Brownie Pops

Lollipops are a girl's favorite thing.

Brownie Pops are her mom's favorite thing. Really.

And that mom is not just me. That mom is you and your friend and her friend and her friend's friend and anybody else who've eaten one of these delicious easy little dessert. 

                                       

Cake pops are good. Agree. But brownie pops are better. Simple reason is that brownies are any day better than cakes. Why waste so much air when you can condense that goodness into smaller bites, right? Now you can even condense it further!And somehow it becomes even more good. 

Start off with one of the best boxed brownie mixes - the Ghirardelli dark chocolate brownie mix. I swear, you can feed me a tray of these and I can spill all my secrets as I intoxicate myself with each brownie. By the time I'm done with my last one on the tray, you will know what I did last summer. This stuff is just plain real good. 

Make a tray of this brownie.

I can just finish the post right here with this wrinkled son of a brownie!

But no, I won't.

Since I feel a little lazy today, I'm going with boxed frosting as well.

Some people suggest to put the whole box of frosting to make pops. But unless you want heartburn from sweet, don't do that. That's just way too much sugar. I take a big scoop out of the can - about 1/4 of the frosting in the can.

Microwave the frosting for about 30 seconds or until you can see flowing frosting.

Now mix the brownies and the frosting together. Remember not to add the crisp edges of the brownies. There is a better option you can do with the crisp edges - eat them!

Make little balls out of the brownie frosting mix. Unlike me, you can try and keep them all the same size.
Once this is done, move these balls to the fridge for a couple of hrs. Or you can even do them overnight. Keep em' covered in the fridge so they don't dry out.

Insert lollipop sticks into each ball.

I used Wilton Candy melts - melt them on a double boiler until they are flowy and easy to dip in. Now, you can use microwave as the packet suggests too - but with my experience, somehow microwave melting of chocolate never happens good. I always tend to screw it up and it turns out lumpy for me if I melt them in the microwave. I always prefer to melt chocolate on the stove top.

Pick each stick and swirl them around in the melted candy and gently tap off excess and let them set. Because the brownie balls are cold, it helps the chocolate set easily on top of them.

I found my colander the best place to let them sit to set fully. The holes at the bottom of the colander serve as perfect place holders. You don't need a fancy gadget to do this. Another thing you can use is a steamer - the type that usually comes with your rice cooker - the ones with the polka dot holes.

And of course I need color right? I was making these for a bunch of girls - so picked some purple for them!

Go crazy on the designs. You can use a ziploc bag or a little piping tool to draw lines or designs. Or just polka dots. Or maybe if you're like me in designs, your polka dot might look more like the medieval spear.

The most important thing to remember is to have fun making these.

And let your kids have fun making them too - my little one had a blast drawing all kinds of lines on top of the brownie pops. Don't worry about the mess - just indulge them! Keep a few plain and decorate the others - this provides a nice contrast.

This is actually my favorite picture of them all!

Go ahead. Pick one.

Enjoy. Peace Out!

Chocolate - Chocolate Chip Brownies

Brownies are the perfect food to bite into when you are feeling blue. Brownies make some people blush pink or even red. I know coz it sometimes happens to me. Brownies can also be considered a green food because they are never really thrown in the trash or not consumed. No matter what color brownies remind you of, they are one of the perfect snacks around. I’m yet to see or meet or hear about someone who has not liked a brownie after they've eaten it.

There is also a certain way to make any brownie a perfect brownie. Just heat it up for about 15 seconds in the microwave and get the center warm and gooey. And then there’s no stopping the goodness. To make it more sinful, one can top it off with a scoop of their favorite flavor of ice cream and further drizzle with some chocolate goodness.  And when that happens, sparks fly and there is a love affair between the brownie and its devourer. 

And if you’re there already, go ahead add that cherry on top and make it all worthwhile. 

And when is not a good reason to bake brownies? Never. This time around, my reason to bake these babies was the teacher appreciation week at school. And of course, I had to bake something for Sweet Punch team as well. So, it was double whammy this time.

This is an easy recipe and from the Bon Appetite Dessert book. The original recipe calls to add raisins and almonds to the batter. I skipped the raisins but added the almonds and some chocolate chips - both milk and white chocolate chips. This is a recipe that will be great with any kind of nuts - almonds, walnuts, peanuts.

The recipe goes like this -

2/3 cup unbleached all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup chopped nuts

1/3 cup semi sweet or milk chocolate morsels

1/3 cup white chocolate morsels 

Mix the flour, 1 tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp salt and mix together and set aside.

These were the little unsweetened baking chocolate that I used. These provide a really chocolatey flavor but the down side is that the melted chocolate is not something you can lick off the bowl - just ask my little one about how sad she was. 

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or you can use a small pan with water and just place a mixing bowl with the chocolate on top.

Melt the chocolate and while its melting, you can just stand there admiring the soft gooeyness of the chocolate.

Cool down the chocolate a little bit and add two eggs and whisk together well.

Once the eggs are whisked well, add 1 tsp vanilla extract to the chocolate-egg mixture.

In a mixing bowl, add the room temperature butter and 1 cup of sugar. I do have to tell you that if you like really sweet brownies, add a little more sugar. These brownies were not too sweet and they were just the right amount of sweetness. In fact, I could taste the bitterness of the baking chocolate every now and then - this is the perfect kind of brownie that would go great with a cup of strong hot coffee.

Mix together until the butter and sugar together are fluffy together.

Add the chocolate egg mixture to the butter sugar mixture and mix well together.

Now does the batter not look delicious?

Slowly add the dry flour mix in a little at at time and keep mixing in low - medium speed.

When the batter is done, add a handful or about 1/3 cup of chopped almonds.

Add 1/3 cup of milk chocolate chips. Save a few to press down at the top.

Press down another 1/3 cup of white chocolate chips.

Bake in a pre heated oven at 350F for about 20-25 mins or until the toothpick test passes.

Slice them up warm and don't wait for other to taste. Sometimes selfishness is good.

There is only one thing greater in life than having one hot brownie from the oven. And what is that? Well, eating two of the hot brownies from the oven.

So I packed up a few for the teachers..I do appreciate teachers a lot. I respect the profession and I know that I cannot ever do that in a million years. So, here's to all the wonderful and patient teachers all over the world!

So, brownie up today and enjoy the experience.

Oh brownie -  how I love thee.

Enjoy. Peace Out!