Yummy Recipe Friday- Pumpkin Brownies

And yes, I know I'm a day late. Let's just pretend for arguments sake that it's still Friday. Does it count that the sun wasn't up when I started this post?

OK, so upon cruising some of my FAVORITE recipe sites to find a yummy fall desert to make for my family today, I came across this one. I just HAD to share it. It looks way too good and fits the fall theme a little too perfectly.

Pumpkin-Swirl Brownies
Adapted from Martha Stewart Living By Smitten Kitchen

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for pan
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 to 3/4 cups sugar (the original recipe calls for the larger amount; I think it could be dialed down a bit)
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups solid-pack pumpkin
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts or other nuts (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch square baking pan or dish. Cut a length of parchment that will cover the bottom and two sides (makes it much easier to remove), and line the pan with it. Butter the lining as well. (Deb note: I used an 8-inch square, because it was what I had. It works, too, but the brownies are crazy thick and take much longer to bake, just to give you a heads-up.)

2. Melt chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth.

3. Whisk together flour, baking powder, cayenne, and salt in a large bowl; set aside. Put sugar, eggs and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; beat until fluffy and well combined, 3 to 5 minutes. Beat in flour mixture.

4. Pour half of batter (about two cups) into a separate bowl and stir chocolate mixture into it. If you find that it is a little thick (as mine was) add a little more batter (a few tablespoons or so) until it is more pourable. This is important because mine was quite thick, and the pumpkin half was quite thin, so I had trouble swirling the two together.

5. In other bowl, stir in the pumpkin, oil, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Transfer half of chocolate batter to prepared pan smoothing top with a rubber spatula. Top with half of pumpkin batter. Repeat to make one more chocolate layer and one more pumpkin layer. Work quickly so batters don’t set.

6. With a small spatula or a table knife, gently swirl the two batters to create a marbled effect. Be sure to get your knife all the way to the bottom of the pan–I didn’t, and ended up with a chocolate base, not that it is such a bad thing. Sprinkle with nuts, if using.

7. Bake until set, 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool in pan on a wire rack. Cut into 16 squares.

Have a nice weekend everyone!!

Yummy Recipe Friday! Blondies (from a Brunette) ;)

Make these! You will NOT be disappointed. I promise. *I will be adding pictures to this post this next week, so make sure to check back on this one for pictures of this YUMMINESS* And make sure to check out the bottom of this post to add your link to your favorite recipes!

Blondies From a Brunette ;)
1 c. butter (not margarine), melted
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla
2 Pinches salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 c. roasted macadamia nuts
1 c. dried cherries (or dried fruit of your choice)
1 c. white chocolate chunks

1. Butter a 9x13" dish
2. Mix melted butter with brown sugar - beat until smooth. Beat in eggs and then vanilla.
3. Add salt, stir in flour.
4. Stir in nuts, dried fruit and chocolate chunks
5. Pour into prepared pan. Bake at 350°F 20-25 minutes, or until set in the middle. Careful not to over-bake, if they are a little gooey in the middle, they are PERFECT!!!!

OK, now your turn. Add your name and link to your recipe post in the spaces provided below! And make sure it's the direct link to your recipe post and not just your blog address! (So it will look something like this: http://mamaology.blogspot.com/2008/08/yummy-recipe-friday-blondies-from.html and not just your blog address) And it would also be helpful if you put your recipe name next to your name too! (Example: Cari-Blondies) Post one every friday :) It's perfect for all your weekend baking/cooking! And make these Blondies TODAY!

This will change your life FOREVER!

Starting with your figure ;)

This is the most phenominal homemade Macaroni & Cheese to walk the face of this earth. I'm telling you, you will not be sorry for making this. (Well, as long as you have pants with elastic waists for ever after). It took me quite a few tries to get this recipe just right. And I'm pretty proud of it. So without further adieux...

FIRST, start a large pan of water for your noodles!! Make sure you do this first because it takes about the same time to get the water boiling as it does to make the sauce. *wink* As soon as the water is boiling add 1 box of penne pasta noodles. (I use the blue Barilla kind) and boil for the time indicated on the box.

