Friday, June 10, 2011

"Knock Your Socks Off" Brownies.

Recipe 26.

"Knock Your Socks Off" Brownies (from Pioneer Woman).

Ok, I'll get real with you. The brownies are actually called "Knock You Naked," but we are keeping it PG here, folks. What am I supposed to say to my friends? "Eat this brownie. It will knock you naked, and then this whole social situation will become really awkward." I'd rather just see some bare feet.

I'm a brat.

I was walking home after delivering a plate full of these to my friend, and was startled by him yelling "BREANNA!" out of his third story window. "THESE BROWNIES HAVE CARAMEL IN THEM! Oh my gosh!" And then, his roommate kissed my hand the next time he saw me. Either I looked really good that day or he tasted some of these brownies. I'd guess on the latter. I don't wash my hair everyday.


Ingredients:
1 box German Chocolate Cake Mix
1 cup finely chopped pecans
1/3 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup evaporate milk for later
1/2 cup melted butter
60 whole unwrapped caramels


Preheat oven to 350. Mix the cake mix, pecans, 1/3 cup evaporated milk, and melted butter. Stir together until well combined, it should come out really thick. Press half the batter into a greased 9x9 or 8x8. Bake for 8-10 minutes, remove from oven, and set aside.


While half the batter is baking, melt your caramels with the 1/2 cup evaporated milk over the stove. I don't have a double boiler so I use a bowl over a saucepan of boiling water. This takes longer than you think so get it started!


While the caramels melt, form the rest of the dough into a square shape about the size of the pan.


Pour the melted caramel over the first brownie layer.


Set the remaining brownie dough on top of the caramel. Bake for 20-25 minutes.


Allow to cool to room temperature, and then refrigerate for several hours (or just eat them, like we did). You can sift powdered sugar over them if you'd like!

Wait for it..

yes yes yes...

YES!

Forget PG. If these really did knock you naked, no one would even notice because we'd all be focusing on the brownie/caramel/nuttiness making our taste-buds sing.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Cinnamon Roll Cake.

Recipe 25.

Cinnamon Roll Cake (from Heat Oven to 350).

Heat Oven to 350 is obviously becoming one of my favorite blogs to pull recipes from, I would definitely recommend following it if you want to try some new things! They've got plenty of things to bake, but also amazing recipes to cook for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Anyway, when I saw their cinnamon roll cake it was beautiful! Perfectly swirled and glazed. I knew I could never reach that perfection, not on my first try. And I knew I was only going to try once, because let's get real people, I still have 75 recipes to make! I don't have time to piddle paddle! I sound like my mom.

So mine's not perfect, but I'd say it looks pretty dang good for my resources and time limits! And it was muy delicioso! Don't tell anyone, but I ate it for breakfast one day. It brought a whole new meaning to my morning.


Ingredients:

filling:
8 oz. cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbs cinnamon
1 large egg

cake:
3 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup water
1 1/2 tsp vanilla


Filling:
Preheat the oven to 375. Line a 15x10 jelly roll pin with parchment paper. PLEASE don't skip this step. Spray pan.

Use an electric mixer to beat cream cheese, sugar, and cinnamon until smooth. Beat in egg. Pour filling into pan and spread evenly. Stick in the fridge.

Cake:
Beat three eggs until light and fluffy, gradually add sugar and beat with electric mixer for about 2 minutes. Combine flour and baking soda in a separate bowl. Gradually blend into egg mixture, and water and vanilla. Beat until well combined. Pour batter evenly over the refrigerated filling. Bake for about 20 minutes.

Before the cake cools, invert it onto a flat surface,  peel off the parchment paper. Cut the cake into 5 lengthwise strips (long strips). I used a pizza cutter. Roll up one strip jelly-roll fashion. Shape the rest of the strips around the first to form one large spiral. Let cool.


Mine fell apart a little bit so I kept holding the pieces together and eventually forced them to stand up. I know, far from perfect.


You can be awesome and try a glaze. I was awesome and failed. Seriously, can someone tell me what I'm doing wrong? My glazes are ALWAYS too watery.


I gave up, melted some white chocolate, and poured it over to create the cinnamon roll effect.
Love it!