Red Velvet Brownies with White Chocolate Brownies

Ugh. So my computer is dead once again. My sister is gracious enough to let me use hers here and there so I can check blogs and such things. Since I've been MIA for a little bit, I haven't gotten to show you guys what I have been making. Granted, I haven't taken too making pictures either=/ Oops. But bear with me here.

These brownies were OMG good. Really really good. Like eat half of the 8x8 pan in one evening good. But you should probably not do that. Do as I say, not as I do.

It calls for a white chocolate frosting which threw me a little because I'm used to the classic pairing of cream cheese frosting. But I trusted Jessica at How Sweet It Is (I mean who couldn't possibly trust her?). The brownies were soooo good. Raise-the-roof-swing-low-sweet-chariot good.

So I told you they were so good and that I had to eat so many, right? Well... I made a second batch. And doubled the recipe. And dyed them green. And made a cream cheese frosting for good ole time's sake! Holy yumm. Green for St. Paddy's day. (See how behind in my posting I am?) I brought the pan to school (or else you know I would have eaten then for breakfast, lunch, and dinner) and my friends helped me gobble them down. Although I will say that bringing your friends green my give you some strange looks. However, one bite will change their minds!

Red Velvet Brownies with White Chocolate Frosting
from How Sweet It Is

1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 tablespoons red food coloring
2/3 cups chocolate chips (optional, I omitted)

Preheat oven to 350.
Butter and flour an 8 x 8 cake pan.

In a small bowl, combine cocoa powder, red food coloring, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to create a paste.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, then add remaining teaspoon of vanilla. With the mixer on medium speed, add in cocoa powder mixture. Beat until batter is completely red. (If at this time your batter is NOT red, you can add a little more food coloring if desired. Color will depend on brand.) Add flour and salt, mixing until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

Spread in the 8 x 8 pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting.


White Chocolate Frosting
1 stick of butter, at room temperature
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 ounces white chocolate, melted
1-2 tablespoons milk (or more if needed)

Cream butter in an electric mixer until fluffy, then add vanilla. Slowly add in powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time with the mixer on low speed. Add in melted white chocolate and beat until incorporated. To reach desired consistency, add in milk 1 teaspoon at a time with mixer on low speed. If frosting becomes too liquidy, simple add additional sugar.

 Pretty blurry huh? Well you get the picture. See Jessica's blog for a drool-worthy post!

White Chocolate Brownies

These were to die for. So so so good. Obvi I'm not the biggest fan of chocolate. I've said it before and hopefully the shock factor has gone down at this point. But why can't I still find a way to enjoy brownies? When I saw this recipe I bookmarked it immediately and knew I had to try it!


Some comments about the recipe said it needed something throughout so that it wasn't just straight brownie. Another level of interest was needed, basically. Having that in mind, I added dark chocolate chips throughout. In the end, I don't think I needed the dark chocolate chips. As a white chocolate lover (nay, adorer) I could have handled just straight white chocolate brownie. And that's what I'll do next time, because yes, there will be a next time for these. The chocolate drizzle, however, may be more interesting to do instead. I opted out of it this time because I haven't had the easiest times with squeezing chocolate for a drizzle effect. But maybe next time. I loved how she baked it in a round pan as well. So I'd stick with that too.


White Chocolate Chunk Brownie Wedges
from Cookie Madness

Brownies:
4 oz butter (I used regular salted)
4 ounces white chocolate baking bar, chopped (Divided use)
2 large eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour (spoon and sweep)
2 oz semi-sweet chocolate, cut into chunks

Glaze:
1 ounce semisweet chocolate
2 teaspoons butter or margarine

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9 inch round metal cake pan with foil and spray foil with cooking spray.

Melt the butter and half (2 oz) of the white chocolate together in a heat proof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. Alternatively, you can melt the butter in the microwave, add the white chocolate to the hot melted butter, stir well then microwave at 30 second intervals until melted. Let cool slightly.

