Brownies Extraordinary

Mom was a master in the kitchen and I am so grateful she taught me how to cook many of our favorite recipes.  I don't remember mom baking many pans of plain ole brownies but I do remember these yummy delights!  What I find so comforting is I have mom's original recipe in her own handwriting!  Long gone are the days of reaching in our recipe box for a blank recipe card and writing down a recipe to share with a friend or loved one.  Remember the cute cards that said "from the kitchen of…?"  We now jump on our computers and "google" a recipe and save it to our files.  Hey I have been known to take a picture of a recipe with my phone for later use!  Don't get me wrong, I love being able to find a recipe at the click of a button, but I miss going to mom's recipe box and pulling out a recipe and whipping up something delicious.  Anyone remember picking out a recipe box for your wedding registry?  I think I just aged myself!  Okay back to brownies!  If you are looking for an ooey gooey chocolate treat, this is a must for you!  I've added my own twist by drizzling melted caramel, course salt and chocolate over the top after the brownies have baked and cooled.  Not quite enough richness for you… take it to the next level, and add a dip of ice cream!  Shut the front door and get in my mouth now!

Brownies Extraordinary

Filling:
1 - 8 ounce package of cream cheese softened at room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon almond extract

Brownies:
2 - 1 ounce squares unsweetened chocolate (I use Baker's Chocolate, found in your grocery store)
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Filling:

In a mixing bowl combine the cream cheese, sugar, egg and almond extract.  Beat with a hand mixer until all combined, set aside.

Batter:

Melt the unsweetened chocolate and butter in a sauce pan or microwave, set aside.

Sift flour, baking powder and salt.  Beat together the eggs and sugar, add the melted chocolate to the egg and sugar mixture.  Combine the chocolate mixture with the flour and mix well.  Butter a 9x9 pan.  Add 1/2 of the chocolate batter to the pan and spread evenly.  I find it useful to use those little offset spatulas but of course anything will do!  I'm the queen of gadgets and I have my favorites!  Okay back to the brownie batter!  Now spread the cream cheese mixture evenly over the batter.  Add remaining brownie batter to the top and spread evenly.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 - 45 minutes.  To test if the brownies are done, just insert a toothpick in middle, if toothpick comes out clean- brownies are done!  There are a couple of things you can do at this point.  After the brownies have cooled you can sprinkle powdered sugar over the brownies and they are yummy.  To kick it up a notch or two… melt in a double boiler 8 - 10 ounces of caramel.  I like to add a tablespoon of cream for a bit more creaminess after the caramel has melted.  Drizzle over the brownies, and at this point if you would like, sprinkle with a little course salt.  Maybe a teaspoon in all, a preference call on this one!  Melt 8 ounces of chocolate chips, your choice of milk, dark or semi sweet.  White chocolate chips would be good as well!  Drizzle the chocolate over the caramel and course salt.  Let the caramel and chocolate set up a bit before cutting.  Now for the best part… pour yourself a glass of ice cold milk, cut a brownie and enjoy!  Oh and don't forget the ice cream!

© Images taken by yours truly, and edited once again by the lovely  n e l o u G R A C E.

sweet smell of cinnamon rolls

     First of all for the record...  Hi, I'm Gwyn and I'm a cinnamon roll-aholic!  Annnnd all together now... Hi Gwyn!  Haha okay, just making sure we're all in the right place!!  Alrighty, I have been on a mission to create the best ooey goey, cinnamon filled slice of heaven you've ever tasted.  As I think back upon the many cinnamon rolls I have enjoyed over the years, my mind often wanders to my sweet childhood friend in Casper, Wyoming.  Her mom made the best cinnamon rolls, I tell ya.  If I close my eyes and breathe in slowly, I can still smell the aroma drifting down the stairs into the basement.  Needless to say we took them two at a time in order to savor those first couple rolls fresh from the oven!  Oh the memories... Ok... eyes back open and back to reality!  In my not so humble opinion, I believe the secret ingredient to these amazing cinnamon rolls... is mashed potatoes!  You heard correctly... I said potatoes!  How can you go wrong combining yummy mashed potatoes with dough?  A true match made in heaven!