SECOND: In a medium Sauce Pan combine:

~4 c. Milk
~4 TBSP Corn Starch
***Wire whisk until smooth.
~Add 8 TBSP Butter or Margarine (I use butter...obviously ;)
~1 tsp salt
~1 tsp pepper
~A few shakes of nutmeg (This is TOP SECRET!!)
~Hot sauce to taste (I give it about 3 good shakes)
~Lawry’s Garlic Salt and Seasoning salt to taste (I like mine pretty salty because the penne noodles are bigger and it makes up for all their starchy-blandness)
(I really just add all the seasonings how we like them. You can add different things or more or less of others if you don't like something on the list)

Stirring constantly, bring sauce to boiling over medium heat. Boil for one minute or desired thickness is reached. This sauce will thicken up the longer it's boiled.

NEXT, shred about 1/2 pound of smoky sharp cheddar cheese and about 1 1/2 to 2 pounds regular cheddar. (Make sure you cut off the brown waxy stuff on the outside of the smoky cheese first though, I learned this the hard way LOL)

**Hint: If you cannot find or don't have access to smoky cheese, you can use regular cheddar and a couple, and when I say a couple, I mean literally ONLY TWO drops of liquid smoke! Do NOT overdo it or your mac & cheese will taste like hot dogs *BARF*

~Add Smokey cheese to the sauce and melt.

OK, next, take your cooked noodles and put about a ¼ of them in the bottom of a 13X9 dish. Ladle your sauce over the top (generously) and stir around. Sprinkle your grated cheese all over the top of that. (Take your ladle and kinda mush the cheese down into the noodles.) And repeat those steps until you have used all your noodles and however much of your cheese you’d like. I usually have about ½ pound of cheese left over and I just put that in a baggie for quesedeas later or something.

ALMOST DONE! Now…Cover with aluminum foil (or glass lid if your dish has one) and put in the oven at 425. Bake until it’s niiiiiiice and boiling/bubbling HOT. (About ½ hour to 45 minutes) Take the foil/lid off and brown the top (as much or as little as you’d like) Make sure to let this sit out of the oven for a good 10 to 15 minutes before eating. That way it won’t burn the stinkin crap out of your mouth…yet another lesson I learned the hard way. ;)

Oh and if you have any sauce left over, it’s AWESOME on steamed veggies. I usually make extra sauce and store what’s left over for a smaller mac and cheese of veggies sometime later. YUMM!

Ingredient list:

1 box Penne Pasta Noodles
4c Milk
4 TBSP Corn Starch
8 TBSP Butter or Margarine
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Pepper
3 or 4 shakes of Nutmeg
Few squirts of Hot Sauce
Garlic Salt- to taste
Seasoning Salt- to taste
½lb Smoky Sharp Cheddar Cheese
2 lbs Sharp Cheddar

Mmmmmm Cookies!

I learned a valuable lesson about getting ahead of myself this past week. I decided that I'd make cookies with my girls. Something I have done countless times before, but this time, I wanted to try a new recipe. You know the one. The recipe that has gone around in emails about the woman who wanted the recipe from Neiman Marcus and was charged $250 for it on her credit card. Yeah. That one. (The story is totally bogus by the way, check it out here) ANYWAY, I heard it's still a good recipe, true story or not. So I started making it and thought, "Wow, 2 cups of butter. No wonder they're good cookies." "Hmmmm, 2 cups of sugar and 4 eggs. That's a lot".....by the time I got to the flour and the blended oatmeal, I knew my poor little kitchenaid was in trouble. I should have taken the time to READ the directions first instead of just diving in. It CLEARLY states that the recipe can be divided in half. Had I caught that, I would have saved my mixer, and my arm, a LOT of work.

(This is just part of the cookie dough.)

See what I mean?

And while most children have fond memories of baking cookies with Mommy mine on the other hand will most likely now need a therapist.

**Here's the modified recipe. (No need to halve this one *wink*)

1 cup butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

2 cups flour

2 1/2 cups blended oatmeal (measure oatmeal and blend in blender to a fine powder)

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

12 oz. chocolate chips

1/2 8 oz. Hershey bar (grated)

1 1/2 cups chopped nuts (your choice)

Cream the butter and both sugars. Add eggs and vanilla; mix together with flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and soda. Add chocolate chips, Hershey bar and nuts. Roll into balls and place two inches apart on a cookie sheet..Bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees. Makes 56 cookies.. Have Fun!!!