Oreo Stuffed Bomb.com Brownies

As I was reading the 50billion food blogs I'm subscribed to, I ran across these brownies on Sing For Your Super. Oreo Stuffed. So simple, and yet so genius. Truth be told I'm more into the brownie batter than the actual brownies. In college I would often make brownies for my neighbors just because I loved licking the bowl. haha.

Back to the Oreo brownies. Once I saw them, I found myself thinking about them constantly. After about two weeks of brownie fantasies I whipped them up.

What's that, a regular brownie?

 Oreo Stuffed Brownies
recipe from Sing For Your Supper


2 sticks unsalted butter
2 1/4 c sugar
4 eggs
1 1/4 c cocoa powder
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tbs vanilla extract
1 1/2 c flour
1 c chocolate chips
1 pkg double stuffed Oreo's (if we're being honest, they are the only ones that matter)

• preheat oven to 350 and Pam a 9x13 pan.
• in a medium bowl microwave to melt the butter, add the sugar, and stir. Microwave a little longer until hot. It should become shiny looking as you stir. Heat once more because this will help create a shiny top crust on the brownies.
• Beat the eggs, cocoa, salt, baking powder, and vanilla until smooth. Add the hot butter/sugar mixture and stir until smooth. Finally, add the flour and chocolate chips (one cup, not the whole bag...not that I would do that on accident...) and stir until smooth.
• Spoon half of the batter into the pan. Next, create your Oreo layer by lining as many as you can on top of the batter layer. Finish it off with the final batter layer. If necessary, spread the batter to the edges and around the oreos. Bake for 34-50 minutes, or until you get a clean toothpick (duh!). 
• Cool before serving. Or serve warm with a side of ice cream. Whatever floats your brownie boat!

Surprise! It's stuffed with Oreo's!

B loved them so much that she opted to leave them at home instead of sharing with the boys at work (they were sorely disappointed). I did take a few to my co-workers and I'm pretty sure it was like a party in their mouths when they took a bite. Basically, they loved them!

WTF, Cupcake?

I must confess, I love box cake mix. When my birthday would come around, I would always request that my mom skip the bakery and just whip me up a chocolate box mix cake. My fave. Like for real, yo. I am wanting to whip one up just thinking about it!

Anyway, although I love my cake mix, I feel like I should be more legit and make them from scratch. In my first attempt I ended up karate chopping it and turning it into cake balls (you can read about that here). I finally felt healed from that experience and was ready to give it another go. I made the You Rock Cupcakes from 100 Recipes Every Woman Should Know.

You Rock Cupcakes
makes 18 cupcakes

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 c whole milk
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 sticks unsalted butter, softened (10 tbs)
• 1 1/4 c sugar
• 3 large eggs

1. To start, preheat oven to 350 and put liners in pan.
2. In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
3. In a different medium bowl mix together the milk and vanilla.
4. In a large bowl beat the butter and sugar until fluffy with an electric mixer on medium, about 5 min.
5. Beat in the eggs one at a time until smooth and evenly mixed.
6. with the mixer on low alternate adding the flour and milk mixture (2 batches each) until just combined (don't over mix!).
7. separate into the 18 cups and bake for 20-24 min, or until you have a clean toothpick.
8. Set on cooling wracks and remove once completely cool, then remove and frost!

Wilton Buttercream Icing

• 1c solid white vegetable shortening (not crisco brand!)
• 1 tsp Wilton Flavor (Vanilla, Almond, or Butter...or you could use 1tsp of each like me!)
• 2 tbs water (add more to thin it out to your preference)
• 1lb (4 c) powdered sugar
• 1 tbs Meringue Powder

Mix all wet ingredients (shortening, flavor, water). Then slowly add in dry ingredients. Blend until creamy.

I took some to work and sent some with B. The reviews were good, but I'm just not loving it. Maybe if I had followed step 5 with the eggs correctly it would have made a difference? I don't know. I felt that they were too dense and maybe not sweet enough? Even though they were a hit, I'm continuing the search for a recipe that I will love as much as funfetti box mix.

The icing was a whole other situation. I have made buttercream tons of times (literally tons of times), and it's always perfect. This time it tasted the same, but the texture was off. Maybe I was having a Mandy Moore moment from the movie Because I Said So. Who knows. Someone said it's because I'm a perfectionist so I just need to relax. Anyway, my taste testers enjoyed it, so you should give it a try too.

Do you have a favorite vanilla/white cake recipe? Please share!!!

Dinner For One...kill me

Ugh. Honestly, I don't cook as much as I used to because it's just not gratifying to cook for myself. I'm working on it, but it's a lot of work that I don't always appreciate.

I have started baking again, and that's been successful, I guess. I used to bake stuff for Daniel, but since that's obviously no longer happening, I have a new wife to send sweets with! (love you B!). Anyway, I say I guess because I feel that some of the recipes need improvement, but then again it's hard for me to gage the tastiness of something I don't like to begin with. For example, red velvet cake. I don't hate it, but I don't like. I just can't. blah. I made it anyway, and B said that it was a hit at work! Fan-freaking-tastic! I'm not even going to share the recipe because I feel that it could be improved...but here's a peek at it.

