Spork or Foon?

Brownie Popcorn Bags - I Am No Bakerella

 
 

Just to let you know how far behind I am in posting, I made these little ditties for a friend's Oscar Party. 

Why can't I bake like Bakerella?  Here are her pictures:

 

And here are mine. 

 

Umm?  What happened?

Well, let's start with the fact that I'm impatient.  These brownies require you to carefully cut out the popcorn bag shapes (of which I could not find a popcorn bag cookie cutter, so I used one that was in the shape of a beer mug overflowing with frothy beer and just cut off the handle), spread the top of the brownie with vanilla frosting, use popsicle sticks to create the white lines and sprinkle red sprinkles on top to create the red lines. Of course, I could never get my popsicle sticks to stick well, so red sprinkles went everywhere. Plus, I rush EVERYTHING and just wanted the torture to be over.

These are rich, rich, rich, but extremely tasty. You can only have a bite or two. You may ask yourself, are these worth it just to have a bite or two?  Well, if you are Bakerella, yes they are, because then you would be totally awesome and these would look amazing.  But if you are me?  No. Because I am no Bakerella. 

If you want to be a Bakerella, check her out here. 

But if you want to try the awesomeness that are these brownies, check out her post with instructions! 

TWD: Ooey-Gooey Brownies

 
 

Thanks to Tanya of Chocolatechic for picking this awesome pick this week: Rick Katz's brownies for Julia. Child that is. Yes, that Julia. 

I didn't do much to change this brownie recipe because it seemed perfect to me. I love recipes that use different ways to incorporate the ingredients: in this case, the chocolate and butter is melted together and the eggs and sugar are mixed together.  Half of the egg/sugar mixture is added to the chocolate/butter mixture, then the other half of the e/s mix is whipped until light and fluffy and folded into the batter.  Sprinkle some flour and salt on top of that and fold that in together, and bake until just set (I NEVER know what that means.  To me, it means stop cooking it when you look at it and think "There is no way this is finished cooking." 

And these brownies are ooey gooey. I mean, look at them. Deliciously, chocolately ooey-gooey. But I've got to admit, I'm pretty dessert-ed out after the past few weeks. Hanukkah. Christmas. New Years. Super Bowl. And there are only more desserts to come.  Valentine's Day. Dorie Greenspan is in NYC selling her cookies for the week with her son, so I HAVE to go there and order every single type of cookie and eat all of them. I just have to. Then, next month is my five-year anniversary (dating) with Jack. You have to eat dessert during anniversary dinners. It's a special occassion. On that same day is our friend's wedding (the one who introduced us). You have to eat dessert at weddings.  They have those crazy dessert buffets! Then the spring rolls around and I will surely drink copious amounts of frozen margaritas. You have to have frozen margaritas as the weather warms up. You just have to. 

It never ends. I feel fat. 

Wow. I'm going to the gym right this minute. Right after I eat another bite of this brownie. Just a bite.

Make it stop!

Check out Tanya's site for the recipe and check out the rest of TWD for more brownie goodness. 

TWD: Cocoa-Nana Brownies

 
 

It's the first time in a very long time where I've played around with one of Dorie's recipes, which must mean I'm feeling back to my old self again after a crazy few months.  

I woke up this morning (hi, I'm Slacker, nice to meet you) and the first thing I thought was: Cocoa-Nana Brownies.  

Ah, the mind of a food blogger. 

Now, I'm not the biggest fan of brownies.  My father is a huge fan of boxed-mix brownies, and the smell of those chemical-laden brownies wafting through the air always slightly wanted to make me vomit. But I truly believed the only way to make brownies was to pour a mystery mix into a bowl, add eggs or oil or something, mix and bake.  And try to hold dinner down. 

Years later, when I finally learned that I need not be a slave to Duncan Hines, I tried to make my father "cakey" brownies from scratch.  Even though brownies are not my favorite treat, I was extremely pleased with how these brownies turned out.  I proudly presented one to my dad.

He took a bite and silently chewed.

"Well?"  I asked in anticipation. "How are they?"

He nodded.  

"What does that mean?" I asked, getting impatient. "Do you like them?"

He looked at me with the eyes of a five-year old kid.  "I like box brownies." he said, innocently.

I threw up my hands in frustration. "You're gross!  That makes me want to puke!"

Now who is the five-year old kid?

