out at 38 minutes. Do not under bake. Remove to a wire rack.

Whisk together the powdered sugar, melted butter, and heavy cream.  Drizzle over warm bars. (Toasted almond slices would be nice sprinkled on top.  I didn’t add them because my Dad doesn’t care much for nuts. He’s weird! :))

Allow to cool completely before cutting into squares.

Printable recipe

*Note:

I have been very fortunate to receive Lucky Leaf’s pie fillings.  Each one I have tried has been wonderful.  In the past I’ve never cared for the other brands I’ve tried. I found that they were too sweet and artificial tasting.  Not so with Lucky Leaf.  And for those of you staying away from high fructose corn syrup you’ll be happy to hear that Lucky Leaf’s does not contain any!

Disclosure:  While I received Lucky Leaf pie fillings to try.  The opinions expressed here are all my own.

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If you haven’t yet, click here to enter my Thankful Giveaway! 

 

Quick & Easy

Here’s a quick and easy dessert you can make when that last minute invite comes through and you don’t want to go empty handed.

I’ve made similar brownies before but found this idea for the base on a blog recently.  (I apologize for not remembering which one.  Let me know if it was YOU and I’ll update my post with a link.)  The other blogger just layered graham cracker squares on the bottom instead of making a graham cracker crust.  Doesn’t get any easier. I like easy.

Quick & Easy S’mores Brownies

• One box of your favorite brownie mix
• One box of graham crackers
• One bag of marshmallows

Grab desired pan and line with aluminum foil.  Once lined layer with graham crackers. Prepare your brownies according to the box directions and pour into pan.  Set timer for 5 minutes prior to the recommended bake time to allow for the addition of your marshmallows.  When the timer goes off quickly top brownies with marshmallows and put back into oven until marshmallows are puffy and browned, 5 minutes or so.  Once out of the oven I added more graham cracker squares to the top and allowed to cool.

Note:  You don’t need the whole box of graham crackers or bag of marshmallows.  Add as much or as little as desired. You could, if so desired make homemade brownies instead of a box mix and you could get even crazier and use homemade graham crackers and marshmallows.  I’m not that crazy.  :)

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Hope everyone is enjoying their three day holiday weekend!    :)

Easy Pumpkin Spice Swirled Brownies

I saw these on HoneyB’s blog and knew right away I wanted to make them.  When I checked out the recipe it seemed easy enough but to make them even easier I grabbed a box of brownie mix.  I could lie and tell you that I should have made homemade brownies but that would be a lie! The truth is I thought these were great and can’t imagine homemade making much of a difference.  Either way, homemade or boxed give ‘em a try! 

While the kids liked these brownies they were a bigger hit with the adults.  The one thing I really liked about these (besides being ridiculously easy) was that the  pumpkin spice swirl firmed up after the brownies cooled and added some texture to the gooey brownies.  Did I mentioned how easy this was?  Seriously if you use a box mix all you have to do is melt some pumpkin spice Hershey Kisses and swirl it into the brownie batter that you’ve already poured into the pan.  See?  Easy! :)

This is my submission to Flavor of the Month. Click here to check out this month’s pumpkin round up!

 

 

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Hope everyone has a safe and Happy Halloween!

Technorati Tags: bars,brownies,pumpkin,spice

I Know What You’re Thinking…..

You’re thinking these look familiar but they’re not the mini cheesecakes I blogged about recently. These are the Twins’ birthday request.  Last Saturday was their 13th birthday. A few days prior I asked them if there was anything special they’d like me to bake for them.  Jalen quickly responded with a request for a cookies and cream ice cream cake.  Devon’s request was for a cookie cake.   After much deliberation they decided on the cookies and cream ice cream cake.   Though the request was made for a cake I decided to go with a brownie base as they love to top their brownies with ice cream and generally take a pass on chocolate cake.  It only took me a minute longer to remember seeing these two posts on Annie’s Eats. 

Here’s Annie’s post for the brownies and directions which I used as my guideline.  While I used Annie’s brownie recipe  I’m pretty certain you can use whichever one floats your boat.  You could even use your fave boxed brownie mix.  My biggest change was to use my mini cheesecake pan (Love it!) and to top my brownies with a different flavor ice cream.  I also made standard size ice cream brownies cupcakes as I had plenty of batter left over.  Besides being super cool looking and tasting great the stand out part of this dessert was the cookies and cream ice cream. 

