I took A outside and let her go nuts with the sidewalk chalk, but I just wanted to go back inside. The ground is hard, the sun is so bright, and it was making me feel so hot and tired. How horrible is that. I guess I can blame some of those feelings on being large and pregnant but really its just sad to think that I am not out there enjoying the sun.
But now A is sleeping and I am enjoying the smell of brownies in my house. Isn't that such a wonderful smell, the smell of baking. Oh I love it. Honestly I would bake everyday if I wouldn't gain a million pounds from eating it all.
Today felt like a brownie kinda day for some reason. It was almost cookies, but then I opened the pantry and found a box of Baking Chocolate and decided it was a brownie day instead. I used my tried and true recipe that I have made about a million times. The result is always the same when I make them, and the best part about them is that they are wonderful at any temperature. They aren't those kind of brownies that you have to devour right away cause they aren't as good when they are cool. There have actually been times that I have made these and tried to cool them quickly instead of eating them hot.
I have tried baking this recipe into all kinds of pans instead of just using the plain old 9x13. They are great in muffin tins both regular and mini as well as in shaped pans and cake pans. The recipe calls for 1 cup of Pecans but my husband is not a huge fan of nuts and we have friends with nut allergies so I normally just bake these without the nuts. I have substituted chocolate chunks and chocolate chips for the nuts but really most of the time I leave them plain. Why mess with a good thing (or in this case a great thing).
Today however I decided that I would put half the amount of pecans in and that I would also cut up my stash of Creamy Caramels and add them as well. mmmm Caramel. They turned out so tasty. I am so glad that I tried something new, and now I feel like making them again and doing something different. My only warning with using the caramels is that it can make them really hard to get out of the pan nicely and makes the brownie very chewy. (Chewy and delicious but maybe too chewy for some)
I wonder how many different delicious items could be added to brownies. mmmm
Anyway here is the recipe, just in case you wanted to try a piece of heaven. :)
1/2 Cup Butter
4 Oz Baking Chocolate ( I use semi-sweet)
4 Eggs
1/4 tsp Salt
2 Cups Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla
1 Cup Sifted Flour
1 Cup Chopped Pecans (or whatever yummy combination you can think of)
1. Melt butter and chocolate. ( I use a big glass bowl and the microwave to do this instead of doing it in a double boiler. I am all about saving time. when doing it in the microwave I normally put it in for a minute, stopping to stir it a few times. Then I take it out and stir it until the chocolate is fully melted)
2. Beat eggs and salt until light in color and foamy.
3. Gradually add sugar and vanilla and continue beating.
4. With few swift strokes fold in COOLED chocolate mixture.
5. Before uniform in color, fold in flour.
6. Then before uniform in color, gently stir in pecans.
7. Pour into a greased 9x13 pan.
8. Bake in 350' oven for 25 minutes.
9. Cut when cool. (if you don't wait until they are cool the pieces will be very crumbly and hard to cut. I very rarely wait and my brownies are never cut very nice)
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| I couldn't wait until it was cooled to try a slice. so the top and sides are very crumbly and not as pretty looking as they could be. |
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| This is what the insides look like. Doesn't that make your mouth water. |
