Who am I kidding?! I love brownies!

And I’ve been using the same recipe that my brother dug up out of a now unknown and probably lost family cookbook. It’s quick and easy, uses cocoa that I always have on hand, but the result frankly hasn’t been interesting lately. So the search for a new brownie recipe began.

Delightful Google results led me to a contest once known as “browniebabe of the month” hosted by the food blog Once Upon a Cakestand. The results were all from 2007, but the way it worked was that she asked for submissions and garnered three months worth of brownie recipes, dubbing one winner as The Brownie Babe each month.

I’ve linked my hand-picked favourites - after a read through - below for your viewing and tasting pleasure.

There is a brownie for me in there somewhere.

Hopefully, for you too!

Supernatural Brownies

Lemon Mousse Brownies

Outrageous brownies with Salted Butter Caramels

Mocha & White Chocolate Chip Brownies

Outrageous Brownies

Chocolate Crunch Brownies

Peanut Butter Topped Chocolate Brownies

“Turtle” Brownies

Peanut Butter and Fudge Brownie

Brrrrrr-ownies

Peanut Butter Brownies

Nuggets o’ Gold Brownies

Peanut-Layered Brownies

p.s. Do tell all the moist warm gooey details once you try one!

I was SO excited about these three beverage recipes that they were the tour de force that led me into buying a blender for my kitchen this summer!

Magic Milk Shakes – Think Wendy’s Frosties, think chocolate and cool, think you won’t believe that you can actually make these at home. Seriously.

Fruit Smoothies - When I have a batch of homemade yogurt in the fridge, I love making this recipe. My only warning is that they are quite filling and a blender full is WAY too much for three people. Now I know to halve this one when it’s just the kids and I, though the excess of that first batch made nice flavoured frozen yogurt!

Slushies – The children’s latest favorite after school snack when they come in panting and dehydrated. Makes a ton for practically nothing. Pretty soon I’ll be the favorite mom on the block for this one.

My blender is well loved and was a worthy investment. Thanks Susanne!

Filling: Beat cream cheese, 1/3 c sugar and vanilla until soft and smooth. Add coconut and nuts. Chill.

Dough: Beat butter until softened. Add half of the flour. Add 1c sugar, cocoa, egg, milk, and baking soda. Beat until combined. Work in the rest of the flour. Chill dough until firm enough to roll.

Place dough between btw 2 sheets of waxed paper. With rolling pin, roll dough in a rectangle 14 * 6”. Remove top sheet of waxed paper.

Remove filling from the refrigerator and shape into a roll 14” long. Place filling on top of dough. Start on one end and roll dough around filling – like rolling up a rug. Moisten and pinch edges together. Cut roll in half. Wrap in waxed paper and refrigerate for two days.

Cut into ¼ “slices using a very sharp knife or waxed dental floss. Bake 375 for 8 to 10 min. Cool on sheet for about 1 minute and then finish cooling on racks.

Notes:
I did double this recipe – because I had that much cream cheese – and it worked out just fine.

One change that I made was that I did not roll the filling into a log and wrap the cookie around it. Instead, I distributed the filling evenly over the whole rolled rectangle of cookie dough and wrapped it that way.

And yes, I did chill the rolls for two days. It might seem like too much work, but in fact it broke up the work for me – make the dough one day and forget it for awhile. Then when I had half an hour and remembered they existed in my fridge – “What unmade cookies in my fridge?!” – I sliced ‘em up and baked them. Mecandes really liked them too.

For about a shoebox full:

1 ½ c peanut butter
1 c butter/margarine
2c powdered sugar
24 oz semi-sweet baking chocolate
¼ box paraffin wax

For about 200:

1 – 500 g jar peanut butter
1 ½ lb. butter/margarine
6 c powdered sugar
72 oz chocolate
1/2 box paraffin wax

Mix and chill 1st three ingredients in refrigerator about two hours until firm. Roll into balls. (If they get too sticky and hard to roll, put remaining batter back in the fridge for half an hour then try again.) Melt chocolate and wax in a double boiler and whisk until smooth. Using a toothpick, pick up each buckeye and dip it in the chocolate, then place on a baking sheet covered in waxed paper. Put entire sheet into freezer. Once frozen, place in cheery Christmas tins or Ziploc bags or whatever you like until Christmas.

