S'mores Brownies

Warning: Have a glass of milk nearby. These brownies are incredibly rich.

What you will need:

10 -20     graham crackers
1/4 - 3/4  cup  butter (melted)

1 cup     butter
2 cups    sugar
1 cup      flour
4 ea        eggs
1/4 tsp    salt
2 tsp       vanilla
1/4 cup   cocoa powder
handful   nuts (walnuts, chopped)
handful   mini marshmallows
Pinch      sea salt

Preheat oven to 350 f. In a food processor, grind the crackers and mix in melted butter. In a lined/greased pan, set down thick layer of crumbs. Bake for approximately 5-7 minutes, set aside.

Melt 1 cup of butter in a sauce pan or in microwave. Remove from heat and transfer to large bowl. Mix sugar, vanilla & eggs. Mix to combine. Add dry (1/4 salt, flour & cocoa powder) to wet and blend. Pour batter into lined/greased pan with graham cracker crust. Sprinkle nuts on top and bake approximately 35-40 minutes. Add marshmallows and sea salt 5-10 minutes before done. Let cool and enjoy with a tall glass of ice cold milk!

Brownie batter recipe (only one you'll ever need ever again) taken from Lovin' From the Oven.

Putting in Work

I've been promising my friend Don homemade baked goods for a while now, possibly over a year but with school and work, it was impossible to find time to put together a package and mail it out. However, I had a week off of school recently and used this opportunity to do just that. Don's a fun guy with a huge sweet tooth and so I had to make him something really special; Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch and Hazelnut Treats and Dark Chocolate & Pecan Oatmeal Cookies.

 Despite the use of marshmallows, the treats were the easiest to make while the cookies took me several tries. No matter what I did, they stuck to the baking sheet/aluminum foil/parchment paper and because they were so soft, they'd fall apart. I ended up dropping half a tablespoon of cookie dough into mini muffin liners and baking them that way. Finally, Success.

Recipes & more pictures after jump!

Oreo Cheesecake Cupcakes

I've been working on a sleeve for over a year now and every time I go in for another 4-5 hour session, I bring baked goods for my artist. Back when he was working at a shop near my house, I would stop at Whole Foods for lunch and pick him up a cookie which eventually turned into homemade cookies, brownies and this time, mini Oreo Cheesecakes.

 


This recipe is fairly simple, incredibly versatile and provides a light and indulgent bite.

Baked Chile Relleno

 I've been on a roasted pepper kick lately and have been craving chile rellenos for quite a while. Growing up, my mom stuffed them with queso freso, dipped them in whipped egg whites and pan fried them until crispy and then served them with a potato pancake (similar to latkes) in a spicy broth. I made mine a little differently by using a colorful stuffing and skipping the egg whites and baking the pepper instead of frying. It's slightly healthier (you could always omit the cheese and make it a lot healthier) and not as heavy but still incredibly delicious.

recipe after the jump:

Back to Basics

Last quarter, I took my first kitchen class (no knives were used in baking) and from the very beginning, I was haunted by the final. A pass/fail hour and a half practical which involved knife cuts, chicken fabrication and meal consisting of chicken chardonnay, cream of mushroom soup, whipped herb potatoes, glazed carrots, and broccoli florets with hollandaise sauce all served hot. I busted my ass trying to finish on time, keeping everything hot and praying to every deity to not let me overcook my chicken. I did alright, finishing with 20 minutes left on the clock and with an edible chicken breast.

This quarter, we were allowed to choose our own menu based on a mother sauce. The only requirements were that there be chicken, a starch, mother or secondary sauce, and a vegetable. After several days of racking my brain over the menu, I decided I was not going to rush through my final and just get by. I was going to walk in there, pull out my knives and make dinner.

  Chicken Supreme with Oven Roasted Thyme Carrots and a Smashed Potato. I fell in love with the simplicity of this dish and came out on top. Everything came together wonderfully. The sauce was just right, the carrots were tender, the potatoes baked crispy, and the chicken- the chicken was absolutely perfect. Juicy and moist and everything it should be. I was like a proud mother standing over this harmonious meal.

Chicken Supreme w/ Oven Roasted Thyme Carrots and Smashed Potatoes