Timeless Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients:

Rolls:
1 cup mashed potatoes - do not salt the potatoes
1 cup potato water (scoop out a cup of potato water before you drain the potatoes!)
3/4 cup melted butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 cup hot water
2 packages of yeast
1/2 cup warm water (100 - 110 degrees F, to dissolve yeast)
2 eggs
8 1/2 cups plus 2 Tablespoons all purpose flour (I don't know why plus 2 T., it just works!)

Filling:
1 cup melted butter, plus more if needed
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup ground cinnamon

Maple Icing:
These are "approximate" measurements.
1 pound powdered sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup (pancake or waffle syrup works just dandy!)
3 Tablespoons melted butter
Milk for thinning if needed

For the Dough:

Combine potatoes, potato water, butter, sugar, salt and hot water in a large mixing bowl.  Set aside to cool.  Combine yeast and 1/2 cup warm water in a small bowl.  Let rest so the yeast can get going, about 5 minutes.  Add the eggs, 2 cups of flour and yeast mixture to potato mixture.  Beat until well mixed.  I use my big girl mixer with the dough hook attachment but you can do this by hand.  Get ready to use your muscles!  Continue adding flour, one cup at a time, until a soft dough forms.  Knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic (about 6 minutes), or use your big girl mixer!  Place the dough in a clean greased bowl, then cover.  You won't want to stop playing with this dough, it is soooo soft and supple!  Big girl play dough!  Let the dough rise and do its thing in a warm cozy place for an hour.  Laundry?  The dryer is a perfect place for the dough to do its magic!  Get ready!  This dough poofs up big time!  After an hour get your fist ready and punch down!  Divide dough in half.

Roll one portion of dough on a lightly floured surface to an approximate 12" x 18" rectangle.  Now for the oh so good goodness...  Spread 1/2 of the melted butter over the dough.  Use your fingers to spread the butter evenly over the dough.  Combine the brown sugar, granulated sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.  Spread the sugar mixture over the dough.  At this time the sweet smell of cinnamon will start filling up your kitchen!  Now it's time to roll the dough.  Drumroll please...  Beginning at the end farthest from you, start rolling towards you keeping the dough as tight as possible.  When you reach the end, pinch the seam together.  I use a serrated knife to cut the dough in 1 1/2" slices.  I eyeball the log before I make the first cut and cut the log in half, then I cut in half again.  This gives me 4 mini logs.  Next, I cut 3 rolls from each log.  I have found my rolls seem to bake more evenly if I bake 6 rolls in a pan.  So I use round pie pans or aluminum pie pans for baking my rolls.  Melt a couple of tablespoons of butter and swish around the pan and place the cinnamon rolls in the buttery pans.  Cover the pans with a kitchen towel and set aside to rise for at least 20 minutes.  More laundry?  Once again the dryer is a great place for the rolls to hang out!  Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Remove the towel and bake for 20 - 25 minutes.  Don't allow the rolls to become too brown.

While the rolls are baking and filling up your kitchen with the most heavenly fragrance, use this time to prepare the maple icing!  In a large bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, maple syrup and butter.  This is where you have to use your best judgement.  As you mix you may need to add a little milk to get the consistency you want.  If you get it too thin, no worries, add more powdered sugar!

Once the rolls come out of the oven, I let them cool about 10 minutes before I add the icing.  Remember those ooey goey cinnamon rolls I mentioned earlier?  Now's the time to drizzle or spread the icing all over them!  And guess what?  These rolls freeze beautifully.  After you frost the rolls and they have completely cooled, you can pop them in the freezer.  I put the pan and all in a gallon freezer bag.  When you are ready for a fresh pan, pull them out of the freezer and allow to thaw about 15 minutes.  Pop in a 250 degree F oven for about 15 minutes.  Yum yum!