My only bit of advice is to let your ice cream brownie cupcakes sit out for several minutes before peeling off the cupcake liner but not too long.  It becomes mess once the ice cream truly starts to melt.  Even after peeling the liner off you’ll need to let it sit for several more minutes as the brownie will be difficult to cut into with your spoon otherwise.   It’s a pain but wait as it doesn’t taste as good when the brownie is hard as a rock.

Cookies and Cream Ice Cream
Ingredients:
1 cup whole milk
2 cups heavy whipping cream
6 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
15-20 Oreo cookies, coarsely chopped

Directions:
Combine the milk and cream in a saucepan over medium heat.  Heat until bubbles form around the edges.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until smooth and well combined.  Slowly add the warm milk mixture to the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly to prevent curdling.

Pour the mixture back into the saucepan.   Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, about 5-8 minutes, until the mixture is thickened and coats the back of a spoon (about 175 degrees F on an instant read thermometer).  Pour the liquid through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl.  Stir in the vanilla extract.  Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator until completely chilled.

Once the mixture is well chilled, pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.  Once the mixture is softly frozen, transfer half of it to a storage container.  Add half of the chopped Oreo pieces and fold in gently with a rubber spatula.  Add the remaining ice cream and Oreo pieces to the container, and fold once more until the mixture is evenly combined.  Freeze until completely hardened.

Technorati Tags: brownies,cookies and cream,ice cream

Just the Ganache Please

This isn’t about the brownies though they were very good.  This is about the ganache that I topped the brownies with.  Now this isn’t any ordinary ganache.  Not your run of the mill ganache.  No, ma’am! This is a finger licking, last drop getting peanut butter chocolate ganache!  Do you see where I’m going with this?  It was insanely good. 

For me the ganache was the perfect balance of peanut butter and chocolate.  It was so silky and smooth when I poured it over the brownies.  I don’t know if it was because the brownies were not long out of the oven but the wonderful aroma of chocolate and peanut butter was intoxicating.  I know I’m going on and on but think about it. I don’t even really like peanut butter or chocolate.  I generally avoid the two unless they’re together.  Together they’re better, good even and sometimes like with this ganache, they’re magical!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Ganache Recipe

Ingredients You Will Need: (I only made half the recipe)
1 cup heavy cream
1 ½ cups chocolate chip morsels (I used a combination of Ghirardelli semi-sweet & dark)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
¾ cup powdered sugar
½ cup smooth peanut butter

In a small saucepan, combine the cream, powdered sugar, chocolate chip morsels and butter over low heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and add the peanut butter at the same time. Stir until smooth.

Ganache will be too hot to spread or pour. Set in the refrigerator for several minutes. Then place the ganache on the counter and stir once or twice over the next ten minutes until it has reached the desired consistency.  (I was in a hurry so I didn’t follow this step completely.)

The brownies were for a BBQ that my neighbor across the street was having.  They started with a box mix.  I’m not certain which but I added some Reese’s mini baking cups.  From the photo you can see how they sunk to the bottom.  I hate that.  Luckily I had the peanut butter chocolate ganache to consol myself with.

* Here are some photos of the Twins playing baseball at Cooperstown.  These were my faves!  Jalen’s pitching and Devon’s batting.

      

    

Technorati Tags: baseball,brownies,ganache,peanut butter

She says brownies, I say blondies!

Miss Bunny from the blog, Bunny's Warm Oven mentioned in an email that she had a peanut butter brownie recipe that she thought my family would enjoy.  She also said that it was made in one pot!  The idea of dirtying only one pot had me making a batch that night for the Twins' baseball practice.  It didn't hurt either that Bunny recommended them.  Folks, Bunny, I'm sorry but these aren't brownies.  They're blondies!  Peanut butter blondies and they are GOOD.  Better than good.  I've already made them two times and I'm thinking about making up another batch.  Besides being terrific these bars were quick and easy to put together!  

I followed the recipe with my only change being instead of using vanilla extract I used vanilla bean paste. I really like how blondies taste using it instead of regular extract. I also tested my blondies (not brownies) two minutes earlier than called for and took them out when the tooth pick still had a few moist crumbs clinging to it. They were purrrrfect!  I hid a few for a photo shoot when I had a moment and they were still moist and yummy.  I actually (third day) warmed up the last one in the microwave and topped it with some Blue Bell homemade vanilla ice cream.  I don't even know how to describe just how good it was.  

