Bakers Love

Sometimes only a brownine will do

 

 

My oh my a brownie is what we need today.  My house is full of swine flu, yes the H1N1 virus is here.  I have made my little guy my power tea, miso soup, chicken soup, and fresh squeezed orange juice.  Rex has taken everything I have offered and accepted the reality that he must stay in bed and relax in order to get better.  So, when my guy asked me to bake him some brownies, I had to say yes.  Sure he took a little nibble and called it a day, but I think what made him feel better was just the smell and that Mom was willing to bake for him. 

This is my favorite brownie recipe, I used this delight at my bakery, and first wrote about brownies on donigreenberg.com. 

1 cup Flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks of butter
6 ounces of your favorite dark chocolate coarsely chopped or straight from the Nestle's bag of chips
2 cups of sugar
1 Tablespoon vanilla
4 eggs
Raspberries (optional)

Get your pan that you will be baking the brownies in ready. I melt some butter and spread it all around.
Whisk the flour and the salt together in a small mixing bowl. Set aside.  Melt the butter and the chocolate together. Stir frequently, chocolate needs to be melted gently. When the butter and chocolate are just combined, looking all satiny and shiny, add one cup of the sugar and the vanilla.
Set aside.
In the bowl for mixing, such as your kitchen aid bowl,  put the remaining cup of sugar and eggs. Mix together until just combined. This is a little tricky, but important. Take about half of the sugar egg mixture and while stirring, add to the chocolate mixture. Keep the eggs moving to prevent cooking them. Now back to your mixer, with the paddle attachment on the kitchen aid, or just go to town with your hand mixer, beat the remaining egg and sugar mixture on medium high until it doubles in volume, or about 3 minutes.
Using your handy dandy spatula and a light hand, fold the whipped eggs into the chocolate mixture. Now sprinkle the dry ingredients over your batter. Gently fold working only until you no longer see the flour.
Scrape all that batter into your prepared pan.  Toss in raspberries if you are using them, I made my batch half and half this time.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes, or like I always say..until done. The top of the brownie will look like a dry lake.
Now you MUST resist the urge to cut into these treats now. Just wait! Let the brownies set for about an hour. You will be happy you waited.
ENJOY!

 

My oh my a brownie is what we need today.  My house is full of swine flu, yes the H1N1 virus is here.  I have made my little guy my power tea, miso soup, chicken soup, and fresh squeezed orange juice.  Rex has taken everything I have offered and accepted the reality that he must stay in bed and relax in order to get better.  So, when my guy asked me to bake him some brownies, I had to say yes.  Sure he took a little nibble and called it a day, but I think what made him feel better was just the smell and that Mom was willing to bake for him. 

This is my favorite brownie recipe, I used this delight at my bakery, and first wrote about brownies on donigreenberg.com. 

1 cup Flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks of butter
6 ounces of your favorite dark chocolate coarsely chopped or straight from the Nestle's bag of chips
2 cups of sugar
1 Tablespoon vanilla
4 eggs
Raspberries (optional)

Get your pan that you will be baking the brownies in ready. I melt some butter and spread it all around.
Whisk the flour and the salt together in a small mixing bowl. Set aside.  Melt the butter and the chocolate together. Stir frequently, chocolate needs to be melted gently. When the butter and chocolate are just combined, looking all satiny and shiny, add one cup of the sugar and the vanilla.
Set aside.
In the bowl for mixing, such as your kitchen aid bowl,  put the remaining cup of sugar and eggs. Mix together until just combined. This is a little tricky, but important. Take about half of the sugar egg mixture and while stirring, add to the chocolate mixture. Keep the eggs moving to prevent cooking them. Now back to your mixer, with the paddle attachment on the kitchen aid, or just go to town with your hand mixer, beat the remaining egg and sugar mixture on medium high until it doubles in volume, or about 3 minutes.
Using your handy dandy spatula and a light hand, fold the whipped eggs into the chocolate mixture. Now sprinkle the dry ingredients over your batter. Gently fold working only until you no longer see the flour.
Scrape all that batter into your prepared pan.  Toss in raspberries if you are using them, I made my batch half and half this time.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes, or like I always say..until done. The top of the brownie will look like a dry lake.
Now you MUST resist the urge to cut into these treats now. Just wait! Let the brownies set for about an hour. You will be happy you waited.
ENJOY!

Pumpkin Molasses cookies...and they are vegan to boot.

Best of all, these cookies did not taste like a boot!  Very moist, a nice sweetness, and full of wholesome goodness.  I did a little exploring today on a few vegan baking blogs, some amazing bakers out there!  I was quite fond of Have cake will travel her blog if full of delicious vegan recipes that are really inspiring, and her photography is beautiful too.  I decided that the first recipe I would try had to be the Pumpkin molasses bars.    The bars sounded perfect for a fall baking day.  Instead of making bars I decided that the dough was perfect for a cookie, so that was my only change. 

The cookies are moist, thanks to all the pumpkin, and I think suitable for a breakfast treat.  I shout out to my childhood friend Lisa who inspired me to give vegan baking a go, Thanks!  
 

A speech from Rex

Yesterday Rex told me that he was going to be giving a Veterans Day speech at school.  I was initially excited for him, how brave of him to get up in front of the entire school.  Then I had a slight panic.  WHAT was he going to say?   Luckily his teacher asked for the speech to be written down, to assure that the speech was appropriate, and a bonus for me, I get to keep it and share with you.

From Rex

Today we honor, remember, and respect the brave men and women who served.  They gave us freedom, liberty, and protection.  At this moment, pilots, solders, sailors, and even people at a desk, protect us day and night.  My life, your life, your family's life is in the hands of the people on the field.  From wooden boats to high tech stealth subs, from cannons to rail guns, from muskets to high-tech machine guns, from cloth and wood trip-planes to todays stealth jets.  No matter the weapons, they don't matter, it is the bravery in the hearts of these brave veterans. 

Remember, when you wake up tomorrow to play video games, remember the brave people protecting you,

~Rex Charroin age 11~

When life gives you a few bumps...

The blog suffers.

I have been away from Bakers Love now for what seems like a decade in the blogsphere.  To be honest I have not been keeping up with Facebook or Twitter either.  So what is going on you ask?  Well, a few things.  First is that I have a class this month, and after a few months hiatus from the rigorsof school, I am having a tough time focusing on all of my assignments.  That is small potatoes though, in a few weeks that class will be over and I get to move on.

Secondly, Rex has hit a rough patch.  When Rex hits a rough patch, we all hit the rough patch to a certain degree.   About a month ago he had an extremely bad day at school that  snowballed into a horrendous day which resulted in an alternative placement at a school for kids with emotional needs that can not be met at a traditional school.  I will give more details on that later.  The transition to this new school has been different, but for me mostly.  I can't help but feel like I missed 'SOMETHING' and could be more helpful to my son.  There is guilt that I am not doing enough combined with the guilt that I have for wishing I could have a life outside of counseling appointments, IEP meetings, and talks with teachers, neighbors, and strangers when my son does something odd.  But  right now, this day,  he seems okay. WIth Rex, and all kids with Aspergers, everyday is different.  There is always a calm before the storm. 

So, that in a nut shell is why I have been away.  Sure I have baked a few goodies, usually to make myself feel better, but did I have the thought to take a picture?  Nope.  I suppose THINKING of taking a picture does not really count now does it?  I can't even remember what I made!  What a scramble my brain has become!