Dark Chocolate Almond Joyful Brownies

My oldest son is in Kindergarten and I can't believe the year is almost over.


We have enjoyed school so much this year.. yes.. I said we.

He loves seeing his friends all day, he loves learning, lunchtime, P.E. music... pretty much everything.
I love that he is learning, that he gets this special time to himself. I love that he loves it.

Most of all we both LOVE his teacher. I mean super duper wowzer, as she always says.

She has brought such joy to my son. I don't think she has ever lost her patience and everything is done with a "happy heart". Seriously, she. is. Amazing! Sometimes I think God sent an angel to earth. No human is that fantastic.

All that to say, today was her birthday. I have brought her many a treat this year, but there was one that she couldn't stop raving about. I knew that was going to be the birthday treat. 

I call them Almond Joyful for her, that is just what she is all day! 
She has been such a Joy to get to know this year. She is not allowed to retire until my other two sons go through Kindergarten. I think it should be in her contract.

Here are the treats:
You will need:
Dark chocolate brownies
Coconut filling
Ganache or Chocolate Frosting
Slivered Almonds

Dark Chocolate Brownies
1/2 butter (melted)
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 cup unsifted all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened special dark cocoa (Hershey's)
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8 or 9 inch square pan.

Blend butter, sugar and vanilla in large mixing bowl.
Add eggs; using a spoon beat well.
Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; gradually blend into the egg mixture.

Spread in greased pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes. DO NOT overbake!
Brownie should be beginning to pull away from edges of pan. Cool completely.

Now we have the brownies! Don't mind the missing edge, I had to taste test to make sure they were good. Everyone does that right. um.. at least in my house. 
Let's talk filler.

Coconut filling:
3 Cups shredded coconut 
7-8 oz sweetened condensed milk
3/4 Cups powdered sugar

Toss the coconut and powdered sugar together.
Slowly add sweetened condensed milk, stir until well blended.

Spread on top of cooled brownies.

Then pour the ganache over top and spread evenly. 

Sprinkle the slivered almonds on top.

 Slice and Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Mrs. Baxter!!!


Baking from my heart to your kitchen,

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Mounds Brownies

Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't.

How many of you now have that jingle in your head? I knew it, success.

Wait, you don't remember it..... now I feel old.

I have a dear friend who had surgery this week and I wanted to take her something to show my love. Since she knew I would want to bring her something, she put her request in last week. Gotta love a woman who knows what she wants.
Her request was "something coconut". hmmmm.... what to make.

Then! As I was "pinning" my day away, I came across Mounds Brownies.

Oh yes, this was perfect. Coconutty chocolatey goodness. 

I found a few recipes, but then decided to just go with what I thought would work best.

What you will need.....

Mounds Brownies

1 Family Size (9x13) pan of brownies, prepared
5 1/3 Cups shredded, unsweetened coconut
14oz Can sweetened condensed milk
1 ½ Cups powdered sugar
Ganache (recipe below) you will need:
3 tbs light corn syrup
heavy cream
10 oz dark chocolate chips

1/2 tsp vanilla

Prepare brownies according to package directions.While they are cooling, complete the remaining layers.
(not the greatest picture, but you get it)

Make Ganache:
Pour corn syrup and cream in a medium sauce pan and bring to boil. Pour in chocolate chips and stir until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and add vanilla.
Let cool slightly.

In the bowl of your mixer combine coconut, sweetened condensed milk, and powdered sugar until all ingredients are incorporated.
Spread coconut mixture over brownies.
(My husband can't resist a warm brownie, so he sliced off the edge to "test" them)

Pour ganache over the coconut mixture. Let cool and set up.

Slice, enjoy and share the coconutty love!

Baking from my heart to your kitchen,

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Mint Brownies and Green Smoothies

Remember last week when I told you about my mild vitamin D deficiancy thing.

Well.....

Now to resolve some other "issues" she wants me to eat lactose and gluten -free for two weeks. 
Say What!!
I started researching this gluten-free diet and I basically  have to cut out all foods that I love. As for baking, well that's out the window. At least for two weeks.

After I had a "my life is over" moment, I decided it's worth a try. What's two weeks if it makes me feel better and I find out what may be causing my "issues". Issues are basically random stomach cramps after eating certain foods. So far greasy foods are out. 

So my dear readers, welcome to my journey/experiment/adventure.

I know, your wondering about the mint brownies. It was the last sweet I made before the hammer was dropped. I thought I would share before I start posting my experimental recipes.

At the end I'll tell you about the green smoothie part.

Let's talk sweets first.

