Chocolate brownie cookies.

It's no secret that I love brownies. I'd like to say that this obsession started when I was a little girl, but when I was little, I didn't like chocolate.
 I don't remember when I decided that brownies were my favourite chocolate thing, but they are. Brent loves them, too (we're so compatible!). There are not many things that he requests that I make. But brownies are one of them.

Unfortunately for him, he works all day and I'm on holidays. At home. On the couch. Watching Buffy and reading lots and lots of books. So he didn't get to eat many of these delicious, chewy cookies.



These cookies are exactly like a brownie. I'd even go so far as saying that I like them better. They're my new favourite thing. They're chewy and soft in the middle and crispy and cracked on the top and around the edge. I actually thought they were a bit sweet though. Weird. A half cup is the proper amount of sugar to use, but if you, like me, prefer your cookies a bit less sweet, you can reduce the sugar.

I knew even before I made them that they would be great. So I only made half a batch - the amount that I've given you. But if you think that you have more self control around delicious, chewy, chocolatey things than I do, go ahead and make a whole batch.

I dare you.



Brownie Cookies.
Adapted from Joy The Baker
Makes about 12 cookies.

120g dark chocolate, chopped
1 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4-1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp instant coffee
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup plain flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
optional: 2 rows dark chocolate chopped small, or 1/2 cup choc chips

Melt the chocolate and butter in a metal bowl set over simmering water.
In a large bowl, beat the sugar and egg with a spoon until frothy.
Pour in the chocolate, and stir in the rest of the ingredients.
Fold in the chopped chocolate, if using.
Stick the bowl in the freezer for 10 mins (in the meantime, you can wash the dishes. You probably should do this before the cookies are done and you sit down to eat them all).
Preheat oven to 170C and line 2 baking trays.
Take the bowl out of the freezer and scoop tbsp sized balls onto the trays. Don't put the cookies too close together, they'll spread as they cook. Leave the dough in little balls, don't press it down.
Bake the cookies for 11-12 minutes, until cracked on the top and set in the middle. You want the cookies to be quite soft still, like a brownie.
Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool slightly before putting into your mouth.

Milo Brownies.

Looks like it's carb week around here (Mum, I promise I've been eating my fruit and veggies!). But sometimes I just need to eat something sweet and chocolatey and chewy (it looks like this happens...about once a month?). And I know I've posted a lot of brownie recipes, but that's because when I make them, I like to try out different recipe. This month, let's try milo brownies.

And you may be wondering why there are no photos on this post. That's because we ate the whole tin before I thought about taking any. We didn't mean too, promise. But when I turned back around, the tray was empty. Brent had eaten them all. I guess they were good, but you'll just have to take our word for it. They didn' taste overly like milo, which I was a bit sad about. Next time I think I'll put in more milo and less sugar. And maybe some wholewheat flour, just for substance.

But in the meantime, I'll leave you with this picture of Rooney inside the washing machine.

Milo Brownies.
The recipe is from Good Housekeeping, but I adapted it quite a lot. Basically I just used it as a meaurement guide.


80g butter
1/2 cup flour (plain or wholewheat)
1/2 cup milo
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4-1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsps vanilla

Preheat oven to 170C. Grease a non-stick loaf pan.
Melt the butter in a medium sauce-pan.
Add all the other ingredients and stir to combine.
Pour into the loaf tin.
Bake for 7-10 mins. I like my brownies to by quite gooey and underdone, so I don't bake them for very long, but they could be cooked quite well, too.
There's no need to let them cool. Just eat them straight out of the tin.

Something Tasty.

I guess it's been pretty quiet around here lately. But I've been doing things, ok? Not anything important, just things. And if we're being honest (and really, why wouldn't we be?), I miss posting when I'm not here. But I usually get all my kitchen inspiration on my days off, and since Christmas, I haven't had any days off. I've been doing things all the time (gosh, that makes me sound so popular!). Even though I've still been looking at recipes - and obviously I've still been making dinner for us everyday so that we don't get too thin - I just haven't had that real surge of inspiration to do any serious cooking.

So that's it. That's my story.

Except it isn't the end of the story, because today I had my first proper day off. And I decided to treat myself by making Something Tasty. Today's Something Tasty comes courtesy of the Smitten Kitchen, and is, by all accounts, a fitting title.

So here you have it: Cheesecake Brownies. They are sweet, but not too sweet; they are fancy, but not too fancy; and also, they're easy. So treat yourself. Think of it as a present from me to you. Don't worry, you can thank me later... (p.s. Forgive my bad photo, I ate all the brownies before I could take another photo. That's how good they are)

Cheesecake Brownie Recipe.
From Smitten Kitchen

When the recipe calls for the cream cheese to be "well softened" please try to do this, or your brownies will look sludgy (and delicious) like mine did. They'll still taste good, but you won't have a nice clean cheesecake layer, you'll just have chunks of cheesecakey bits throughout.

