I love brownies, but I'm very picky about them. I don't like them hard, or cakey, or the ones that just barely taste like chocolate. I like a dense, fudgey, moist, rich, chocolatey brownie that makes your mouth water just to think about it. I like one that, fresh out of the oven, is like solidified fudge sauce under your vanilla icecream.
This is that brownie.
Ingredients:
4 oz bittersweet chocolate (I use Ghiradelli)*, snapped into small pieces.
1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla, NOT IMITATION
2 eggs
3/4 cup flour
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 and thoroughly grease a 8x8 brownie pan. I tend to use glass, but this is up to you.
Place stick of butter in a microwave safe bowl and heat for about 1 minute, or until totally melted. Throw in the chocolate and stir until totally melted. If you can't get it all melted, microwave another 30 seconds and stir again.
In a medium mixing bowl, put in sugar, vanilla, and eggs. Pour butter/chocolate mix over top. Mix thoroughly, scraping the bottom to get any sugar that might be stuck there. Add flour and mix until combined.
Pour into brownie pan and spread out evenly. Bake 30 minutes and let cool.
Eat.
Moan a bit.
*If you can't find bittersweet chocolate, don't worry. Dark chocolate (usually sold by Hershey) or baking chocolate make acceptable substitutes.
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Breakfast cups (Toast, egg, and bacon)
It is EXTREMELY rare that I sit down to breakfast at all, and even rarer that I make something fancy. Yesterday, however, I was inspired by a picture I'd spotted in a magazine and feeling the need to spoil myself.
Ingredients:
6 pieces of bread, preferably soft (I used Sunbeam)
3 pieces of bacon, cut in half
4 eggs, beaten well
Butter, melted (2 tablespoons should do it)
Directions
Preheat oven to 375.
Thoroughly grease a muffin tin with butter. I do mean thoroughly. If you even doubt you have enough butter, add more.
Cut into bread from corners to allow it to fit down into the pan easier as the (horrible) diagram below shows, and push it down into the pan, folding up the edges. If the bottom tears, don't worry too much. That's what the butter was for. You listened to me about the butter, right?
Cook your bacon until it is done, but still pliable (no crispy bacon here!). Shake the grease off (or not) and curl it inside your bread in a little circle.
Make sure the eggs are beaten well and pour SLOWLY into the bread. If you pour fast, it may come out in a glob and overflow. Also, make sure not to overfill too much since it rises a bit and may come out of the pan.
Bake 20-25 minutes or until a tilted pan doesn't show any movement on top of the eggs. If you have buttered your pan properly, they should just pop right out. Enjoy hot or at room temperature!
Ingredients:
6 pieces of bread, preferably soft (I used Sunbeam)
3 pieces of bacon, cut in half
4 eggs, beaten well
Butter, melted (2 tablespoons should do it)
Directions
Preheat oven to 375.
Thoroughly grease a muffin tin with butter. I do mean thoroughly. If you even doubt you have enough butter, add more.
Cut into bread from corners to allow it to fit down into the pan easier as the (horrible) diagram below shows, and push it down into the pan, folding up the edges. If the bottom tears, don't worry too much. That's what the butter was for. You listened to me about the butter, right?
Make sure the eggs are beaten well and pour SLOWLY into the bread. If you pour fast, it may come out in a glob and overflow. Also, make sure not to overfill too much since it rises a bit and may come out of the pan.
Bake 20-25 minutes or until a tilted pan doesn't show any movement on top of the eggs. If you have buttered your pan properly, they should just pop right out. Enjoy hot or at room temperature!
Friday, September 6, 2013
Pasta and Garlic Spiced Shrimp
For those who have a taste for shrimp and want to stretch it further, this is a great recipe. Make as spicy (or not) as you like!
Ingredients:
One pound of uncooked shrimp, de-veined, de-tailed, and cut in half hotdog style
Roughly 2 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp red pepper flakes, or to taste
1 cup of white wine, whatever you have left in your fridge
1 package of fettucine or linguine pasta
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
Directions
Start cooking your pasta before you do anything else. Boil a whole box for about 10 minutes.
While that's cooking, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium high with the garlic and the red pepper flakes. Add in the shrimp when the oil starts to "spit" and stir it until it curls up and turns pink. Add in white wine.
When pasta has finished its ten minutes, drain thoroughly and add to the skillet, stirring slightly to coat the pasta with the liquid. Simmer another five minutes or so, then sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and mix in until the Parmesan disappears into the sauce.
Ingredients:
One pound of uncooked shrimp, de-veined, de-tailed, and cut in half hotdog style
Roughly 2 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp red pepper flakes, or to taste
1 cup of white wine, whatever you have left in your fridge
1 package of fettucine or linguine pasta
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
Directions
Start cooking your pasta before you do anything else. Boil a whole box for about 10 minutes.
While that's cooking, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium high with the garlic and the red pepper flakes. Add in the shrimp when the oil starts to "spit" and stir it until it curls up and turns pink. Add in white wine.
When pasta has finished its ten minutes, drain thoroughly and add to the skillet, stirring slightly to coat the pasta with the liquid. Simmer another five minutes or so, then sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and mix in until the Parmesan disappears into the sauce.
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