Best of Both Worlds

Now here is a super easy treat that will amaze everyone and make them say, why didn't I think of that?! That's exactly what I said to myself when I saw these on Genesis of a Cook. You should definitely check that blog out, lots of yummy stuff on there.

Anyway, the great thing about this is you can make these any variation you want. You can even use a box mix of brownies and a tub of cookie dough if you are too tired to make it all from scratch. In this case I used the brownie recipe from GoaC and then used the Toll House recipe on the back of the bag as the cookie dough for the tops of the brownies. It's super easy. I suggest trying these. They are wicked good.

Brownie Layer

3/4 cup flour
2/3 cup cocoa
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter
4 eggs, beaten
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Cookie Layer

2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 rolled oats
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. lemon juice
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
2 eggs
3 cups semisweet chocolate chips


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 13x9 in baking pan.

2. For brownie layer, melt butter in a medium saucepan over low heat. Add sugar and cocoa; stir to blend. Remove from heat. Stir in eggs and vanilla. In a bowl, stir together flour, salt and baking soda; stir into chocolate mixture and add chocolate chips. Spread into baking pan.

3. For cookie layer, grind oats in a food processor or blinder until fine. In a medium bowl, combine the ground oats with the flour, baking soda, salt and ground cinnamon. In another medium bowl, cream together the butter, sugars, vanilla and lemon juice. Add the eggs and mix until smooth. Stir the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients. Add the chocolate chips.

4. Take the cookie mixture and add dough by rounded tablespoonfuls evenly onto brownie layer. Press down lightly.

5. Bake for about 40-50 minutes or until toothpick inserted 2 inches in comes out almost clean. Cool completely before cutting. Cut into 8 rows by 6 rows.

Super Bowl Cupcakes

The name here is actually deceiving. While these cupcakes were for a Super Bowl party, they were in no way, shape, or form geared towards football. Not like my football playoff cupcakes anyway.

One of Glenn's coworkers asked if I could make her a dozen cupcakes and deliver them to her for her party and of course I said yes. She wanted 6 of my Strawberry Lemon Cupcakes and 6 of my Mariner Mousse Cupcakes. Both were made easily and boxed up, ready for delivery.

If you would like the recipe for the Strawberry Lemon cupcakes, go here. If you would like the recipe for the Mariner Mousse Cupcakes, go here. Enjoy!

p.s. Since I was too lazy to go through my own archives to find the recipe for the Mariner Mousse Cupcakes, I came across this neat writeup from the Seattle PI which I thought was beyond awesome. They like me there, maybe I should move to Tacoma, WA like I've been thinkin. Sweet!

V-Day Cupcakes, Desperately Late

I couldn't let Valentine's Day pass by without giving everyone at work a Valentine from me. My valentines are in the form of cupcakes, as you can see. Red Velvet cupcakes to be exact. Here is the recipe...

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Cupcakes
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 Tablespoons red food coloring (you can omit this, I usually do)
1 teaspoon white vinegar (lemon juice is okay too)
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 pound cream cheese, softened
2 sticks butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

For the cupcakes:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 (12-cup) muffin pans with cupcake papers.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In a large bowl gently beat together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla with a handheld electric mixer. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth and thoroughly combined.

Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake tins about 2/3 filled. Bake in oven for about 20 to 22 minutes, turning the pans once, half way through. Test the cupcakes with a toothpick for doneness. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until smooth. Add the sugar and on low speed, beat until incorporated. Increase the speed to high and mix until very light and fluffy.

Wow...

I guess Wow is really the only way to describe my reaction once I realized it has been nearly a month since my last post. What's going on here?!?! Even though February is a short month, I try to look back and explain my absence and I don't come up with much. Last week was AIMS testing, so there's one reason. The rest of the month? I'm not so sure! We have been "remodeling/redoing" our bathroom this month too, but it's not like we've been working non-stop. It's a really cool "green" project though. Almost everything in the bathroom is either repurposed, vintage, or local. Yay! Anyway... I apologize, to myself I suppose, for being so lazy.

I think the easiest way to do this is to gather up all my pictures and post them along with recipes. No stories or recaps this time around. Too much to do. So here goes.

Oh!!!!! Before I forget... I was at Urban Outfitters the other day when I spotted the book Baked: New Frontiers in Baking on their sale table. Talk about a sale. I just got a 30 dollar book for 5 bucks! If you have an Urban by you, stop by and maybe you'll get lucky like me.