P.S. this cake was freaking heavy! It completely smashed the cream cheese icing between the two layers. I didn't think B was going to be able to handle it.

I also made some Butterscotch Chocolate Rice Krispy treats. They were good, but I'm going to switch up the recipe before I share it, so stay tuned!

This week I sent B to work with those delicious mini cherry cheese cakes that I previously posted about. Luckily they were also a hit! Not that I ever doubted it since it's a recipe from grandma.

Back to the title...

Tonight I cooked myself dinner. And it.was.awesome!

Fried Chicken

I didn't measure anything, I just 'eye-balled' it. good luck!

• milk
• flour seasoned with salt and pepper
• chicken breast
• veg oil

Heat vegetable oil over medium heat. Dip chicken in milk, flour, milk again, flour again, then carefully place in the hot oil. each side about 4 min? Honestly, I don't know. Just watch it until it browns.

Grilled Veggies

• vegetables (I used zucchini, squash, and asparagus)
• salt
• pepper
• garlic powder
• olive oil

Just toss veggies, oil, and seasoning in a bowl, then lay out on the grill (or in my case the grill pan) about 4 min on each side.

I was also in the mood for fries (I prefer the sweet potato variety, but I was out).

Truffle Potato Wedges? Fries? Slices? Whatever.

• Potato
• Olive Oil
• Pepper
• Truffle Salt

Preheat oven to 450, cover baking sheet with foil, spray with Pam.

Slice and dice that potato, toss with olive oil, pepper, and truffle salt. Lay out on baking sheet. Cook for 20 min, turn, then 20 more min. Eat.

Why yes, I do like to roll my cookies in crack...

We had recipe club two weeks in a row! This week we had pizza and Mandy and I each brought dessert.

It was a great excuse to get together so we could see the progress on Mandy's house and finally have all of the OG's together again. Super glad I got to see Tech Mandy because it had been forever!

We had a blast, and Jess and I got to show the girls the sweet moves we had learned in our Define workout class. I think they totally thought we were making it up with all of the invisible high heels, pelvic thrusting, hip circles, and dropping it like it's hot. But it was no joke. I think we are def going to be the all stars at our Pole La Teaz class next month! haha.

Anyway, I had run across a recipe for Muddy Buddy Cookies on Sugarcrafter's blog months ago and thought this would be a good time to give it a go. This was my first time baking in the new kitchen so there were some minor complications...like when I forgot where I put the cooling racks and managed to drop half of my cookies...

Here you go:

Please excuse the picture quality...this is from my droid.
P.S. don't they kinda look like reindeer poop?

Muddy Buddy Cookies...aka Reindeer Poop

• 1 stick of butter
• 2 bags of chocolate chips
• 1 tsp vanilla extract 
• powdered sugar
• peanut butter cookies

1. make peanut butter cookies. Since this was a week night, I cheated and used some slice and bake ones I had in the freezer. Once done, stick in the fridge to speed the cooling process.

2. Melt butter.

3. add chocolate chips and melt. I would suggest doing this on 30 second intervals (I did it in 1 min and think I burnt the chocolate a bit).

4. add vanilla extract.

5. dunk cookies in chocolate mixture then dunk in powdered sugar. Set to dry.

6. enjoy...probably with milk.

These were a hit at recipe klub and work the next day. I did enjoy them, as muddy buddies is one of my fave things, but will try a variation next time...stay tuned.

p.s. If you feel that your chocolate is too thick, add more butter. but be careful because a little butter goes a long way. I may have Paula Deaned mine a little bit. oops!

Recipe Klub

B and I moved into our new place, BJ House, last week and as our first order of business we decided to resurrect Recipe Klub.

Recipe Klub was first founded In October 2010 by B. She totally recipe jacked me, but I didn't mind since I was invited. Whatevs. This is also when our Noah's Ark of friendship began to form. FYI: if your name doesn't match one of ours, than you aren't invited. It's harsh but true. This is a very exclusive club.

After the first meeting we were lazy and ended up just ordering in pizza. Well not anymore, except for that one time tomorrow....

Anyway....we decided to just go with appetizers. B whipped up some quick queso and guacamole. I put some new recipes to the test and made  Crispy Parmesan Asparagus Sticks. They were absolutely delicious! I def plan on making these again, and soon. I have yet to master getting the crispy to stick as well as How Sweet Treats did, but they were still delicious!

I also made Roasted Ricotta Roma Tomatoes. For the most part they were a hit...but I didn't care much for them (I just couldn't handle the texture of the ricotta). I think next time I will make them mini sized with grape tomatoes...I'll update when that happens.

JDef showed up with cupcakes so she has now reached rKlub VIP status...don't tell the other girls.