Friday, February 17, 2012

Dark Chocolate Brownies to Celebrate 4 Years of Blogging!

Guess what today is?  Four years ago I started this blog!  I know, I can’t believe it either!  It’s certainly been real and it’s been fun.  There’s no stopping me now! ;)

Dark Chocolate Brownies with Walnuts

I made brownies as celebration!  I’ve decided there are two simple treats that I like more than any other—and I’ll bet you’ll never guess what they are—good ol’ chocolate chip cookies—and they have to be good, like my favorite chocolate chip cookies (which are my adaptation of the Jaques Torres/NY Times cookies) and the other favorite is brownies.

I have stuck with my adaptation of this favorite brownie recipe for a couple years now.  Whenever I come up with a new brownies, I use the basics of this recipe.  It’s simple and only used a few ingredients.  I’m always surprised how fudgy it is because the only chocolate is from cocoa powder!  I have made these brownies with caramel and pecans added for a Turtle Brownie as well as with a layer of coconut and sometimes almonds for a Mounds or Almond Joy Brownie.  In my first link for “favorite brownie recipe”, which was the Tuesdays With Dorie Tribute to Katharine Hepburn brownies, I made them four times, four different ways for that TWD post! 

What am I getting at?  Well, I tried another recipe—and I’m tempted to say it might dethrone the other favorite!  I suppose these aren’t the same as my other favorites, since they have melted dark chocolate and more flour, but I do plan to do a side-by-side comparison—you know, just to find out for sure which we like better.  For these brownies I adapted a recipe found at the Nestle’s website, Very Best Baking.  The only real difference I made to the recipe is that I used different chocolate than the recipe called for.  Of course, their recipe suggested using Nestle’s Dark Choc0late Morsels, but I didn’t have those and I always have my favorites, Ghirardelli’s 60% Cacao Dark Chocolate Chips.  So that is what I used.  You could probably use any brand of your favorite chocolate.  Here’s my version of the recipe.

Dark Chocolate Brownies, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1  2/3 cups Ghirardelli 60% Cacao dark chocolate chips, divided use

1 cup granulated sugar (200 grams)

1/3 cup unsalted butter

2 tablespoons water

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup all purpose flour (150 grams)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup toasted, chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Line an 8 x 8 inch baking pan with non-stick foil, so that some hangs over the edges.  Lightly spray with cooking spray.

Heat in a medium sized saucepan 1  1/3 cups of the chocolate, sugar, water, and butter on low heat until all melted and combined.  Remove from heat and pour into a medium sized bowl.  After about five minutes rest time, add the eggs one at a time, whisking well after each to combine.  Add the vanilla and combine.  Add the flour and salt and stir with a spatula until just combined.  Add the toasted, chopped walnuts  and the 1/3 cup extra chocolate chips to the batter and stir to combine.  Pour into the baking pan and spread evenly.  Bake for 35-40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean.

Cool completely on wire rack.  Remove brownies from pan using the foil edges.  Peel off the foil and cut into desired sized bars on a cutting board. 

Dark Chocolate Brownies

This picture is the brownies right after they’d just cooled enough and I didn’t chill them in the refrigerator, as I do with other brownies.  Kevin thought they could have baked a couple more minutes (I baked them 35 minutes).  But I think they were prefect!  It will be fun to try these again with other add-ins and see if they compare to my other favorites that seem to work so well with any kinds of additions.

Four years—still can’t really believe it!  I started my blog just thinking I was going to keep my family and friends up-to-date with the boys.  I’ve said it before, I just put some cake pictures of Sam’s first birthday party on here and then for some reason my favorite cinnamon rolls.  Next thing I knew, this whole wonderful world of food blogging opened up before my eyes.  I often say that baking and sharing and blogging are my sanity—which with this house full of boys I often find necessary!   Keeps them fed and me sane.  Sounds like a good combination. ;)  And here I am, four years later with just noticing yesterday that I now have 400 followers on my blog and 200 “likers” on Facebook.  I’m part of a couple of food forums that I often find some of the people as my best friends and favorite people on earth!  Sure hope to be baking and sharing and food blogging for another four—plus!—years!  Catch ya soon!  And thanks for sticking with me!

45 comments:

Cheri Sicard said...

Big time Congratulations on your 4 year anniversary. What an accomplishment. Woo hoo!

Sue @ Cakeballs, cookies and more said...

Happy anniversary, four years is huge! And those brownies look amazing, all you stuff does!

Jennifer said...

Congratulations! I'm glad you've stuck with it, I always enjoy reading your blog and trying your recipes. In fact, just last night I made the LD Cosmic Brownie clone. These brownies look really good, too.

Judee @ Gluten Free A-Z said...

Congratulations. You have a great blog and I know that it takes quite a committment.

Cristine said...

Congrats on 4 years...love your blog!

Anonymous said...

congrats on your 4 years!!! the brownies look wonderful - yum - bet the boys loved them!
Mary x

Unknown said...

Congratulations on 4 years of blogging, that's fantastic! And what better way to celebrate than with brownies?? :)

mr. pineapple man said...

Happy 4 years! Share with us ur delicious brownies ;)

White Toast with Butter said...