   

I don't have photos but I also made this recipe which I saw on Bakerella.  The brownie part was good, nice and moist but I the "cookie" was dry. Unlike Bakerella I didn't add a frosting.  If you click here you'll see that Nikki of Pennies on a Platter  also made them but used peanut butter cookie dough instead of chocolate chip cookie. 

FYI~ Sorry if I haven't stopped by and commented.  I've been crazy busy! Both Twins had a project due tomorrow and one of the Twins has TWO MORE due THIS Friday.  Oh and in case you were wondering two of the three projects were just given this past Monday.  After Friday things should settle back down & I'll catch up on my reading & commenting.

LiveJournal Tags: bars,brownies,blondies,chocolate,peanut butter

Peanut Butter Mousse Bars

I LOVED this dessert!  With that said I have to tell you a something about myself.  I'm not a fan of chocolate or peanut butter.  I won't eat peanut butter on it's own and well, unlike many I don't go gaga over chocolate.  Yeah, I'll eat a brownie if it's been kicked up a notch but that's about it for me.  If and when a recipe calls for chocolate I use  dark and when I can, I'll leave it out all together.  Here's where I'm  really strange.  I like peanut butter and chocolate together.  A lot which is why (along with yummy pictures) I decided to give this a try.   

I initially was going to make this to bring to the Twins' baseball practice, but I ran out of time and made them Cheater Snicker Brownies instead.  Am glad I ran out of time!  I would have gotten one little piece had I brought them to baseball. Greedy but true!  This was soooo good!  And I LOVED the peanut butter mousse!  It was "lick the bowl" good!  I wanted to but I restrained myself and used the spatula to get every last little bit of it.

 Okay, back to this delish bars.   Another thing I loved about the bars was how lovely they looked after cutting them.  You can clearly see the contrasting layers.  The ganache topping didn't  harden up so much that it cracked when cut making for a smoother cut.

This bar recipe comes to you courtesy of Dianne's Dishes who as you may remember is my blogging Mama!  Please check her out she has  a lot of great recipes, including gluten free ones, and healthier ones for those of you making a lifestyle change.  You want bread ?  She's got bread! Take a look!

On another note:  Baseball did not go as well as we would have liked this weekend.  We won both our games yesterday but lost today's which was the one that mattered.  The Twins' personally did NOT have their best stuff though Jalen did a good job pitching.  In 1 & 2/3 innings he struck out 4, walked 2, hit a batter, gave up only 1 hit & did not give up a run. We ended up 2 & 1.

LiveJournal Tags: peanut butter,chocolate,peanuts,mousse,graham crackers,ganache,bars,brownies

Cheater Snicker Brownies

Yup, I did it again I cheated and used a boxed brownie mix.  Yes, they probably would have tasted a bit better if I had made the brownies by scratch AND a whole lot better if I  had made homemade caramel sauce but I needed a quick something for the Twins to take to baseball practice this is what I came up with.  I'll be honest I was initially going to make Dianne's Peanut Butter Mousse Bars but I ran out of time as I had already made another dessert, a tropical pound cake (a la The Crepes of Wrath).  That one was for the kids could take to school for lunch. 

It starts with one box of brownie mix whichever you prefer.  Follow the directions as written on the back.  Once poured into the pan I topped it with chopped up pieces of snickers bars.  I then baked it as called for on the box.  Once the brownies were baked I noticed that the snicker pieces had sunk and left (interesting) holes in my brownies so I chopped up more snickers bars to plop in the holes once the brownies had cooled completely.  After filling the holes I nuked some caramel bits with cream and drizzled it over the brownies.  I also melted some semisweet chocolate chips and shortening and drizzled it over the brownies.  (I'd love to give you exact numbers but it was after 11:30 & I was TIRED so I kinda winged it) 

I personally didn't care for the brownies  but the Twins, their teammates, and the other parents ate them up without complaint so I'll take that as they were at least edible.  Actually there wasn't even a piece of fallen off snickers bar left in the pan. The butterscotch marshmallow brownies with butterscotch ganache was waaaaaaaaaaaay better.  As a matter of fact I made them again last night.

