When I made these brownies I was actually looking for a different brownie recipe I had made the week earlier, that was really really really good. I saw this one a few times on different blogs and thought it was probably just as good.

And it was.

I needed something to bring to a Wine Night my friends and I were having. Everyone brings their own bottle of wine, and we open them one by one, and when it’s your turn you present your wine, try and pronounce it’s name and then describe where it came from. This gets more and more entertaining as you get to the 8th or 9th bottle of wine. My friend and I decided chocolate and wine pairs well together.

And it did.

These were really good, not as fudgy as the ones I made the weekend before, but I think it was also because I had less cocoa left over to use. I would have melted some chocolate and stirred it in but I didn’t have time, as the wine night was on the island and I made them the night before.

Also! As you’ve probably seen I am on the island (Vancouver Island) quite a lot. Usually every weekend. Well, I’m going to be moving there more permanently! I’m going to go to UVIC – The University of Victoria in January. So I’ll be an island girl for a while. It’s a good thing I live near the ferries! So I can come home and visit lots. And, I will definitely be bringing all my Kitchen Aid appliances so I can bake! It will be a little harder in my new basement suite, and It’ll be some starving-student recipes haha. But I definitely will continue to blog! And I’ll need all those sweets when I’m studying and stressed out!

If you haven’t tried this recipe already for King Arthur Brownies give it a try!

King Arthur Brownies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 2 1/4 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/4 cups Dutch-process cocoa
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups king arthur flour (any flour im sure is fine)
• 2 cups chocolate chips <– I like mine plain, usually with walnuts if I do have them.

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9 x 13-inch pan.
2. In a medium-sized microwave-safe bowl, or in a saucepan set over low heat, melt the butter, then add the sugar and stir to combine. Return the mixture to the heat (or microwave) briefly, just till it’s hot, but not bubbling; it’ll become shiny looking as you stir it. Heating the butter and sugar a second time will dissolve more of the sugar, which will yield a shiny top crust on your brownies. Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl.
3. Stir in the cocoa, salt, baking powder and vanilla. Add the eggs, beating till smooth; then add the flour and chips, beating till well combined. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan.
4. Bake the brownies for 28 to 30 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out dry (though it may have a few crumbs clinging to it). The brownies should feel set both on the edges, and in the center. Remove them from the oven, and after 5 minutes loosen the edges with a table knife; this helps prevent the brownies from sinking in the center as they cool. Cool completely before cutting and serving.

You can also melt some chocolate and decorate them once they’ve cooled. They also pair lovely with a glass of wine.

Enjoy!

Well It’s been one year. One whole year since I started my little baking blog! I actually have to wish it a Happy Belated Birthday, as the official first post ever was oct. 15. It was also for a pie, and it was for thanksgiving. A whole year of baking yummy things!! First I started this blog as something to do for fun, and of course I loved to bake and baked often enough that I could update it. But as I got further into the baking blogging world I became obsessed with everything to do with cooking and baking. I am actually addicted to baking blogs, I read them everyday and always look up recipes and visit tastespotting more than I’d like to admit. Which is deadly, because whenever I see the yummy baked goods it makes you very hungry!!

I haven’t been able to post a whole lot in the past little bit, back to school is always a busy time and now I’ve got a cold. But I have probably about 10 or so posts that I’ve taken pictures of but haven’t uploaded them yet. I dunno why, no time and sometimes just don’t really feel like it. I have lots of drafts for posts, and sometimes don’t even get to take pictures or what I bake.  But when I do I try to post it asap!

But over the past year I’ve loved being able to have something of my own to contribute to, to share with my friends and family and something to keep me busy when I have some free time! Thanks for everyone who reads this little blog and leaves comments and feedback =) I try to post as often as I can so thanks to those fellow bakers our there in blog world who follow my here and there posts!

Here’s another pie recipe, for chocolate pecan pie! It’s another one from the Dorie Greenspan collection and one of my favorite

pies!

Happy Birthday Blog Chocolate Pecan Pie!

Pecan Pie – Recipe adapted from Dorie Greenspans – Baking from My Home to Yours

I used the same pie crust I made for the Pumpkin Pie – Buttermilk Pie Crust which you can find here

Ingredients

• ½ cup light corn syrup
• ½ cup packed brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 cups pecan pieces/halves
• chocolate shavings, or coaresly chopped, or chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 425F/ 220C.
2. In a large bowl, whisk the corn syrup and brown sugar until smooth, then add the melted butter. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating each egg into the mixture before adding the next.
3. Whisk everything until you get a smooth foamy mixture, then add vanilla, cinnamon and salt and beat everything in. Rap the bowl against the counter a few times to remove any bubbles from the batter, then stir in the pecans and chocolate. Pour the filling into the crust.
4. Place the baking pan on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicon mat. Bake the pie for 15 minutes. When the 15 minutes are over, lower the heat to 325F/ 170C, place pieces of aluminum foil over the edges of the crust and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes, or until the pie has puffed, is brown and doesn’t jiggle when tapped.