Those look fantastic! Happy 4 years of blogging.

Amber | Bluebonnets and Brownies said...

Congratulations! Those are some fudgey looking brownies, my friend.

Prudence Pennywise said...

Katrina,
Congrats and thanks so much for sharing your recipes and your life with your readers. xoxoxo

Lisa Ernst said...

Congratulations on four years! I remember the first post I saw on your blog was for Sam's 1 year birthday party. I thought he was the cutest kid I'd ever seen. :-) These celebration brownies look awesome, so rich and dense. As you know, I'm in complete agreement about the two favorite treats.

Kayte said...

Happy Anniversary. Of course, I don't believe that Parker and I got to vote on the recipe for the day, but that's okay as it's your day! So happy you are out there blogging. For selfish reasons, of course...I would miss you if you weren't. xo

Shumaila said...

Congratulations on 4 Years! :)
Those brownies look delicious!

Barbara Bakes said...

Congratulations on four fabulous years. These brownies look like a great way to celebrate.

Deb said...

Happy, happy anniversary to you! I'm glad you are blogging I have tried some good recipes and salivated over many others because of you.

Megan's Cookin' said...

Happy blogaversary Katrina!!! Those brownies look perfect to me and a great way to celebrate. Love me a good fudgy brownie!
Love following along with you and the family and you always amaze me with what you got cookin' up. Here's to another 4+ years. :)

dena said...

Visiting for the first time from SRC. Your blog looks terrific! Congrats on your 4th anniversary of blogging!

Unknown said...

Congratulations on 4 years! I live about 15 miles away from the home of Little Debbies and have eaten many a fudge round. Can't wait to make them at home though!

Fallon said...

That is awesome. I can't believe its been four years! I think I've been reading your blog for about 3 of them so far and still one of my favorites!

Katrina said...

Thank you, Everyone!

Nancy said...

Happy 4 Year Anniversary!! Started reading your blog back when I also lived in KS! Now we both live somewhere else. Great brownies...love to read your blog.

Veronica Miller said...

Happy blogoversary! Wow, 4 years seems like a long time! Brownies are the perfect celebration treat. The only thing that would make it better is if you shared with us! :) I love how fudgy they look.

Amalia said...

Wow, congratulations on 4 years of blogging, that's such a huge accomplishment! And what a way to celebrate, these brownies look so fudgy and moist! Can't wait to see what your blog has in store for the future :) Hope you have a wonderful upcoming year!

Amy said...

Happy Anniversary! What a wonderful way to celebrate with something so decadent! I love dark chocolate and your brownies sounds perfect! I love your recipes and your post. Keep up the wonderful work and I look forward to reading your future posts. Have a beautiful weekend.

Im At Home Baking said...

Happy Blogoversarry!

Deeba PAB said...

What an indulgent celebration Katrina! I love these...YUM! I love Ghirardeli too, and they are always in the bag from whoever visits from the US. You cannot imagine what a luxury I treat them as. Those bronies are singing the nom nom nom song to me! Congrats on this very special milestone!!

Angie - Big Bears Wife said...

Happy Blogaversary Katrina!!!

Debbi Does Dinner Healthy said...

Four years, whoohoo! Love the brownies, they are totally my weakness, I would eat half the pan!

Natalie said...

congrats on 4 years! (and thanks for sparking a brownie craving ;))

Unknown said...

These brownies look amazingly moist and chocolaty! A good choice to celebrate 4 years of wonderful blogging! Congratulations Katrina! I wish you many, many more!

Jill said...

These look pretty fabulous. Happy blogiversary!

Unknown said...

Congratulations on four years of blogging! Those Chocolate brownies sure announce a celebration! I think I'm going to have to step into the kitchen for some baking!

Shelby said...

Congrats on your blog anniversary Katrina! I look forward to much more! :)

Unknown said...

Happy Blogoversary Katrina! It's great to see you have gone so far :)

Liz That Skinny Chick Can Bake said...

These look fabulous!!! Happy Anniversary!!!!

wendy (pinkstripes) said...

Happy blogoversary! I can't believe it's been four years! The dark chocolate brownies sound to die for!

Unknown said...

Congratulations on a fabulous four years! What a way to celebrate - those brownies look incredible.

Amanda said...

Wow time sure flies doesn't it!? Congrats on four year katrina, I've loved watching what you create in your kitchen AND watching those boys of yours grow :)

Jennifer Kendall said...

Congratulations on 4 years of blogging! Your blog is so full of yummy recipes! The brownie looks delicious!

Emily said...

Happy blogiversary!! Here's to many more years!

Your brownies look amazing.

Trisha said...

Congratulations on completing 4 years. Wish you many more wonderful blogging years to come. Not forgetting the brownies look really decadent!

Jamie said...

Wow these brownies look fantastic! I love that you put walnuts in them. Brownies + Walnuts= me eating the whole pan!

scrambledhenfruit said...

Happy fourth blog birthday! The brownies look yummy! :)

Click here for House Cleaning Austin said...

First scratch brownies I've made that came out perfect; better than any mix. I used premium 60% cacao bittersweet chocolate. Super easy!