TWD: Bittersweet Brownies

Were going to have a lot of lasts over @ Tuesdays with Dorie... and this is the last brownie. I would be sad but its not possible. If this is the last brownie you ever make tis a good one fo sho.

Now I talk a lot about brownie belly, and for some reason this brownie doesn't do that. Not that I couldn't have gone back for seconds and fourths and inflicted brownie belly on myself by just plain eating too many because they is goo-ood. But somehow, they are truly satisfyingly perfect forcing you to pace your brownie intake over several delicious days instead of just one day of glutenous punishment.

If you want to try some brownie perfection head over to see Leslie... she's got the goods over on her blog Lethally Delicious hmmmmm seriously fitting blog title for this recipe no?

TWD: Classic Brownies

Truth be told I should be making icing for decorated cookies... but always the procrastinator... I would rather write about Brownies for this weeks Tuesday with Dorie recipe. Besides I haven't had the time to join the group lately, be it sweltering temperatures or lack of time keeping me from my duty to bring you tasty treats.

Heck there probably isn't anyone reading this darn blog anymore as it is but its still is fun to write and with some the crap I say its probably best if it is only me reading it anyhow ;)

This recipe is brought you by the letter C for super Chocolately and the number 2 which is how many times Miss Anne Strawberry, who was out picker extraordinaire for the week, has gotten to choose a Tuesdays with Dorie recipe! You can grab the recipe from her here.

BTW, this is 4 points on the WW Richter scale if anyone cares to know, recipe as written, sans nuts.

TWD: Honey Nut Brownies

So I've been either way way under the weather (understatement of the year!) or way to busy (like always) or just plain old disinterested (sorry February hosts!) in the choices of recipes this month ... but who can skip Brownies! So I actually made mine early... on Sunday night and then almost forgot to post this!

An easy peasy brownie recipe; just like Dorie Greenspan's recipes for brownies always seem to be. Makes me wonder why anyone ever makes cardboard box brownies! One of my coworkers said he felt duped... and I tend to agree, he saw the word brownie and of course expected a brownie but that's not really what he got....they were very cakey and very un-brownie like. I'll have to go see everyone else's to find out if I mucked up the recipe or if they were supposed to be there way. I personally could have used a bit more of a chocolately punch but they were yummy because the tangy honey flavor really shined through.

TWD: Chocolate Oatmeal Drops

Packed with loads of chocolate, cinnamon and a little oatmeal to take away the guilt. These were like little easy bake brownies.

Thanks to the gals over at Bake with Us for choosing such a simple tasty treat for Valentine's day week. You can find the full recipe here.

TWD: Grinch Blondies

So how do you get a 15 year old boy to help you bake? You agree to make your food in hideous colors.... so I give you Grinch Blondies!

These are a rewind of Chewy Chunky Blondies. This time around we used white & dark chocolate chips and caramel nuggety things, which didn't give the batter much to cling to, but despite the horrifying color, they are really good.... and they do give you brownie belly so I guess we did something right!

TWD: Peanuttiest Blondies

The hostest with the mostest this week is me! Woo! Hoo!

I really thought that by the time I got around to it, we wouldn't have any recipes to choose from... but here it is and there was plenty to pick from! Hopefully you all appreciate a little fall fruit break and found the time to bake along!

I chose these because they just sound amazing, and it was a reason to buy chunky peanut butter.  I heart chunky peanut butter! Sadly, I live my life in family inflicted chunky peanut butter deprivation. In my parents house, no one else liked it and the mass majority of the peanut butter in our house went to the making of peanut sauce for satay, chunky satay sauce is not good eats! So never a jar would appear unless I slipped some in the cart my mom accidentally bought it. My honey doesn't care for the chunky either...unless you count me... hehe cuz I is chunky.

I have a confession... (besides the whole chunky butt thing) I forgot to add in the baking soda! Yikes! Hmm well I just noticed as I was typing up the recipe. They still came out deliciously yummy, just as I imagined like giant thick peanut butter chocolate chip cookies! I will just have to make it again... you know, for the sake of doing things properly.. maybe with toffee bits instead of chocolate next time.


Peanuttiest Blondies

Dorie says...

Made with peanut butter and bolstered with lots of salted peanuts and chocolate these blondies are big, firm, sweet, satisfying and definitely members-in-good-standing of the chewy branch of the brownie family. They're real kid fare, great with milk, malteds, or hot chocolate, and so good with ice cream.

• 1 C A/P Flour (5 oz)
• 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp Baking Soda
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 1/2 C Peanut Butter (5 oz) Crunch or creamy - not natural
• 5 tbsp Unsalted Butter (2.5 oz)
• 3/4 C Granulated Sugar (6 oz)
• 3/4 C Brown Sugar, Packed (6 oz)
• 2 Large Eggs (4 oz)
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla
• 1 C Chopped Salted Peanuts (5 oz)
• 6 oz Semi-sweet or Premium Milk Chocolate, coarsely chopped, or 1 C chocolate chips

Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9-inch square pan with foil, butter the foil and put the pan on a baking sheet. [I used parchment to line an 8-inch pan instead.]
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.
Working with a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the peanut butter and butter together on medium speed until smooth. Add both sugars and beat for 1-2 minutes until well incorporated into the butter. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each goes in. Beat in vanilla extract. Reduce the mixer to low and add in the dry ingredients,  mixing only until they disappear into the dough; the dough will be thick. Add the peanuts and chocolate and give the mixer a few turns to stir them into he dough. If the chunky ingredients are mixed in after a few seconds, just finish the job with a sturdy spatula-don't over mix the dough. Scrape the dough into the prepared pan.
Bake blondies for 40-50 minutes, or until they turn a deep honey brown and a thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool to room temperature.
When its completely cool, carefully lift the blondies our of the  pan using the foil edges as handles, and turn them out onto the rack. Peal away the foil and invert onto a cutting board. Use a long knife to cut into 16 bars, each roughly 2 1/4 inches on a side.

