Saturday, June 16, 2012

Simply Saturday Not So Simple!

The Yank here. We're helping prep for a wedding picnic today... I love weddings. I eat, breathe and sleep weddings when I get the chance because they are the piece d'resistance or however you spell it of throwing a great party.

With a fire-breathing dragon monster bride watching over your shoulder.

But brides LOOK PRETTY and it's their SPECIAL, SPECIAL DAY so we cut them some slack.

One of our chores today is/are brownie trays. So the first two trays are in the oven, the famous peanut butter chip/peanut butter/chocolate fudge brownies we had HERE:

And a new kid in town. Raspberry chocolate brownies.

Rule #1:  NEVER EXPERIMENT WITH A NEW RECIPE FOR A WEDDING.

Oops.

Because I love breaking rules, and let's say that's a very good rule of thumb because no one wants wedding day blues tragedy, right???  But the shindig isn't until tomorrow, so consider this my practice batch, LOL! We know the peanut butter brownies are to-die-for amazing, so let's play with the raspberry chocolate fudge idea:

1 bag frozen raspberries
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
2/3 cup water





Thaw berries, mix with water. Mix cornstarch and sugar together thoroughly to avoid lumps. Heat raspberries. Stir in sugar/cornstarch mixture. Heat until boiling gently, stirring. Mixture will thicken once it boils. Remove from heat. Chill. This is basically raspberry pie filling and feel free to use any extra to top French Toast, pancakes, crepes, Angel food cake, etc.

Grease or spray bottom only of 13 x 9 baking pan.

Make single brownie mix for 13 X 9 pan according to directions. Spread about 1/2 of batter into your 13 x 9 pan.  Top with small spoons full of raspberry filling. Spread to coat bottom layer. Swirl Hershey's chocolate syrup over raspberries. Spread remaining batter over raspberries by dropping in spoons full and then spreading with knife. Be sure to lick knife. Delicious, right???





 Spread remaining batter over raspberries by dropping in spoons full and then spreading with knife. Be sure to lick knife. Delicious, right???  :)




Bake at 350 until done which is what I'm doing right now....

Oops, here they are!!!  Let's see what you think:



And then we're going to top them with raspberry buttercream icing. Now I'm not sure about that, I would have gone with chocolate fudge raspberry icing, but that's the chocoholic in me. Mandy voted pink buttercream (pink from the raspberry filling mixed in...) So we'll see. I set my timer for 28 minutes. They might need a little longer with the raspberry filling. Or I may burn them.

Which makes my day not so simple after all!!!

Oops, that upper left hand side is a little thin. If that corner is over-cooked, I cut it away and dispose of it by feeding it to small, unsuspecting children. They're short, and do not have anything akin to discriminating taste. Think "Homer Simpson"....

Okay, I'll pop back with a frosted pic later.

Here's the final pic of the raspberry frosted brownies... and oh my stars, they are melt-in-your-mouth delicious:


And here's a close-up of the frosting. I blended the raspberry pie filling with homemade fluffy buttercream icing to make the pink raspberry icing:

This is light, fluffy, sweet and pink! What a wonderful combination of factors!
The next batch I'm doubling up in a big pan, 1/2 straight brownie, 1/2 chocolate walnut brownie that will have broiled coconut frosting. I love broiled coconut frosting and I don't get too many chances to play with it, so I'm lovin' the thought of lickin' my fingers mid-day, LOL!  Ah... it's the little things in life, right????

And here's how they turned out:

Chocolate brownie with buttercream icing and cheerful sprinkles!

Chocolate brownie with coconut frosting. Caramelly-amazing-goodness!


Ruthy

17 comments:

  1. I'm drooling, Ruthy! I think I might just have to try these today before it gets too hot. I can freeze em, right? And have a nice cool sweet treat when the temps and humidity continue to climb this week. I can't believe you're still blogging while preparing for a wedding! You are superwoman...and guess what I get to kick back and enjoy this weekend????? It came in the mail on Thursday!!!! Wheeeeeeeee!

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  2. Oh my gosh, I'm so glad you got it! Mine isn't here yet so I have no idea how they edited it, but I love that they're publishing a Seeker article! Yeah, Journal!

    And yes, these brownies (most brownies, actually) freeze very well. I'm posting a pic now of the frosting and the final product for the picnic reception tomorrow.

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  3. I made a comment earlier and it disappeared. Homemade ice cream on those luscious brownies would probably be overkill.

    Love the idea of freezing them. Man O loves brownie sundaes but not the whole pan!

    Peace, Julie

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    Replies
    1. Hey, I freeze cookies, brownies and cake slices, all things I learned working in a commercial bakery. There is no loss of quality in any of those as long as it's a deep freeze (not the refrigerator freezer that gets opened 20 times a day) AND... If I make a treat like carrot cake, I will freeze a slice or two for those nights when I need to be naughty... and haven't baked a thing all week. It keeps me out of jail for killing people.

      And that's a good thing, right? ;)

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  4. Groaning here in Sodus, Wayne County, NY, Gained 20 lbs. just reading descriptions and looking at pics... I wouldn't have touched anything with peanut butter (now-infamous hives incident, of course--it was the peanut butter before bed Friday night, the nerves-all-a-flutter from meeting Ruthy on Saturday, or something altogether different), but that's how I always make brownies (take a mix, add it to the pan, then soften natural peanut butter in the microwave and drop globs of the pb onto the brownie batter and then swirl through; of course, I always saved some of the batter and pb for noshing on, and now our pastor's wife has run with my ages-old idea because she looooooooooooooooooooooooooves chocolate). Anyhoo, thanks for the virtual brownies. Yum! :)

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    Replies
    1. You are so welcome and I still feel guilty for giving you hives!!!

      But I blame the peanut butter. :)

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  5. Replies
    1. Thank you, Melissa! The raspberry version is melt-in-your-mouth deliciousness. So pretty darn good for a first try. My niece Mandy wants you all to know AGAIN that the raspberry buttercream frosting was her idea.

      :)

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  6. They dressed up right nice, Ruthy! Now I really can't wait to try them. And I never would have thought of rasberrying up the icing but I bet that's beyond yummy. And what a neat idea for a reception (having a picnic I mean).

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    Replies
    1. This couple had a destination wedding somewhere... so the bride's local family and friends couldn't be there. Mom and Dad wanted something here, and the bride wanted small and cozy, family-style, so they're doing catered Barbecue and our desserts.

      Should be lovely!

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  7. RUTHY! You're torturing me!!! These look amazing. I'll have to coerce my daughter to make some tonight!! Although they'll be plain. But I can live with plain at the moment if I can't make the frosting. :)

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    Replies
    1. Missy, plain is better than nothing, right? HUGE STEP UP.

      :)

      Tell that pretty daughter that she has my permission to throw just about anything she wants into brownie mix and it most often turns out supremely better.

      I love brownies. Just love 'em!

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  8. I'm simple - just bake the brownies and put them on the counter - pan and all - and they'll disappear. icing would just slow me down!
    Susanna

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    Replies
    1. HAHAHAHAHA! And Susanna, your way cuts 1/2 the calories, LOL!

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    2. wow so I could eat 2 pans! :-) Susanna

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  9. Okay, I'm drooling. Raspberries, chocolate, buttercream icing...what more could a girl ask for?

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    Replies
    1. I concur.

      And they were a big hit which made me SMILE....

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