Brownies

Deep Dish Chocolate Chip Brownies

February 2, 2013

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
recipe adapted from here

Ingredients

Brownie
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter
  • 3 oz bittersweet chocolate
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 tablespoon cocoa powder
  • 5 tablespoons all-purpose flour

For the brownie: Place butter and chocolate in small saucepan set over medium-low heat, stir constantly until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth; remove from heat. Whisk in sugar, egg and vanilla. Whisk in cocoa. Stir in flour until evenly combined.

Scrape brownie batter into an 8×8 inch baking pan that has been lightly greased and lined with parchment paper; smooth top. 

Cookie Dough

  • 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
  • 3 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup dark chocolate chunks/chips

For the cookie dough: Cream together butter and sugars, in a large bowl. Mix in egg and vanilla. Add baking soda, baking powder and flour; mix well. Stir in chocolate chips until evenly distributed. Spoon cookie dough on top of brownie layer and spread out evenly with a knife or spatula.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until golden brown. You want the middle to be slightly gooey, not fully baked/dry when you do the ‘knife test.’ Start with 30 minutes, and add 5-10 minutes more if needed but be sure not to over-bake. 

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??
 
Home

DIY Built In Shelves (Part 1)

January 29, 2013

When we purchasd our new house we had lots of ideas of how we wanted it to look once we moved in. Of course, buying a townhouse in a complex means that there are certain things that are going to be the same as every other unit (layout, finishings etc.) There were also some other things we wanted to do, or change, to make it more our own. We did do about $4,000 worth of upgrades when we purchased: Frameless glass shower for our ensuite bath, granite countertops in all the bathrooms, changed the kitchen countertop to white quartz, enclosed the downstairs room, plus laminate in that bedroom (that will be an office), tile throughout the entranceway to the garage, and a central vacuum.

However, there were many upgrades we did not purchase due to the high price. Many are things we could do ourselves later down the road if we choose, such as framing the windows and crown moulding. We also opted out of the window covering upgrade because of the steep price (still can’t believe they came standard with those old aluminum mini blinds). It also helps that a family member owns a window covering business and will kindly help us with much nicer coverings than the faux-wood upgrade we would have had to pay for. I personally love the top-down-bottom-up honeycomb shades for the bedroom so you still get light up top, but privacy on the bottom (a must – especially in townhouse complex when you can easily forget someone is across the way) like These Applause Honeycomb Shades here.

One other ridiculously overpriced upgrade was the built in options they offered. The one for the TV, Kitchen as well as the closet organizer were crazy for what you got. A teensy-tiny closet organizer that barely fit anything (Adam made me a closet organizer pretty much the first week we moved in, and it is awesome! plus it fits everything I needed), and a super shallow kitchen built in with no cupboards, made of flimsy looking hardware. Needless to say Adam and I figured we could do something better ourselves, at a Fraction of the crazy price they were asking. Plus, it would be totally customizable to what we wanted.

The empty space

I have always loved the look of built in book shelves, and our super open-concept second floor with the kitchen/dining/living room we don’t have many corners for bookcases (we had three in our condo). I wanted something that I could display my cookbooks in, picture frames, and other items. We really don’t need two tables – in the show room they had a large dining room table, and a small round table across from the kitchen in the nook area where our bookcase is going to be and where their built in was – but, with only two of us we usually end up eating at the island, coffee table or dining room, so another table was not needed.

Kitchen ‘nook’ across from the island

After looking for ideas and inspiration online, and help from Adam’s dad and Nash, we got started on the design. We decided to use pre-built kitchen cabinets from Home Depot for the base, so they would be sturdy and also hide/store extra kitchen items with cupboard doors. Plus, they were pre-made and already finished so it was easy.

Adam has compiled a list of products, tools and instructions for the base so far.

So here’s Part One:

Products needed:

All Purchased from Home Depot

  • 4 x pre assembled cupboards 30.25” x 30.25” x 12” $99 each
  • 3 x 10 foot 2 x 4 3.87 each
  • 1 x 8 foot 2 x 4 2.77 each
  • 1 x 4×8 sheet of 3/4 inch mdf 37.84
  • 1 x box of 100  3 inch wood screws 9.99

Running Total: $458.01
Total time so far: One Saturday  

Tools required:

  • Drill
  • Chop-saw
  • Sand paper
  • Level
  • Pencil
  • Measuring Tape

After first getting measurement of where the cupboards were going, it turned out that the pre-made cupboards from home depot were almost a perfect fit for the space, all we will need to do is install two 2″ spacers on either side.

