Brownie Bites and Ohmygod! Frosting

Have you ever tasted something so good, so right, that you gasp, "Ohmygod I need more of that!"

That happened to me when I tasted this frosting. I mean, you'd think that would happen to me all the time. But it doesn't.

But with this frosting? It did.

You've probably seen the recipe all over the place. It's the cooked one, with flour and granulated sugar.

Many times I just was like, what? Flour? Pshaw, no way that's the best frosting ever.

Boy do I like it when I'm wrong. (In that way anyway. I do not like it when my husband is right and I'm wrong. Hi honey!)

I feel like I'm neglecting the brownie bites a little. They were really good too.

But the frosting? No. Words.

None.

The brownie bites are lucky they even got any frosting. I almost ate it all myself. Then they would have had to go out on their platter all naked.

It would have been brownie cruelty.

So really. Go make the frosting. Make the brownies too. Brownies rock. Especially with OMG! Frosting.

Brownie Bites & Ohmygod! Frosting

by Crazy for Crust (Brownie Bites adapted from Hershey's/OMG! Frosting from Tasty Kitchen)

Ingredients

Brownie Bites

• ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2/3 cup butter, melted and divided
• ¼ cup boiling water
• ¼ cup leftover coffee, reheated
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Ohmygod! Frosting

• 5 tablespoons flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar (not powdered sugar)

Instructions

For the Brownie Bites

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Line mini muffin pans with cupcake liners or spray with cooking spray (about 36). Set aside.
2. Stir 1/3 cup of the melted butter and cocoa in a large bowl. Add boiling water and hot coffee (you can substitute all water if you do not want to use coffee) and stir until the mixture thickens. Stir in sugar, eggs, and remaining butter and mix until smooth. Add flour, salt, and vanilla and blend completely. Scoop into prepared mini muffin pans.
3. Bake about 13 minutes, until they have a slightly glossy, rounded top. Cool completely before frosting.

For the Frosting

1. Whisk flour into milk in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir constantly until it thickens. It should be very thick, like brownie mix. Remove from the heat and let cool completely to room temperature. (I sped this process along by placing the pan in a bowl filled with ice.) Stir in vanilla.
2. While the mixture is cooling, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Make sure you beat it until there is no graininess left from the sugar. Then add the cooled milk/flour mixture and beat it. A lot! If it looks separated, you haven’t beat it enough. It’ll resemble thick whipped cream.
3. Taste it. Die and go to heaven.
4. Hurry up and frost the brownie bites or cake or whatever you’re frosting before you eat it all with a spoon.

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Enjoy!

Have a Linky Party you want me to join? Add it HERE.

These are the fabulous parties I link to each week:

Monday: Mingle Monday (Add a Pinch), Joy of Desserts, Creative Monday (Clairejustineoxox), Mix it Up Monday (Flour Me With Love), Things that make you say mmmm Monday (Cooking with Karyn). Tuesday: 2 Maids a Baking (2 Maids a Milking), Tea Party Tuesdays (Sweetology), Mushki Loves My Stuff (Mushki Loves), Totally Tasty Tuesdays (Mandy's Recipe Box), Talent Show Tuesday (Chef in Training), Trick or Treat Tuesday (Inside BruCrew Life), Let's Do Brunch (My Sweet & Savory), One Stop Shop Linky (The Southern Product Queen). Wednesday: Mrs. Fox's Sweet Party (Mrs. Fox's Sweets) Made It On Monday (Lark's Country Heart), This Chick Cooks, Cast Party Wednesday (Lady Behind the Curtain), Famous Linkz Par-tay (Made-Famous-By), Bakes with Bizzy (Bizzy Bakes), Whip it Up Wednesday (Crockpot Ladies).  Thursday: Sweet Treats Thursday (Something Swanky), Chic-and-Crafty (Frugal Girls), Turning the Table Thursdays (Around My Family Table), Tasty Thursday (The How-To Mommy), Tastetastic Thursday (A little nosh), Sweet Temptations (Talking Dollars and Cents), Taking a Timeout Thursday (Mom on Timeout), Things I've Done Thursday (BearRabbitBear), (RHW Recipe Round-Up) The Real Housewives of Riverton. Friday: Sweet Tooth Friday (Alli-n-son), I'm Lovin' it Fridays (TidyMom), Friday Favorites (Simply Sweet Home), Latest & Greatest Friday (Days of Chalk and Chocolate), Bacon Time, Fusion Friday (Jane Deere Blog), Foodie Friday (Not Your Ordinary Recipes). Saturday: Country Mom Cooks, Sweets for a Saturday (Sweet as Sugar Cookies), Seasonal Inspiration (Crumbs and Chaos). Sunday: A Well-Seasoned Life,Sharing Sundays (Everyday Sisters), Strut your Stuff Saturday (Six Sisters' Stuff), Moms Crazy Cooking

Apple Toffee Bars {with Brown Sugar Frosting}

There are approximately 750 light switches in my house.

(Okay, I may be exaggerating a little. I haven't had a chance to count them all, so I was just guessing.)

So, there are plenty of switches. But the problem I'm having is where they were placed. I'm not an architect or a fancy electrical switch placement designer or anything, but I do have common sense.

And the fancy electrical switch placement designer that did our house must have been having an off day.

Our staircase is in the middle of the house; you can walk around it. When you come in the front door and go left, you get to the dining room and then the kitchen. If you go right, you go to the family room and then the kitchen.

We never go left. Why not? Because all the light switches for the kitchen are in the family room. So if it's dark and I forget I have to walk through the kitchen to get to the lights.

But if I'm in the laundry room, a room that is no bigger than the span of my arms, there are two light switches for the overhead light. So I can, in theory, stretch out my arms and turn the light on with my right and off with my left at the same time.

I chuckle every time I go in there. It's like a fun party game. That and sliding down the stairs in a plastic bin, which I have yet to do but I really, really want too.

Until I get up the nerve to do that, I'll just stuff my face with these babies. These Apple Toffee Bars are sort of like a cookie, but in bar form. With frosting. Brown sugar frosting. And toffee. Oh, and apple, of course. Sinfully sweet, and healthy enough for breakfast because there is fruit in them. Right?

Apple Toffee Bars {with Brown Sugar Frosting}

Adapted from Sweet Pea’s Kitchen

Ingredients:

For the bars:

1 pouch (17.5 ounces) sugar cookie mix

1 egg

1 stick of butter, softened

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ cup toffee bits (Bit o’ Brickle)

1 cup (1 large or 2 small) apples, peeled, cored, and chopped finely

For the Frosting:

¼ cup butter

½ cup brown sugar

2 tablespoon milk

1 cup powdered sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

1.       Preheat oven to 350°. Line a 9x9 inch pan with foil and spray with cooking spray.

2.       Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat sugar cookie mix, egg, butter, and cinnamon until fluffy. Stir in toffee bits and apples. Press into prepared pan and bake 35-40 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool completely before making frosting.

3.       To make the frosting, add butter, milk, and brown sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Cool slightly and stir in powdered sugar and vanilla.

4.       Remove foil from the bottom of the cookie bars. