Archive of ‘Brownies’ category
This weekend is Mother’s Day, and I thought I would share some things that my mom has taught me. I’ve seen other bloggers post about what they’ve learned from their mother over the years and I started thinking about all of the things she has said to me, taught me, and continues to teach me in life.
My mom and I are close – really, really close. People confuse us for each other on the phone (we sound a lot alike). We are often mistaken for sisters (I’m sure she’ll love hearing that, again), and we have become even closer as I grow older, when the big stuff happens and real life begins. Many people comment to her asking ‘how’d you get so lucky to have two good kids?’ – well, I think I’m a little better than my brother, Nick ;) but, I think she is a pretty lucky mom to have us too. We’re incredibly lucky to have such a loving, crazy, funny, caring, and strong mom.
After losing my dad when we were younger she had to become two parents in one, and I want to thank her for being there for us through the hard times, and the really hard times, and never ceasing to love and support us in all our of endeavours.
She is the first person I tell important news to, and the not so great news to, the first person I look to for advice, even if I don’t always want to hear it (
ahem, the couch), the first person to know when I’m sad, upset or something is bothering me just by the tone in my voice over the phone, the person who encourages me that everything will be alright, not to stress and the first person to forgive me when we have a fight (i’m pretty stubborn).
Things my mom has taught me
- There’s no excuse for rudeness
- Manners matter, always say thank you
- Don’t hold a grudge, life is too short
- It’s better to be overdressed, than underdressed
- Saying sorry is one of the hardest things to do, and admit your wrong
- Always be the bigger person
- How to be a good friend
- Any education is a good education
- Never leave the house without making the bed (this one is still a work in progress..)
- How to host a family dinner
- Advil and Zantac cure all
- How to properly fold sheets
- How to cook a roast
- How to make a roux
- How to make a good chili, and simple tomato sauce
- If you don’t want to have a drink, just order a coke with lime
- Don’t stress, everything will work out
- Always be kind to animals
- Do what makes you happy
- Trust your instincts
- How to be strong
Thank you.
People ask me where I got my love for cooking and baking. While my dad was my biggest influence, my mom always made really great cookies, without a recipe – and really good cinnamon buns.
I made these brownies last week when I wanted to use up some ripe bananas on the counter. I wanted to make something other than Banana bread. I decided to make
1-Ingredient Banana Ice Cream, recipe here - but then I had more bananas to use up. So, I thought about what I could make with them, or what recipe I could add them to. I decided to make brownies, with the addition of Bananas. Some people don’t like certain combinations of chocolate and fruit, but Bananas and Chocolate are one of my favourites. The bananas make the brownie super dense and rich, like fudge. The banana flavour is certainly there, but it’s not as strong as say banana bread. The chocolate takes over, which makes it deep and rich.
And then I went a step further, and topped the
Banana Brownies with Banana Ice cream. Let’s just say I couldn’t eat it fast enough. Plus, there’s no guilt in adding the ice cream because it’s just Banana.
These are also gluten free, I made them with Rice Flour. You can sub regular flour as well. I recommend refrigerating them for a couple hours, or even overnight. I always refrigerate my brownies because it allows them to become more dense and fudge-like.
Fudgey Banana Brownies
recipe by Bakeaholic
Ingredients:
6 tbs. Butter
3/4 Cup Chopped Dark Chocolate (can use chocolate chips)
2 medium Ripe Bananas
1 Tsp. Vanilla extract
½ Cup Sugar
1 Tsp. Baking Powder
1 Egg
1/4 Cup Cocoa
1 cup Rice Flour
1/2 cup walnuts
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease an 8×8 inch baking dish with cooking spray.Heat butter and chocolate in a small saucepan, stir until everything is melted. Set aside to cool.
Whisk together the flour, cocoa and baking powder. Set aside.
In stand mixer with whisk attachment, or medium bowl and blender, mash the bananas, vanilla extract, and sugar. Add the egg and blend again.
Add in the melted butter-chocolate mixture and mix well.
Stir in the flour mixture and blend just until combined. Stir in all of the walnuts, you can save a few and sprinkle on top too.
Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. You want it to be slightly gooey when you check it, not completely dry. If it needs another couple minutes increase baking time.
** These brownies are best after they are refrigerated! **
I always refrigerate my brownies – it makes them extra dense and fudgey. I recommend letting them come to room temperature on the counter, and then cover and transfer pan to fridge for a couple hours, or even better, overnight. Of course, if you can’t wait feel free to eat them immediately =)
Store leftover brownies in the fridge for up to a week, or, freeze.
You can sub AP flour for rice flour also.
Even Better Topped with Banana Ice Cream!
I made these brownies for a girls night last week and thought they would also be great for any Super Bowl Sunday get togethers this weekend! I wanted something easy, but not a regular brownie like my usual go-to. I also apparently can’t make great cookies lately (dry, too puffy, rise too much) – but something that combines the two? Perfect.
I don’t think we’ll be doing anything special for the Super Bowl – except for maybe make a turkey Sunday night that we forgot to take out of the freezer until yesterday morning, so it’s likely not defrosted enough to eat tonight like originally planned. I’m not sure a turkey dinner is ‘Super Bowl’ meal equivalent, but we’ve eaten our fair share of chili last month, plus I really wanted turkey leftovers.
I don’t exactly follow the sport, nor do I pretend to understand what the rules are or what is happening on the field. The only football I was ever interested in was my high school football team – the Sun Devils – I helped my friend one night as a ‘water girl’ - we handed out water bottles to the players during the game. That’s the closest I’ve been to on the field action. Needless to say I never really caught on to the game – I was more just a supporter of my friends who played on the team – school spirit and all.
