Red Velvet Snickers Brownies in Someone Else’s Kitchen

 

 

So… I hate cooking/ baking in other peoples kitchens. Is that weird? Maybe it is. I don’t know. But I seriously hate not knowing where anything is… and it’s even worse when I’m in another town/ state. Then I have to go shopping and I don’t know where anything is in the freaking store! Aaaarg!

 

These brownies where a delish exercise in what else could possible go (kind of) wrong.

 

But I should start from the beginning. We’re visiting Hubs’ family in VA for Christmas and I offered to bake dessert. I don’t know how to say this w/o sounding like a jerk… but his dad doesn’t exactly have a great kitchen set up. It’s kind of wack… It was so bad I had to go buy most of the ingredients (see first paragraph). and then I forgot the danged FLOUR! Lucky for me, Hubs’ Bro lives right next door and his wife was gracious enough to hand over a bag of flour.

Dad doesn’t own a stand mixer. He has a hand mixer. From the 80’s. I now realize how much I love my Kitchen Aid, and I will never take her for granted again. EVER.

But balancing all that out I had helper this time, my SIL gave me a hand in the kitchen, measuring and finding all the things I needed. It was nice to have family in the kitchen helping out.

 

This recipe was adapted from Tuesday Night Boyfriend. Her blog is adorable and delish!

 

Finally… we get these delish looking brownies into the oven. I set the time for 25minutes and walk away. After 25 they’re not done. NBD, they’re supposed to take 35. Put the timer on for 10 more… still not done. 10 more… not yet. 10 more… f*ck it! I took them out anyways and went over to Bro’s house for some booze. Bro’s wife listened to me whine for a few minutes, and then offered to let me try finishing them in her oven. So sweet. We preheated and popped that (still delish looking, but undone pan) in her oven for 15 minutes. BAM! BAKED!

 

You might be thinking “WTF? Was the oven broken? Did you get the bake time wrong?”

 

What you should be asking is… “Did you accidentally turn the oven off after you checked them the first time?”

The answer to that would be… Yes. I’m pretty sure I accidentally turned the oven off and didn’t realize it. (hashtag)BakingFail. I hate baking in other peoples kitchen and I guess I was probably a little flustered. I really wanted everyone to love these.

 

And they did come out great. The only problem is that they’re not SUPER chocolately. Other than that I would change 2 things. The first is I wouldn’t cut up the fun sized Snickers. The second is, I’d chop up a king-sized Snicker’s bar and sprinkle it on top of the brownies when they first come out of the oven (maybe with some chocolate chips)!

 

Happy Baking! Hope you & yours had a  Merry Christmas!

-Hey Waitress!!

 Check out the recipe for these Red Velvet Snickers Brownies!

A Baking Mishap AKA Halloween Brownie Truffles

caved in brownies

all mashed up

in balls

in melted chocolate…

close up!

with a worm

and some gummies…

close up!

lookit the bottom!

Heeeey! So I just realized that I haven’t posted recipes for the past 2 weeks. I’m so excited because the holiday season is here (kind of), and I have weeks and weeks of excuses to bake excessively! YAY!

Last week I attempted to decorate some cute Mummy, Bat, and Ghost cupcakes. Sadly… I didn’t take any “How To” pictures so I didn’t post them. But I’m making more next week so I’ll take some pictures and post them (hopefully)

 

This Sunday I wanted to make cute tombstone brownies… they were going to be little fondant tombstones, and grass, with Oreo crumbs for dirt”.

It didn’t happen. Last minute I decided to add some cut up candy bars to my favorite brownie batter. Unfortunately, those chunks all melted, and my brownies caved in. Bastards.

So… fastforward to Monday morning. I have a pile of brownies and a pantry full of baking supplies. Lucky for me, in that pantry I happen to have a can of frosting, Halloween Oreos, and a plethora of funsized candy bars. An idea was born! Truffles!

I crumbled up the brownies then added about ¾ of the frosting, chunks of 16 candy bars, and crushed Oreos. Then I shaped them into balls. Then I chilled them for an hour and dipped half in (melted) white candy melts, and half in (melted) milk chocolate. I added some Halloween candies that I bought on sale at Michaels, and wrapped some gummy worms around a few.

