I was putting on the last touches for my New Year's Eve gathering and finding it hard to believe another year has come to an end. This has been a challenging year. I have had a lot of struggles, lost some special people along the way, dealt with some health issues...but thankfully I'm still standing and have a good feeling about what is to come.
I'm looking forward to bringing in the new year with some close friends. During the course of the year I met some wonderful new friends, reconnected with some friends and have some old friends stopping by, like my bestie coming to town from NYC, who I have been friends with for over 15 years.
We have had snow on three occasions already so it is looking like we may have a bad winter. New York got about 21-32 inches of snow over the Christmas weekend. I started to worry that my girlfriend would not get here from New York. And to my dismay, she called to tell me that it did not make sense for her to come down with the weather being unpredictable and having to get back in the swing of things after the first of the year. I was admittedly kind of bummed because we only get to hang out 4-5 times a year.
Oddly enough, her mother was in town visiting for Christmas vacation from North Carolina. And ma's flight got cancelled for 5 days because of the inclement weather. So turns out, Ms. T is going to have to drive her mother to North Carolina to bring her back home. My, my! God works in mysterious ways, huh? By some strange coincidence, she will be coming to the gathering after all. Things are already working in my favor and the new year hasn't even begun yet. This is a good sign!
One of my many tasks for today was to make a brownie tray with chocolate and blonde brownies. In my opinion, fudge brownies are a better partner with ice cream and chocolate sauce and chocolate brownies are better standalone brownies. Brownies can be dressed up with chocolate chip morsels, walnuts, pecans or whatever you are in the mood for. I am in the mood for walnuts and chocolate chips today. Can't you see how gooey and rich these are just from the pictures?
I think the best brownies are chewy with a crunchy top. Chewy brownies are achieved by removing the brownies from the oven a moment or two sooner than the recipe calls for, when there is a tad bit of batter on the toothpick when inserted.
Happy New Year! Wishing you a healthy, happy, prosperous 2011.
Chocolate Brownies
3/4 cup cocoa, unsweetened
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2/3 cup melted butter, divided
1/2 cup boiling water
2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
In a large bowl, combine cocoa and baking soda; blend in 1/3 cup melted butter.
Add boiling water; stir until well blended. Stir in sugar, beaten eggs, remaining 1/3 cup butter and vanilla flavoring.
Stir in flour and salt. Fold nuts and the chocolate chips into batter. Pour batter into a greased baking pan. Bake at 350° for 35 to 40 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan.
Cool before cutting into squares.
All photographs are actual pictures of the recipe listed, prepared by Virtually Everything Sweet, and cannot be used without the owner’s consent.
Is it true that blondes are more fun? In the case of these brownies, I might have to agree. Don't get me wrong, I love a great chocolate or fudge brownie but I must say that I am partial to desserts with a caramel or butterscotch taste.
There are a lot of stories about where brownies originated from...one legend says that a chef mistakenly added melted chocolate to a batch of biscuits...another story is of a housewife in Maine who forgot to add baking powder to her chocolate cake and when her cake didn’t rise properly, instead of tossing it out, she cut and served the flat pieces. I am not sure which, if any, is true but they have certainly evolved from the early 20th century. Did you know there was even a National Brownie Day? Pretty important stuff, huh?
These brownies are so good and so chewy and so rich. I am not sure how much I would add to blonde brownies, other than nuts or perhaps coconut, because they are so rich and tasty on their own. But I hope you enjoy these as much as I do!
Blonde Brownies
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup ground walnuts
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup shortening
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan.
Cream shortening, brown sugar, vanilla and eggs. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, walnuts, baking powder and salt. Slowly add to egg mixture, stirring until well blended. Spread dough evenly into prepared pan.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.
All photographs are actual pictures of the recipe listed, prepared by Virtually Everything Sweet, and cannot be used without the owner’s consent.
One late September evening my friend Kendra and I are hanging out and we get this craving for the “hot and cold,” which is her term for anything that is served à la mode. So we end up finding a restaurant and having their fudge brownie with chocolate and salty caramel sauce. Now why didn’t I think of that? I would have never combined the two. But together, it took the dessert to a whole new level!
A few days later I could not get that brownie out of my head. So I decided that I would try my own version of the “hot and cold” at home. This caramel sauce recipe is a staple for many of my desserts as I use it on fudge brownies, pumpkin cheesecake, Bourbon pecan cheesecake, vanilla ice-cream and bread pudding. So you will be seeing a lot of the caramel sauce.
Fudge Brownies
1 ¼ sticks unsalted butter
¾ c Hershey’s socoa powder, unsweetened
1 ¼ c sugar
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
½ c AP flour
2/3 c chopped walnuts
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line bottom and sides of pan with parchment paper.
Combine butter, sugar, cocoa and salt in a saucepan on stove and stir until butter is melted and mixture is smooth. Remove saucepan and set aside to cool briefly.
Stir in vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, stirring well after each one. When batter becomes shiny, add the flour and stir until incorporated. Beat vigorously for about 45 seconds. Fold in nuts.
Spread evenly in lined pan. Bake for about 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool and cut into squares.
I like this best with a scoop of homemade vanilla bean ice-cream and a drizzle of caramel and fudge sauce. Typically I will just melt a Godiva chocolate bar over a double boiler. But if I don’t have one of those handy, I will use this quick and dirty chocolate sauce.
Caramel Sauce
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
In a medium saucepan, combine the butter with all three sugars and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Cook over moderately high heat for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the cream and boil for 2 minutes longer. Stir in the vanilla and salt and serve.
Chocolate Sauce
1 c. sugar
2 tbsp. flour
1 c. boiling water
3/4 tsp. vanilla
1/3 c. cocoa
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. butter
Blend together sugar, flour, cocoa, and salt. Add boiling water and cook until thick, stirring constantly, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add butter and vanilla. Store in refrigerator. Makes about 1 1/2 cups.
All photographs are actual pictures of the recipe listed, baked by Virtually Everything Sweet, and cannot be used without the owner’s consent.
