Peanut Butter Banana Brownies

Who watched last week's Arrow? Show of hands.

I got a question to ask you. Is Tatsu secretly Miracle Max? Or maybe his protege or something? Because as Maseo was dragging Ollie's body through the snow to the lonely mountain cabin, the only thing going through my head was:

It just so happens that your friend here is only MOSTLY dead. There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is still slightly alive.

 And let's face it, Ollie "died" almost the exact way that Sara did, except he was run through with a scimitar instead of a couple arrows, fell off a mountain instead of a building, and was beat up a whole bunch by Ra's al Ghul beforehand. So basically, the only way he could have survived (since it's been confirmed that he wasn't revived by the Lazarus pit), is if he was given one of Miracle Max's pills before he was all dead. Otherwise WHY DON'T I HAVE SARA BACK BECAUSE I LOVE SARA AND LAUREL IS A TERRIBLE CHOICE FOR THE BLACK CANARY. 

*ahem*

I hoped they remembered the chocolate coating to make it go down easier.

These brownies have absolutely nothing to do with Arrow, I just had to get that off of my chest. Of course, I'd totally share these brownies with the denizens of the Arrow cave. Especially my bff Felicity.

I've been working on a recipe for eggless brownies because I only had 4 eggs left, I had two recipes I wanted to make that used two eggs each, and I didn't want to do battle with all the snowmaggedon preppers stocking up on eggs, milk, and bread. And I totally succeeded. The brownies I came up with were fudgy, chocolatey, everything you've ever wanted in a brownie.

These are not those brownies. There are reasons I can't share those brownies with you yet, and they're really good reasons, but I can't tell you those either. (I feel like I'm in that scene from Legally Blonde. Oh she's got an alibi, and it's a really good one. What is it? I can't tell you.)

Luckily for you, I wanted to test the brownies in a larger pan, but was out of unsweetened applesauce (that I had used to replace the eggs), so I decided to mix it up a little bit, using mashed banana instead, and replacing the oil and some of the butter with peanut butter. So these are almost those brownies. Am I forgiven?

 These brownies are still dense and fudgy and chocolatey while adding the delicious flavor combination of peanut butter and banana. They're rich, unexpected, and soooo good. Plus, super simple to make. No chopping up and melting chocolate (always my least favorite part), these use cocoa powder instead. You do need to melt the butter and sugar together, which helps to give it that shiny, crackly crust in the absence of eggs, but if you don't care about the crust, you can always dump the sugar in with the dry ingredients, and melt the butter in the microwave. One bowl, one pan, one whisk, all you need to make these suckers

I'm going to watch Arrow tonight with a plate full of these guys and probably quote The Princess Bride every time Tatsu comes on screen. "Bye bye boys, have fun storming the castle!"

Peanut Butter Banana Brownies

Yield: About 20 brownies

Ingredients

1¼ cup flour

¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used 1/2 cup regular and 1/4 cup Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa Powder)

½ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. baking soda

¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter

1¼ cup sugar

⅔ cup mashed, ripe banana

½ cup creamy peanut butter

2 tbsp. milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9x13 inch baking dish with foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda. In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the butter. Add the sugar and continue to heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar is dissolved. It will be thick and syrupy.

Add the butter mixture, mashed banana, peanut butter, milk, and vanilla extract to the flour mixture, and stir until smooth. Fold in the chocolate chips, then spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan.

Bake for about 30 minutes, until the brownies are set, and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool completely before cutting into squares. 

Tip: to keep the chocolate chips from melting into the batter, let it cool for 10-20 minutes before adding them. You can use this time to preheat the oven

Recipe by Kim

 

*Disclaimer: This post includes affiliate links*

Peppermint Hot Cocoa Snowflake Brownies

These brownies make me angry. (That's my secret Cap; I'm always angry. ilu Bruce Banner)

It's not the flavor. They taste really good. It's not the texture-- they're not quite as fudgy in the middle as I would like, but fudgy enough to satisfy me.

What gets me about these brownies is that they're such a tease. Roll back to Christmas Eve. I was making cookie cups to give as presents, but I needed something else. Then I remembered I had this silicone snowflake pan from forever ago. I'd make snowflake cupcakes and add them to the presents!

Except the recipe I used was too light and fluffy and the cakes fell apart when I tried to take them out of the pan. No problem, I was planning on making these brownies to serve for dessert anyway, so I'd just switch up my plans. I baked the rest of the cake batter in a regular pan and whipped up the brownie batter.