 

I win!

 

They came out awesome! It wasn’t what I really wanted, but they’re def yummy! It’s totally possible these might happen again.

 

Happy Baking!

-Hey Waitress!!

 

Overly Complicated Chambord Black & White Bars

blondie layer.

brownie layer.

whipped white choc ganache

broken brownies!

repaired.

close up of my “repairs”.

chocolate ganache.

yuuuuummy.

close up!

Do you ever have an idea for something but by the time you actually make it, it’s so complicated (and it shouldn’t be) that you know you need to redo it?! That happened to me yesterday when I made some Chambord Black & White Bars. They ended up being overly complicated, and (while still tasty) not worth the effort.

 

I baked each layer of the bar separate, then made a whipped white chocolate ganache for the middle (to hold the layers together). Sadly… when I tried to “flip” the brownie layer on top of the blondie layer it fell apart! I guess that’s what happens when you bake a fudgey brownie in a 11X15 jelly roll pan instead of a 9X13 pan like you’re supposed to! Then, after I put the brownie layer back together (sorta), I had to cover up the ugliness so I made a chocolate ganache to go on top. The chocolate ganache on top was too much. I used semi-sweet chocolate, and it overpowered the raspberry flavor from the Chambord.

Oh, and I should mention that I only have one jelly roll pan so I had to wait for both layers to cool completely before I could take them out of the pan.  I also had to chill the white chocolate ganache before I could whip it. Talk about time consuming…

 

Next time I’m going to make the brownie & blondie batter at the same time, and (possibly) swirl them together before baking. I’ll also leave out one of the ganache flavors (or maybe marble them together). If I end up using the chocolate ganache I’ll most likely switch to milk chocolate.

 

So, I guess it’s back to the drawing (or cutting) board!

 

Happy Baking!!

-Hey Waitress!!

Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Brownies

before the oven.

out of the oven.

a few got stuck to the tin. squish the pieces together. it’s ok. 😉

some flattened PB dough…

scoop the PB, then flatten w/ the knife.

all finished!

close up!

I wish I had thought this recipe up myself. I really do. The original recipe came from the Food Network site. Now, if I could only find a way to add booze to it, this recipe would be perfect.

I was a little worried when I first decided to try these out, but it’s not NEARLY as complicated as the recipe looks.

 

However, I did have a few issues getting the brownie layer out of the muffin tins. As usual. Every time I make brownies in the muffin tins they ALWAYS get stuck. I’m not sure if it’s the pan, the non-stick spray grease, or even the recipes I use.

 

I cooled the brownie layer for almost 40minutes, and then took them out of the muffin tins (and put them into paper cupcake liners) before I added the peanut butter cookie dough layer. The PB layer is kind of sticky, so I used my trusty 1.5” scoop and plopped some of the PB “dough” on top of the brownie. Then in a fit of genius (if I may so so), I used a butter knife lightly coated in flour to flatten it! I’m pretty proud of myself for thinking of that. 😉

 

After I got the peanut butter cookie dough layer on, I made the ganache. This was the first time I’ve made ganache without booze in it! After stirring for a while I noticed the chocolate chunks didn’t melt al the way, so I ‘nuked it for another 10 seconds. Still not melted all the way! So I just left it with a few very small chocolate chunks. I’ll say it’s because I wanted the extra texture, not because I was too lazy to keep ‘nuking. After spooning the slightly cooled ganache over the cupcakes, I sprinkled the chopped peanuts on top, and (TAAAAH-DAAAAH!) all done!

 

I could barely wait the hour these needed to set in the fridge before I dived in and ate one!

 

The original recipe from Food Network was for half of what I made, and the author put it in an 8×8 pan. I like to make mine in the muffin tins, because they’re easier to share and package for the people I force feed sweets to on a weekly basis…

 

Eat up! Happy Sunday Bakery!

-Hey Waitress!!

 

Click HERE for my recipe.

 

PS. I’m totally aware that I have a peanut butter obsession. I’m OK with it.