Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownies because of Winter Storm Juno

When people in NYC hear of an impending blizzard, they rush to the store and buy wine and food such as meat, cheese, bread, and veggies to sustain them for a couple of days. I rush to the store and buy wine and chocolate chips.

A big blizzard was predicted to hit NYC last night and this morning. You can read all about it elsewhere.

(SPOILER ALERT: It didn't happen.) 

 

In preparation for being stuck inside due to snow, I decided to make this Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownie recipe. It's been in my "recipes to make" folder for almost two years! I've been avoiding super sugary and dense recipes recently, but something about the middle of winter and snow had me craving both these characteristics.

 

The blog that posted this recipe had problems with the cookie dough sinking to the middle of the brownies. So I looked for other options. I decided to do half pan, half muffin pan to see which worked the best.

Unlike the Pinch of Yum's blog post, I used a "from scratch" recipe and baked the brownies in the 4x4 pan for ten minutes before adding the cookie dough. This helped immensely! No sinking dough! And still a gooey brownie. (Altogether it was in the oven for about 40 minutes.)

 

As for the muffin pans, I put both the brownie batter and the cookie dough in at the same time. This worked smashingly as well! (Altogether it was in the oven for about 30 minutes.) 

 

If you like gooier brownie, go with the 4x4. If you like a more solid brownie, go with the muffin pans. Either way, this recipe is sure to please the brownie and cookie lover in your life!

I used my favorite Supernatural Brownie Recipe for the brownies and I used A Pinch of Yum's suggested cookie recipe. I got the muffin pan idea from Very Best Baking by Nestle.

Bake well and prosper!

Balsamic Roasted Cherry Brownies

It's not cherry season right now so imagine my surprise when I saw these cherries in a local grocery store! I grabbed them right away because I wanted to try my hand at these brownies.

Unfortunately they weren't great. They felt weak. Yes. Weak. They weren't the normal, healthy texture of cherries. They also weren't very flavorful. But not TOO big of a deal seeing they were about to get a bath in balsamic vinegar and sugar and then be placed in delicious brownies.

I shared these brownies with my wonderful friends who came to my opera performance followed by birthday drinks for moi. One friend asked in amusement, "YOU brought desserts? Aren't we supposed to bring you desserts?"

What can I say? I have lucky friends seeing that this recipe didn't disappoint. I suggest waiting until it's cherry season though so you can get more of a prevalent cherry flavor when baking these.

Balsamic Roasted Cherry Brownies (adapted from Glazed and Confused)

For Cherries:

1 cup cherries, pitted and halved

1 1/2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

2 Tablespoons sugar

Preheat oven to 450 F. Place pitted cherries on a parchment-lined baking tray and sprinkle with sugar and balsamic vinegar. Roast for about 10 minutes until the cherries start releasing their juice. Remove from oven and let cool while making the brownie batter. Turn oven down to 350 F.

For Brownies:

1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate

2 eggs

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In top of a double boiler set over barely simmering water, melt butter and chocolate together. Cool slightly. In a large bowl or mixer, whisk eggs. Whisk in salt, sugars and vanilla. Whisk in chocolate mixture. Fold in flour just until combined. Stir in cherry mixture. Pour batter into an 8x8 pan. 

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until shiny and beginning to crack on top. Cool in pan on rack.

Yield: 9 large brownies

Bake well and prosper!

Gluten-free Spicy Chickpea Brownies

Oh yes...you read correctly. Chickpeas. Brownies. Spice!

My friend sent me this recipe and I recently had a chance to make it for her. They were met with rave reviews.

 

I enjoyed this gluten free alternative brownie. The texture was very fudgy, which makes sense since they are made with liquidy/mushy chickpeas!

I had one friend say that he could tell that the brownies weren't made from normal ingredients but he would never have guessed chickpeas.

 

That surprise combined with the hint of cayenne pepper make these brownies a keeper for flavor filled gluten-free dessert recipes.

Gluten-free Spicy Chickpea Brownies (adapted from The Hairpin)
Ingredients
2 cups chickpeas
12 ounces of dark/semi sweet organic/fair trade chocolate
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 eggs
½ tablespoon vanilla extract
¾ cup sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder (dark/semi-sweet)
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cayenne
½ teaspoon ginger (ground)
½+ teaspoon cinnamon

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Line a 9x9 brownie pan with parchment paper and lightly spray the paper with  olive oil.
2. Dry chickpeas on a couple of layers of paper towels.
3. Once excess liquid is gone, puree the chickpeas in a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Scrape down the edges and puree until all of it is completely smooth. (Erika's Extras: My puree was still a little chunky and it turned out fine.)
4. In a double boiler, melt chocolate with the olive oil. Add it to the chickpeas and blend until it’s well mixed.
5. Add eggs, vanilla, and sugar and blend. Add the cocoa and spices and blend some more.
6. Pour batter into prepared pan.
8. Bake for about 25 minutes. (Erika's Extras: I baked mine for ~40 minutes. These are hard to overcook.)