I hope you enjoy this recipe and it takes you back to a wonderful memory.  It's not so much of what we eat, but the memory of what we have eaten!

Another big shout out to my dear friend nelougrace.com for her expert advice, support and editing!

Enjoy!

muffin ministry

A bit of sunshine…

     Sweet, simple, and delicious poppy seed muffins will add sunshine to your day!  These muffins are my "go to" muffins to package up and take to family and friends.  I have always enjoyed trying new muffin recipes.  Over the years I have taken my "muffin ministry" on the road.  Reminds me of a childhood song… "oh do you know the muffin man?"  Nothing warms my soul more than wrapping up fresh-baked muffins in pretty little packages to share with a few special friends.

My dear mother in law Barbara shared this recipe with me many years ago.  As you can see the page has seen better days!

The page from the cookbook may not have stood the test of time, but I guarantee you these amazing muffins do!  If you would rather make loaves of bread this recipe makes 2 loaves.  The bread and muffins freeze well too (if there are any left over, of course)!

Orange Glazed Poppy Seed Muffins

Ingredients:

3 eggs
1 1/8  cups vegetable oil
2 1/4  cups sugar
1 1/2   cups whole milk
3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 Tablespoons poppy seeds

Glaze:
1/4 cup orange juice
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Directions:

In a mixer combine eggs, oil, sugar, vanilla and almond extract.  Mix well.  In a separate bowl sift flour and baking powder.  Whisk in the salt.  Do not skip the sifting, you will have lumps in your batter if you do not sift!  Alternate flour and milk to the mixing bowl and beat until well mixed, about 2-3 minutes.  Line muffin pans with your favorite muffin/cupcake liners.  Bake at 350.  If you are making bread, bake one hour or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Muffins take about 15-18  minutes.  Be careful to not let them get too brown.  They look a little anemic but trust me, do not over bake!  I usually find 18 minutes is the perfect amount of baking time.  Cool muffins on a cooling rack.  I take a toothpick and poke several holes in the tops of the muffins.  After the muffins have cooled, spoon the glaze over each muffin.  Makes 32 muffins.  I know what you are thinking… "why 32?"  I have tried to get 3 dozen from the batter but it just never happens.  The average is "32!"

Tip:  I always use extra large eggs in my recipes.

Put the tea kettle on or brew a cup of coffee, pull up a chair and enjoy!  Thanks to my mother in law Barbara for sharing this recipe!  They have truly stood up to the "taste" of time!

© photography by  n e l o u G R A C E

new direction...

     I took a little "hiatus" from my blog.  Let's be honest, I haven't posted since July, 2014 and not often before then!  Over the past year I have dabbled at many things.  Learning guitar, blogging, reading, photography, cooking, & even taking French lessons on my computer.  And while I love the "idea" of doing so many things, I have discovered my true passion is being in the kitchen.  What warms my heart the most is making something yummy and then passing it on to someone else to enjoy.  I have been working the past couple of years with an amazing woman, photographer and a person I now call friend!  Nelou of nelougrace.com is so talented in so many areas- photography, computer skills, Lightroom, design and so on…  I have learned so much and look forward to learning more from my sweet friend.  What I have discovered over the past few months is when I have time to do as I please, I often gravitate towards the kitchen and whip something up!  While driving in the car the idea came from the back of the Suburban… "bake and take!"  Perfectly fitting, since I just adore to bake and take to family, friends, coworkers and whoever will be my guinea pig!  So I am putting my "big girl" camera on the shelf for a while and placing my primary focus on baking, along with taking pictures with my iPhone (seriously… so handy!!).  Don't get me wrong, I love my "big girl" camera and I plan to use it a lot, especially when we go to the cabin.  But for now… I'm finding the iPhone camera does an amazing job and is super simple when it comes to photographing my yummies for blogposts!  Thanks to Nelou for "re-designing" my blog!  Nelou has fantastic ideas and I highly recommend her services!

