Blonde Brownies

This is the recipe that made my decision final to stop substituting applesauce for butter. I realize it saves fat and all, but I never realized what an effect it had on some recipes (like this one). The applesauce flavor really stood out in this recipe, so do yourself a favor and just use butter. Forget trying to save calories. Your tastebuds will thank me. Your hips may not, but they say that thing called exercise is actually good for us anyways ;)

I love blonde brownies. Especially ones with some sort of chocolate or white chocoalte chip in them (which this recipe is unfortunately lacking). I had never even heard of a blonde brownie before I was in junior high/high school, and the first time that I had one I was in awe with the "white brownie". Not only because it wasn't, well, brown, but because it was so good!!

Sadly, this is only the second blonde brownie recipe that I have ever tried to make myself. The first was one that included chocoalte chips and it was absolutely divine. This one is just your run of the mill blonde brownie with nothing exciting added in. It was submitted to our local hometown church cookbook by an old family friend, and just goes to prove that sometimes those little ol' church ladies just have no imagination ;) So if you would like this a little less on the bland side and a little more on the, um, how do I say this, CHOCOLATE!! side, then by all means add away! Add chocolate chips, nuts, coconut...whatever you think would be a tasty little addition to this brownie. Even a frosting on top! Be daring...but I expect to see you at the gym bright and early tomorrow morning!

Ingredients...

...3/4 butter
...3 c. brown sugar
...1 1/2 tsp. salt
...3 tsp. baking powder
...2 1/4 c. flour
...1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Directions....

Mix together butter and eggs. Beat in sugars and then blend in the flour, baking powder and salt. Add in vanilla. Bake in a greased 9x13 pan at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

To see more great recipes, be sure to check out Mouthwatering Monday over at A Southern Fairytale!

S'mores Brownies

How about a fun recipe for today? If you are a true summer person who loves camping, and of course the S'mores and roasted marshmallows that comes with, then you will love this recipe! This is also a super easy recipe to make! I decided seeing that I have been getting gobs of super cheap marshmallows at Target lately, and have gobs of Halloween candy leftover from a CVS deal, that this would be an appropriate recipe to try right now!

Ingredients...

...graham crackers
...marshmallows (about a half bag of mini marshmallows)
...chocolate (you can use chips, chocolate bars, whatever you have on hand. I used about 4 fun sized Hershey's Bars with Almonds)
...Brownie Mix (I used a box because I wanted to get it used up, you can use homemade or whatever you please!)

Directions...

Grease a 9x13 pan and line the bottom with graham crackers. You will have to do some cracker breaking and cutting to get it all to fit well. Prepare brownies according to box/recipe instructions. Spread brownie batter over graham crackers (this proves to be a trick as the crackers move around quite a bit. Don't say I didn't warn you!). Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven and layer marshmallows on top of brownies, and then sprinkle with crushed chocolate bars or chocolate chips. Place back in oven for an additional 3-5 minutes. Let cool before cutting/serving.

To see more great recipes, check out Mouthwatering Monday over at A Southern Fairytale!

Caramel Brownies

Chocolate and Caramel. Together. In a (semi)homebaked dish. It doesn't get much better than that! In my recent attempt to clean out the singles boxes of randomness from my pantry, I discovered I had two boxes of brownie mix. I typically make brownies from scratch, so I don't really know what I was thinking when I bought these. I do remember it involved a sale at Walgreens, but I also remember they weren't free or anything, so I don't know. But at any rate, they're in my pantry now, and since there was only two boxes to use up, they were added to the "must use soon" pile (by the way, by clearing out all the single boxes of randomness from my pantry, I have cleaned out an entire shelf to be devoted to stockpile! yay!). I originally wanted to make S'mores brownies with these...but I didn't have any graham crackers. So those will have to wait until another day. I decided to make up my own recipe with these, since I found a bag of caramels that I bought last weekend when I was cleaning out my freezer.

Ingredients...

...1 package of brownie mix (you can also make your own. I'm just trying to get all the random boxes of convenience food out of my pantry. You also need the ingredients in the recipe (or listed on the box), that is why I have eggs and yogurt (which I used in place of the oil called for) pictured)
...Individually wrapped caramels
...Caramel ice cream topping

Directions...

Mix brownie batter according to package (or recipe) directions. Stir in as many or as few unwrapped caramels as you wish. Pour into a 8x8 baking dish and bake according to directions on package (or in recipe). When the brownies are finished baking, allow to cool and then top with caramel ice cream topping before serving.

Apple...Brownies?

This is the story of two apples. Two lonely little apples that got left behind from the bunch because they were too mealy to eat but I just couldn't bear the thought of feeding them to the garbage disposal (mostly, because I don't have one. So I guess it was the garbage can that I couldn't bear the thought of.). I searched high and low for a recipe that called for a mere two apples. All I could find was recipes calling for 8 or more. Poor little guys. At this rate, the garbage can fate was looming nearer and nearer.

Until, a wonderful cook at AllRecipes answered my cry for help with these two little guys for a recipe for...are you ready for this...Apple Brownies.

Yes. Apple Brownies. I was a little leery, but upon reading the ingredients and directions discovered that this is no more than a lucious apple cake, so I'm not really sure where the "brownie" portion of the title comes in. So I went for it. And I must encourage you to do the same. Here is my interpretation of the recipe.

My Alliances...

...2 apples - peeled, cored & chopped
...1/2 cup butter, melted (or applesauce or plain yogurt if you want to do the healthy thing...)
...1 egg
...1 C sugar
...1 C flour
...1/2 t baking powder
...1/2 t baking soda
...1 t ground cinnamon
...1 t ground nutmeg
...1 t vanilla

The process...

Preaheat oven to 350* & grease a 9X9 dish. In a large bowl, beat together sugar, butter, egg & vanilla until fluffy. Fold in apples. Set aside. In another bowl, sift together flour, soda, powder, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir dry ingredients into wet mixture until just blended. Spread the batter evenly into the baking dish. Bake in preheated oven for 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

I also chose to frost mine. I used a half a can of Betty Crocker frosting (yes. canned. I wasn't in a "make the frosting from scratch" mood.) mixed with cinnamon and nutmeg. I didn't measure the spices into the frosting. I just added and tasted til it was right. And boy was it right!

The "brownies" in all of their deliciousness....

My thoughts...

YUUUUUUUMMMMMMMM!!!! These were a-maz-innnnnnnng! The spice to apple ratio was perfect, the moistness was out of this world, and the frosting really topped it off right! I can't wait to make this again, probably for a family gathering or something so I can share this love with others!