Bake well and prosper!

Dark Chocolate Lovers Brownies

I created this recipe because I had many bars of dark chocolate and I had a bag full of cacao nibs.

 

Why did I have so many bars of dark chocolate? Because I was in Duane Reade (a drug store) and they had Sweetriot chocolate on sale for $1! ONE DOLLAR!!! So, naturally, I grabbed a lot. 2 each of 60, 70, and 85% dark chocolate bars. These are organic, fair trade chocolate bars. I should have bought the whole bin of chocolate!

 

After making these brownies with an 85% and a 60% dark chocolate bar I REALLY should have bought the whole bin full of bars! The rich and smokey flavor of the brownie satisfied everyone from the people who needed a sugar kick to the dark chocolate lovers.

 

The cacao nibs were a sweet extra touch that added a nice crunch on top.

Dark Chocolate Lovers Brownies (adapted from the NYTimes Supernatural Brownie)
2 sticks (16 tablespoons) butter
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate (try sweetriot's chocolate)
4 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup dark brown sugar, such as muscovado (Erika's Extra Note: light brown sugar works fine as well)
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup flour
2 Tablespoons cacao nibs (or more)

1. Butter a 13-by-9-inch baking pan and line with buttered parchment paper. (Erika's note: This recipe is so buttery I've never needed to use parchment paper.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In top of a double boiler set over barely simmering water, or on low power in a microwave, melt butter and chocolate together. Cool slightly. In a large bowl or mixer, whisk eggs. Whisk in salt, sugars and vanilla.

2. Whisk in chocolate mixture. Fold in flour just until combined. Pour batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle cacao nibs on top of batter.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until shiny and beginning to crack on top. Cool in pan on rack.

Yield: 15 large or 24 small brownies.

Note: For best flavor, bake 1 day before serving, let cool and store, tightly wrapped.

 Bake well and prosper!

Black Forest Trifle (made with Gluten Free Brownies!)

One of the gals here at my summer opera program doesn't eat gluten products, so of course I jumped at the chance to make her a gluten free dessert.

I researched gluten free brownie recipes and tried two recipes. The first one did not bake well in altitude and although it was very good, it was very fudgey and messy. The second one was amazing and uses almond butter.

So, for July 4th I made a couple of trifles with the brownies and then also had the brownies by themselves on the side. All the opera singers LOVED it. (As did I.) And I even gave an extra trifle to the gluten-free gal to take home and enjoy.

Gluten Free Brownies (from Elana's Pantry)

1 (16 ounce) jar creamy roasted almond butter

2 eggs

1 ¼ cups agave nectar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

½ cup cacao powder

½ teaspoon Celtic sea salt (Erika's Extras: I just used normal salt and it was fine)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup dark chocolate chips

In a large bowl, blend almond butter until smooth with a hand mixer.

Mix in eggs, then mix in agave and vanilla.

Blend in cacao, salt and baking soda, then fold in chocolate chips.

Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish (glass is better).

Pour batter into dish.

Bake at 325° for 35-40 minutes.

(Erika's Extras: For high altitude baking I used 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda and set the oven to 335.)

Almond Whipped Cream

8 ounces cream cheese
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
2 cups heavy cream

In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar, and almond extract with an electric mixer. Beat until smooth. Add in heavy cream, incorporating a little at a time to prevent splattering. When all the cream has been added, turn the mixer to high, and beat until soft peaks form.

 

For the trifle, layer cream, brownies, and sliced cherries.

Bake well and prosper!

Whiskey Brownies

Last weekend I made a quick trip down to Florida to celebrate my Grandfather's 95th birthday. Yes! 95! Isn't that amazing? Definitely reason to party.

I am his youngest grandchild and therefore the hippest (naturally.) So, I made him whisky brownies since I know he likes to sip whisky every Friday afternoon.

My Grandpa is a very cool kat and very special to me. Being the youngest grandkid, I didn't get to make as many memories with my grandparents as my older siblings did. But since my Grandpa will probably outlive us all, I've had tons of fun times with him. I especially love my memories of his old house being surrounded by orange trees and us picking some to make into orange juice for breakfast.

Speaking of breakfast, I totally had these brownies for breakfast. And dessert. And second helping of dessert. They are so good! Plus, these are a perfect idea for St. Patty's Day parties!

