Sad Brownies, and a hello

Hey there. A lovely mama friend of mine suggested I might blog all the baking adventures I rattle on about on facebook, so here I go. Because I always meant to blog about my daughter, and I can't not talk about her 100 times a day anyhow, there will be plenty of Stella here too. I hope someday I can document us in the kitchen together. I have a tiny apron at the ready (just kidding about that, although etsy tempts me on a daily basis).

I love being able to stay home with Stella, but when the weather and a lack of a second car left us basically housebound this winter, I found myself in desperate need of something to keep me from going stir-crazy. I have a bad habit of getting very excited about a new hobby, then losing interest almost immediately. See also: knitting, BPAL. I've always liked to bake but never ventured far beyond cupcakes from a mix and Christmas cookies. Because I was craving sugar like mad (an unfortunate side effect of nursing), baking seemed like a great idea for a new hobby! My fat ass might disagree but for now, it's keeping me occupied and the husband and housemates happy.

Moving on - today's project was brownies from scratch. I think boxed mix brownies are actually pretty awesome, but I recently bought some cocoa powder with a more involved recipe in mind, and thought I'd put it to use in something easy today: Hershey's (alleged) Best Brownies. I doubled the batch, reducing the sugar in each by 1/4 cup (as I usually do to no ill effect) and frosted one batch, leaving the other plain.

Have you ever seen a sadder brownie?

The results are pretty bleh. I mean, I'm sure we'll choke them down...but I won't make them again. The tops are dry and the texture is too cakey. Aside from the reduction in sugar, I followed the recipe as written and baked them until a toothpick came out only very slightly wet (so they shouldn't be overdone). If I'm feeling froggy someday I might seek out a brownie recipe that calls for baker's chocolate rather than cocoa powder, but I think this is one case in which I might stick to the mix when a craving hits. Kroger has yet to fail me.

As for the tiny terror, Stella is working extremely hard on learning how to crawl, which has resulted in several faceplants and bumps on the head today. Her 9 month well-baby checkup is tomorrow, so I'll be sure to update with her current stats. I do know she is LONG and lifting her 100 times a day is providing me with both a cardio and strength-training workout. Here she is in her new favorite hiding spot, under our ugly couch!

 

 Cutest hellspawn ever

Until next time - 

Bonnie