4 ounces unsalted butter, chopped
3 ounces dark chocolate (I used chips)
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2/3 cup plain flour

8 ounces cream cheese, well softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg yolk
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 175C.
Line and grease an 8-inch square baking pan.
Melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler until just melted.
Remove from heat. Stir in sugar, eggs, vanilla, and a pinch of salt until combined.
Whisk in flour until just combined and pour into pan.

Whisk together cream cheese, sugar, egg yolk and vanilla in a small bowl until smooth.
Dollop over brownie batter, then swirl in with a butter knife.

Bake about 35 mins.

I think these brownies were better cold than they were warm, but you better try both, just to check.

[This song has nothing to do with brownies, but I saw Amanda Palmer play this song the other day at a festival, and she's amazing, and I do live in Tasmania, so it's totally relevant.]

Peanut brownies.

Sometimes I wish I didn't sleep so well. Just so that I had a reason - an excuse - for staying up indecently late and baking things. I never do though. I always bake at a reasonable hour. 3pm: There I am, mixing something or other in the kitchen. Actually, usually any time during the day I could be busily doing something else, and then it starts to creep up on me, The Urge To Bake Something. It's like somebody whispering in your ear. Subliminal messages just like 1984. 
I don't resist the pull though, I flow freely with the tide like a piece of driftwood. The call is always different: Brownies. Biscuits. Even savoury things. But the feeling is always the same: that indescribable need to be mixing, stirring, baking. To make something delicious and pretty out of a lump of dough.
And so I go with it. I follow my gut instincts and make whatever the moment calls for. I relish these times.

Just so you know, these are not Peanut Butter Brownies, just delicious, chewy, Chocolatey Brownies With Peanuts. This is different to the other brownie recipe that I posted, as this has melted chocolate and cocoa, rather than cocoa with chocolate chunks in it.

Recipe:
Adapted from "Sweet Food"

Makes about 16.
Oven 180C.

125g dark chocolate, melted
90g butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2/3 cup plain flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2/3 cup salted peanuts, chopped.

Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each.
Stir in the melted chocolate.
Fold in the dry ingredients, followed by the peanuts.
Spoon into a lined square tin and bake for 30-35 mins or until done.
Cool before cutting and eating (the nuts taste better when they're cold, rather than when they're still a bit warm, so try and wait before eating them).

Chunky Brownies & Madness.

I've got a confession to make.

I wasn't studying when I said I was. I wasn't even busy.

The truth is, I've been watching Mad Men. I'm sorry. I just got so tied up watching Joan, Peggy, Betty and all the boys, that I didn't want to be disturbed. Also, I'm a little bit behind the times. Mad Men has been out for ages and I've only just discovered it. (And Brent likes it too! Win).
And I know that the girls of Mad Men wouldn't eat brownies, because they'll make you 'stout', and if you're stout, then you'll never find a man. But honestly, I'm halfway to stout now, and I've already got a man, so I may as well keep eating brownies.

I looked at lots of brownie recipes before I decided on this one. I didn't want a recipe that was too fancy, and I didn't want a recipe that had lots of chocolate in it, because I didn't have very much and I didn't want to stop watching Mad Men to walk to the shop.

The recipe that I decided on, one by Stephanie Alexander, fitted the bill perfectly. I halved the recipe (because I don't want to get too stout), and I made the whole thing in one bowl. Or rather, one saucepan.
First you melt the butter, and then you mix all the other ingredients in, one by one. These brownies are fudgy and richly decadent (the photo doesn't really do them justice). You can use all plain flour, or all whole wheat flour, or half and half. I've made them all and they are all delicious. If you make the full recipe and bake it in a small tin, you get big fat squares of brownie that are hard to fit in your mouth, but taste extra fudgy (If you do this, you'll have to bake the brownies for an extra 5-10 mins. Remember: the smaller the tin, the longer the baking time.) But if you bake the brownies in a bigger tin, you get good, regular sized brownies, they just don't seem to be quite so fudgy. Whatever you choose, be sure to be richly rewarded for such little work.

This recipe reminds me of one that I used to make with my best friend in high school, Courtney. Courtney lived up the road from me, and we used to make brownies at one of our houses, leave all the mess, then walk to the other person's house to watch movies and eat brownies (Usually we'd watch the movie Camp. Did you ever see that? It's pretty good).

So go on, eat some brownies, watch some Mad Men, and think about high school a little bit (but not too much).

Recipe:
Adapted from Stephanie Alexander's 'The Cooks Companion'.
Here is the full recipe, but halve it, like I did, if you like.
Oven - 160C

180g butter
3/4 cup cocoa
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
4 eggs
100g plain flour or whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1 cup choc chips
1/2 cup chopped nuts (I used hazelnuts)
pinch of salt

Melt butter in a saucepan. Add cocoa, sugar and vanilla and stir. Then add the eggs.
Add everything else, stir, and pour into a lined baking tin.
(Remember, the smaller the tin, the longer the cooking time).
Bake 20-25 mins, until cooked but still a bit gooey.
If you can, wait until the brownies are cooled before cutting them.