Fudgy Brownies with Peanut Butter Frosting

Hope you're all celebrating your labors today. I brought peanut butter brownies to the party. Yes, it was very thoughtful of me.

The first time I made these (or tried to) was for an actual party. But I didn't give myself enough time and I put my husband in charge of taking the brownies out of the oven. Well, they looked done and he took them out and then I shoved them in the fridge to try to cool them off and made the frosting and then frosted them two minutes before we had to leave. When we got to the party, the frosting had melted/separated, which made them look creepy and gross, and the brownies (save for the edges) were gloppy and rawish. Nevertheless, they got eaten up--every one, and before many other foods. Perhaps you're thinking that this story simply illustrates that my friends don't have very discerning tastes. But I took it as a sign. If the brownies could be that desirable totally messed up, think how rocking they would be cooked and with non-separated frosting (such high standards, I know).

And it was true. These brownies are completely rocking. I fully appreciate a good, regular brownie, but these transform a regular brownie into something special. You could bring it to a picnic OR serve it at a dinner party. Despite my first mess up, they're not hard either, although you truly must give the brownies time to cool before frosting them, so plan for that.

Fudgy Brownies with Peanut Butter Frosting
makes 1 9x13 inch pan
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cool time: 2 hours
Cook time: 20-25 minutes
Cost:$3.55 for the brownie part, $5.33 for all. That's more expensive than many of the treats I make, but note that if it makes 26 brownies, that's only $.20/serving
(butter: .80, chocolate chips: 1.70, sugar: .50, eggs: .30, flour: .07, cocoa: .18)
Frosting: $1.50 
(cream cheese: .60, butter: .25, sugar: .35, peanut butter: .30)
Chocolate Drizzle: $.28
(chocolate: .25, butter: .03)

I used the same fudgy brownie recipe I use for my mint brownies. It's a brownie that always does well with frosting.

1 1/2 (3/4 C) sticks salted butter
10 1/2 oz chocolate chips (just less than 1 bag)
1 1/2 C brown sugar (I think white would also work just as well)
3 eggs
1 generous tsp vanilla
3/4 C flour
6 Tbsp cocoa

Preheat oven to 375. Lightly grease a 9x13 inch pan. 

Melt butter, chocolate, and sugar in microwave, stirring every 20-30 seconds. (Alternately, you can do this in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally until smooth.) 

Allow it to cool just a minute or two and add vanilla. Whisk in eggs (whisk them in so you don't risk getting blobs of egg in your batter--it's not hard; you just don't want it to sit in warm chocolate for any length of time). 

Combine flour and cocoa. Add to wet mixture. 

Spread batter in your pan. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out pretty much clean (which means that if it has a few moist crumbs stuck to it, all the better, but you don't want it coming out with batter clinging to it). Mine cooked up in pretty much exactly 20 minutes. 

Let cool completely. That's going to take a good couple hours. You might be able to speed it up by putting it in the fridge or freezer, but evenso it's going to take some time.  

Frosting:

5 oz cream cheese, at room temp
1/2 stick (1/4 C) butter, at room temp
2 1/2 C confectioners' sugar
1/3 C smooth peanut butter (NOT all-natural because that may cause the oil to separate out)

Beat cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Add confectioner's sugar a cup at a time, mixing thoroughly. Add peanut butter and beat thoroughly. Do not, I repeat do not, get a spoon and start eating it right them and there. Remember your cake. And your butt. They will both thank you not to consume all of this straight up out of the bowl.

Chocolate Drizzle: 

For the chocolate drizzle, you're going to make an unsweetened drizzle. Have a little faith. It plays with the super sweet brownie in a very coy manner. If you don't have faith or believe that a brownie should be coy, you may substitute a dark chocolate instead of unsweetened chocolate. 

1 oz unsweetened chocolate
1/2 Tbsp butter

Melt together in microwave, stirring every 15-20 seconds. 

Pour over mint frosting in stripes as prettily as you can (which is surely prettier than I can). 

Grape Pretzel Trees

This year, after about 13 years of being an at-home mom, my youngest child began school and my oldest child began junior high. It's been an adjustment for all parties involved. Last week, in an effort to aspire to the noble parenting aspiration of healthy after-school snacks, I determined that I, too, would make healthful after-school snacks. School, after all, left my kids starving and surely immuno-weakened due to their fresh exposure to approximately 10 trillion new germs every nanosecond; besides now I had all this time, so I would don my cap of awesome and make some granola bars and orange smoothies and other beautiful and amazing after school snacks. Unfortunately, my cap of awesome got lost somewhere in my junk drawer and I was forced to don my cap of low-end mediocrity (I'm thinking C- ish). So attired, I made not one, not two, not five, but ZERO after school snacks for my kids of healthful or other varieties (it must be noted that once, on grocery shopping day, I did in fact buy a healthy-sounding, Vitamin C boost juice for my children and fed it to them). That's right, Pinterest. Even with you hovering over our shoulders, we can still strive for low-end mediocrity. And we can still succeed.

