Monday, November 19, 2012

Best-Ever Brownies



Best-ever is a bold statement, especially when it comes to brownies.  

A few years ago, my husband and I lived in Telluride, Colorado, located at nearly 10,000 feet of elevation.  Due to this elevation, I figured I burned a few more calories everyday and therefore could justify eating brownies nearly everyday.  I went on a hunt for the perfect brownie recipe and made batch after batch.  Some years later I finally come upon a close-to- perfect recipe, but I still struggled with the chocolate to butter ratio.  

I have not made brownies recently, maybe because I know my recipe is flawed.   (Maybe because I now live at sea level.)  Why bother with imperfect brownies when I can make perfect cookies?  

So, when our baking group picked this as our next recipe I was certainly curious if they really were the "Best-Ever Brownies".  Luckily for me I am of the fudgey, chewy brownie camp for which this recipe was designed.  (Can't stand cake brownies.)  

The recipe is easy.  Not as easy as most brownie recipes, but then again, these are "Best-Ever" so some work is warranted.   Actually, the biggest challenge with this recipe is the bake time.   The recipe states 25-28 minutes but I swear mine took a good 15-20 minutes longer than that.  They did come out perfectly- not fully set, fudgey with a slightly crunchy top for contrast.  

"Best-ever"?  They were my best-ever. 

Best-ever recipe?  No.  The baking time needs to be more accurate (at least for my oven).  It may take a few more batches to get this recipe to be the best-ever.  Maybe I should move back to Telluride...



Rhiannon- 13 months.  

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Buttermilk Crumb Muffins

For this post, my blog should be named "Baking with Quinn", Rhiannon's older brother.  This simple recipe was one my son could almost do on his own.  Almost.  It did require him to wash his hands multiple times about which he was not too excited; he would have preferred to keep them eggy and buttery and sugary.  So here he is mixing the shortening with the flour and sugar, some of which would become the crumb topping.





And here he is beating the eggs.  He preferred using a spoon and a fork for this.



And fast forward a few steps (literally a few, as there weren't too many steps to this recipe) and here he is filling the muffin tins.



After 25 minutes in the oven, here they were ready to eat.  Simple, easy muffins.  Simple flavors, too.  Nothing extraordinary but solid.



He didn't even make a big mess:



We did this recipe while on a weekend away to Central Oregon with some friends.  My friend Mark volunteered to clean up some of the mess we did make.  And Rhiannon got some much needed time in the dry desert.


For the recipe check out Alisa's blog at easier than pie.