Heart Shaped Brownies

Recipe from Hershey's Kitchen

S'mores Brownies

S'mores Brownies (Graham Cracker Crust, Baked Brownies, Mini Marshmallows Topping)

Irish Cream Brownies

I had this recipe for Irish Cream Brownies from Brandy's Baking bookmarked for as long as I can remember.  I finally had a chance to make them on honor of St Patrick's day!  I followed her recipe for the Irish Cream (1/2 portion) as is but I did use my own go to brownie recipe.  I would double my own brownie recipe next time as there wasn't enough to actually cover the irish cream batter.  I ended up doing a swirl to cover up the error.

If you are looking for additional inspiration, I featured a St Patrick's day roundup here and later updated the Guinness cupcake here.

From The Archives

Was reorganizing my photos this weekend and found a few items that I baked and photographed but never shared here for some reason.  Enjoy!

Brookies with nuts made from one of my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipes and my go to brownie recipe.

Chocolate chip cookies (possibly) from All Recipes that are big, fat, and chewy.

Cornbread made from scratch from Cook's Illustrated.

Chocolate almond toffee from David Lebovitz which was delicious alone and even better in ice cream.

Nutella Brownies

Happy Valentine's Day!  At work, we decided to exchange Valentine's; something I haven't done since middle school.  It was such a fun idea as there were plenty of cards (store bought and home made), candies, and treats.

What I shared with my coworkers were my favorite brownies which I added 1/2 cup of nutella.  However, the taste of nutella wasn't as prominent as I wanted it to be.  It did give the brownie a new richness which I liked.

Sweet and Salty Brownies

We had a potluck at work today and the easiest and quickest thing I could think of putting together was brownies.  So, I threw together my go to brownies.  Because I had left over caramel sauce, I decided to toss that in too.  Turns out, my final result was very similar to Baked Explorations' Sweet and Salty brownies.  Following suit, I sprinkled 1 teaspoon of fleur de sal and  1 teaspoon of coarse sugar on top once it was done baking.  I thought these would bake up very similar to these other caramel filled brownies  I made but the filling mostly soaked into the brownies.  This wasn't too bad as it kept the brownies very moist.

DIY Wedding Favors

Remember, how I made madeleines for my bridal shower favors a few months ago?  Well, I had the crazy idea to make my own wedding favors too! 5 batches of chocolate chip cookies and 3 double batches of brownies later, I had 150 wedding favors for my wedding this past weekend.  Couldn't have done it without the generous help of my sister, her boyfriend, and my now husband!

Brownie Meets Cookie Bars

Do these look familiar?  The last time I made these, the brownies were on the bottom and the cookies were on the top.  I decided to switch it up this time around. It made much more sense to have the crunchy cookie to hold the bars together.

I used my go to brownies recipe and my go to chocolate chip cookies.  I recommend not using a dark pan as it will make the cookies bake up faster than the brownies.  There's no need to bake the cookies first either as it will get hard and crunchy.  I think next time I would not double the brownie recipe to fit a 9x13 pan as it did take a lot longer to bake up.  In the picture you can definitely tell that it is still on the fudgy side.

St Patrick's Day Ideas

Looking forward to the upcoming "holiday" as I need an excuse to bake something blog worthy. Below are a few of my past treats that would be fitting if you're looking for some ideas as well for St Patrick's Day.

Guinness Stout Cupcakes with Baileys Irish Cream Frosting


Chocolate Sugar Cookies

Mint Brownies

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes (Stout Cupcakes, Whiskey Ganache, Irish Cream Frosting)

Black Bottom Cupcakes

I have been baking diligently over the last month; however, finding the time to blog about it has evaded me as I juggled a SOX audit at work, Cake4Kids' inaugural Cake-Off4Kids event, and my second half marathon!  So, here's my attempt at catching up.

I made brookies again because I couldn't decide for a friend's backyard BBQ, which also happened to be a mini celebration for Cake4Kids as it was our one year anniversary!  I made a double batch of  brownies in a 9x13 pan but there wasn't enough cookie dough to go around this time.  Next time, I would just stick to a full batch of cookie dough and a double batch of brownies to create two distinct layers of goodness.

I made some snickerdoodles out of my Baking Illustrated cookbook and it has blown away my previous go to recipe.  We ate them up so fast that I didn't get a chance to take any pictures!

I also made black bottom cupcakes for a work function and despite how unattractive they looked (as the cheesecake overflowed), everyone raved about them.  Then again,what's not to love about a cheesecake and cupcake combination.

