If you're going through hell, keep going.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
My Favorite Brownie Recipe!
In the spirit of a blessed Sunday, I hereby bequeath to you all my favorite brownie recipe. Yes, there are a lot of them out there and, perhaps, even better ones but this is my standby recipe and it shows up on every Christmas cookie plate without fail. Okay, there have been times when helpful family have overdone the quality control and I had to bake another batch . . .
My Best Brownie Recipe!
12 ounces unsweetened chocolate
2 cups (four sticks) butter (Margarine just won't work)
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups granulated sugar
8 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped nuts (your choice but I prefer pecans)
2 tablespoons Kalua (coffee liquor)
or a tablespoon of instant coffee mixed in a bit of water.
1 tablespoon freshly grated orange zest
1/4 cup finely ground nuts (optional but it makes the brownie more moist and flavorful)
Vegetable spray a large baking pan, about 13x9-inches. I like using two 9-inch square pans. Use what you have on hand.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Melt the butter and chocolate together and let cool while you get on with the rest of the ingredients.
In a large mixing bowl, put in the sugar. By hand, thoroughly mix in the butter/chocolate mixture. Hand mixing keeps the brownie dense and chewy. Add the vanilla, eggs, Kalua, orange zest, and 1/4 cup of finely ground nuts and mix well, still by hand, not a mixer.
Mix in the flour. After there is no trace of the flour visable, add the nuts and spread into your chosen baking pans.
Depending on the size pan you chose, bake for about 20-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with only moist crumbs not uncooked batter!
Cool thoroughly before cutting in desired size bars or pieces.
This makes a big batch but they freeze well. Bake them on a cool day and then enjoy them when it's too hot to turn on the oven.
Ideas . . .
For a really decadent brownie, you can add in 1/2 to one cup of chocolate chips, white chips, peanut butter chips, etc.
Substitute peppermint extract for the vanilla and coffee and leave out the nuts.
Bake the regular recipe and leave out the nuts entirely.
Frost with a thick, chocolate buttercream frosting when the brownies are cold, refrigerate until the frosting is hardened a bit, and then cut.
Use for a dessert with vanilla ice cream and fresh strawberries.
My Best Brownie Recipe!
12 ounces unsweetened chocolate
2 cups (four sticks) butter (Margarine just won't work)
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups granulated sugar
8 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped nuts (your choice but I prefer pecans)
2 tablespoons Kalua (coffee liquor)
or a tablespoon of instant coffee mixed in a bit of water.
1 tablespoon freshly grated orange zest
1/4 cup finely ground nuts (optional but it makes the brownie more moist and flavorful)
Vegetable spray a large baking pan, about 13x9-inches. I like using two 9-inch square pans. Use what you have on hand.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Melt the butter and chocolate together and let cool while you get on with the rest of the ingredients.
In a large mixing bowl, put in the sugar. By hand, thoroughly mix in the butter/chocolate mixture. Hand mixing keeps the brownie dense and chewy. Add the vanilla, eggs, Kalua, orange zest, and 1/4 cup of finely ground nuts and mix well, still by hand, not a mixer.
Mix in the flour. After there is no trace of the flour visable, add the nuts and spread into your chosen baking pans.
Depending on the size pan you chose, bake for about 20-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with only moist crumbs not uncooked batter!
Cool thoroughly before cutting in desired size bars or pieces.
This makes a big batch but they freeze well. Bake them on a cool day and then enjoy them when it's too hot to turn on the oven.
Ideas . . .
For a really decadent brownie, you can add in 1/2 to one cup of chocolate chips, white chips, peanut butter chips, etc.
Substitute peppermint extract for the vanilla and coffee and leave out the nuts.
Bake the regular recipe and leave out the nuts entirely.
Frost with a thick, chocolate buttercream frosting when the brownies are cold, refrigerate until the frosting is hardened a bit, and then cut.
Use for a dessert with vanilla ice cream and fresh strawberries.
Good Morning! Another Sunday has arrived . . .
Why do Sundays seem to arrive more quickly than much-needed paydays? I'm thinking that we probably need the peace of Sunday even more than financial gain. Perhaps, the arrival of Sunday should remind us that there is more to this life we lead than figuring out out to spend the salary money before it even hits the checking account.
A much cooler night preceded this particular Sunday morning, however. A good night's sleep in nicely temperate temperatures always works out better in providing a cheerful morning. I like Sundays. We do have a basic schedule for the rest of the week but Sunday's schedule is more firmly in place. No one sleeps late and by 7:30, we are all scrubbed, dressed, and in our place at church. It's a routine but not a routine as we figure God is waiting for us to continue to make this effort . . . and we do our best to meet His expectations.