Whiskey Brownies (adapted from the NYTime's Supernatural Brownie recipe)
2 sticks (16 tablespoons) butter
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
4 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 and 1/2 cup flour
1 Tablespoon of whiskey for the batter
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or 3/4 cup whole walnuts, optional
2 tablespoons of whiskey for the topping

1. Butter a 13-by-9-inch baking pan and line with buttered parchment paper. (Erika's Extra: This recipe is so buttery I've never needed to use parchment paper.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In top of a double boiler set over barely simmering water, melt butter and chocolate together. Cool slightly. In a large bowl or mixer, whisk eggs. Whisk in salt, sugars and vanilla.

2. Whisk in chocolate mixture. Fold in flour just until combined. Pour in 1 Tablespoon of whiskey. If using chopped walnuts, stir them in. Pour batter into prepared pan. If using whole walnuts, arrange on top of batter.

3. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until shiny and beginning to crack on top. Remove from oven and pour 2 Tablespoons  of whiskey(more or less according to taste) over the top of the hot brownies. (This will create a fudgey topping.) Cool in pan on rack.

Bake well and prosper!

Oatmeal Brownie Milky Way Bars

The last couple of weeks of summer have been pretty good for me. I was cast in an opera, Pillsbury featured my last blog post, I've been logging some great miles in training for a marathon, and I've been hanging out with a bunch of friends, old and new.

I've also stumbled upon many great recipes! (When I first typed that I spelled "upron." I wonder what an upron would be. Some fancy type of apron without strings?)

Anyway, I digress. One of those awesome recipes I found was this one for Oatmeal Brownie Milky Way Bars from the great site, i am baker. 

I haven't used a boxed brownie mix in a long time so these tasted a little weird to me due to that. However, they are still very yummy and GREAT when microwaved and topped with vanilla ice cream. And if you'd like to use a brownie recipe made from scratch, I'd suggest the tried, tested, and true Supernatural Brownie recipe. 

Oatmeal Brownie Milky Way Bars (from i am baker)

Oatmeal Milky Way Brownie Bars

2 cups Old Fashioned Oats

2 cups flour
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 1/2 sticks room temp. butter
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 cups boxed brownie mix (I used dark chocolate)
1/3 cup canola oil
1 egg
1 bag (11 oz.) caramel squares
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 Milky Way bars
(If you are using the Supernatural Brownie recipe, you can use everything called for in that recipe in place of the flour, sugar, butter, baking soda, salt, brownie mix, oil, and egg.)

In a medium sauce pan, place the two Milky Ways, entire bag of caramels, and half cup of heavy cream. Let simmer over medium to medium low heat until fully melted. Remove from heat and let cool approximately ten minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl combine oats, flour, baking soda, salt, brown sugar, and butter. Either use a fork to incorporate or use hands to combine. The chunks of butter should be no larger than the size of a pea.

Add in two cups of brownie mix, egg, and oil. Stir until just combined.

Using a prepared 9x13 baking dish, spread half of the oat mixture into dish and press firmly to flatten. (Make sure you don't use more than half because you won't have enough to cover the top.)

Pour the melted Milky Way mixture over the oat mixture. Make sure to get all the way to the corners.

Top with remaining oat mixture.

Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes.

Bake well and prosper!

Cherry Brownies

While browsing around online, I saw a brownie recipe that involved cherries. Since it IS cherry season, I decided to make it. (One of the easiest decisions I made this week.)

Dealing with cherries created such a mess!

How lovely. :)

I promise that's just cherry juice.

I did feel like I was murdering the cherries seeing they oozed beautiful, red juice...

Anyway, like I said at the top, I saw a cherry brownie recipe online. Too bad I didn't revisit it once I started baking. It was a ROASTED cherry brownie recipe. I just started making my normal brownies and added in the cherries. Whoops. I think the roasted cherries would have helped create firmer brownies. Mine were quite mushy, but still yummy! 

Cherry Brownies (Cherry idea from Pink Parsley & brownie recipe from NY Times)

2 sticks (16 tablespoons) butter

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate

4 eggs

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup dark brown sugar, such as muscovado (Erika's Extra Note: light brown sugar works fine as well)

1 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup flour

1 cup sweet and sour cherries pitted and halved

1. Butter a 13-by-9-inch baking pan and line with buttered parchment paper. (Erika's note: This recipe is so buttery I've never needed to use parchment paper.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In top of a double boiler set over barely simmering water, or on low power in a microwave, melt butter and chocolate together. Cool slightly. In a large bowl or mixer, whisk eggs. Whisk in salt, sugars and vanilla.

2. Whisk in chocolate mixture. Fold in flour just until combined. Fold in cherries. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until shiny and beginning to crack on top. Cool in pan on rack.

Note: For best flavor, bake 1 day before serving, let cool and store, tightly wrapped.

Bake well and prosper!

Oreo Brownies

I've seen a lot of Oreo brownies on the web recently. So much so that I had to make them too, naturally! (With double stuffed Oreos of course!)

