Now I'm no relationship expert but I have learned that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Seriously, try it some time. I also mentioned before that my boyfriend has been asking for normal brownies. He pretty much gets everything I bake and I do a lot of baking for him so I complied because I do tend to go a little crazy sometimes. But I couldn't help but get a little gutsy with another batch.
Can't really go wrong with a chocolate chunk brownie, which is what he constantly tells me. And he's' right and they turned out great as usual. I had some extra supplies though and a little something else I wanted to add. Can you tell what it is?
You know it's already a good day when I get to use the Ninja. Despite it sounding like I'm grinding up silverware it was great for chopping up some Reese's Pieces. I didn't want them to be too fine and just add them to the batter so I sprinkled the partially chopped chunks on top.
They turned out fabulous too. Peanut butter and chocolate just work. Super simple too and it'll work with any candy you'd like really. I thought about M&M's but it would be a little too much chocolate for me. (Gasp!) I know I know.
So I always have new ideas and love experimenting with ingredients. Sometimes its' amazing (see these cupcakes and these cookies) and sometimes I screw up. Bad. (See my giant mousse disaster). This is another one of those not-so-smart instances. I thought it'd be a good idea but maybe my execution was off.
Peanut butter and jelly brownies. Sounds like it would just work. Chocolate, peanut butter and my favorite, grape jelly. I figure I'd give it a shot, can't be too bad right? Well, there's something to be said about jelly.
Looks are deceiving. I thought I was genius and so excited to try these. But the jelly. When jelly gets hot it's gooey and would be pretty good in the center of peanut butter and chocolate. Well, once the brownies are cool enough to be removed, it kind of turns into a rock.
You could break teeth with these things after a day. I was extremely disappointed and am currently trying to figure out ways to fix it because I still like the idea. Moral of the story: Jelly is not so good after it's been heated and cooled. Unless you need to get rid of some teeth.
I'm still going to shoot for brownies. My boyfriend constantly tells me to just make "normal brownies." I can't help it. I have to add something extra. After all, we've learned that even with cookies, I need a little something extra.
He'll get normal brownies but I'm also going to experiment with Reese's Pieces again. To Be Continued…
So I mayyyy have gone a little overboard last week with the baking; whipping out cupcakes, muffins, cookies and brownies but it was well worth it. I already shared the cupcakes and muffins, now let's get to the other goods.
I felt like I needed to add a little chocolate into the mix, and I'm not a fan of just plain chocolate so I had to mix it up.
I usually have butterscotch chips on hand and thought they'd be the perfect sweet touch to add to the rich chocolate and peanut butter chips in these brownies. They flew pretty quick at my boyfriend's apartment so it had to be a good combo.
This usually doesn't end well but I got into some late night baking Sunday. AKA I couldn't sleep and made a ton of cookies. Way too much... But they're cute AND delicious!
I took a sugar cookie and jazzed them up for Valentine's Day. And as my boyfriend told me, sugar cookies are underrated. I agree in that people look at a sugar cookie's bland complexion and think twice before indulging, so you gotta make them look good.
The good thing about Valentine's Day is there's always a ton of candy on sale and when I think of candy I think of what I can bake it with. I found heart-shaped chocolates that have a different filling in each one and baked them into the cookies. Anywhere from just fudge, peanut butter, caramel, crisps and even cookies and cream were in the candies and of course the heart shape made them festive and season-appropriate.
I also managed to find the right baking time so they weren't hard as a rock, it's actually pretty easy to burn a sugar cookie and making any cookie in this brownie pan can go horribly wrong and threaten to break teeth if you don't know how to bake them. Ten to twelve minutes usually does the trick, they may seem undercooked and too soft at first but when you give them time to cool they're the perfect consistency.
Before that I made the same exact ones with peanut butter. Just like too much chocolate, I'm not a fan of too much or just straight up peanut butter so the candies helped that balance out as well.
The topper to this Hallmark Holiday mood I've been in is now this classic has been stuck in my head and probably will be until the end of February. Thanks Huey!
And now I want to watch Back To The Future. Think I can make Delorean cupcakes?
Definitely made up for lost time on this one. In my attempt to get into the Christmas spirit I tackled two different kinds of cookies AND brownies. Here we go..
I use to think potato chip cookies were weird. They sound weird and are hard to imagine, but once I tried them I loved them and decided to tackle 'em. With a twist, of course.
I found a recipe that includes butterscotch chips, and I must say it's a pleasant surprise.
Again, potato chip cookies, it sounds weird but they're worth a shot.
Considering I have this brownie pan that I've been using for cookies and cake, it's about time to make brownies with it. In order to keep it out of the house I went for the peanut butter route. I like peanut butter, but in moderation so this made it easier to pass along to my boyfriend who's pretty much become my taste-tester and is a fan of anything peanut butter.
These are also made with chopped peanuts and semi-sweet chocolate chips. Still debating on making a nutella icing to pour on top.
Sidenote- these gave me an excuse to use one of my favorite kitchen gages - The Ninja!
Even though I'm not the biggest fan of peanut butter, the chocolate off-sets it all and they're still really good.
Now more cookies..The best cookies are actually just simple sugar cookies. Sugar cookies are real easy to make and can seem pretty bland, but you have to have some fun with them...
Say hello to the Global Warming Snowmen. This is what happens when it's 60 degrees on December 3rd in Chicago and explains why I still can't get into Christmas.
Okay maybe not thaaat bad but Mondays are usually baking days which brings the pumpkin bars I've been talking about. It's not too late for pumpkin, it IS still fall! No skipping Thanksgiving.
Crunchy, cookie-esque bars complete with pumpkin and complimenting flavors like nutmeg and cinnamon. Not to mention the cream cheese frosting I made with little dashes of cloves and cinnamon, giving it that chai-like flavor.
Of course I didn't stop there. Couldn't decide if I wanted to make cookies or brownies, sooo I combined them!
Chocolate chip brownie meets chocolate chip cookie. What's even better is eating them warm with vanilla ice cream on top. Or just eating them warm with your favorite cup of coffee (again, Verona's cocoa flavor notes go perfectly with all the chocolate madness going on) or a hot chocolate. Just feels right now that it's snowing in November.
In preparation for that I picked up stuff to make gingerbread cakes. Still think it's too early to tackle that, I'm not a fan of skipping holidays. But, speaking of gingerbread and spices, what the end of Thanksgiving means is the return of Christmas Blend to Starbucks! Also known as Holiday Blend (yes, they really are the SAME thing)
Starbucks has managed to throw you for even another loop by creating Christmas Blend Espresso roast.
What's the difference?
Well first, people automatically assume that espresso roast can only be used for espresso machines and espresso beverages. Nope! It's just a stronger roasted coffee that yes, is used in espresso machines but can be made in your coffee pot at home.
Back to the Christmas Blend. The normal blend is sweet, spicy and herbal and will go perfectly with all your gingerbread and nutmeg treats.
The Christmas espresso roast is basically the same thing, but has a little more kick. Not in caffeine, but in flavor. Remember, the darker the roast the LESS caffeine there is.
It's deeper and darker with that the help of the rich espresso roast but still holds the spicy and sweet and a smooth-like carmel feel to it.
Getting waaay ahead of myself. Even though Starbucks already has the red cups, it's only fair to let Thanksgiving Blend finish it's course.