Mint Brownies

adapted from Make It Do

(I did her recipe and a 1/2, those are in parenthesis)

1 c. melted butter (1 ½ c.)
 ½ c. cocoa powder (3/4 c.)
2 c. sugar (3 c.)
4 eggs beaten (6)
1 tsp. vanilla (1 ½ tsp.)
½ tsp. salt (3/4 tsp.)
1 ½ c. sifted flour (2 ¼ c.)

1 cups Andes mints (chopped)

Whisk together the butter and cocoa.

Add the sugar, eggs,vanilla and salt

Mix well, then stir in the sifted flour

Stir in by hand. Do not over mix.

Stir in the Andes mints, I found a bag of them already chopped.

Pour into 9×13 pan sprayed with cooking spray. If making 1 1/2 recipe pour into Baker’s Half Sheet (large cookie sheet.) Bake at 350 degrees for 25-28 minutes.

Cool for a few minutes and then place in freezer for 20 minutes.

While brownies are in the freezer make first layer of topping.

Mint Filling

adapted from The Girl Who Ate Everything

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons butter, softened
3 tablespoons whipping cream
2 oz cream cheese, softened
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon mint extract
2 drops green food color

In large bowl, beat filling ingredients with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Spread over cooled brownies. Refrigerate about 1 hour or until set.

While that is setting, make the chocolate layer.

Chocolate Topping

1/3 cup whipping cream
1 1/3 cups (8 oz) semisweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup butter (do not use margarine)

In 2-quart nonstick saucepan, heat topping ingredients over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until melted and smooth. Cool about 10 minutes or until lukewarm.

Pour over chilled filling. Refrigerate until set, about an hour.

Once set, I decided they would be cute round, so I got out my cookie cutter (see it stuck in there), the brownies were too thick. I did, however, find this old biscuit cutter or something my neighbor gave me a while back. It worked beautifully

Just work fast when you cut them, much easier to slice or cut when they are cold.

I didn't think I would enjoy these, I only made them because they were requested, but I couldn't stop eating them. They were good cold, but even better at room temp when the chocolate and filling were softer.

Ok, Green Smoothie

My sister is a strong believer in juicing and she really wants me to give it a go.

I don't have a juicer, however, and they are quite pricey. I am compromising and having a green smoothie every morning for breakfast. They are surprisingly yummy once you find a combination you like.

My favorite one so far is:

1 Cup Coconut milk

1/2 cup pineapple

1 kiwi

1/2-1 cup strawberries

1/2 cup carrots

handful of spinach

No, you can't taste the spinach, I promise. 

Baking... errr... experimenting from my heart to your kitchen,

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S'mores Brownies with Homemade Hot Fudge Sauce.

Have you ever tried to make S'mores with 5 and 3 year old boys?



Let me break the fun down for you...


First, giving boys sticks is really never a good idea. They immediately become weapons. 
Once you have convinced them to stop playing swords and lured them in with large marshmallows, you stick fluffy white goodness on the end of the stick. They eat the first couple before you even introduce fire.


You carefully inch them toward the fire with their marshmallow stick and after you thoroughly explain how dangerous fire is, they puch their stick in the fire causing the mallow to spontaneously combust. A few casualities later, you finally get a decent toasty one. Stickiness everywhere, you decide raw marshmallows are better and supervise a sparring contest.


Then I came across these brownies on cookiesandcups.com, go check her out, awesome and witty blog.


The sticky goodness is there, but no fire or sticks. 
A win, win situation.


I changed her recipe a bit, instead of using Hershey bars, I made homemade Hot Fudge Sauce.


Let's start with that.

Hot Fudge

4 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate
1 cup white sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Place chocolate in a microwave safe bowl and cook on high 1 to 2 minutes, stirring frequently, until mostly melted.

Transfer to a heavy-bottomed saucepan over low heat and stir in sugar, salt and butter.

Stir in cream, a little at a time until smooth. 

Heat through, without boiling, then remove from heat and stir in vanilla. 

Set aside.

You may never use store bought hot fudge again, this stuff is good.

Moving on to the Brownie....

S'mores Brownies

For the crust:
1 1/2 cups of crushed graham crackers (approx 12-13 whole graham crackers) PLUS reserved 1/4 cup for garnish
6 T. butter
1/4 cup sugar
Preheat to 350
Crush graham crackers.
In a 9×9 baking pan melt butter, add crumbs and sugar. Mix with a spoon or your fingers and press to form a crust.
Bake crust for 10 min until slightly golden.

Next whip up some brownies. I used a box, but feel free to make your own.

Pour the brownies over the crust and bake as directed.

Once the brownies have slightly cooled, poor the hot fudge sauce over the brownies, top with about 2 cups of marshmallows and bake for about 3-4 minutes until they are puffy and lightly browned.
Drizzle more hot fudge sauce on top and sprinkle with more graham cracker crumbs.