I decided to go with the Oreo stuffed brownie technique. They were the perfect finger food for a picnic dessert. They also look really cool before cutting into squares.

I hope every one's summer is going well! PS These brownies go well with vanilla ice cream!

Supernatural Brownies (basic brownie recipe from the NY Times - oreo addition from my mind)

2 sticks (16 tablespoons) butter

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate

4 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup dark brown sugar, such as muscovado (Erika's Extra Note: light brown sugar works fine as well)
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1 bag of double stuffed Oreos

1. Butter a 13-by-9-inch baking pan and line with buttered parchment paper. (Erika's note: This recipe is so buttery I've never needed to use parchment paper.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In top of a double boiler set over barely simmering water, or on low power in a microwave, melt butter and chocolate together. Cool slightly. In a large bowl or mixer, whisk eggs. Whisk in salt, sugars and vanilla.

2. Whisk in chocolate mixture. Fold in flour just until combined.

3. Pour in HALF of the batter into prepared pan. Line batter with Oreos. Pour rest of batter over Oreos and make sure they are completely covered.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until shiny and beginning to crack on top. Cool in pan on rack.

Note: For best flavor, bake 1 day before serving, let cool and store, tightly wrapped.

Bake well and prosper!

Amazing Black Forest Trifle

When I come across blog posts with desserts that look amazing, I store the recipe in an email folder. This weekend I was perusing the folder and decided upon this recipe. Sure, it might not be cherry season. Sure, I had to wait 5 minutes for the helpful Whole Foods worker to find a jar of sour cherries in the stock room. Sure, I couldn't open the jar when I got home and had to wait for my friend to arrive to open it. But man, oh man was all of it worth it!

There were a few lucky coworkers who got to sample this divine creation. Their reviews are in: "Tastes so good! Could be used for a fancy dinner party." "Wowzers!" "This is so professional. Are you sure you didn't buy it and put it in the glass? No? Well then, will you marry me?" "I will salute you and this dessert by naming my first born after you...even if it is a boy."

So what are you waiting for? Cherry season? Tsk tsk. Go make this dessert now!

Black Forest Trifle (found on sophistimom.com)

1 pound tart cherries (I used a jar of sour cherries instead)

3 tablespoons sugar

chocolate buttermilk cake or your favorite chocolate cake or brownies (I used the never fail Super Natural Brownies recipe)

almond whipped cream (recipe follows)

1. Mix cherries with sugar and let sit for several hours, or until the cherries become juicy. Cut cake or brownies into thick slices and layer in the bottom of a large trifle dish or 4 individual dishes. Pour on some of the cherries with their juices and top with almond whipped cream. Repeat the three layers.

2. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving for the best flavor.

Almond Whipped Cream

8 ounces cream cheese

1 cup confectioner’s sugar

1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract

2 cups heavy cream

In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar, and almond extract with an electric mixer. Beat until smooth. Add in heavy cream, incorporating a little at a time to prevent splattering. When all the cream has been added, turn the mixer to high, and beat until soft peaks form.

Back well and prosper!

Do you know you can bake with lavender?

I know. *hanging head* It's been 2 weeks since I posted something (and I try so hard to post once a week!) My excuse: preparing an opera role and training for a marathon. Am I forgiven?

Last week, in between singing at church and singing at opera rehearsal, I bought some lavender from the farmers market by the Natural History Museum.

My mission was to emulate a brownie I loved when I worked at Cafe Lalo.

The brownies were easy enough to make. I used the Supernatural Brownie recipe and added about 2 more tablespoons of flour to make the brownies a little less fudge like.

I wanted to make some sort of white chocolate ganache/glaze to put over the brownies, so I started with white chocolate chips.

Then I poured the heavy cream that I had just heated to boiling point over the chocolate.

I whisked until combined and let cool. THEN (drum roll please), I added the lavender.

That's right. I wanted to make a white chocolate lavender topping to put on the brownies.

My topping turned out a little thinner than I expected, so I set it in the fridge overnight which seemed to do the trick.

White Chocolate Lavender Ganache/Glaze

Ingredients needed:

8 oz White chocolate

1 Cup Heavy Cream

1 teaspoon baking lavender

Put 8oz of white chocolate in a large bowl. Bring the heavy cream to boiling and remove from heat. Pour over white chocolate. For a heavier topping, add more white chocolate. Whisk until fully combined and smooth. Let cool. Add lavender. (Add more than a teaspoon for a stronger taste.) Once cooled completely, feel free to put in fridge to make it a little firmer.

Erika's Extra: If you don't want to chomp on the grainy texture of the lavendar, feel free to blend in a food processor with 1/4 cup of sugar and then add that to the mixture.

Bake well and prosper!
Lavender