J.T.’s Brownies

     I have been on a brief hiatus from my blog, but I am trying to get back into the swing of things.  It dawned on me earlier today that I don’t have to take a picture of every single step of a recipe.  Editing pictures, styling food, and trying to make your blog look halfway decent for readers (or reader...thanks Mama!) is time consuming.  A picture of the finished product should suffice as a blog post, so that is my new strategy.  

     My latest obsession is the farmers market.  For months I have been talking about doing a new experiment, where we only eat the vegetables that come from the market.  This forces us to eat local, try new things, and live by the seasons.  For example, right now greens are in season - collards, mustard greens, bok choy, swiss chard, and on and on.  J.T. and I are eating vegetables we have never tasted.  I am sick of washing greens, but the summer crops will be in soon.  Vegetables really do have more flavor when they are eaten in season.  We still do our weekly trip to Publix for milk, oats, cereal, bananas, and a few other pantry staples, but meat, pork, eggs, and vegetables are all purchased at the market.  Now, a little bit about these brownies.

     It is no secret that my husband loves desserts - especially anything topped with ice cream.  These brownies have been a regular staple in our freezer over the last year.  I originally stumbled across this recipe while looking for a dessert that required very few ingredients and was inexpensive to make.  Over the years, I have adapted it to better fit our real food diet. I am in no way proclaiming that these brownies are healthy - they do have over a cup of sugar in them.  I was able to swap all-purpose flour for white whole wheat flour, which does qualify for making them a bit more nutritional.  Butter or coconut oil can be used interchangeably in this recipe, so if you do not have coconut oil, use butter.  Once again, I love that these brownies can be frozen.  Simply individually wrap them in saran wrap and place in a freezer safe Ziploc bag.  I like a fully stocked freezer, see...

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup cocoa powder plus 1 ½ tablespoons
• ½ cup coconut oil plus 3 ½ tablespoons
• 1 ⅓ cups pure cane sugar
• 2 large eggs
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ⅔ cup whole white wheat flour

Directions

1. Grease a 9 x 9 inch square baking pan with coconut oil and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  
2. In a medium sized bowl, stir together the cocoa powder and coconut oil.  Stir in the sugar, eggs, kosher salt, and vanilla.  Very slowly stir in the flour until all the ingredients are incorporated together.  The batter will be fairly thick.  Spread the batter into the prepared baking pan.  Bake for 22 to 25 minutes.  I always err on the side of under baked brownies.  Let the brownies cool slightly in the pan before cutting into squares and removing to a wire rack to cool completely.  Yields 9 large brownies or 16 small (for J.T. it makes 9).  These brownies can be individually wrapped and frozen.  Reheat in the microwave for 30 seconds.  

Red Velvet Brownies

recipe courtesy of Southern Living, December 2010

Ingredients

• 1  (4-oz.) bittersweet chocolate baking bar, chopped
• 3/4  cup  butter
• 2  cups  sugar
• 4  large eggs
• 1 1/2  cups  all-purpose flour
• 1  (1-oz.) bottle red liquid food coloring
• 1 1/2  teaspoons  baking powder
• 1  teaspoon  vanilla extract
• 1/8  teaspoon  salt
• Small-Batch Cream Cheese Frosting
• 1  (8-oz.) package cream cheese, softened
• 3  tablespoons  butter, softened
• 1 1/2  cups  powdered sugar
• 1/8  teaspoon  salt
• 1  teaspoon  vanilla extract 
• Preparation 
• Beat cream cheese and butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add powdered sugar and salt, beating until blended. Stir in vanilla.

• Garnish: white chocolate curls

Line pan with foil by trimming two long foil pieces to a 9-inch width. Fit strips, crossing each other, in the pan.
Total: 3 hours, 10 minutes
Yield: Makes 16 servings

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Line bottom and sides of a 9-inch square pan with aluminum foil, allowing 2 to 3 inches to extend over sides; lightly grease foil.
2. Microwave chocolate and butter in a large microwave-safe bowl at HIGH 1 1/2 to 2 minutes or until melted and smooth, stirring at 30-second intervals. Whisk in sugar. Add eggs, 1 at a time, whisking just until blended after each addition. Gently stir in flour and next 4 ingredients. Pour mixture into prepared pan.
3. Bake at 350° for 44 to 48 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Cool completely on a wire rack (about 2 hours).
4. Lift brownies from pan, using foil sides as handles; gently remove foil. Spread Small-Batch Cream Cheese Frosting on top of brownies, and cut into 16 squares. Garnish, if desired.