It was a bit difficult to cut through all that gooey goodness, but buttering the knife seemed to help. It was worth it. All the toasty tastiness of a S'more, half the battle.


Baking from my heart to your kitchen,

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Dessert and Devotions: Peanut Butter Chocolate Goodness

It is time for another "Dessert and Devotions". I have posted about this before so I won't go into the details of how this came about. I was really looking forward to a night of encouragemnet. 

One of my mom friends gave some great advice; just be honest about how we really feel as moms sometimes. I totally agree! I would love to say my day is filled with rainbows and sunshine, but I have three boys under the age of 5. My day is filled with dirt, daredevils and wrestling.


Rabbit trail: Must my boys fight and wrestle up and down the halls on a daily basis? Is this necessary? The response is always, "well, they're boys". Does being a boy give you a free pass to mayhem and stinkiness? Seriuosly?! My 5 year old makes flowers wilt when he takes off his shoes. He is 5 people! Why do his feet smell that bad? 


Ok, back on topic. We had a wonderful "seasoned" mother of five give us a devotional. She has been through the teenage season and lived to tell about it. She was a great encouragement and blessing to all of us and answered our bombardment of questions with such wisdom.
One of the points she made was that, as moms, we get angry at our children sometimes *gasp*! She reminded us to look at them as our little gifts from God that we need to train and encourage through life. Yes, it is not easy, and some days I feel I am banging my head against the wall, but they are worth it. 
Are we exhausted, yes... Do they still jump on the couch after you have told them not to 100 times... yes. Do we give up... No.
I am very thankful for a this mom who was willing to take time out of her busy day to stop and remind me what a blessing it is to be a mom. If you knew this mom, she is meek and quiet and her children are awesome! So to think she had the same issues and worked through them with God's help is an incredible encouragement to me. There is hope for me yet and maybe I don't get the badge of mothering shame for the month. 


Keep it up Moms out there, you are doing a great job! There are sweet children living inside those little monsters blessings. 


Speaking of sweet, let me show you what I made.

Layers of peanutty chocolate goodness! 


Let's start at the beginning

You will need:

Peanut butter cookie dough

Box of brownie mix

Chocolate chips

Reese's Mini's

Preaheat oven to 350 degrees

Make the peanut butter cookie dough and the brownies.

Spread the peanut butter dough into a 9x13 greased pan

 FYI, I use chunky peanut butter, I love the crunch of the peanuts in this. I also  used only 3/4 of the batter and made cookies with the rest. Bonus!

Sprinkle on the chocolate chips. 

Pour on the brownie mix of choice. If you want a thicker brownie layer, make an extra box or use the family size box. I may do that next time.

Next step is one of the best ideas ever! Unwrapped mini cups!

Press those into the brownie.

Bake for 40 -45 minutes.

Let cool completely before cutting into. Unless you are like me and couldn't wait, then dig in. Just beware, it is gooey yummines that the knife doesn't like to let go of. Can't blame it.

These were really good and even better the next day.

I put some aside to give away, but when I went to package them up they had mysteriously disappeared. Wonder how that happened?

Baking from my heart to your kitchen,

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Simply Saturday: Blackberry Brownie Bites

I know I recently posted about blackberries, but I had to use up the rest of my blackberries.
I made some blackberry buttercream and tried to put it on cupcakes, but it was a strong blackberry flavor.
I needed a strong chocolate flavor... sooo.... I found a recipe for double chocolate brownie cookies in a cookbook I have. I was sold on double chocolate. Yum.

You can really put whatever you want in the middle of these brownie bites, I just used my buttercream, but the possibilities are endless... endless I say!

You will need:

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

4 Tbls butter

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup AP flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

In a micowave safe bowl melt butter and chocolate chips.

Heat until chocolate is melted and smooth, about 1 to 1 1/2 minutes on High.

Stir in cocoa until blended. 
With fork, beat in eggs, vanilla and sugar until well mixed.
Stir in flour and baking powder until well blended.

Drop by rounded tablespoons into a mini cupcake tin, greased lightly.
Bake about 10 to 12 minutes, or until tops are cracked slightly.

While still warm, press a dent in the top and let cool in pan about 5 minutes before removing.

Transfer to wire rack and let cool completely.
You could actually skip the denting and filling and just eat them as is.
Totally acceptable and yummy... but....if you want to dent and fill, please do.

Then fill with desired filling, blackberry buttercream in my case.


They look so pretty.... and taste so yummy!


If you try these, please come back and let me know what you filled them with.


Enjoy!

Baking from my heart to your kitchen,

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