I decided to do a test brownie so I wouldn't waste too much batter if they didn't come out. That sucker came out abso-frickin-lutely perfectly.

By that time, I was running late, and I had promised my mother I'd make her green bean salad since she had to work, so I covered the bowl of batter, grabbed the silicone pan and went to my parents' house to finish up there.

Except the next batch I pulled out of the oven fell apart when I tried to take it out of the pan. I ran back home, grabbed the ingredients to make more, and made a second batch. This one I baked for a few minutes longer, and let cool for as long as I could, and they still fell apart. I didn't have time to try again, and ended up feeling a bit miserly as everyone only got three pieces of fudge and two cookie cups for presents.

If the tester hadn't come out so perfectly, this wouldn't upset me as much as it did

You make me so angry, you perfect little snowflake

I figured the key for the brownies to come out of the pan properly was to add those extra few minutes to the baking time, and to chill them before trying to take them out of the pan (the second batch, while I'd let it cool for half an hour, I still felt some residual heat, and the tester was left neglected while I did other stuff, so it was cooling for probably over an hour.)

Once again, I went to make the brownies, armed with the knowledge earned from those past defeats, and... I accidentally mixed up my 1/3 cup measure with my 1/4 cup measure and added too much flour. I forged ahead anyway, figuring that this would make them denser and less fudgy, but that could only help me at this point.

When I finally popped them out of the pan, I was ready to rejoice, as they didn't break coming out, but I looked at them, and I don't know if I used too much cooking spray, or if it was because the batter was too thick, but there were air bubbles in the surface so you could barely see the pan's design. At that point I decided I was completely done with these brownies, so I just dusted them with sugar and covered them with sprinkles and took photos.

If you decide to be a normal person and make them in a pan, these brownies are delicious. Like I said, they're not quite fudgy enough for me, but they're a good compromise for people who like fudgy brownies and people who like cakey brownies. My family was very happy that the brownies didn't come out, since they got what my brother dubbed the sad brownie mountain (I just threw all of the broken pieces onto a plate, and they piled up) and they completely demolished it. I left all the brownies with them, since I couldn't bear to look at them.

These are basically the same as my Chocolate Pudding Brownies, except I used dark chocolate hot cocoa mix instead of instant fudge powder, and I added peppermint extract and Andes Peppermint Crunch Baking Chips. You can't go wrong with chocolate and peppermint, and I love those peppermint baking chips because they still give a little crunch, but don't stick to your teeth like crushed candy canes do. Of course, any peppermint candy would do if you don't have the baking chips. You could even stir in some mini York Peppermint Patties.

In summation, don't use a snowflake pan. And also make these brownies.

Peppermint Hot Cocoa Snowflake Brownies
Yield: 12 brownies

Ingredients

2/3 cup sugar
9 tbsp. quality dark chocolate hot cocoa mix
½ cup flour
½ tsp. salt
2 eggs
½ cup melted butter
¼ cup milk or cream
1 tsp. vanilla extract
½ tsp. peppermint extract
½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
½ cup peppermint baking chips
Powdered sugar

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line an 8 or 9 inch square pan with foil, and lightly spray with nonstick
cooking spray. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, hot cocoa mix, flour, and salt. Mix in eggs, butter, milk, vanilla, and peppermint extract, and stir until smooth. Fold in the chocolate chips and peppermint chips. Spread evenly into the prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes, or until the edges pull away from the pan. Cool and dust with powdered sugar.

If making in a silicone snowflake pan: Generously grease each cavity with nonstick cooking spray. Add 1/4 cup of batter to each cavity. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool completely, then chill in the refrigerator up to 30 minutes. Remove from pan and let come to room temperature before serving. Makes 9 snowflake brownies.

Note: the silicone pan I use was roughly comparable to a jumbo cupcake tin. If using a smaller pan, use less batter and reduce the baking time.

Recipe adapted from my middle school Home Ec class (original source unknown)

*Disclaimer: This post includes affiliate links*

Maple Browned Butter Blondies

This recipe took me a while to perfect.

Not the flavor. I got that first time out. No, it was the texture that gave me trouble. I wanted these blondies to be all gooey and fudgy in the middle.

The first time I made them, they were cakey. Super moist and tasty, but not what I wanted.