But I do believe that I would win over that box-mix fan with these Cocoa-nana brownies. I combined Dorie's Cocoa-Nana bread recipe with King Arthur Flour's brownie recipe. The result is an incredibly light, sky-high cake brownie studded with chocolate chunks that is incredibly moist with a slight tang from the buttermilk, a far-away, deep caramel flavor from the brown sugar and a hint of banana and topped with a smooth chocolate ganache. These brownies definitely don't make me want to puke. 

Yummy.

Check out Steph of Obsessed with Baking's website for the recipe for her extremely popular choice (the actual Cocoa-Nana Bread) and check out the rest of TWD for some more Cocoa-Nana Bread! No puking! 

Cocoa-Nana Brownies adapted from Dorie Greenspan: Baking from My Home to Yours and King Arthur Flour

16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

3/4 cup light brown sugar

1 1/4 cups Dutch Process cocoa

1 tablespoon vanilla

5 large eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 1/4 cups all purpose unbleached flour

2 medium, very ripe banans
1/3 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350F.  Lightly great a 9 x 13 pan. Set aside. 

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy. Gradually add in cocoa. Beat in vanilla, then beat in eggs, one by one. Beat in baking powder and salt (making sure baking powder is dissolved), then add in buttermilk. When smooth, lower speed to low and add flour and stir just until blended. Add chocolate chips if using.

Pour into pan and bake for about 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out almost clean. Let cool. Frost brownies when cool.

Chocolate Ganache 

6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped
6 tablespoons heavy cream
3 tablespoons butter

Place chopped chocolate in a small bowl. Set aside.

In a small saucepan, heat the butter and cream over medium heat, stirring constantly. When mixture is almost boiling, pour over the chocolate. Let stand for 30 seconds. Then, stir until smooth.

Pour ganache over cooled brownies and spread evenly.

Allow ganache to firm before cutting brownies. Brownies may be placed in refrigerator to expedite this.

TWD: Brownie Buttons

It is moving week.  Although Jack and I moved most of the stuff out of our apartment in DC on Friday, I am back here finishing out work.  My current living conditions are such:

Lawn Chair

Air Mattress

Plastic Plates and utensils

My MacBook

My food processor

Don't ask me why I kept my food processor.  I couldn't part with it. 

And of course, my dog, Remy is sticking it out with me. She is not happy about the change. 

So you'll have to forgive me for the lack of creativity in this post.  I have no cable tv. I sent away for the 2nd season of Mad Men on DVD from Netflix only to realize that my mail forwarding kicked in on Saturday. Therefore, I have been relegated to watching The Real Housewives of Atlanta and Real World on Bravotv.com and MTV.com, respectively.  

I'm not proud.

HBO doesn't even show reruns of True Blood online.  I used to work for HBO. I feel betrayed.

The only books I have in the apartment are the Dexter books (the inspiration for the Showtime TV Show), Dracula, and the Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz.  Reading the first two books at night scares me. Reading the last book makes me hungry.

But let's get to these brownies, chosen by Jaime of Two Scientists Experiementing in the Kitchen.  All I can say is that I loved these. I topped some with Caramelized White Chocolate and others with just plain old white chocolate (which I LOVE. No haters, please).  I loved these. I loved the hint of orange. I loved the ease of the recipe. I loved the frosting on top (I liked the plain white rather than the caramelized).  This recipe is definitely a winner.

And the tiny size is perfect to fit in my cute little kitchen. 

Click here for the recipe.  And click here for the rest of the TWD brownies that I am sure were cooked in very large kitchens with gas stoves with rooms with beds and full fridges, and cable, and...

TWD: Chipster Topped Brownie Ice Cream Cupcake

I ate WAY too much food this past weekend.  Although I did get to go running every day (on the beach while listening to Bob Marley), I still feel like poop on a stick.  The thought of even talking about food makes me semi-naseous - which poses a problem when it comes to maintaining a food blog.

So I will say this:  I wasn't so crazy about the Chipster Topped Brownies (chosen by Beth of Supplicious - click the link for the recipe) by themselves.  Put a chocolate chip cookie on a brownie, and that's what you've got here.  So it is a good idea, in theory, but overall, it just didn't do it for me.

Put ice cream on top of a cookie on top of a brownie? Now we're talking!  These were delicious as ice cream cupcakes! I was going to use Ben and Jerry's Half-Baked frozen yogurt (which is chocolate and vanilla ice cream with cookie dough and brownie bits - perfect for this recipe), but I couldn't find it anywhere (was everyone stoned yet conscious about counting calories this weekend???), so I just used vanilla frozen yogurt. In hindsight, I guess the extra hundred calories a serving didn't make a difference for a recipe that contained 3 1/2 sticks of butter.