Notes:
Use the first proportions if this is your first time, but go for the 200 if you’re a chocolate lover. You won’t regret it. After that first batch, I made the tripled batch a permanent addition to this recipe.

The only tricky part about this recipe is the chocolate – if it’s too hot when you start the dipping process, it will just run off the buckeye and someone will get short changed. Just give it a minute or two to cool, then try again. I set the buckeye and toothpick combo down together and use a new toothpick for the new one until I’ve done about ten, then I start taking the first out and re-using them. That way the chocolate has cooled a bit to allow me to get the toothpick out cleanly. But when you’re doing 200 buckeyes, your chocolate can also get too cold and gloppy and un-dippable. Lightly heat it again until it’s back to the consistency you like.

Oh, and I’ve been told that around holiday time some stores have baking chocolate with wax already in it, though I can’t find it up here. Just be sure to what you are buying. If your chocolate has wax, don’t add more. But if it doesn’t, the little bit of wax added in holds the chocolate on nicely.

We usually have a bit of chocolate leftover, so be prepared. Really, that’s the fun part – we break out the raisins and/or unsalted peanuts and pretzels. The kids can help with this and get a treat out of it, not to mention Mecandes eats the only raisins he’ll touch all year. Funny how chocolate makes anything delectable.

Mix in order and bake at 350 F for 10-15 minutes.

Notes:
I always take special care to mix the two sugars together very well then smooth in the softened butter.

But is it only me that thinks cookies you’ve baked yourself always taste best a couple days after the baking? Yeah, I’m crazy. I know.

Chipits – for our American readers – is a brand of chocolate chips and seems to have an extensive recipe archive of their own on the website with lots more goodies to try. Enjoy and here’s the recipe…

1 1/3 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
2/3 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons milk
1 package White Chocolate Chips
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Cream together butter, packed brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs and vanilla, until creamy.

Combine all-purpose flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Add to creamed mixture alternatively with milk. Stir in white chocolate chips and chopped nuts.

Drop from spoon onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8 to 12 minutes. Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Cupcakes
½ cup creamy peanut butter
½ cup butter, softened
1½ cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
½ teaspoon salt
1½ teaspoons baking powder
¾ cup milk
½ cup semisweet chocolate chips

Frosting
1/3 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 cups confectioner’s sugar
1½ teaspoons vanilla
2 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 375F. Line muffin cups with paper liners.

Cream the peanut butter, butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder. Add to the batter alternately with the milk. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Fill the muffin cups one-half to three-quarters full. Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool completely.

For the frosting, cream the butter until fluffy. Beat in the cocoa. Beat in the confectioners’ sugar. Add the vanilla and milk and beat to spreading consistency. Frost the cupcakes.

¾ cup firmly packed brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
½ cup of butter softened
½ cup of shortening
2 tablespoons of vanilla (artificial is fine)
1 egg
1¾ cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 375F. In a large bowl, beat brown sugar, white sugar, margarine and shortening until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and egg then beat well. Add flour, baking soda and salt, mix well. Stir in chocolate chips.

Spread dough in an ungreased 13×9 inch pan. Bake at 375 for 15-25 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool completely and then cut into bars.

1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup cocoa
1 cup walnuts (optional)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup flour
pinch of salt

Mix all ingredients in order given and spread into a greased 8″ square baking pan. Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes. Let cool before cutting.

2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup margarine
2 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 cup cocoa
1 tbsp vanilla
1/2 cup nuts (optional)

Mix first three ingredients in a saucepan; boil for 2 minutes.

Mix the remaining ingredients together in a bowl. Add the sugar mixture and mix well. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheets and refrigerate until firm.