Step 1 Make a box for the cupboards to rest on. These cupboards are designed to be upper kitchen cupboards, so I could have just mounted them to the wall, however, since we are planning to build bookcases on the top, I wanted to rest them on the ground as well.

To make the base, I used the two 10′  2 x 4’s as the long sides, and cut 1′ pieces to screw on to the end. I then cut six 9 1/4′ pieces to fit exactly between the 10′  2 x 4’s to add strength to the base. I just laid this base on the ground, it is not screwed in to the walls or to the cabinets. This makes it easy if I were to ever want to remove them. The existing baseboards behind the cabinets are untouched.

The existing baseboards are 4″ high so I wanted the box to be just over that height. I got the mdf ripped at 11″ for the top of the box, Home depot offers lumber cutting and it is very accurate and straight. Much faster and easier than using a table saw.

Step 3 After you have the base made, I ripped the MDF at the same dimensions of the base and placed it on top. I fastened it with 3” deck screws.

Step 4 Mount a 2 x 4 to the wall to keep the spacing correct and keep the cupboards from moving. Using 3″ screws to hit each stud. Mount it to the exact height of the cabinets you are using.

Step 5 Mount the cabinets to the 2 x 4 using 2” deck screws, I used twelve of them.

Step 6 using MDF ripped at 15″, make a shelf for the top of the cupboards, (will be doubled up when I start the next phase of construction)

Part one – Done!


Poops was a very good helper, even with her pink bandage (more about that later)

 

Products

iHerb

January 27, 2013

A few months ago, I think it was October, I was approached by iHerb.com. I had heard / read about their huge selection of items online through other bloggers reviews and recommendations, but had not actually looked into their website and products that they offered thoroughly.

I was surprised when iHerb had contacted me asking if they could share my Pumpkin Turkey Chili recipe on their blog. In return for allowing to use my recipe, they offered me credit to the website to try out some products. I thought it would be a great opportunity to try out some new-to-me products that I had seen and wanted to try, but had never actually ordered or had the ability to try since we don’t get the brand in Canada. I’ve only just ventured into products that are only offered in the States, I found Trader Joe’s about a year or two ago and have recently made some more trips to Fred Meyer and Target, where I can find specialty foods and brands that we can’t find here in Canada. And there are SO many yummy brands/food items I’ve had my eye on – Especially Justin’s Nut Butter!!

I tried to order a little bit of everything, the online store is seriously HUGE with over 35,000 products. From healthcare, to pet care, to baby care, to food and cleaning supplies. They also have many wheat free, gluten free and other food allergy sensitive items. They have it covered. And, there is a huge variety of brand names they carry as well. I started filling my online shopping cart only about a week or two ago, after humming and hawing over a few items I wanted, and being too busy over the holidays to really take a look. Before I knew it the packages were in the mail and on their way.

Here is what I ended up ordering:

 Now Real Foods Walnuts, Almonds and Pecans.


Physicians Formula Blush and Physicians Formula Mascara


Madre Bees Pomegranate Lip Balm 

Annie’s Naturals Organic Ketchup 

Simply Organic Spices: Cinnamon, Crushed Pepper, Basil, and Tumeric

Lemon and Orange extract from FRONTIER


Let’s Do.. Organic – Organic Coconut Flour

Now Healthy Foods Cocoa Powder and  Rapunzel Organic Cocoa Powder

Dagoba Organic Chocolate – Mint

Update: Tried this chocolate bar tonight, didn’t love it. Had a really, really mild mint flavour and a slight rosemary. The dark chocolate itself was ok.

Chocolove Chocolate bars in Orange Peel, Raspberries and Cherries & Almonds

A lot of the items I ordered are for cooking/baking. I’ll be featuring them in recipes in the future I’m sure – Looking forward to trying them all.

 *I was given credit to iHerb for posting my recipe, however the reviews and recommendations on this post are my own.