In my kitchen this past week I’ve managed to burn my Thanksgiving brussels sprouts, make a bum batch of chocolate brownies, crack my favorite coffee mug and somehow spill a half bottle of red wine under…UNDER my refrigerator.  Additionally, since my kitchen seems to be a vortex of ill fate, I’ve refused to do the dishes.  It wasn’t a pretty sight, friends.  I was just about due for an intervention.  

I was just about ready to throw a stick of dynamite into my kitchen and hope for the best.  Instead I opted for one last shot… mostly because sticks of dynamite like the ones they have in cartoons are hard to find… maybe I’m just looking in the wrong places… whatever the case,  I preheated the oven, kept my head down, and… success!  Sweet, dense, chocolate and peanut butter success.  

This dark kitchen cloud seems to have passed, and I’ve managed to get all of my dishes in the dishwasher…. things are looking up and tasting pretty darn good too. 

These peanut butter blondies are serious.  The blondie is dense and packed with brown sugar and peanut butter flavor.  The chocolate frosting is the perfect compliment, although if you simply wanted to add chocolate chips or broken up Reese’s Peanut Butter cups to the blondie batter, that would be just as delicious.  I think frosting on brownies is the ultimate indulgence…. so why not go for it.  Be warned… you’ll need milk to drink with these.  Lots of milk.

Peanut Butter Blondies with Milk Chocolate Frosting

     makes one dozen big brownies in a 9×13-inch pan

     Print this Recipe!

10 Tablespoons unsalted butter cut into 5 cubes

2 cups dark brown sugar

1 cup smooth and natural peanut butter

 2 eggs

2  teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Grease a 9×13-inch pan, line with parchment paper if you have it on hand, then grease the parchment paper.  If you don’t have parchment paper, these blondies will be just fine. 

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter and sugar together until the butter is just melted.  Remove from the burner and allow to cool for 5 minutes, then add the peanut butter.  Stir until incorporated.  Allow to cool for 5 minutes more, then whisk in the eggs and vanilla extract.  You want the sugar, butter and peanut butter mixture to be cool enough that the eggs won’t begin to cook when they’re added in.  

Whisk together salt, flour and baking powder.  Add dry ingredients all at once to the wet ingredients.  Stir until just incorporated.  Pour the thick batter into the prepared pan and smooth out.  Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center of the blondies comes out clean.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature before frosting.  

Milk Chocolate Frosting

6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

3 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 – 2 cups powdered sugar

3 Tablespoons milk

3/4 cup milk chocolate chips, melted

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the butter, cocoa powder and salt.  Add 1/2 cup powdered sugar followed by 1 tablespoon milk.  Beat well.  Add another cup of powdered sugar, followed by 2 tablespoons of milk.  Melt milk chocolate chips in the microwave or in a double boiler.  Add melted and slightly cooked milk chocolate the frosting and beat to incorporate.  Add the final 1/2 cup of powdered sugar if you need a bit more thickness.  Spread evenly over peanut butter blondies.

Everyone has their own way of enjoying toasted marshmallows.  It’s very much a personal thing… this I understand.

I like my roasted, toasted marshmallows extra crispy… extra well done.  I want that sucker on  the end of the misshapen close hanger, stuck right into the depths of the fire.  I want it to come out flaming.  That’s right, I’m a marshmallow torch girl.

Apparantely, the marshmallow torch is not how you make friends at all-girl sleep away camp.  I would always get groans of disapproval from the girls that were trying to keep their precious marshmallows just far enough away from the orange coals to perfectly toast them.  Maybe they were less than thrilled with my marshmallow torch because I usually managed to set at least one of their darling marshmallows on fire just out of sheer proximity.  I considered it a favor.  Them..?  Not so much.

But these brownies aren’t really about my summer camp misadventures, are they?  These S’mores Brownies are more about fudgy, dense chocolate that bakes up with graham cracker bits and toasted marshmallows.  Toasted, not torched.

There are few things quite as spectacular as a pan of warm brownies just about 15 minutes out of the oven.  With their  slightly crackled top and perfectly chewy  chocolate center, brownies are a simple pleasure.  These S’mores Brownies are  simply an improvement on something that didn’t really need much fussing with.  The result is a marshmallow topped brownie that’s so good, you might find ways to rationalize a big hunk for breakfast.  Chocolate can be breakfast too.  Life is entirely too short not to make a S’mores Brownie breakfast from time to time.

S’mores Brownies

adapted from Bon Appetit, October 1991

Print this recipe!

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
• 5 large eggs
• 1 1/4 cups dark brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 cup graham cracker, roughly crushed with your hands
• 12 big marshmallows  (I also diced 6 additional marshmallows and stirred them into the batter. These marshmallows dissolve when baked, so you can leave them out, or throw them in.  Up to you!)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 9×13-inch baking pan with 2-inch-high sides. Combine first 3 ingredients in small bowl. Stir butter and chocolate in a medium sized bowl over a  heavy  saucepan of simmering water.  Stir chocolate and butter in this double boiler until melted and smooth.

Beat eggs, sugar and vanilla in large bowl to blend. Stir in warm chocolate mixture, then dry ingredients. Fold in graham crackers.  Pour batter into prepared pan. Dot with 12 large marshmallows.  Bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 30- 40 minutes minutes.

Marshmallows will be browned and puffy but will deflate as the brownies cool.  Cool for at least 20 minutes than slice with a sharp knife, cleaning the knife with hot water if it gets too messy and sticky.  Serve or wrap individually in wax paper for storing.

Settle in friends. You might be here a while. Come and experience the better part of 48 hours behind the camera with Joy the Baker in San Francisco.

From the Oakland Bart Station to the streets of San Francisco and back again. It’s a whirl wind trip. Hold my hand and play along.

