Browned Butter Pecan Brownies

Are you a browned butter kind of person? A bread and butter kind of person? Maybe a no butter kind of person? I'd have to place myself in the third category. I know, butter, it's what makes all these delicious sweets taste oh so delicious(!), but sometimes, it's just a little too heavy, you know? Especially after eating these Browned Butter Pecan Brownies. Ugh, my stomach hurts so much! I know, I said I'm not a butter kind of gal, but c'mon it's browned butter pecan brownies we're talking about! Browned butter pecan brownies! C'mon!

Browned Butter Pecan Brownies
Adapted from Bon Appetit
Ingredients
Nonstick vegetable oil spray
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons sugar
3/4 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, chilled
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup pecans toasted and roughly chopped

Directions
1. Preheat to 325°F and line an 8x8x2-inch metal baking pan with foil. Coat foil with nonstick spray.
2. Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium heat. Continue cooking until butter stops foaming and browned bits form at bottom of pan, stirring often, about 5 minutes.
3. Remove from heat; immediately add sugar, cocoa, 2 teaspoons water, vanilla, and salt. Stir to blend. Let cool 5 minutes (mixture will still be hot).
4. Add eggs to hot mixture 1 at a time, beating vigorously to blend after each addition. When mixture looks thick and shiny, add flour and stir until blended. Beat vigorously 60 strokes.
5. Stir in nuts. Transfer batter to prepared pan.
6. Bake brownies until toothpick inserted into center comes out almost clean (with a few moist crumbs attached), about 25 minutes. Cool in pan on rack. Using foil overhang, lift brownies from pan. Cut into 4 strips. Cut each strip crosswise into 4 brownies.

The Love Child of a Brownie and a Blondie

What would happen if a brownie and a blondie had a child?

What would we call it?

A browndie?

A blonwie?

The love child of a brownie and a blondie?

What would it look like? Now that's an easy question. It would look like..... this:

A fudgy brownie topped with a layer of blondie goodness.

Oh, and don't even get me started on how this baby (no pun intended) tastes! Okay, maybe I will start on how good this tastes.

Well, first you have the rich chocolate flavor from the brownie, then as you bite in to the brownie/blondie and start to chew, the light caramel taste emerges offering a contrasting twist to the chocolate.

Basically, it tastes Amazing. Yes, flat out amazing. And why wouldn't it? It comes from NY's Fat Witch Brownie recipe book. The original brownie and lemon lime bars were fantastic too! Oh boy, I can't wait to go there and try them for real!

If A Brownie and A Blondie Had A Child....A.K.A Butterscotch Flip  

Adapted From Fat Witch Brownie

Ingredients:

Bottom Layer

7 Tbs butter

⅓ cup bittersweet chocolate

2 large eggs

½ cup sugar

½ tsp vanilla

⅓ cup flour

pinch salt

¼ cup semi sweet chocolate chips

 

Top Layer

4 Tbs butter

1 egg

¾ cup packed light brown sugar

¼ tsp vanilla

½ cup flour

pinch salt

½ tsp baking powder

¼ cup white chocolate chips (optional)

1. Grease a 9x9 and preheat oven to 350˚F

2. Make bottom:

-Melt butter and bittersweet chocolate. Set aside

-Cream eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Add the chocolate mixture

-Sift in the flour and salt.

-Spread in to pan and place in freezer while you make the top layer.

3. Make top layer

-Melt butter, set aside.

-Cream the egg, brown sugar, and vanilla. Add butter,

-Sift together flour, salt, baking powder, and then sift in to the batter

-Stir in white chocolate chips, if using.

-Spread evenly over the bottom layer 

4.Bake for 32 minutes

5. Enjoy!

M&M's + Chocolate = The Fudgiest Brownie...Ever!

 

This is. Hands Down. The Fudgeist Brownies. Ever. 

I'm not joking. I had to chill the pan for quite a while before I was able to even slice it. My mom even said these brownies might be too fudgy. Can you believe that?! Too fudgy. I always thought brownies were made to be fudgy. If people wanted cakey brownies, why didn't they just make a chocolate cake?

Do you see the M&M's? I sprinkled them on to the batter after pouring, hoping they would "float" on top. As you can see, they seem to have sunk a little lower than expected. Only the middle M&M's were visible. Darn. Too bad I don't have more pictures. The above picture is from before chilling, and once I chilled and cut them, I forgot to take a picture! Whoops :O But you've got to try this recipe for yourself. It's that fudgy! 

Note: I made another batch of brownies and accidentally over baked them by a couple minutes. Ooops! Keep a careful eye on your brownies if you want the fudgy texture because my slightly over baked brownies were quite cakey and not at all dense and fudgy. :( But they were still tasty!

