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!

Low Fat Banana Muffins

I've been making this low fat banana muffin recipe for years every time I have bananas that are beginning to turn. For about 150 calories per full muffin, or under 40 for one of these mini muffins, you can't really go wrong! Mini muffins will yield a large batch, over 3 dozen muffins. As you can see, I made some small banana breads as well with the extra batter!

 

2 bananas, mashed

2/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup margarine or butter spread

2 eggs

1/8 cup water

1 1/2 cups flour

1 Tsp baking soda

1/4 Tsp baking powder

1/2 Tsp salt

 

In a stand mixer, cream the margarine or butter until soft and then add in the bananas, mashing completely. Add in the eggs and water, mixing gently. While the mixer is turning, add in the sugar, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Lastly, fold the flour into your batter.



 Fill up muffin pans or paper liners about 1/2 to 3/4 full and bake in a 350 degree oven until a toothpick comes out clean. Mine usually take about 20-25 minutes for regular muffins and 15-20 minutes for mini muffins. You can also make banana bread loaves with this batter. Baking time will be about an hour.

Cool and store in a Ziploc bag on the counter for several days or in the fridge for a week or more.

Low Fat Banana Cookies

I originally pinned this recipe because they were guilt free cookies. I ended up needing to bake for someone who was eating gluten free. You really can't get much simpler than these cookies though. And what better to do with bananas if they are starting to turn? I usually made some Low Fat Banana muffins with them but, I now switched to these. I now make these cookies EVERY time I have bananas that are starting to brown!

 

Recipe Adapted from The Burlap Bag

 

For each banana you have, mash them and add 1/2 cup of oats. I threw in some vanilla extract and cinnamon because I can never just leave a recipe alone. I'm sure I will be trying these with all kinds of mix-ins in the future! Each banana should yield about 2 cookies (apparently I made big ones), and it's so easy to keep track of what you are eating if you use an app like I do.

 

I added chocolate chips to them. I like to put them on top of cookies too because it looks nicer and you can count them out!



Lay your cookies out on a well greased cookie sheet! Bake in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes. When they come out of the oven, you have to let them cool for a few minutes so they will stay together. Don't leave them too long though, because they can be hard to get off the pan (maybe 5-10 minutes). Next time, I think I will try parchment paper and see if that makes it easier.

 

Hindsight: When I first started making these cookies, I used to puree the banana to an almost liquid. I have since figured out that the chunkier you leave the bananas, the easier the cookies come off the pan and the better they stay together!



Blueberry Lemon Yogurt Loaf

 Who doesn't love blueberries? ...and I love anything with lemon in it. The greek yogurt makes the loaf in this recipe that uses the poke method of making sure you always get a moist cake. It's great for breakfast or dessert.
 

Loaf:

1 1/2 cups + 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
2 Tsps baking powder
1/2 Tsp salt
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
2 Tsps grated lemon zest
1/2 Tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup blueberries

 

Glaze:
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt

 

Recipe adapted from Sweet Pea's Kitchen

 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease the bottom and sides of a loaf pan with shortening. Add the 1 Tbsp of flour to the pan and flour the sides, tapping out any excess flour. Sift together the dry ingredients in a large bowl and set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients and slowly add the wet mixture to the dry mixture. If using frozen blueberries, thoroughly rinse them in a colander to prevent the loaf from turning purple. Gently fold them into the mixture and pour into the loaf pan. The loaf should bake for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

 

Let the loaf cool for 10-15 minutes after it comes out of the oven. Using a knife or toothpick, trace edges of the loaf and place upside down on a paper towel. The loaf should fall out with little help. Completely cool on a wire rack.



While the loaf is cooling, stir together the lemon juice and sugar in a small pot under low heat. Once the mixture begins to boil, stir constantly until the sugar is completely dissolved and the syrup starts to brown. Let the mixture cool. Using the handle of a wooden spoon or large chopsticks, poke holes all over the top of the loaf, about half way deep through it. Once the sugar syrup has cooled, mix in the remaining yogurt and pour over the loaf. Allow it to harden and cool in the fridge.

 

This loaf should be stored in the fridge but, after a few hours, the yogurt glaze will harden and it can travel or sit for a few hours until being served. I personally microwave my slice for about 30 seconds before enjoying it.

Blog Introduction

As an introduction to this blog, I guess I should inform my readers about me, in case you already don't know me. I'm a married 30 year old, so-far child-less woman, living on an island by the sea. I'm a commercial photographer by trade and a domestic diva by hobby.

My friends all enjoy coming to parties at my house because they know they will get a ton of homemade food...no matter what I may say in an invite. I believe in basically not using pre-fab and processed foods. I'm Greek, which means that there will always be a LOT of whatever I make. When we bought our house, I knew a full-size deep freeze was going into our basement. I'm all about freezing anything I can, to use on a night or event when I have no time to put in the effort. I enjoy experimenting with sometimes complicated recipes so my mindset is "why make one when I can make six?". About two years ago, my friend, Becky went into great detail with me on how to best freeze cookies and well, that basically turned a whole new dimension on my baking. Then, my friend, Amy turned me onto Bakerella and the world of cakepops was opened to me. I also took some cake decorating classes. Since then I have developed a passion for candy making and my freezer has never been the same. Being the crazy obsessive/compulsive person I am, my freezer now has a complete inventory log on it! (Yes, I know I'm insane.)

 

So, you probably want to know what you will find here. Great recipes, for one. New ideas and twists on old favorites will be included as well. I discovered the great wide world of Pinterest and now I'm so hooked on cooking that I decided I wanted to create this blog in the first place. That link is to MY Pinterest boards, so you might get an idea of recipes to come by looking at it. I don't really know how far I'm going to go with giving out my "secrets" yet, so to my friends maybe salivating about getting my lamb recipe, don't get your hopes up just yet. I am a professional photographer, so the photo aspect of this will be a learning process. I do a lot of cooking at other people's houses too so I'm not going to be lugging my Nikon and all my equipment with me wherever I go. For now, I don't want this to be "work". Documentary styling, was also never really my thing. So, the photos will show you important prep details. They will be in focus, color correct, correctly exposed, somewhat visually pleasing, (oh and copyrighted) but don't expect art from probably my IPhone. Anyone wanting to see that can visit my website. Again, this may improve as the blog grows. Also, please don't judge my blogging or web design abilities at this time because I know nothing about Blogger at this current moment. Lastly, thank you to my friend, Jen, with a great blog, that gave me advice on all of this. I promise this is the last "rant" you will see here.

I hope you will be back to steal some great recipes from me! Subscribe, pin away, and tell your friends. Thanks for reading!