Combine eggs, salt and sugar in a mixing bowl and beat with a hand-held electric mixer for about 3 minutes or until lighter in color and slightly thicker. Add melted white chocolate mixture and vanilla and mix well, then gently stir in the flour. Fold in remaining 2 ounces white chopped chocolate plus the 2 oz of melted semi-sweet. Spread in prepared pan.

Bake for 23-28 minutes (mine took 28) or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 1 hour or until completely cooled.

In a heat proof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, melt glaze ingredients until smooth, stirring often. Drizzle over brownies or transfer to a freezer bag, snip off the tip, and squeeze over brownies. Let stand until set. Cut into 18 wedges.

White Chocolate Halloween Bark: 2 Ways

So far it's 1:15 and I'm still at my family party. We're going around the room playing a game we created.

Celebrity Name Game

Rules:

1) You must use the first letter of the last name of the previous player's answer.

2) If the first letter of the first name corresponds with the first letter of the last name, it will reverse to the previous player's turn (i.e.- Bob Barker). (Doing the Kardashian family made this pretty fun)

3) If the player is unable to come up with a name, they will receive an X. Three X's will result in expulsion from the game.

4) One name celebrities are allowed and result in skipping the next player's turn.

5) If the player needs help thinking of a name, they can ask for help and the other player will now be in possession of the game.

6) No fictional characters.

Oh man, we get wild.

This is our annual Halloween party and that means creative food for sure. I already knew my aunt was making a cheesecake and someone else was making cookies, so where do I go? Halloween is a great time of year for candy making, so I went with something I've never tried.

Of course I went with white chocolate bark as opposed to pure chocolate. It's still hard to imagine that I made a almost purely chocolate treat. A nd you know what? Bark is awesome. Just melt some chocolate and throw whatever the heck you want in it. It's classy meets sassy. It's such a ghetto dessert too. I guess bark is really anything you want it to be. Which is great. That's not to say bark easily conforms; far from it. Bark is a class all it's own. Okay, enough talk about bark and it's personality. Just go eat it.

White Chocolate Halloween Bark

Variation #1:

14 ounces white chocolate

Chopped up Oreos

Chopped up Kit Kats

Reese's Pieces

Variation #2:
14 ounces white chocolate
Chopped up Snickers
Toffee Bits
Nonpareil beads

Milk chocolate- for drizzling

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Place the white chocolate in a microwaveable bowl. Microwave the bowl in 30 second increments. Start with 1/4 the batch of white chocolate and add 1/4 after each 30 second "nuke". Stir until creamy.

3. Let the white chocolate cool for a minute or two. Stir to make sure it doesn’t harden. Pour the chocolate onto the baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread it with a spatula until it is about 3/8 inch thick.

4. Sprinkle your candy choices over the white chocolate.

5. Melt the milk chocolate in the microwave and drizzle over top.

6. Let the chocolate cool and harden. (Place in the refrigerator if necessary)
7. Once the chocolate is set and hard, break bark into pieces.


Which one did I like better... hmmm... It's so hard to pick! I really liked the oreo one, (because I'm OBSESSED with oreos), but the snickers toffee was soooo good too. It's a tie to be honest!


Oh, and this is me and the boyfff. Zeus and Hera anyone? I made him wear that smelly old beard and wig I found in a box in my attic. He''ll do anything to please me=) I didn't make him wear it the whole time. I'm nice like that hehe.

White Chocolate Raspberry Scones

My senior year of high school starts Monday. OMG. This is pretty exciting. I'm not gonna lie, I can't wait for school to start. But it's not like I haven't been popping into my school all summer. (I accidentally wrote "pooping" the first time.. whoops) I seem to end up there a couple times a week for various reasons. I hold a couple important positions at my school, and I like to keep involved and active. I'm yearbook editor, president of our Student Ambassador program, and I've been working along side our brand new principal to plan assemblies and dances and the like. As exciting as all this is, it's a lot of work. And I still have some summer assignments to complete first...