I do get a bit sad at how other people approach the one day God asked us to give Him. You have to wonder how the same people would dress if they were meeting a celebrity or going to an important event. My husband remarks that we have the 7:30 Mass, the 7:45 Mass, and the 8:00 Mass because people arrive late so often. I have to laugh. One woman almost always arrived after the readings yet she has to sit in the front pew. She also has to sit in the middle of the front pew. This means that everyone who arrived on time have to step out of the pew, during the sermon, to let her get to this important seat. Not a clue which is sad. If I'm remembering correctly, if you arrive at Sunday Mass after the readings, technically, you have not attended Mass.
Anyway, God Willing, we will arrive on time. Since we live two minutes from church, it would be pretty sad if we got there late!
No quilting today. I promised one daughter a trip to the fabric/craft store later today as there is a huge sale and as a college student, she gets 15% off her entire purchase with proof of ID. Needless to say, my fabric choices will be paid under her coupon. Hey, I'm young at heart!
Haven't figured out dinner but have some fresh produce from my husband's garden. I think I will be trying the green fried tomatoes recipe, too. My husband got the luck of the draw at work and has to work today so I want him to come home to a special dinner.
I hope everyone is enjoying their Sunday and not worrying too much about the next payday deposit!
A much cooler night preceded this particular Sunday morning, however. A good night's sleep in nicely temperate temperatures always works out better in providing a cheerful morning. I like Sundays. We do have a basic schedule for the rest of the week but Sunday's schedule is more firmly in place. No one sleeps late and by 7:30, we are all scrubbed, dressed, and in our place at church. It's a routine but not a routine as we figure God is waiting for us to continue to make this effort . . . and we do our best to meet His expectations.
I do get a bit sad at how other people approach the one day God asked us to give Him. You have to wonder how the same people would dress if they were meeting a celebrity or going to an important event. My husband remarks that we have the 7:30 Mass, the 7:45 Mass, and the 8:00 Mass because people arrive late so often. I have to laugh. One woman almost always arrived after the readings yet she has to sit in the front pew. She also has to sit in the middle of the front pew. This means that everyone who arrived on time have to step out of the pew, during the sermon, to let her get to this important seat. Not a clue which is sad. If I'm remembering correctly, if you arrive at Sunday Mass after the readings, technically, you have not attended Mass.
Anyway, God Willing, we will arrive on time. Since we live two minutes from church, it would be pretty sad if we got there late!
No quilting today. I promised one daughter a trip to the fabric/craft store later today as there is a huge sale and as a college student, she gets 15% off her entire purchase with proof of ID. Needless to say, my fabric choices will be paid under her coupon. Hey, I'm young at heart!
Haven't figured out dinner but have some fresh produce from my husband's garden. I think I will be trying the green fried tomatoes recipe, too. My husband got the luck of the draw at work and has to work today so I want him to come home to a special dinner.
I hope everyone is enjoying their Sunday and not worrying too much about the next payday deposit!
The Green Thing . . .
A friend forwarded the following to me, this morning. It proves what I have always thought . . . you can save more with less. Unclear on the author although it is attributed to a Thomas Dooley.
The Green Thing
At Raley’s the other day, the young cashier suggested that I bring my own grocery bag because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.
I apologized to her and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."
The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. The former generation did not care enough to save our environment."
She was right, our generation didn't have the green thing in our day . . .
Back then, we returned our milk bottles, soda bottles, and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled . . . but we didn't have the green thing back in our day.
In our day, we walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right . . . we didn't have the green thing in our day.
Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But, yeh. . . we didn't have the green thing back in our day.
Back then, we had one radio (or some a TV) in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief, not a screen the size of the state of Montana.
In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything.
When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.
Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But, yeh . . . we didn't have the green thing back then.
We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water.
We refilled our writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull . . . But we didn't have the green thing back then.
Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. Mama was often seen walking the 2-mile round trip "downtown."
I apologized to her and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."
The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. The former generation did not care enough to save our environment."
She was right, our generation didn't have the green thing in our day . . .
Back then, we returned our milk bottles, soda bottles, and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled . . . but we didn't have the green thing back in our day.
In our day, we walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right . . . we didn't have the green thing in our day.
Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But, yeh. . . we didn't have the green thing back in our day.
Back then, we had one radio (or some a TV) in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief, not a screen the size of the state of Montana.
In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything.
When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.
Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But, yeh . . . we didn't have the green thing back then.
We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water.
We refilled our writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull . . . But we didn't have the green thing back then.
Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. Mama was often seen walking the 2-mile round trip "downtown."
We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.
But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful the old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?
But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful the old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?
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