     One of my favorite treats as a kid were Rice Krispy Treats!  Mom made them all the time and she would vary the ingredients from time to time.  Today I am sharing her "kicked up treats."  These treats aren't your basic off the box recipe… no sireeeee!  They are soft and just the right amount of "goo!"  Altogether now… mmmmmmmm.

Ingredients:

5 Tablespoons butter

8 cups mini marshmallows

1/2 cup peanut butter (I prefer smooth)

6 cups Krispie Rice Cereal

1/2 teaspoon salt

Melted chocolate chips (optional)

Directions:

1. Butter a 9x13 pan, set aside.
2. In a large pot over low heat, melt butter and peanut butter.  Add 8 cups of mini marshmallows, stirring constantly until melted.  Add salt.
3. Once the marshmallows and peanut butter are melted, stir in the cereal.  Mix well and press into the prepared pan.
4. Allow to cool completely before drizzling chocolate or cutting into squares.  I usually put the pan in the refrigerator to speed up the cooling process.  

Additional Notes:  You can omit the peanut butter if you prefer.  If you omit the peanut butter I would add 1/2 cup - 1 cup more cereal.

Adapted from my mom's recipe.  Thanks mom!

Grab a cup of tea or coffee, kick back and enjoy!

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back on the trail

Almost four seasons have gone by since my last post!  I'd like to say "shame on me" or "I am so sorry I haven't blogged!", but I can't and I won't!  Looking back over this last year I can truly say it has been the hardest walk of my life.  The walk isn't over but I can say it is getting easier!  Over the past year I have had several "ah ha" moments and I have discovered so many things not only about myself but other people in my life as well!  We are all responsible for taking this journey we call life in whatever direction we want to take.  Mine has had several detours but I can finally say I'm back on the right trail!

As I look back over the year I have started and stopped so many projects!  I thought I wanted to learn to sew, bought the fabulous sewing machine and set up a sewing room........only to discover as my best friend Denise says... "Gwyn you like the idea of lots of things!"  Major "ah ha" moment!  She knows me so well!  My mom was a beautiful seamstress and I know she would love for me to be a seamstress.  Sorry mom....not in this lifetime and that's ok!  The sewing machine now sits in my craft room and the sewing room is back to a guest room!  Stop by and see us, I now have a bed for guests!!!

Mom was a great cook and I do have the passion for cooking and creating yummy food and making a "presentation" out of my creations!   My sister in law made cookbooks for all of us last year of our favorite recipes that mom made my family.  Whenever I feel myself feeling sad I open up the cookbook, pull out a mixing bowl I remember mom using and stir up something yummy.  I instantly feel better and all warm and cozy inside!  Thanks mom for instilling in me the love of cooking!

I have discovered I love taking pictures and learning how to get a really nice image!  Thanks to Nelou at nelougrace.com, she is helping me learn all about photography.  I'm having a blast and look forward to learning as much as my brain can handle!

I have started a major project that I am going to complete!  I'm scanning in slides and pictures that we have accumulated over the last 40 years!  I have to say I get side tracked because I look at the pictures and find myself walking down memory lane!  The crazy thing is when I come across a picture with some girlfriends from high school I have been known to pick up the phone and call!  One phone call ended up lasting almost 2 hours!  Can't continue to chat with old girlfriends or this project will never get finished!  Side note....because of me calling 2 of my girlfriends, we are now going to try to get together this fall for a girls weekend and meet in Denver!  We haven't seen each other in 20 years!  There I go again getting side tracked!  My plan is to document the first 40 years of Mark and I being together and pass along our journey to our children and "grands."  It's quite an undertaking but I am up for the task!

Mark and I recently went to the cabin in Valle Escondido,  NM.  I walked everyday with camera in hand and tried to capture some of the beauty the mountains had to offer!  I hope you enjoy!

Mom loved Iris's.  I captured this beauty at the cabin!

The Poppie's were "popping" up everywhere!

Wild flowers by the lake.

Daisy's are my favorite!

Oh Wally!

Nothing better....Mark playing Banjo in the mountains!