Black-Bottom Cupcakes
slightly adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Makes approximately 12 cupcakes


For the filling:
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup of mini chocolate chips

For the cupcakes:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
5 tablespoons natural unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-process)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
1/3 cup unflavored vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Make the filling:
Beat together the cream cheese, granulated sugar, extract, and egg until smooth. (Avoid over beating the mixture as it will get really runny and not sink to the bottom of the cupcake.) Stir in the mini chocolate chips. Set aside.

Make the cupcakes:
1. Adjust the rack to the center of the oven and preheat to 350°F (175°C). Line a 12-cup muffin tin with with paper baking cups.
2. In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, brown sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl or a 2-cup measuring cup, mix together the water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla.
3. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and stir in the wet ingredients; stirring until just smooth. DO NOT OVER MIX.
4. Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Spoon a few tablespoons of the filling into the center of each cupcake, dividing the filling evenly.
5. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the cheesecake filling looks set and the cupcakes feel springy when gently pressed.
6. Serve cupcakes hot, room temperature, or cold.  Leftovers should be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Best of 2010

Seeing everyone's best of 2010 posts this week inspired me to take a trip down memory lane myself.  For my year end round up, I decided to feature a few of your favorites as well as a few of my favorites for 2010.

Fans Favorite Five Posts

1. Oven Baked Apple Donuts

2. Hello Kitty Cake

3. Best Brownies

4. Chocolate Cupcakes - Two Ways

5. Banana Pudding Pie

My Five Favorite Posts

1. Chocolate Peppermint Whoopies: Chocolate and peppermint is one of my favorite dessert pairings.  This post was only my second tribute to Whoopie Pies.  I definitely need to tackle more Whoopie Pies next year.


2. Little Mermaid Cake: This cake led the way into cake decorating for me.  I knew nothing about how to stack a cake, how to fill a cake, nor how to work with a timeline when I cranked this cake out from start to finish in less than 24 hours.  It's crazy to think about how much I have learned and am continuing to learn since then.


3. Pralines and Cream Ice Cream: Receiving an ice cream maker for my birthday along with the Perfect Scoop changed my life.  Pralines and Cream was the house favorite but I've made everything from Mint Cookies and Cream to Rocky Road to Horchata Ice Cream.


4. Strawberry Rhubarb Pie:  After discovering the best pie crust ever, I finally tackled my first fruit pie.  It was the most amazing thing ever.  I couldn't stop making fruit pies for a straight month, almost.  I can't wait for next summer!


5. Lego Cake: This was one of my favorite Cake4Kids.org cakes.  Looking forward to more cake requests through Cake4Kids for foster children and children in need.

Have a safe and Happy New Year!

Holiday Baking Repertoire

I am so ashamed.  For someone who loves to bake, you'd think I would have accumulate quite a list of go to sweets for the holidays.  I definitely need to step it up this season.  Stay tuned for some great new ideas.  In the meantime, here's a flashback of some oldies but goodies.


This red velvet cheesecake cake won me first place at a company holiday bake off.  What's not to love about it; it's two layers of red velvet cake "filled" with an entire original NY cheesecake and then frosted in vanilla bean cream cheese frosting.
These are definitely the best brownies I ever made.  For the holidays, I like to mix Andes baking chips into the batter or pour half the brownie batter into the pan, lay a handful of York peppermint patties down, and then pour in the remaining batter.

Pecan pie bars were just added last year to my repertoire.  They were quite the crowd pleaser at my family Christmas party as well as the Cake4Kids table at the SCS Annual Auction last week.
I've made these red velvet cupcakes with vanilla bean cream cheese frosting for many different holiday parties over the past few years.  I've alternated between a few different recipes but my favorite one to date is this one.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies

In honor of National Dessert Day, I wanted to bake something but I couldn't decide between cookies or brownies.  And then, I remembered reading somewhere that there are these hybrid chocolate chip cookie dough brownies that exist.

I doubled the Hershey's Best Brownies recipe and halved the Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe.  Out of habit, I used a 8x8 pan for the brownies.  It wasn't until I had to drop the spoonfuls of cookie dough on to the brownie batter that I realized this pan was too small.  So, I just ended up spreading all of the cookie dough across the top.  It took twice as long to bake but it was sooo worth it.

The Best Brownies

These incredibly moist cake-like brownies have a secret.  Besides containing Andes mint baking chips, they are made with whole wheat flour and dark chocolate.  So, they're practically "healthy" for you.  Well, that's what I told myself anyway as I inhaled 3 of them within minutes out of the oven.

The recipe is adapted from a tried and true Best Brownies recipe from Hershey's Kitchen.  I substituted all of the all-purpose flour for whole wheat flour, used Special Dark cocoa powder, and mixed in Andes baking chips.