I love fall – automatically means pie season! Enjoy!

This weekend in Canada is Thanksgiving! Which means food, food and more food. And of course, Pie. It wouldn’t be thanksgiving without a pie for dessert. Even though you’re usually too full from all that food to even think about eating any more, but somehow everyone always manages to make room for dessert.

Traditionally Thanksgiving means pumpkin pie. But, nowadays pumpkin cheesecakes and other desserts are making their way into the spotlight as the holiday dessert. This year however, I wasn’t going to let pumpkin pie take the backseat to this new trend. My mom had gotten a pumpkin cheesecake for thanksgiving, but she knew I would be baking something else as well. I couldn’t not!I decided to bake two types of pies. Now usually we have a massive thanksgiving dinner, up to 30 people so three desserts would be acceptable, but this year there’s 12. And, it’s not three desserts, its four. I had planned on making a large pumpkin pie, and a pecan pie. But I noticed I only had two smaller pie dishes and one larger one and enough pie dough to make three crusts. So, why not make three pies?? Yup. Three. Two smaller pecan pies and a pumpkin pie, and then the non-homemade pumpkin cheesecake. It was necessary. So to all the Canadians Happy Thanksgiving! And make room for pie!

Good Old Fashioned Pumpkin Pie

Buttermilk Pie Crust (recipe from joy the baker)

• 2 sticks (8 ounces) cold unsalted butter
• 2 1/2 (12 ounces) cups all purpose flour
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (5 to 6 ounces) buttermilk

1.  Cut the butter into 1-inch pieces and place in the freezer to chill for 15 minutes.  Measure out the buttermilk and store in the refrigerator to keep it cold.

2.  Sift together the flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl.  Take the cold butter from the freezer and toss it with the flour mixture.

3.  Dump the cold butter cubes and flour mixture onto a large work area for rolling.  With a rolling pin, roll the mixture, flattening the butter cubes with the flour into long, thin, floured butter sheets.  Work quickly to ensure that the butter stays cold.  Below is what the rolled butter and flour look like after I’ve gathered them together on the work surface a bit.

4.  Place the flour and flattened butter back in the large bowl and chill for 10 minutes.    When the butter is cold, remove the bowl from the refrigerator, make a small well in the center of the flour and butter mixture.  Add the cold buttermilk to the bowl all at once.  Begin to bring the dough together with one hand ( keep the other hand free to answer the phone).  Moisten all of the flour with the milk, using your hand to break up large clumps of milk and flour.  The dough will be rather shaggy, but you can add another tablespoon of buttermilk, if you see that all your flour isn’t moistened.  Form the dough into two disks.  The disks will be rough, and hard to shape together, but once they rest in the fridge for an hour, they’ll be easier to roll out.

5.  Chill the dough for at least an hour in the refrigerator.  At this point, the dough will keep in the fridge for up to three days, or in the freezer for up to three weeks.  For freezing, roll the dough out into sheets and wrap them in plastic film.

Traditional Pumpkin Pie

- makes 6 to 8 servings -
Adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours

Ingredients:

1 9-inch single pie crust, partially baked and cooled
2 cups (canned) unsweetened pumpkin puree
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup (packed) light brown sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/3 cup sour cream
Pumpkin Pie Spice – As much as you like depending on how spicy you like your pie!
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 450°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone baking mat and put the pie plate on it.
2. Put all of the filling ingredients in mixer, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice. Alternatively, you can whisk the ingredients together vigorously in a mixing bowl. Rap either the work bowl or mixing bowl against the counter to burst any surface bubbles, and pour the filling into the crust.
3. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 300°F and continue to bake for 35 to 45 minutes longer, or until a knife inserted close to the center comes out clean. (If you don’t want to create a slash in your masterpiece, tap the pan gently—if the custard doesn’t jiggle, or only jiggles a teensy bit in the very center, it’s done.) Transfer the pie to a rack and cool to room temperature.

Storing: Like most pies, this one is best served the day it is made. However, you can make the pie early in the day and keep it refrigerated until needed.

Happy Thanksgiving =)