The only sport I do follow however, is Hockey – and thankfully the NHL is back and so are our Canucks. Last night we watched the game at my cousins with some friends, and they won their second game in a row, miraculously by shoot out! Well done Lou.
Now for the brownies – I had seen recipes like this before but hadn’t tried making them yet. There are a lot of ridiculous brownie recipes out there, like the ones with ten layers of fudge brownie cookie pretzel Oreo madness. These are sort of on the same page as those Oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookies – I keep seeing them but haven’t made them.
However now that I’ve made them, it’s a bad bad thing. I combined my regular brownies with a half batch of my chocolate chip cookie recipe. And they are really good – like, really good. The fudgey brownie layer and the gooey chocolate chip layer are delicious together. You’ve been warned.
If you’re heading out to a Super Bowl Party tomorrow I suggest making a batch and bringing them along – just try not to eat the entire platter.
Another delicious brownie combo is the Pumpkin Swirl Brownies I made in October.
Chocolate Chip Brownies
Ingredients
Brownie Layer
Chocolate Chip Cookie Layer
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup dark chocolate chips
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 8×8 inch baking dish.
First Make the Brownie Layer:
In a medium sized bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder.
In a large mixing bowl of stand mixer, or hand mixer, beat together butter and sugar until creamy. Beat in eggs until just combined. Gradually add in flour mixture on low until just combined. Spoon batter into prepared baking dish.
Use a spatula to ‘clean’ bowl completely.
For the Cookie Layer:
Using the same bowl from the first flour mixture, sift together flour and baking powder.
Melt butter in microwave, or stove top.
Using the same bowl as the brownie batter, beat together brown sugar, granulated sugar and melted butter. Beat in the vanilla and egg until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
Spoon cookie dough on top of brownie layer and spread out evenly with a knife or spatula.
Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until golden brown. You want the middle to be slightly gooey, not fully baked/dry when you do the ‘knife test’
Let cool completely before slicing. You can also place it in the fridge for a bit – I always find brownies become fudgier once refrigerated.
Happy Super Bowl! Will you be watching? Do you follow football??
This weekend we’re celebrating Thanksgiving in Canada, which is sort of unbelievable to think we’re already into October.
{A gorgeous afternoon walk in the park with Lainey}
{Fall Colours – leaves changing to yellow, orange and red}
The weather since September has been amazing. The mornings are slightly chilly, but by the time I get to my car after class at three, it’s an oven (no pun intended ;) The weather has made the afternoons seem extra long, being able to go outside and enjoy it longer.
Also, I can’t believe I have been in school for five weeks already. The time has gone by really fast, I think partly because our program is quite enjoyable and completely different than the various courses I have had to take in the past for my degree. We have a group of 30 students in our module, and we all get along really well. When I was working towards my degree I would have three or so classes a day, in different rooms, with different instructors, different students (who you really don’t get to know that well in a lecture hall), and numerous assignments due for each. This is a refreshing change – we are given time to reflect, work in groups on a daily basis and really interact with each other. Next week we’ll all be going separate ways for two weeks are we move into our elementary schools or high schools for ‘observation.’ I thought I would bring something to class for our last day before the long weekend, and since we won’t be seeing each other for a bit. It turns out a few couple other people had the same idea – We had brownies, cookies, and Tim Horton’s doughnuts. I guess we all needed a slight sugar-buzz on a Friday.
My mom’s out of town this weekend for my cousin’s wedding so we’re having a late thanksgiving dinner next weekend, and Adam and I are having our thanksgiving dinner with his family on Sunday! So excited for turkey dinner, especially leftovers. Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving weekend! Full of turkey, pumpkin pies and family.
I’ve seen these brownies before on other blogs, but this is the first time I’ve made them. They are a brownie/pumpkin pie mutant. The brownie is fudgey and densely chocolate, and the pumpkin is like a pumpkin pie. The flavours actually work well together, and I got some ‘positive feedback’ (mind the teaching lingo) from my fellow students =) These would be great to bring to a Thanksgiving dinner this weekend, because they’re easily portable. I stored mine in the fridge overnight because It sets the pumpkin like a pie, but also makes the brownie really fudge-like. You can eat them at room temp, or cold.
If you’re not a fan of pumpkin pie, these are a yummy alternative!
Pumpkin Pie Swirl Brownies
Recipe From here
adapted from Martha
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
- 6 oz. dark chocolate (or 1 cup chocolate chips/disks)
- 4 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 tsp. vanilla
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
- 3 Tbsp. canola oil
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
Preheat the oven to 350F and spray a 9×13 cake pan with nonstick spray. (Can use a 9×9 for thicker brownies)
In a small saucepan or microwave, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the chocolate and remove from heat. Let sit for a few minutes, then stir until smooth.
In a large bowl beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla for 3-4 minutes, until thick and pale yellow. Add the flour, baking powder and beat until combined.
Put about a third of the batter into another bowl and stir the pumpkin, oil, cinnamon and nutmeg into it. Stir the chocolate mixture into the remaining batter and spread a little more than half of it into the prepared pan. Top with the pumpkin mixture, then drop large spoonfuls of the remaining chocolate mixture on top. Swirl a knife through both to create a swirled effect.
Bake for 30-40 minutes, until just set and starting to pull away from the sides of the pan.
UPDATE: I made a smaller batch of these brownies, in the 8×8, or 9×9 pan – and it was even BETTER! If you need it for a larger crowed, use a larger pan and you will have thinner brownies, but, if you need a little less I Highly suggest using the smaller one. You will need to bake it a little longer, begin at the 30 minutes. But – You will have denser, even fudgier brownies and they are so nice and thick! I’ve made these about four times now, and they will definitely be my go-to fall dessert brownie recipe. It couldn’t be easier, more stunning and delicious to make!
