BROWNIES : GUILT BY ASSOCIATION

I have faithfully been making these brownies off the side of the Frys cocoa tin for several years now and I'd never really bothered to change up the recipe very much - why fix what is decidedly un-broken? However last night I decided to make things a little more interesting...with whole hazelnuts and way too much time on my hands, the kitchen was my oyster. Even if I dont like oysters.

1 1/3 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. butter
1 c. cocoa
2 c. sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
preferred nuts

Prehead your oven to 350. OR DIE TRYING.

I. Stir together flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Meanwhile, melt butter in a large saucepan.
II. When liquid, remove from heat and add cocoa. Mix untill no lumps remain. Stir in sugar and eggs, one at a time. (I don't know what it was, but 4 eggs seemed somehow rediculous so I substituted the last egg for an egg-sized lump of apple sauce. It occured to me later that I could have done that instead of the TWO CUPS of sugar, but genius is a lazy bitch.)
III. Add the vanilla and pour into the flour mix, bit by bit so you don't get those dreaded flour-pockets at the bottom. Pour into a pan and toss in whatever nuts you desire. Mix about and then bake for ~40 minutes.
(Check it at 30. For some reason I put them in for 25 the first time around and it actually jiggled when I picked up the pan, so I sent it back for another 15. They were crunchy around the edges but still gooey and sticky on the bottoms. That's more like it.)

ps. I also ended up making a video about them on YouTube. You can check it out here.
-->http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKY0K3SOJKM

Who put the crack in my Extraordinary Cheese Dip?

Is it just me or is everyone else having a hard time resisting this one? I swear, I've made it probably around 6 times since that last Epicure party and that's a bit excessive I'm thinking. I made it last night in some of my medium sized ramekins (because my casserole dish has beef stew in it). I left it in for the usual amount of time which was technically a mistake because you have to adjust for shorter cooking times when you change the size of the cookware but O... M... G... The sides and bottom caramelized a bit and had this lovely smoky cheese flavour beyond what it usually does. Yay mistakes!

We're going to have to pin Dayna down and make her tell us which ingredient has the crack hidden in it. I'm thinking that it's the Bacon, Cheese and Chive Dip mix but then again, the Lemon Dilly jar is almost empty...

Extraordinary Cheese Dip

I know that we've made this, most of us have tasted it, some of us have tasted it at 3:30 in the morning because we couldn't resist its siren call. I keep losing the pieces of paper that I have it written on and I can only ask Erin for another copy so many times before I start to feel like a complete knob.

250 g spreadable cream cheese
1/2 c grated cheddar
1/2 c grated mozzarella
1 c mayo
1 t VE Cheese, Chives & Bacon dip mix
1 t VE Lemon Dilly dip mix
1 t VE 3 Onion dip mix
1 or 2 rounds of sourdough bread (or see the Wheat Snackers recommendation from March)

Combine all of the dip stuff until well blended. You can bake it at 350F for about 20 minutes or so in the sourdough loaf but I just use an ungreased casserole dish. I'm thinking of trying a mold to see if it will hold its shape next time because that would be really cool to see.

Coconut Macaroons

I love these, I love them crispy, chewy, cold, melt-y, dense or airy. I love them any way. It's also one of the few cookie recipes that I've read that actually yields as many as it says it will. It's from the KitchenAide stand mixer cookbook and it's an all day event because you bake them for a longer time at a lower temperature.

4 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar (what exactly is this stuff anyway)
1 1/4 c superfine sugar (I ran table sugar through the food processor for a couple of minutes before I measured it (I read that in a bourgie cookbook once))
1 tsp lemon juice or white wine vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups dessicated coconut (doesn't it sound like it's been mummified?)

Whip egg whites on Speed 4 till frothy. Add cream of tartar and whip at 10 till stiff peaks form. Whisking continuously, add the sugar 2 T at a time, beating well after each addition (I don't know why, but I follow this to the letter. I've never once even been tempted to dump the sugar in all at once and see what happens... weird.) Mixture should be very stiff and shiny.

Sprinkle lemon juice, vanilla and coconut over top and whisk in at Speed 4 for a few seconds or just mixed.

Drop heaping T onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. Leave some room for spreading. Bake for 30 to 35 at 300F until golden and still slightly soft inside. Let stand 5 minutes on pan and then cool on rack. Store in an airtight container.

That's one thing that I do differently sometimes. I have baked them straight on a cookie sheet, no parchment and I didn't mind them. They were hell to get off the sheet though and you can't grease them because it affects the meringue.

Yummy

The Bisquick Chronicles

I've given this one verbally to Erin over the phone at least once so I thought that this would be a good day to add it to the file. Plus, that's what we had for supper.

Pizza Casserole (6-ish)

3 1/3 c Bisquick
1 c milk
2 small cans or one large-ish jar of pizza sauce
2 c grated mozzarella
whatever pizza toppings you be cravin'

Mix the milk and Bisquick in a bowl. Spray a 9" x 13" casserole dish with baking spray (I'm using my Epicure oil atomizer for this). Drop 1/2 of the Bisquick dough by the spoonful across the bottom of the dish (it won't cover it). Spoon half of the pizza sauce haphazardly over that. Sprinkle half of your toppings and then half of your cheese. Repeat the layers and bake at 425F for 20-25 minutes. Yummy.

This is even better for breakfast the next day. What?!! Everyone eats pizza for breakfast at some point in their life! According to the Great Wiki, Bisquick has transfats but not cholesterol. I'm not a big fan of the transfats so maybe someone's tried their own pre-mixed baking stuff and can post the recipe? I had a great one back in Ottawa oh so many years ago but not any more.