Brookies

I came across the concept of these many times while browsing through Pinterest. However, as many photos as there were, I could never find a recipe! 

I decided to try them as a treat to cheer up someone who loves brownies and loves chocolate chip cookies! Those are pretty basic things to love. It's kind of hard to go wrong making either. 

I think I got this down pretty well even though the baking times for these are obviously very different! I wanted to preserve the tastes of each part of the Brookie and still get them to stick together. I had no problem getting them to do just that! The result was a gooey, soft cookie and a chewy brownie that's just sticky enough in the middle. They resemble mini muffins, and that's the kind of pan I used to make them. They are deadly sweet and the perfect size of you ask me. Anything bigger and I think they'd just be too rich!

Brownie Portion:

2 squares unsweetened chocolate

3/4 stick butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup flour

Cookie Portion:

1 cup flour

1/2 Tsp baking soda

1/4 Tsp salt

1 stick butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 large egg

1/2 pkg chocolate chips

Mix two separate batters up in a stand mixer or with bowls and an electric mixer.

I usually have no problem at all making batters like this is one bowl! I just don't see the point of dirtying so many bowls to separate wet and dry ingredients. Mix up the cookie one. Start with creaming the butter, then add in the sugar and other wet ingredients, followed by all the dry ingredients with the flour going in last and then fold in any mixings such as the chips. Set aside. 

Now mix up the brownie portion. Heat the butter and chocolate on the stove top in a small pan on low just until its completely melted. Then pour it into your mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, vanilla, and flour. Make sure that the mix isn't too warm to add in the eggs, if its cool enough, you can beat them in. 

Grease your pans well. Spoon brownie batter into the muffin pans until they are a bit more than half full. I used disposable pans, but I'm sure these are a lot easier to handle using a permanent pan. I just happened to be making them in someone else's kitchen so I bought these for the job. Bake the brownies in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes. 

Remove mostly cooked brownies from the oven and allow to cool down for about 5 minutes. Cover with cookie mixture almost to the top of the tin wells. Continue to bake for 12-15 minutes. Remove from oven and check for thorough cooking with a toothpick. It should come out mostly clean and definitely not goopey. 

Get yourself a big glass of milk to enjoy these with. You won't be able to resist trying one right out of the oven!

Mini Stuffed Peppers

I came across a bag of these wonderful, colorful peppers while grocery shopping the other day and I knew I needed to make something out of them. 

I cooked up some jasmine rice and long grain rice in chicken broth instead of water, to add extra flavor. Then I added some tomato sauce and Italian seasoning and stuffed the peppers to the top. 

I stacked them tightly into a small casserole dish and topped with some shredded cheese. I baked them in a 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes. I only served a couple as a side to my dinner. The rest got gently separated a bit and I placed the whole dish in the freezer for a few hours until they froze slightly. Then I threw them all into a freezer bag and now I have a side that I can pull out anytime for dinner. 

Hindsight:

These would be great with some ground beef added to them. That's the way I usually make stuffed peppers but I wanted a side to go with anything since I was going to use the predominantly for freezing. Trader Joe's has a great blend that I love to use called Harvest Grains that would be wonderful for this as well. It's a hearty mix of couscous, quinoa, rice, buckwheat, and rice. I highly suggest trying that.