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Crazy Simple yet Crazy Delicious Cocoa Brownies



Hello hello! I was thinking of throwing another blueberry recipe at you but how does chocolate sound instead?

Good? Keep reading. No good? Well then go find something else to do, although I do not recommend that but the choice is yours :).

This recipe is coming to you from my roommate who is not only my partner in crime but my ever ready taste tester. She is always ready to try any and everything I come up with. So it goes with out saying that I taste whatever she makes as well.

Well I came home pretty late from babysitting and saw these brownies sitting on the stove and dove right in. MMM MMM MMM!

I was honestly surprised how great they tasted. Now, that's not because I don't trust her baking and cooking. It was mainly because they were not as dark as your typical brownie. They had a lighter brown color to them, so I was expecting a light chocolate flavor and a cake like texture.

Well don't judge a book by its cover and don't judge a brownie by its color. These were dense and fudge like with out being too heavy. And they chocolate flavor was stronger than it looked which was balanced nice by adding a little extra vanilla. Again MMM MMM MMM!

So the next morning I asked her what recipe she used. She basically looked up brownies online and took the first recipe she thought was easy enough. Literally only needs, butter, sugar, cocoa powder, eggs, vanilla and flour. You can go ahead and chocolate chips or walnuts or whatever you like in your brownies, but these cannot be easier. No melting chocolate or anything just mixing and baking.

If you are looking for a quick fix, of chocolate, get to baking and enjoy!

Easy Cocoa Brownies

Ingredients

4 large eggs

1 cup sugar, sifted

1 cup brown sugar, sifted

8 ounces melted butter

11/4 cups cocoa, sifted

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup flour, sifted

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Grease an 8x8 or 9x13 baking dish.
2. In a large bowl or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the eggs at medium speed until fluffy and light yellow.
3. Add both sugars.
4. Add remaining ingredients, and mix to combine.
5. Pour the batter into prepared dish and bake 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
6. Let cool, or try to, before cutting into squares.

Oatmeal Butterscotch Bars

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Oatmeal Butterscotch Bars

with brown sugar butterscotch glaze

Hello hello! Here I am way behind on posting again. But it was because I have been busy getting ready to move! I signed a year lease to rent a house at the beach. So lots have been going on with that. And don't worry the house has a brand new gas stove! That was literally one of the first things I checked. So lots of great dinners and cupcakes will be coming out of that oven :). So excited!

Since I will be needing some necessities once I move out I set out to my second home, Target, planning on getting a few more pots and pans, some kitchen towels, a vacuum, and things of that matter. However, I ended up leaving with only a wine rack, wine glasses, and cupcake liners. Obviously my priorities were right in order :).

Anyways I have been doing quite a bit of cooking lately and just a bit of baking here and there. These are a little creation I came up with the other day. I really wanted to make some blondies and realized I had a bag of butterscotch chips and thought, HMMM how about butterscotch blondies. But then I kept thinking of the giant case of oatmeal I bought assuming I'd be using it all the time to bake, but have yet to do so.

Feeling bad for the un-used oatmeal, I thought of adding oatmeal to the blondies and make oatmeal bars with butterscotch.

Well it was a success! They are super sweet but nice and hearty because of the oatmeal and brown sugar. I also added a glaze to the top just to add a little extra umph of flavor. I may have added it a little too soon and the bars were not quite cooled all the way. The glaze ended up mostly soaking into the bar rather than being a layer on top. Still, they were delicious!

Enjoy <3!

Ingredients

Oatmeal Butterscotch Bars
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour                                                                
2 cups quick-cooking oatmeal
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butterscotch chips
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) butter
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

 

Glaze
1/4 cup butterscotch chips
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon water
1/8 teaspoon salt

**I recommend browning the butter however melted butter will be fine. I also toasted the oatmeal in the oven for a bit while it was preheating.**

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9X13-inch baking pan with aluminum foil, letting the foil hang over the edges slightly. Lightly grease the foil with cooking spray.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, oats, baking soda, and salt.
3. Place the 3/4 cup butterscotch chips in a large bowl.
4. In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat and let the butter cook until golden brown in color.
5. Pour the butter over butterscotch chips and stir until melted and smooth.
6. Whisk in the brown sugar until combined followed by the egg and vanilla.
7. Stir in the flour mixture, just until incorporated.
8. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top, making sure it is distributed evenly.
9. Bake the bars until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs, about 16-18 minutes.
10. While the bars are cooling, place the 1/4 cup butterscotch chips, brown sugar, water and salt in a small microwave-safe bowl.
11. Microwave the mixture until melted and smooth, about 2 minutes on 50% power, stirring every so often.
12. Drizzle the glaze over the bars. Let the bars cool completely in the pan. Remove the bars from the pan using the foil overhang and cut into squares. Serve.

"Pumped" up brownies

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Pumpkin Brownies

I told ya to check back for some glorious fall recipes and this one will not disappoint. I know all the rage right now is APPLES, APPLES, APPLES, and though I actually do have an apple a day, I wanted to try something new.

If you asked me a few years ago, I would have said I don't like pumpkin. However, times have changed and so have my taste buds. I started to like it in tiny little increments. I first made these pumpkin cinnamon rolls, a great Pillsbury recipe, and LOVED them. They had just a hint of pumpkin flavor with a ton of cinnamon that they were hard not like. I than had a piece of pumpkin spice walnut bread and thought hmmm, maybe I'm catching on to this pumpkin thing. Then I just kept going, trying everything pumpkin. Waffles, pancakes, muffins, cake, even pasta. I can now say I am sold on pumpkin.

mmm perfect with some pumpkin spice coffee

So because of this and my new excitement for fall I decided to make these pumpkin brownies. Its not a super fudge type brownie, and I kind of wish they were. I wish I used more chocolate and made them just a little more richer and dense.

Regardless the pumpkin and chocolate make a wonderful match!

Pumpkin Chocolate Swirl Brownies
Makes 16
* 1 stick unsalted butter
* 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 3/4 cups sugar
* 4 large eggs
* 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
* 1 1/4 cups solid-pack pumpkin
* 1/4 cup vegetable oil
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan or dish.
2. Melt chocolate and butter- Either: in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, stirring
occasionally until smooth. Or in a microwave safe dish, heating in 30 second intervals and stirring until melted and smooth.
3. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl; set aside.
4.Beat sugar, eggs, and vanilla with an electric mixer until fluffy and well combined, 3 to 5 minutes.
5. Gradually beat in flour mixture.
6. Divide batter between two medium bowls (about 2 cups per bowl). Stir chocolate mixture
into one bowl. In the other, stir in pumpkin, oil, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
7.Transfer half ofchocolate batter to prepared pan. Top with half of pumpkin batter. Repeat to make one more chocolate layer and one more pumpkin layer.
8. With a small spatula or knife, gently swirl the two batters.
9. Bake 40 to 45 minutes and let cool in pan on a wire rack.

Optional step 10: Brew a nice hot mug of pumpkin spice coffee and season with half and half and sugar. Stir in cinnamon and nutmeg, or pumpkin pie spice if you have it. Top with whipped cream and enjoy!

<3 YUM
ps. a VERY exciting blog post coming VERY soon, yay!!!
p.s.s motivational monday will return next monday :) lol