Have you met my sister? This is Lauren. She is my San Francisco connection, and incidentally, one of my reasons for living. She’s carrying my bag, leading the way to breakfast at Citizen Cake.

Puppies and people living the good life outside of Citizen Cake on a flawless San Francisco day.

Sitting at the bar, doing it up omelet style.

I came up to San Francisco for a few reasons. My sister was having a Halloween party and insisted that I make an appearance, I love love love San Francisco, and I wanted to met up with my Foodproof friends.

Of course no party that I attend would be complete without some sort of baked yummy. For this reason, Lauren and I made Candy Bar Blondies. These beauties are the best way to consolidate and enjoy all your favorite Halloween candy. It’s just the most practical Halloween option, right!?

Candy Bar Blondies

adapted from Gourmet

Print this recipe!

2 sticks (1/2 lb) unsalted butter
2 cups packed light brown sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups of your favorite candy bars, roughly chopped (We used Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Heath Bar, and Peanut Butter M&M’s)

Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Butter and flour a 13- by 9-inch baking pan.

Melt butter in a 3-qt heavy saucepan over low heat, stirring, until smooth. Remove from heat and cool to lukewarm. Whisk in brown sugar and vanilla. Whisk in eggs 1 at a time until mixture is glossy and smooth.

Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt, then whisk into butter mixture. Stir in candy pieces reserving 1/2 cup to sprinkle on top.

Spread in pan and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup candy. Bake until a pick inserted in center comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Cool completely.

What’s this? A box of Jello? This particular box of Jello had a Jello Shot recipe printed on the back. How convenient! Trust me when I tell you that I’m simply too old for Jello Shots. Just take my word for it.

These are the neighbors we’re going to keep awake until all hours of the night with my sister’s party. As stated earlier, I’m too old for Jello Shots.

I am, however, not too old for good, clean pumpkin carving.

This fiendish smile is a sure sign of an impending party. Caution. Party. Big, crazy party.

And this is where the party began and the nights pictures ended. I’ll spare you the madness. Combine these images in your head and you’ll have an idea of how the party went: Pabst Blue Ribbon, movie projector, cute Michael Phelps, drunk Jenga, cowboy and cowgirl friends, pass the guerrilla suit, turn down the Michael Jackson or you’re going to be evicted. Where are my glasses? Seriously, where are my glasses?

Got it?

So yea. It was a good night.

The next day’s adventures took me across the bay to Oakland. Time to get my Foodproof on. I’ve mentioned Foodproof before, but allow me to do it again with more ferocity.

Meet Mitch. Mitch is one of the minds behind Foodproof, a really fun, super intuitive, easy to enjoy, new food site. Here’s Mitch videotaping (yes, that’s a tiny camera) Simon outside of an Oakland cafe.

Say hello to Simon. He’s on the other end of Mitch’s camera. Together, Mitch and Simon are Taste Buds- hilarious friends who eat and talk about it on camera. They’re relaxed, they’re fun, they’re unintentionally hilarious. Check out One Day’s Eating with Simon. There’s a kitty and a cookie… and I’ll leave you with that.

If you don’t yet support Foodproof, what are you waiting for!?

This concludes this installment of 48 hours behind the camera with Joy the Baker. I’m living the good life. Thanks for being a part of it. Really, thanks.

]]> http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2008/10/48-hours-with-joy-the-baker/feed/ 19 http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2008/04/old-school-fudge-brownies-with-walnuts/ http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2008/04/old-school-fudge-brownies-with-walnuts/#comments Mon, 21 Apr 2008 07:44:06 +0000 joythebaker http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/archives/72

There are countless reason why I love making brownies.  All they require is a bowl and wooden spoon.  They’re moist and satisfy that deep chocolate craving.  But more sentimentally, brownies are one of the first things I remember making with my sister growing up.  We’d take out one bowl, one pan, follow the directions on the back of the unsweetened chocolate box, and about 45 minutes later- warm brownies!  We’d burn our fingers trying to get the hot brownies out of the pan.  But it was worth it to sit down with a plate of warm brownies and cold milk to watch episode after episode of I Love Lucy.  Those were the days.  These old school Fudge Brownies with walnuts and chocolate chunks were made in an effort to reach back to those days eating brownies on the living room floor with my sister.  The amazing thing is that one bite into the warm chocolate  took me right back to being 10 years old, baking with my sister.  It’s pretty remarkable what a brownie can do!

I took the recipe for these brownies right off the chocolate box, just the way my sister and I used to rock it.  The result was a dark, fudgey and nutty chocolate brownie.  Just perfect!  And you must eat at least one piece hot out of the pan with a glass of milk.  It makes life worth living.  You think I’m exaggerating… well I’m not.

Old School Fudge Brownies with walnuts and chocolate chunks

adapted from Toll House

Print this recipe!

1 2/3 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup cocoa powder

3/4 cup butter

2 Tablespoons strong coffee or water

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

1/4 cup chocolate chips or coarsely chopped chocolate bar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour a 9×13-inch baking pan.  (I used a 10-inch round cake pan.)

Combine butter and cocoa powder in a small bowl, and place over a pot of simmering water.  Make sure that the simmering water down not touch the bottom of the bowl.  Add the coffee or water and stir to melt the ingredients.

In a medium sized bowl whisk together the eggs and the sugar.  Add the vanilla extract.  When the butter and chocolate have melted and come together, slowly stir the chocolate mixture into the sugar mixture.

Add the flour, baking powder and salt.  Stir to combine.  Fold in the nuts, saving a small handful for the top of the brownies if you like.

Pour the batter in the pan, sprinkle with chocolate chips or chocolate chunks and remaining nuts.  Bake for 18-25 minutes.

Remove from the oven and cut into bars.