So I tried again. This time it was still cakey, but even more moist. Almost too moist. It was a little weird.

And then my mother gave me a list of things to bake for her to give to her coworkers. On the list were the blondies. "You mean the blondies that I haven't perfected yet?" I asked in disbelief

"They're delicious!" she protested. "Everybody loved them."

"But they're not right yet!" But even my brother agreed that they were good the way they were.

I had one last chance to get the recipe right. And you guys, I did it. They're fudgy. They're gooey. They're abso-freaking-lutely delicioso.

Of course, in order to get them to that gooey perfection, I had to make them a dieter's nightmare. There's two and a half sticks of butter in these bad boys, not to mention all the brown sugar and maple syrup. On the plus side, they're super rich so you can't eat too many at once.

They're also not super sweet, which is what I wanted. The browned butter adds enough of a savory flavor to balance out all that sugar and maple syrup, and that's the flavor that really shines in these blondies.

Long story short-- these blondies are amazing and you should make them. They are totally worth every effort I put into them.

Maple Browned Butter Blondies
Yield: 12 blondies

Ingredients
1¼ cups (2½ sticks) unsalted butter, browned
1⅓ cups packed brown sugar
½ cup maple syrup
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tsp. maple flavoring
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1½ cups all purpose flour
1½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
Optional: about ½ cup toffee bits*

Directions
To brown the butter: melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Continue to heat, whisking constantly, until the butter turns a light, golden brown. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a 7x11 inch baking dish with non stick cooking spray and line with parchment paper. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the browned butter, brown sugar, maple syrup, eggs, maple flavoring, and vanilla extract until the sugar is dissolved. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt, and mix until smooth. Fold in the toffee bits if using.

Bake 35-45 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool completely before cutting into squares.

*The toffee bits sink to the bottom and melt into a sticky kind of crust. It's a mess, but delicious.

Recipe by Kim

Recipes for Little Helpers Round Up

I've always figured that the kid friendliest recipes would be the ones that little hands could help out with. Kids can learn good kitchen etiquette, they get a sense of accomplishment from actually making the food they're going to eat, and Mom or Dad gets some help in the kitchen. Plus, food is fun, so everybody wins. So if you've got a little helper, I've done a round up of some of my recipes that fit this description: easy prep (and easy clean up), minimal use of sharp implements of doom, no mixer necessary, and many of them (with a few exceptions) are even safe for the littlest hands that have trouble staying out of their mouths. (I also had a little too much fun with the new "Comic Book Theme" on Picmonkey. :D)

Obviously, parents are the best judges of what their kids can help with, that should go without saying. I'm just trying to be helpful.

Breakfast

Funky Monkey Oatmeal Muffins

Gluten and egg free, can be made dairy free with the substitution of vegan chocolate hazelnut spread. Little ones can mash the bananas and mix the up the batter.

Banana Chocolate Chip Mug Cake

Dairy, gluten, and refined sugar free, this can be mixed right in the mug it's cooked in, and kids can watch it rise in the microwave. (Note: the mug can be very hot right out of the microwave)

Poppin' Pebbles Berry Almond Muffins

One bowl, egg free muffins that include kid-friendly cereal

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies

Peanut butter, banana, oats, and applesauce make them good for breakfast. Sugar makes them cookies. (Gluten and dairy free)

Peach Crumble Cups

A homemade graham cracker crust is filled with canned peaches (peach pie filling also works) and topped with crisp mix (Egg free)

Lunch and Dinner

How to Make Pasta in the Microwave

Great for a quick meal or a snack when making a whole pot of pasta isn't feasible. Older kids can learn to do this by themselves, and it's way better than Easy Mac. (Note: the bowl will be very hot straight out of the microwave.)

Individual Cheater's Meatloaf

Kids can mix up this 5 ingredient meatloaf with their hands (always a fun time), and then shape it for the muffin tins

Pepperoni Pizza Waffles

It's pizza and a waffle all in one. Pancake mix makes the batter a breeze to put together, and using the waffle iron means it cooks fast. It's a meal in itself or a fun alternative to breadsticks. (Egg free)

Homemade Uncrustables

I loved Uncrustables as a kid, and it never occurred to me that I could make my own. Kids can make their own flavor combinations, and use pastry cutters to cut them into fun shapes. Plus, they can be adapted for different dietary needs (gluten free bread, nut free butter, etc.)