*On a non-baking note: 

Baseball season kicks off this weekend for the Twins.....GO STING!  They have moved up to the "big" fields.  Should be fun, wish us luck!  

Can I take a moment to brag a bit on one of the twins?  Devon is receiving an academic award from Mid Florida Pop Warner on the 28th of Feb.   At that time he'll find out if he's also been selected to receive a scholarship!  (I don't know all the details.) It's not going to pay for school but I'm thinking maybe books?! Still that's not too bad for 12 yrs old! (Jalen, I  LOVE and am proud of you as well!  You just don't play football! { I have to say this otherwise the one thinks I favor the other one which means I love one twin more than the other one. To answer you question, yes!})

I also wanted let you know that I've been reading a terrific book called The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan.  The book is both touching and funny.  I definitely suggest reading  it if you haven't.  I've also found quite a few clips of Kelly reading excerpts from the book.  I guarantee it will have you laughing out loud and tearing up!

LiveJournal Tags: bars,brownies,chocolate,caramel,snickers,news,books

Butterscotch Marshmallow Brownies with Butterscotch Ganache

This couldn't have been easier or yummier! Some of you may cringe when you read this but I used a boxed brownie mix! Yup, it was after nine, the boys had friends over to watch a movie and I knew they were expecting me to bake 'em something yummy. Because I couldn't just make 'em boxed brownies (I've got a rep with these boys as being the Mama whose house you want to eat at)I decided to kick 'em a notch or two or three. I added two hand fulls of butterscotch chips and about three hand fulls of marshmallows to the batter. Remembering I had some butterscotch ganache in the fridge I decided to drizzle some over the cooled brownies.

They were a hit! I had to stop the boys at two! (I needed to save a few for tomorrow's photo session) I managed to control myself and eat only one but I wanted a second!

**Update, I totally forgot to mention, the Butterscotch Ganache was one I made using Bakerella's recipe. I've added the links. Sorry!

LiveJournal Tags: butterscotch,brownies,marshamllows,chocolate,bars

Two for one

Yesterday was the birthday of my twin boys, Devon and Jalen. They turn 12 yrs old and so to celebrate their day I made two different desserts.

The first was Bakerella's Simple Sprite Cake with her recipe for buttercream. I followed her recipe exactly and was not disappointed nor will you be so try it. With the buttercream frosting instead of using vanilla extract, I used vanilla bean paste but added the same amount called for in the recipe. I've had it for a little bit and have been dying to try it. It was worth the purchase...cheaper than actual vanilla beans but you still get those yummy vanilla bean specks. I'm sure there is a difference in the taste between the vanilla beans and the paste but at this point I've yet to used actual bean pods so I don't know the difference.

The Twins didn't want to wait for me to beautify their cake with my new found cake decorating skills courtesy of Wilton's Cake Decorating (I. & II.) so I just threw some candles on it and we sung them Happy Birthday. Joe, the Twins, and Babygirl all loved the cake but Babygirl said the frosting was gross. Yes, those were her exact words. In my house they don't mince words. The kids give it to you, um, me straight. Here's another one to make you cringe, Devon's told me that if I continue to gain weight not to worry 'cause he'll still love me. I'm a SIZE 4! Okay, mind you I have gained some weight but if anything in the past I was underweight. I should also tell you this is coming from someone who has about 2 or 3 percent body fat. He's only 12yrs but he totally cut up. The guy has an eight pack! Okay, anyway, getting back on track. With the exeption of Babygirl and her "gross", the cake and frosting was a hit. This is deffinitely one of those recipes you can tweak to make different flavor combos and not go wrong. No matter how gross Babygirl thought the frosting was it's a keeper. More for me is what I say! Though I am shocked as she normally loves frosting.

The second dessert I made was a brownie recipe I found on the blog, The Crepes of Wrath. I made it my own, sorta, by adding a cream cheese marshmallow "floater" filling that I found on So Sinful it's Sweet. It is the filling for her The Devil Made me Do It cupcakes but the moment I read cream cheese and marshmallow I knew I had to use this in something. I was not disappointed.

*Cream Cheese & Marshmallow Floater*

8 ounces softened cream cheese
½ cup confectioner’s sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla
pinch of salt
1 cup small marshmallows

Cream together cream cheese, sugar, and egg. Add vanilla and salt stirring and stir well. Fold in marshmallows.

**Side note: If using again for the brownies I'd add MORE marshmallows!