From Flour Bakery Cookbook: Intense Chocolate Brownie 

 

B stands for Buzz....B stands for Brownies

I've always loved the smell of coffee, but for some reason I just can't bring myself to drink it. Even with several scoops of sugar and probably way too much cream, I still can't swallow that bitter tasting liquid. But for some strange reason, I absolutely love, love, love, Roselani Kona Mud Pie ice cream. It's creamy kona coffee ice cream with a decadent fudge swirl and chunks of chocolate cookie pieces. Yum, pure caffeine heaven. The first time I ever tried it, I thought it was the best ice cream ever and continued to eat several bowls of it. Little did I know that my body was not used to caffeine, and I ended up staying awake for a really long time. Let's just say I did not sleep until the following day...

So anyways, how does my story about caffeine relate to those brownies above? Well, those brownies aren't just any old brownie. No, they are espresso brownies. Made with 2 whole tablespoons of espresso! Definitely going to pack a punch, don't you think? I made these for my friends birthday, and everyone loved them. You could definitely detect the coffee-ness, but it wasn't too overpowering, more of a subtle hint of a caffeine buzz!

Espresso Brownies

Adapted From Fat Witch Brownie  

Ingredients:

8 Tbs butter

½ cup bittersweet chocolate

2 eggs

¾ cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 Tbs instant espresso powder

1 Tbs hot water

1 cup flour

½ tsp salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F and grease a 9x9 pan

2. Melt butter and chocolate. Set aside

3. Cream eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Add in the chocolate mixture

4. In a small cup mix together water and espresso. Add to the chocolate mixture.

5. Sift in the flour and salt, then stir until combined.

6. Pour in to prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes

7. Cool for an hour. Cut before serving

America has her own kitchen?

Can you believe I've I had never even heard of America's Test Kitchen? Who knew America had her own test kitchen!? (You know I'm joking, right?). Well that was the past, as I'm now a definite fan of America's Test Kitchen, Cook's Illustrated, and the like. My mom bought me their Holiday Cookie edition, and my oh my, are those recipes amazing. Btw, if you're wondering why I'm posting something from a holiday cookbook now, in the spring time, well, that's how good they are!

While flipping through the recipe booklet, the cream cheese brownie immediately caught my eye. Actually, the recipe was for a raspberry cream cheese brownie, but I had to omit the raspberry since I had none of hand :( But what caught my eye was having the cream cheese in a layer, rather than marbled into the batter. From the top they look like an ordinary brownie, but from the side...they're awesome!!

Cream Cheese Brownies
Adapted from America's Test Kitchen Holiday Cookies
Ingredients:
For the cream cheese mixture
1 8 ounce package cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
3/4 teaspoon vanilla

For the brownie:
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons butter
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup sugar

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350˚F and line a 8 x 8 inch pan with foil. Spray foil with pam.
2. Cream together cream cheese, sugar, egg yolk, and vanilla until smooth
3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. In a microwaveable bowl, microwave butter and chocolate until melted
5. Add in egg, vanilla, and sugar, stirring until smooth.
6. Add in the flour mixture, and fold until combined
7. Place half of the batter in to the pan. Smooth out, and then top with the cream cheese mixture. Smooth out, then pour the remaining batter on top.
8. Bake for 30-40 minutes
9. Enjoy!

Fat Witch Brownie!

When you read these words: Fat Witch, what do you think of? Something fat? A witch? A fat witch? How about the brownies from NY's Fat Witch Bakery? No? Well, after trying these brownies, you definitely will. 

I've actually never been to the bakery (hopefully I will soon), so I have not tried their original brownie. However that didn't stop me from borrowing their cookbook from the library. (I like to borrow my books to see if I like them before buying them-this book definitely passed the test!) So far, I've made four of their recipes and loved all of them! But first, you have to start with the original, right?  

If you like slightly cake-y, not too rich/dark brownies, than I bet you would call these brownies "perfect". And not so surprisingly, many people love those types of brownies. I brought them to school, and before lunch my container was empty!

All of the recipes are made for a 9x9 pan, but I only had a 8x8, and rather than over filling the pan, I made mini bite-sized brownies! My mom called these the perfect diet desserts, as they are already portioned, but decadent enough to feel like you're indulging. I, on the other hand, prefer a large square of brownie with a glass of milk, or even better, a bowl of vanilla ice cream!

Original Fat Witch Brownie

Ingredients:

14 Tbs butter

½ cup plus 2 Tbs bittersweet chocolate

1 ¼ cup gran sugar

4 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup plus 2 Tbs unbleached flour

pinch salt

Directions:

1. Grease 9x9 and preheat oven to 350˚F (Or grease an 8x8 and line 9 mini muffin tins with baking cups)

2. Melt butter and chocolate in the microwave.

3. Cream together eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Stir in chocolate mixture.

4. In a separate bowl sift together flour and salt.

5. Fold in to the chocolate mixture

6. Pour in to prepared pan and bake for 33 minutes

Vegan Brownies #2...

