Brownies--One Pot Stop

Anyone who ever walked with me through Kaldi knew that if I wasn't looking for Annie's Pasta, I was looking for boxed brownie mix. So when I got back to the States, I decided to make some from scratch after quickly growing frustrated with the twenty thousand similar box mixes that I couldn't tell apart to save my life.

First, I got my ingredients ready. I used a recipe that promised me that I would only need one bowl in which to mix everything, so I was quite happy. The recipe called for chocolate and some other stuff, but i decided to tweak it a little bit. First, I combined 3/4 cup (a stick and a half) of soft butter with 12 tablespoons of cocoa and 3 tablespoons of oil. Make sure the butter you use is soft and at room temperature. Also, honestly, after making these, I would probably cut back on the butter...maybe just one stick and the oil. The brownies came out a little greasy which gave it a slightly soggy texture. I used dutch process cocoa. Want to know the difference between dutch process and regular cocoa? You can find it here on What's Cooking America. It's actually quite interesting! Also, I really love putting my fingers in the cocoa because I love the texture. Thank god I'm the only one eating these! Like, I said before, I mixed all three of the ingredients together. It turned out to be a thick thick mixture. Next, I added the sugar. I added 2 cups of sugar, and stirred that in. After that was fairly well mixed, I added 3 eggs and 1 teaspoon of vanilla (no need to measure the vanilla--just add a dash).

The mixture was like tar and stuck to everything. It really stays thick and doesn't thin out like cake batter, so don't expect it to. After stirring in the sugar, eggs and vanilla, I added 1 cup of flour. I also really like sticking my hands in the flour bag, lol. Stir Stir Sir. This is a nice work out since the batter is so thick. Okay, this next part is of critical importance!

When you prepare your pan for baking, unless you want to have your brownies fuse to the pan, use parchment paper and some type of oil-flour mixture as a coating! I like to use Baker's Joy(oil-flour spray). Just using Pam (oil spray) or butter probably won't work...well, it never has for me, anyway. After pouring the mixture into the pan, I popped them into the oven at 350F degrees for about 35 minutes, give or take 5 minutes. All in all, for my first time making brownies from scratch, these came out preeeetty good. Next time, I just want to cut down on the butter to get rid of the slightly squishy texture. It's amazing how much I like brownies now, considering when I was a kid I detested them. Just goes to show I come around to all good things sooner or later :)

King Cake: Happy Birthday #25

Wow! What a break....Well, now I'm back and I have a TON of stuff to post! (While I've not been posting, I have been taking pictures.) Anyway, today is my birthday (yay!), and what is a birthday without a little cake?? Of course, I couldn't just have any cake. I had to have a King Cake, which is my faaaaavorite cake. A king cake is a cake made for the US holiday Mardi Gras. Baked inside the cake is a tiny baby Jesus, and in my family if you find the baby Jesus, you have to buy the cake next year. Since Georgia is not known for king cakes of any kind, I ordered mine from a great bakery called Julie Annes Bakery in Shreveport, Louisiana. You can order off of their site!
The top of the cake is always covered in purple, green and gold sprinkles.

Isn't is pretty?? Sooooooo delicious too....So, of course, we had to sing happy birthday first.And then FINALLY I got to eat a piece, and purple being my favorite color, I chose purple. As you can see, I bought a traditional cinnamon and sugar king cake, but Julie Annes sells them filled with all kinds of delicious fruits, like cream cheese and cherries, pineapple, or blueberries (just to name a few). And with my awesome luck, after my 2nd fork full, I felt my fork hit something hard. It was the baby Jesus! So I guess I'll be buying the cake next year, lol.