Regardless, this was so, so, so delicious.  Ice cream is like bacon.  It makes everything better. 

Unfortunately, ice cream does not help me burn off the gazillion calories I ate this past weekend, so it is back to the gym.  I have set up a little tent next to the ellipticals so I can camp out there all week.

In the meantime, check out the rest of the TWD crew for more Chipster Topped Brownies! 

I think I'll enter these into the Ice Cream Cupcake Challenge of 2009! Click here for details!

Delicious Healthy Brownies???

For reals? 

Yes.  For reals.

Let me give you a bit of a rundown on these brownies:

Typical Brownie Recipe (12 servings): 

295 calories

16.4 fat

46 grams carbohydrates

For Reals? Brownie Recipe (not including walnuts because I hate nuts in my brownies but if you like them, add 16 calories and 1.5g fat per brownie ):

99 calories

0.5 grams of fat

23.4 grams of carbs

'Nuff said.

Now, you may think that these brownies are too good to be true.  "They must taste like low-fat grossness," you say to yourself.

Well, you are wrong.

When I handed these brownies to Jack, he looked at me with confusion and said, "I thought these were low-fat brownies".

Nice!

Since they are low-fat, he uses that as an excuse to eat 3 at a time (which kind of defeats the purpose) but even if he does, it is still 15 less grams of fat per "Jack serving".  And he has super fast metabolism, so he can eat whatever he wants and still be thin.  Sigh.

Now, don't get me wrong. There is no way to imitate the wonderful deliciousness that goes into regular, full fat, butter filled, artery clogging, egg yolk-having, cholesterol-toting brownies.  But these are damn close. For low fat brownies, these are fantastic. 

These are fudgey, incredibly moist, and delicious and taste best (in my opinion) when heated and served with a dollop of whipped cream (if you want to keep it healthy, have it with Cool Whip and only add 25 calories!). A-MA-ZING.  

I'll never look at brownies the same way again.

Healthy Brownies adapted from Maple N Cornbread

Serves 16

1/2 cup good quality unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
3 egg whites
1 cup sugar
1 tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp instant coffee granules 
1/2 cup white whole wheat pastry flour 
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray an individual brownie pan or 8 inch square baking pan, with non stick cooking spray.

In a large bowl mix together all of he dry ingredients. Mix the applesauce and egg whites and gently fold into the dry mixture. Stir only until moistened. 

Pour into prepared pan. Sprinkle with chopped nuts. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until desired texture is reached. Less time will result in a more dense, gooey brownie and longer time will produce a cake like brownie. When cool, cut into 12 pieces.  

Chocolate Mascarpone Brownies

Sorry for the bad picture, but I brought these to a barbeque, and I didn't want to be "that person" taking pictures of the food.  You know, how you attend outings with food and there is always someone standing there, telling people to "get out of the light" while they take pictures of the food, while also telling you not to touch, cut, taste, lick, or even smell the food until they have taken a suitable photo of it? 

No? Just us food bloggers? 

Alright, then.

Rich, velvety, fudgey, and chocolatey, these chocolate brownies melt on the tongue.  The soft flavor of the mascarpone cheese gives these brownies an added dimension, while enhancing the smooth, silky texture of the crumb.  This recipe turns a plain old brownie into an elegant scene stealer.

Chocolate Mascarpone Brownies  adapted from Bake or Break

1 cup unsalted butter (plus more for preparing pan)

3 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup mascarpone cheese, softened

3 large eggs, at room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

Ganache

6 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

6 tablespoons heavy cream

3 Tablespoons unsalted butter

 

Preheat oven to 350°. Butter an 8-inch square glass baking pan and set aside.

Place the butter and chocolate in heat-proof bowl and set over a pot of simmering water.  Stirring constantly, melt butter and chocolate.  Set aside and let cool.

Sift sugar and cocoa powder. Add to the butter/chocolate mixture. Beat in (by hand) the mascarpone, eggs, and vanilla extract until smooth. Fold in flour and salt.

Pour batter into pan and spread evenly.

Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool in pan on cooling rack.

Ganache

Place chopped chocolate in a small bowl. Set aside.

In a small saucepan, heat the butter and cream over medium heat, stirring constantly. When mixture is almost boiling, pour over the chocolate. Let stand for 30 seconds. Then, stir until smooth.

Pour ganache over cooled brownies and spread evenly.

Allow ganache to firm before cutting brownies. Brownies may be placed in refrigerator to expedite this.

Yields 16 brownies.