So maybe next week you'll get that peach, carrot, and orange smoothie, or some tiny granola bars wrapped up in parchment paper and tied with twine (okay, you will really never get any bars wrapped in parchment paper and tied with twine; sorry). But this week you're going to have to settle for something I did for our Mom co-op preschool last year that was kind of cute and a big success. Behold, the grape pretzel tree. The good news is that it's fully attainable even for parents of low-end mediocrity, (or even other parents of higher ability levels should they become so busy making burlap wreaths and upcycling their Tic-Tac containers that they are in rare instances unable to wrap any food items in parchment paper and tie them in twine).

This grape pretzel tree takes about 3 minutes to do, and even if  you cannot sketch out a stick tree on paper, this will still likely end up looking tree-ish. Good luck.

Needed:
Pretzel sticks (stale, broken ones are acceptable)
Grapes (preferably green, but you know, some trees like Japanese maples do have purple leaves)

1. Place your pretzel sticks in a tree like manner. It doesn't have to be perfect. You can copy my perfect design from the picture above if you must.

2. Cut your grapes in halves and position them around the pretzel sticks.

3. See if your children notice you have made a grape tree before they eat it (seriously--I'm curious).

Lemon Layer Cake with Lemon Butter Frosting

Because why wouldn't I post two lemon cakes this summer?

And you should absolutely make them both. The first was a simple little sheet cake--a butter lemon cake with an interesting and wonderful frosting. This one is a perfectly moist, perfectly textured layer cake (that, P.S., could also be made as a sheet cake if you wanted to), which uses two oils as its fat, and has a smooth lemon butter frosting. I took it to a baby shower and the next day when I went to take a picture, I just had this teeny tiny little piece left. After the pictures, it was not long for this world.

I let my daughter frost this for me, and she did a fabulous job. However, if I knew I was taking this to a group of coconut lovers, I would have sprinkled toasted coconut on the frosting, and I think it would have made for a fabulous compliment to the lemon cake. Another nice addition might be a raspberry drizzle or raspberry filling.

I must tell you that this calls for pure lemon extract, which is not cheap. The cheapskate in me so so badly wanted to skip it, but since this was for a friend, I didn't, and I'm really glad I didn't because I don't think it would have been the same without it. Even adding lemon juice wouldn't have made for a punchy enough lemon flavor, or so I think. Sorry, friends. If I ever find a good substitute, I'll let you know.

Lemon Layer Cake with Lemon Butter Frosting
adapted from Rock Recipes
serves: 20 ladies and probably fewer men
Prep time: 15-20 minutes
Cook time: 30-35 minutes (then you'll have to cool it before frosting it)
Cost: $4.90 (which is only about $.25/serving depending on whether you're serving ladies, gentlemen, or teenagers)
flour: .30, sugar: .30, oil: .20, coconut oil: .50, extracts: .70, eggs: .30, buttermilk: .40, lemon: .20 powdered sugar: .90 butter: 1.00, other stuff: .10

2 3/4 C all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 C sugar
2/3 C vegetable oil (I used canola)
1/3 C coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp pure lemon extract
3 large eggs
1 1/2 C buttermilk
zest of one largish lemon, finely chopped

For the frosting:

4 C powdered sugar
1 C butter
1 tsp pure lemon extract
1 tsp minced lemon zest (optional--this absolutely makes the frosting more lemony; however, it does add tiny bumps in the frosting. That doesn't bother me at all, but if you know it will bother you, don't add it.
2-4 Tbsp milk

Grease and flour 2 nine-inch round cake pans. Line the bottom with circles of parchment paper or wax paper.

Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar.

Beat together oil, coconut oil, vanilla, and lemon extract.

Beat in the eggs one at a time.

Mix in lemon zest.

Alternate adding dry ingredients with the buttermilk (so dry ingredients, some buttermilk, dry ingredients, some buttermilk, dry ingredients). Don't overmix this. Beat or mix it just until the ingredients are combined and not lumpy.

Bake at 325 for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick (or blade of any variety) comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs attached.

Allow to cool in pans for 10 minutes, then turn them out on a rack to cool completely.

For the frosting:

Melt the butter, or mostly melt the butter. Beat in sugar, zest, and lemon extract. Now beat in the milk, starting with a couple tablespoons and then adding more if the frosting is too stiff.

When your cake is cool, frost it.