My 5 year old grandson, Jonah and my daughter, Jonah's mom, Jaimie, were at the house for the weekend. That alone always adds a bit of chaos and confusion and distraction. Plus I was also thinking about trying out a recipe for ground turkey meatballs and trying to figure out the timing of these things -- make the brownies first, so they can cool and while they are baking and then cooling, put together the meatballs, then frost the brownies, do I have everything I need, etc, etc, etc -- don't forget to get the parsley out of the fridge and chop it up -- oh wait that's for the meatballs, don't need parsley in the brownies, ya dah! ya dah! So I mixed up the brownies but I had something distract me after each ingredient I added, but fortunately, I got it all mixed up and placed it in the oven to bake. It was supposed to bake for 22-27 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. I set the timer for 20 minutes -- the timer went off and the brownies were rising nicely, and looked great, but they were still way too liquid.. set the timer for another 5 minutes and this time when the timer dinged and I saw that the brownies were still way too liquid, it dawned on me -- I NEVER ADDED THE FLOUR! On the way to getting the flour, I got sidetracked and never measured it out and added it to the brownie batter! There were a lot of expensive ingredients in these brownies and I didn't want to simply throw them out -- so how do I salvage my brownies? I then decided to add the flour and try baking some more. I mixed the flour into the brownies, and sort of pressed it into the pan to make the brownies level. then I put back into the oven and baked another 25 minutes. the toothpick came out clean. the worst that could happen is that the brownies would be hard as rocks and I still would have to throw them out.
I let the brownies cool as I finished up the ground turkey meatballs (which by the way turned out to be wonderful and I will have to write about them too -- they were pretty awesome and I am generally not too impressed with using ground turkey in stead of ground beef!). When the brownies were cool, I discovered they were not hard as rocks and I cut a little tiny piece out of the corner of the baking dish and found they were quite tender and tasty!. They didn't rise much and were sort of flat, but in an acceptable way. So I made the chocolate espresso butter cream frosting and spread it over the brownies and decided to take them to work and test them out. They were HUGE hit! Everyone loved my mistake and told me that I better write about this. So here goes and here is the recipe for "Bake-Sale Brownies" or if you forget to add the flour, "Donna's Double-Baked Brownies"!Ingredients:
8 Tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
(NOTE: -- I NEVER use squares of unsweetened chocolate anymore. I use 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder -- generally fair traded organic cacao powder and 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter -- I melt the cacao powder and the butter together to make my chocolate concoction -- I also add about 1/2 Tablespoon espresso powder)
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
(Keep in mind, I only use organic, fairly traded, freshly churned, free-range, aluminum free, unbleached w/germ added ingredients -- totally!)
(BTW - this recipe doubles very nicely to make an 8"X13" pan size of brownies)
I also add about 1/2 cup either toasted, chopped pecan or walnut pieces to the batter and add another 1/4 - 1/2 cup to sprinkle on top after the brownies are frosted. If you don't plan to frost, then just sprinkle the nuts over the top of the brownie batter in the pan before putting in the oven.
Directions:
1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat an 8" square pan ( I use glass/Pyrex) with butter flavored spray oil (I use Wildtree http://www.wildtree.com/Products/Details.aspx?ProductID=149 and put it in my Pampered Chef oil spritzer http://www.pamperedchef.com/ordering/prod_details.tpc?prodId=610&words=spray -- I don't like to use aerosol spray cans if I can avoid it!) -- make sure to lightly coat the corners and the sides, as well as the entire bottom of the baking dish.
2. Melt the butter and the chocolate (and espresso powder, if using) together in the microwave, stirring often, 1-3 minutes. Let the mixture cool slightly.
3. Whisk the sugar, eggs, vanilla, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl until combined. whisk in the melted chocolate mixture until smooth.
4, Stir in the flour until streaks remain -- unless you want Donna's doubled Baked Brownies -- then you skip this step! :-) But you could stir in the roasted chopped nuts at this point, if you choose to add nuts.
5. Scrape the batter into the prepared baking pan and smooth the top. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with just a few crumbs attached, 22 to 27 minutes.
6. Let cool completely on a wire rack to room temperature, about 2 hours, before either icing the brownies or removing the brownies from the pan.
Icing Ingredients:
Okay, I have to tell you here, that I simply do not measure to make icing. I do it by taste, look and consistency and quantity. It's gotta taste creamy & buttery, it's gotta look chocolaty and not runny, but not too stiff either and there's got to be enough to give a good 1/4 - 3/8" at least, deep of icing all over the brownies!
Here's what i use:
Confectioners sugar (it helps to sift it, but not necessary -- just be sure to beat out the lumps!)
Cocoa powder & 1 teaspoon of espresso powder
lots of butter -- softened (I use salted butter here)
mix that up real good, add about a teaspoon of vanilla, a pinch of salt if needed and then enough milk to make the consistency right. Add more sugar if needed and more milk to get the consistency & quantity right -- it doesn't hurt to add a bit more butter, if you think it is not tasting buttery enough -- Voila! a very, very creamy and tasty frosting!
Eat the brownies as is, but a scoop of homemade vanilla Blue Bell ice cream is not a bad addition at all!!!