TWD: Chewy Chunky Blondies

The mix-ins for these Chewy Chunky Blondies seemed to exceed the actual batter. I suppose if your into chocolate, butterscotch, pecans and coconut.... such a ratio would be pure bliss. The were true to form leaving you with what I like to call "brownie belly". That oh man I shouldn't have eaten that feeling, but then you go back for more even though you were forewarned with the first piece you had.

If you'd like to establish your own brownie belly.... head over to see Nicole @ Cookies on Friday, she's got the recipe to fix you right up.

Snickerdoodle Blondies

I was trying to figure out where this recipe came from, but like most recipes floating around in the blog-o-sphere this was adapted from an adapted adapted recipe. So I know not whom to give credit to, I can just tell you I got it from the Brown Eyed Baker and the full recipe is here.

It being 100+ degrees over the weekend it was all about toaster oven baking. I tweaked it to fit in my toaster oven by halving the recipe and added cinnamon chips for fun.

It will fit perfectly in an 8x8 square baking pan which fits nicely into my little oven. I turned the temp down to 325 and about 1/2 way thru the baking, I tented the blondies to keep them from getting too dark on the top. My honey loved these and asked that if he dies from eating too many, that I bring some to his graveside so he could still have them in the afterlife..... morbid I know!

TWD: brrr...ownies

Go grab a big glass of cold milk kiddies cuz your gonna need it this week! Dark rich chocolate brownies wrapped around chunks of peppermint patty that turned oozy & gooey in the oven. A sinfully delicious way to have chocolate...

You can find the recipe for the brrr...ownies over at Crazy Blessed Life.

TWD: Cherry Fudge Brownies

In my opinion the imperfectly flaky top and the chewy cherry interior didn't need the topping that transforms this simple brownie into a delicious torte. It's a good thing too because I didn't have all the ingredients for the Tuesdays with Dorie recipe chosen by April from Short + Rose.

Sure I coulda just ran out and got them, but its been a weird few months... and being frugal is the name of the game. I skipped the cherry directions entirely... folding in some chopped dark chocolate covered cherries that I happened to have in the cupboard already. It turned out pretty good too. In fact I don't think my honey simply fell asleep last night... oh no he fell into a deep chocolate coma after consuming two slices of this baby!

TWD: Brownie Buttons

These itty bitty chocolatey brownie bites called Brownie Buttons from page 106 & 107 had an important element going for them that made me eager to whip them up on Saturday morning. Not only did they look delicious and easy to make... they could fit in the toaster oven! Game on! No oven equals no roasty toasty house for the rest of the day!

I simply made mine according to the recipe (sans orange cuz orange & chocolate= yucky!) & topped them off with some toasted macadamian nuts after dipping them in the white chocolate.

You can find this easy recipe on Jayma's site Two Scientists Experimenting in the Kitchen. And be sure to check out the other creations on the Tuesdays with Dorie blog roll.

TWD:Tribute Katherine Hepburn Brownies

Our host for this weeks Tuesdays with Dorie is Lisa from Surviving Oz. She created the fantastic new logo for the site. I don't know how people come up with such things... color me jealous for sure. Just look how cool it is!

Ok on to the recipe... Tribute to Katherine Hepburn Brownies. Chock full of walnuts with a hint of cinnamon and coffee these brownies have a very distinct flavor. They contain only a bit of flour so I don't know how they are staying together so nicely without being mushy & gross like I expected. I only used 1/2 of the chopped chocolate (I know crazy talk) but I think more chocolate would have been too much because they are right on the border of too much (even more craziness). They still don't replace my favorite recipe but they are pretty tasty.

TWD: 2fer Fresh Mango Bread & Chipster Topped Brownies

Since I missed last weeks Tuesday's with Dorie I did a twofer this weekend and made the Fresh Mango Bread from last week and the Chipster Topped Brownies for this week.

I found my camera (woot!) but not the rest of my recipe books (boo!).

Thankfully the Mango Bread recipe chosen by Kelly was easy to find at her site Baking with the Boys and I found the Chipster Topped Brownie recipe over at Nosh with Me who's not on the Blogroll over at TWD but is a Dorie fan. The recipe was actually chosen by Beth at Supplicious and I'm sure she will have the full recipe posted soon but its not currently there as I type this.

The cookie topped brownies are deadly as brownies always tend to be. Rich and yummy but a lot of work for one recipe. I just lured in and ate a second one and wish I hadn't.... brownie bellie is the worst!

The fresh mango bread was a breeze to make but I think I wouldn't include the raisins next time. They seriously overpowered the bread in everyway, so you couldnt taste anything that resembled fresh mango flavor. Or I would make it with the raisins and eat the mango straight up. Yeah that sound like a plan....

The Subjectiveness of Brownies

Out of all the sweets one could make I think brownies can be quite possibly the most subjective. From one eater to the next the "best brownie ever" could take on a different meaning. From fudgy to cakey, to frost or not to frost, nuts or no nuts and every level of decadence come into play.

Fellow blogger Megan over at My Baking Adventures is in search of her personal favorite and I sent her the recipe for this one found on the back of a King Arthur Flour Bag no less.

I was skeptical at first glance, anyone touting the "best" of anything makes me immediately shout prove it in my head so I had to give them a try and for me and my honey this is indeed The Best Fudge Brownie Ever. Perfect cakey fudgy texture, the glistening crispy top layer, the bite of the occasional chocolate chip. I don't add any nuts, frosting or anything else that will mess with perfection, just a chilly glass of milk will do. Dang there will be some happy campers at work tomorrow......