After making my first batch of vegan brownies, I was excited to try another recipe, but this time without the espresso powder. (Maybe this was what made them a wee bit too dark for some?) I found a delicious sounding cocoa brownie in the Vegan Cookie cookbook,  but it called for firm tofu, which I did not have on hand. But no fear, there is always the internet, right? So I looked up 'vegan brownie', and one of the first results was this recipe, from All Recipes. I'm not sure if it was me, but for some reason there was something quite off about these brownies. I had my mom try them, and well, let's just say her face spoke for her. I found them quite dry (I don't think I over baked them, as I took it out a several minutes early), and devoid of a chocolate flavor. I think next time I'll just bike to the store for some firm tofu!

If you would like to see the recipe, it's from here.

Rich, Dark, Fudge-like Brownies. And they're VEGAN!

If you love rich, dark,  fudge-like brownies that are also vegan, these are the brownies for you. The recipe comes from Vegan Cookies Invade your Cookie Jar, and is a great recipe for vegans and non-vegans alike.

 The brownie was thinner than a typical brownie, and was quite chewy. I brought these to my Environmental Vegetarian Club (no, I'm not a vegetarian, just in the club. Strange, right? But more on that in a little bit). Some people said the brownies were too dark, but some people absolutely loved them. I found the ones who loved the brownies loved dark chocolate, while the people who disliked them loved milk chocolate, hence their aversion to these very dark brownies.

 Why did I bring vegan brownies to an environmental and vegetarian club, you ask? Well, if you think about it, pretty much all desserts are meat free, and so the club leader asked me to make vegan desserts (no animal products at all. not even honey! O.O). It was quite a challenge at first, how do you make cookies without eggs, or butter?! But not to worry, as I've found several great books and blog who have tons of great (vegan!) recipes. 

Nom, nom, nom. :)

Espresso Fudge Brownies
from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar
Ingredients:
3 oz semisweet chocolate
5 Tbs margarine, nonhydrogenated
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup soy milk
1 Tbs cornstarch
1 Tbs espresso powder
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup plus 2 Tbs flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
3 Tbs cocoa powder
Pinch salt

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350˚F and grease a 8x8 pan
2. Melt butter and chocolate in the microwave
3. Whisk together soy milk, cornstarch, espresso, and vanilla until foamy.
4. Combine with chocolate mixture
5. Sift in flour, baking powder, and cocoa powder, and salt
6. Fold until moistened
7. Pour in to prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes

Powdered cake pops

Below are normal(ish) looking cakepops. The ish is because they aren't too pretty.

Below is powder sugared cake balls. Don't they look like mini donut holes?

After several attempts at dipping cake pops and bites in to chocolate, which all turned out in disasters, I decided to coat the cake balls in powder sugar and call it a day. Ingenious! It was easy, and the cake balls were still retained their deliciousness!

Powder sugar cake balls 
Ingredients:
1 13x9 cake, your favorite flavor (I used chocolate)
1 can frosting, also your favorite flavor (I used chocolate, again)
2 cups powdered sugar

Directions:
1. Using a fork or food processor, combine cake and frosting
2. Shape in to balls and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or until the balls are firm enough to handle
3. Roll cake balls in powder sugar
4. Enjoy!

Cream Cheese Brownie

Cream cheese brownies. Wow, just those three little words would make anyone smile, especially my friends. They went crazy for these! The same day I made these babies, I made chocolate chip cookies. Guess which ones they ate first?! Yup, they choose these delicious squares of chocolate-y creamy goodness.

I've always been a little scared of making anything with two different batters. Maybe it's because it seems like double the work for only one dessert. Wait, no that would make me just lazy. Maybe I am lazy? Hmmm....that's a question I'll answer later...But don't worry, these brownies are totally worth making two different batters.

Cream Cheese Brownies 
Cream Cheese:
Adapted from epicurious
6 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
2 large egg
2 tablespoon all purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Brownie:
Adapted from the Baked Cookbook
Ingredients:
1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons cocoa powder

11 ounces milk chocolate, coarsely chopped 

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces 

1-1/2 cups granulated sugar 

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar 

5 large eggs, at room temperature 

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the sides and bottom of a 9-by-13-inch glass or light-colored metal baking pan.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, salt, and cocoa powder together.
3. Put the chocolate and butter in a large bowl and set it over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate and butter are completely melted and smooth. Turn off the heat, but keep the bowl over the water and add the sugars. Whisk until completely combined, then remove the bowl from the pan. The mixture should be room temperature.
4. Add 3 eggs to the chocolate mixture and whisk until combined. Add the remaining eggs and whisk until combined. Add the vanilla and stir until combined. 
5. Fold the flour mixture into the chocolate.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan
7. In a clean bowl beat the cream cheese and butter until fluffy, add in sugar, flour, and extract. Continue beating until smooth. Evenly spread over brownie.
8. Bake in the center of the oven for 30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the brownies comes out with a few moist crumbs sticking to it. Let the brownies cool completely, then cut them into squares and serve.

