I love to bake. To me, even using the term love is an understatement. I love that I can take all these ingredients; eggs, flour, sugar, butter and turn them into something absolutely delicious. I have such a huge sense of passion when I bake. Being covered from head to toe(and I do mean this literally, Daddy will back me up on this)in flour and other assorted ingredients just puts me in my happy place. Before I moved to Germany though, I didn’t do a lot of baking from scratch. I was actually terrified to bake from scratch. It seemed like this huge complicated process that I thought I couldn’t handle. Now, I’m wondering what I was so scared of. I don’t think twice about it anymore. I know I’m not the only one out there who has ever been terrified of baking from scratch and I want to help alleviate that fear for others. The first recipe I’m going to share with you is for brownies.
One of the things I love doing when I go to particular grocery stores is visit the American food section. This usually results in some tears because I start feeling a bit homesick but on the other hand, it’s a comfort to see familiar foods as well. This one particular day while Daddy and I were out, we stopped by a grocery store that had a small American foods section. My eyes instantly spotted a box of Duncan Hines brownie mix. I could almost feel the drool running from the corner of my mouth. I couldn’t remember the last time I had brownies. I picked up the box, looking at the instructions and completely enthralled by this item in my hand. Daddy noticed and asked me if I wanted the box of brownie mix. I was only seconds away from saying yes when I looked at the price. Eight Euros(That’s $9 USD). I instantly dropped the box as if it were on fire and stepped away. Eight Euros. That’s almost a fifth of my weekly grocery budget. There was NO WAY IN HELL I could justify spending that much money on a box of brownie mix. I told Daddy no. There was no way. He told me again if I really wanted it, then I could have it. I told Him no again. I got the look I always get when He’s being rather adamant about something and I keep telling Him no. I told Him I have the Internet and if I really want brownies, I can find a recipe for brownies.
And I found one. I have found an awesome one that everyone loves. And I mean everyone. I have taken these into my language course and was terrified that I was going to lose fingers because I couldn’t get my hand out of the way fast enough. You can do a lot of things with these brownies. I’ve added cherries, chocolate chips, cream cheese/jam mixture(recipe for that below), cookie bits, peanut butter, and nobody has ever been disappointed. I found this recipe here at allrecipes.com here.
Ingredients:
1 C Vegetable Oil or butter ½ C Unsweetened Cocoa 2 C Flour 2 C Sugar 4 tsp Vanilla 1 tsp Baking Powder 1 tsp Salt 4 Eggs
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 F(175 C) then grease a 9 x 13 baking pan. In a large bowl, beat the eggs and vegetable oil together until well blended. Combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt; stir into the egg mixture. Fold in walnuts or any other mix in if desired. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.
Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the brownies comes out clean. Allow to cool. Cut into squares.
The original recipe calls for 1 ½ cups oil, but after reading comments by others who made this recipe, I changed mine to only a cup of oil and also 1 tsp of salt instead of 1 ½ tsps of salt. After mixing everything, the batter is really dry so I add just a splash of milk to moisten the batter so it's easier to spread into the pan. I don't measure this but I'm guessing no more than a tablespoon of milk.
Now for that cream cheese/jam mixture I mentioned earlier, it’s easy as pie. You’ll want to mix this separately from the brownie mixture and swirl it in after you have the brownie mixture in the pan to get a nice marbled look.
Cream Cheese & Jam Mixture
Ingredients:
8 oz. softened cream cheese ⅓ C sugar ¼ C jam/jelly of choice 1 egg 3 Tbs flour ¼ tsp salt
Directions:
Mix all ingredients together and blend until just combined. Place spoonfuls of cream cheese mixture over the top of brownies and use a knife to gently mix in to get a nice marbled pattern. I hope you enjoy these brownies as much as I do. I suggest pairing these with a nice tall glass of cold milk or a warm mug of your favorite hot chocolate. If you do make these, please let me know how they turned out. I am looking forward to sharing my love of baking with you in future articles!