Dessert

Peanut Butter Blondies

If kids are willing to sacrifice their Halloween candy, they can help make these blondies. The batter takes a little extra arm strength to whip up, but they can handle it.

Busy Day S'mores Cake

I have a friend who makes this chocolate cake with her toddler's help (she even subs in grated zucchini for some of the oil), and uses the opportunity to talk about science (baking soda plus vinegar equals SCIENCE) and shapes. My addition was to use toasted marshmallows instead of frosting. (Egg and dairy free, vegan without the marshmallows)

Chocolate Pudding Brownies

I got this recipe originally from my middle school home ec class. Melted butter and instant pudding mix make these brownies super simple, and my public school curriculum agrees this is a good recipe for kids to make.

Frozen Nutella-Covered Bananas

This barely counts as a recipe, and even the littlest can get involved by adding sprinkles or chopped nuts before they go in the freezer. (Gluten and egg free, use dairy free chocolate hazelnut spread for vegan)

Zucchini Brownies

The hardest part is shredding the zucchini. Bonus, it's a good way to sneak in some veggies (vegan)

Cinnamon Breakfast Squares

You guys know what I need right now? Energy. I think I taped and spackled at least 30 cracks in my walls so far, and I keep finding more. I've only had time to prime one room, and don't even get me started on the sheer amount of cleaning the sellers left me with. Seriously, they were nasty.

So when I got the chance to try the new Cinnamon Crunch Morning Energy flavor of Honey Bunches of Oats, I held out my bowl like I was Oliver Twist. It's been the perfect way to start my mornings. Not too sweet (which I love in a cereal), super cinnamon-y, and I love the little cinnamon clusters. They're my favorite part. Plus lots of protein to keep me going when I'm upside down and backwards spackling a crack in the doorway arch.

I also got a chance to try these Cinnamon Breakfast Squares. These guys smell like French toast when they're baking up, it's fantastic. They didn't come out quite like I had expected, though. I think that I was expecting them to be cake-ier or at least crunchy, but they actually came out a little eggy. They actually reminded me almost of a really thick crepe with a sort of cinnamon streusel on top.

Now, don't get me wrong, they were actually really tasty. Sort of like a crepe-y, French toast-y hybrid, which is better than it sounds. And when it's breakfast, it's okay if it's a little eggy. The recipe recommends topping it with a dollop of Greek yogurt, honey, summer berries, and cinnamon or nutmeg. I liked them best with syrup and a good dusting of cinnamon sugar. And since strawberries are grown locally in my town, that's obviously the way I go when it comes to berries. (I'm not a huge fan of yogurt though, so I skipped it. It's a textural thing. If I'm not legitimately craving it, it makes me gag)

I made these for Mother's Day breakfast, and they were a big hit. My mom loved them, and that's really all that matters.

Cinnamon Breakfast Squares with Yogurt and Berries
Yield: 6 squares

Ingredients
1 cup Honey Bunches of Oats Morning Energy Cinnamon Crunch cereal
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
3 tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
3 eggs
1/2 cup nonfat (skim) milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 container (6 oz) Greek yogurt, any flavor
3 cups fresh berries, or fruit of choice
Honey or pancake syrup, for drizzling
Cinnamon or nutmeg, for sprinkling (I used cinnamon sugar)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Grease and flour an 8x8" square pan.

In a mixing bowl, mix the cereal, flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt together using a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, lightly crushing the cereal as you stir.

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, and vanilla together until well blended. Combine with the dry ingredients.

Pour the batter (it will be thin) into the prepared pan, and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until the bars are set when the middle is lightly pressed. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

To serve: cut the bars into 6 equal pieces. Top with yogurt, surround with berries. Drizzle with honey or syrup, and dust with cinnamon or nutmeg. Serve immediately.

*Disclaimer: I was provided with free samples of Honey Bunches of Oats Morning Energy so that I could try this recipe. I am under no obligation to give a positive review, nor do I receive any further compensation for this post. All opinions are, as always, my own.*

Homemade Fudge Brownie Mix

No need to by a boxed mix at the store. Save time and money by making your own brownie mix right at home

April's here! And you know what that means: it's time for Camp NaNoWriMo! With all new adjustable word count goals. I'm taking it easy on myself this session with a 30k goal (trust me, 1000 words a day is a lot easier than 1556) and a couple of fanfic ideas that have been rattling around in my head for a while.