David Lebovitz's Absolute Best Brownies

Whenever someone says it's The Best or Absolute Best or Greatest or stuff like that, do they really mean it? I mean like I guess it's all relative, but are they really as good as they say? I'm not sure...These brownies are supposedly the "Absolute Best Brownies". Are they really? Maybe, but I don't think so. I think there are probably multiple best brownies. Plus, I can't choose my favorite. :)

So today's recipe is from David Lebovitz's book Ready for Dessert. As you can see from the title of the post. So a little background story first. Yesterday I was at whole foods, and I bought a big bar of valrhona chocolate. I love that chocolate!! It's AMAZING. And it was sooo good in these brownies. They were fudge-y, but I think I would've liked half milk chocolate and half dark chocolate instead of full on dark chocolate. To me it tasted like a really rich, dense, chocolate cake, so it wasn't my favorite, but they were still pretty good. My friends and I snuck them into the movie theater (shush!) and by the end of the movie they were all gone!!! (wooohooo A-team!) well that's today's recipe. Enjoy! 

Rob's Absolute Best Brownies (according to them...) -printer friendly version
adapted from David Lebovitz's book: Ready for Dessert
Ingredients:
6 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces 
8 ounces chocolate, chopped ( I used valrhona- thanks mom!)
3/4 cup  sugar 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
2 large eggs, at room temperature  (mine weren't at room temp and they were fine!)
3/4 cup all-purpose flour 

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350˚F. 
2. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter, then add the chocolate and stir over low heat until the chocolate is melted and smooth. 
3. Remove from the heat and pour into a large bowl
4. Mix in sugar and eggs. Beat in the eggs one at a time. 
5. Add the flour and stir energetically for 1 full minute, until the batter loses its graininess, becomes smooth and glossy, and pulls away a bit from the sides of the saucepan.
6. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake until the center feels almost set, about 30 minutes.
Let cool completely in the pan before lifting out the foil or parchment to remove the brownies. 

*My friends don't like nuts in their brownies, so I substituted 1/2 cup of flour for the nuts. I think the original recipe called for 1 cup of nuts and 1/4 cup of flour*

Haole Brownies

These aren’t your average brownies. As you can see, they have no chocolate in them. They pretty much have the same ingredients as brownies, except for the absence of chocolate. Isn’t that weird? It’s called a brownie, but doesn't have chocolate! How strange, huh? Well, they are very similar to caramel cuts, but are much easier to make. They have a caramely butter flavor, and are delicious!



Haole Brownie
adapted from here
Ingredients:
1 ¼ cups brown sugar (packed)
1 cups granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 sticks (10 oz.) butter or margarine
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 large eggs

Directions:
Cream together brown sugar, granulated sugar, salt, butter and baking powder.
Add and mix all-purpose flour until incorporated. Add and mix eggs until creamy.
Scrape down sides of bowl and then mix on medium speed for 2 minutes or by spoon for 5 minutes.
Grease 13" x 9" x 2" pans and preheat oven to 375-400 degrees.
Wait for 3 minutes after they have flattened completely, then remove from oven and place on rack to cool.
When warm to the touch, cut to desired size.


haha doesn't it look like a chicken or somethin?? (the lights look like eyes, no?)

Brownies using a mix..but w/ no oil!

today i really wanted to eat a brownie, so when I finished my super boring geo hw, i decided to make brownies. Since i was short on time, i used a brownie mix :O. my favorite box brownie mix is the ghirardelli one! i've used the hershey's box mix, just to try it, and it wasn't as good. i just happened to be reading the oil nutrition facts before making the brownies, so i really really didn't want to be oil in the brownies. Can you believe how much calories can be packed in such a tiny amount of liquid! I substituted 2 of those snack size apples sauce cups in place of the oil, and they weren't dry at all! I used two packages, and divided the batter into two packages. One of them i took out 10 minutes before the cook time, and it was a lot moister than the pan i left for the full cook time. The "undercooked" one was a lot better than the "normal" cookie one. However, when they first came out of the oven, they were kinda crispy. I love crispy stuff, so i loved them when they come out. I left them for awhile just to see if they would soften up because my family likes soft stuff (chewy cookies...)The next day, they were quite soft and the ones that were undercooked were very moist.


Brownie Recipe
Ghirardelli brownie mix
Apple Sauce (snack size cups, the ones that go into lunches)
Eggs
follow recipe on the box, but substitute 2 snack size cups of apple sauce and reduce bake time by 10 minutes.