When the school year does roll around, it always means one thing. No more sleeping in. Yupp, wake up time for me is 6 AM to catch a 6:30 bus. In that fleeting 30 minutes, I need to get dressed, fix my face ;), do my hair, gather my books and bags (both school, volleyball, and any other after school activity attire), grab any last minute notes for the office, and oh yeah, eat breakfast. With a tight schedule in the wee hours of the morning, it's easy for me to want to skip breakfast. But this is something I do not advocate. I tried it for a while one the years, and I was miserable. Empty stomachs for 5 hours is no fun. So I always try my darnedest to at least have something.


What I've found, is that during my 50 minute ride to school (grrr.....) I have plenty of time for relaxed eating with no stress of missing the bus. However, there are some items you can't easily eat during a bumpy bus ride. (Though I did actually have cereal once or twice. It worked well the first time, but not so much the second... It was quickly put to an end.) I have found that yogurt messes, overnight oat messes, and baked goodies travel well, though=)!


I have then decided that I will put my freezer to use. I'm going to bake some lovely goodies and then freeze them so I can have quick and easy breakfasts for the bus ride! It's genius, yes? And there are so many breakfast treats out there I can't wait to try, and this will give me an excuse to make them=)


First up: Scones. What can be a better combination than raspberry and white chocolate?! I wanted some fresh fruitiness in them, as well as a little touch of decadence. That basically sums up this scone perfectly=)


I do think I should have made them a bit flatter to get a more even cook through, but these tasted amazing none the less. Now, I can't wait for school to start just so I can eat these!


White Chocolate Raspberry Scones
adapted from Noble Pig

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
1/4 cup plus
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 large egg yolk
1-1/2 cups fresh raspberries (6 ounces)

Preheat oven to 400o F. In a food processor, pulse together flour, 1/4 cup sugar, baking powder and salt. Add butter and pulse until pea-size pieces form. In a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk and egg yolk. Slowly pour buttermilk mixture through feed tube into processor, pulsing until dough just comes together.

Transfer dough to a slightly floured surface and sprinkle raspberries on top. Knead three times to fold in raspberries (my raspberries were mushy so they broke down, if yours are in good shape, they will stay intact). Gather and pat dough into a 1" thick rectangle and cut or pull apart into 2" pieces. Place pieces, about 2 inches apart on two parchment or silicone lined, rimmed baking sheets, sprinkling tops with 1 Tablespoon sugar.

Bake until golden brown, 15 to 18 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Let scones cool slightly on sheets on wire racks. Serve warm or at room temperature. (Store in an airtight container up to 1 day).

White Chocolate Fudge

I'm obsessed with fudge now! I made it for no reason one time, and now I can't get enough of it. I had some white chocolate chips in the house and decided to use the same recipe as my last endeavor, but minus the cookie dough.

It worked... kinda. I melted my chocolate beautifully, but we all know what the deal is with white chocolate, right? How it hardens in like 2 seconds flat?? Yeah I knew this too, but it slipped my mind... And good thing I didn't let my cream cheese reach room temp... So the second I pour my chocolate over the cold cream cheese... insta-harden. It was crazy how fast the chocolate turned back into a hardened mass. And silly me I though it would melt the cream cheese!

But I put it in the oven and let it melt back and all was well. Except there were still plenty of tiny whit chocolate clumps throughout. Grr... but it still tasted great. Even after freezing for hour, though, the white chocolate fudge wouldn't harden. Really? NOW you won't harden for me? Seriously? So cutting it into pieces was tricky. And sticky.

So I probably won't use this recipe again. But it's silly 'cause the fudge is actually quite delicious!! But, Idk, I feel like there's a better one out there, that doesn't have your white chocolate hardening and stuff. Let me know If you've got one!

White Chocolate Fudge

2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 8 oz. block of cream cheese
1 cup white chocolate chips, melted

Combine ingredients in a bowl. (Make sure your cream cheese is thoroughly room temp and mixed in. Your white chocolate will probably still harden, so have your oven ready. Put in bowl in the oven to remelt it all together.) Put in a 8 in pan with a buttered aluminum foil piece already in it. Freeze.