You know what else that means? The closing date for my new condo is at the end of this month. Add into all this the fact that a key bridge in my area has been closed for repairs, doubling my normal commute time. And another bridge flooded out this weekend, so now my commute time has tripled until that's cleared up. So my free time has been streeeeeeeetched a bit thin.

So you know what I decided I needed on hand? Some more homemade mixes. But not just any old mixes. When I don't feel good, or I've had a bad day, there is nothing I want more than a good, fudgy brownie. You know I'm not usually a fan of box mixes, but brownies are one of the things that I will actually go for a mix for because I hate chopping and melting unsweetened chocolate-- which is a step many of the best and fudgiest recipes calls for-- and Ghiradelli makes some awesome brownie mixes.

But I can't help but feel like a complete and total fake using a box mix, so I decided to make my own.

Something I've learned in the course of my homemade mix obsession is that you can substitute 1 square (1 oz.) of unsweetened baking chocolate with 3 tbsp. of unsweetened cocoa powder and 1 tbsp. of vegetable oil. Who knew, right? Once you've got that information, all the rest is easy.

All that remained was to find a good, properly fudgy, brownie recipe to mixify. Well, where else would I go but to Old Reliable?

This fudge brownie recipe is intense. Rich, chocolatey, so fudgy it's like candy, and even with the chopping and the melting of the chocolate, it's one of the simplest brownie recipes that I've ever made. But that didn't mean I couldn't simplify it further. Now I can have the batter mixed and in the oven in minutes the next time I want them. It might be the perfect first dessert to bake in my brand new oven.

Homemade Fudge Brownie Mix
Yield: Approx. 3¾ cups dry mix

Ingredients
2 cups sugar
1 cup flour
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
½ tsp. salt
Optional: up to 2 cups mix-ins (the original recipe recommends chopped nuts, I went with a mixture of peanut butter and chocolate chips)

Directions
Sift together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Make sure it's evenly mixed. Add to a jar or airtight container. If adding mix-ins, layer them on top, using plastic wrap to keep them separate. Store in a cool dry place up to 1 year.

To bake, add 1 cup melted butter (or vegetable oil), 4 eggs, ¼ cup vegetable oil, and 1 tsp. vanilla extract to the dry mix. Mix well. Stir in mix-ins, if using. Add the batter to a greased 9x13 inch baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-33 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely before cutting. Dust with powdered sugar, if desired, before serving.

Based on the Fudgy Brownie recipe from The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook

Gifts from the Kitchen Round Up

Hey guys, I'm giving myself a little holiday break. Not from baking, since I'll be doing plenty of that. Mostly from photographing and editing pictures and trying to be witty as I tell you anecdotes from my life. (Although, we recently had a theft at work. Someone stole a tin of... cookies. And I've had to scour security camera footage to see if I can nab the thief red handed. Can anyone confirm the Cookie Monster's alibi? I'm starting to suspect the Borrowers, though. #caseofthemissingcookies)

But I won't leave you high and dry. If you're like me, you're not done with your holiday shopping yet. So here are some posts from the blog that make thoughtful (and great last-minute) presents. (Collages are clickable)

Homemade Red Velvet Cake Mix ● Homemade Devil's Food Cake Mix ● Apple Cheddar Scone Mix  Homemade Peanut Butter Cookie Mix ● Homemade Yellow Cake Mix ● Homemade Spice Cake Mix  Easy Homemade Gift Sets

Homemade Gummies ● Strawberry Cake Batter Fudge ● Pumpkin Spice Marshmallows

Piña Colada Marshmallows ● Raspberry Red Wine Sauce ● Cookie Dough Truffles

Graham Cracker Marshmallows ● Raspberry Nutella Marshmallows ● Spicy Chocolate Spread

Cherry Almond Oatmeal Cookies (Gluten Free) ● Chocolate Peppermint Sandwich Cookies

Peanut Butter Cookies ● French Butter Cookies ● Zucchini Brownies (Vegan) ● Mini Chai Tea Cakes
Sweet & Salty Nutella Brownies ● Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies ● Fudge Frosted Brownies

Peanut Butter Nutella Slutty Brownies ● Peanut Butter Blondies ● White Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars  Jammie Dodgers ● Banana Cookies (Vegan) ● Chocolate Pudding Brownies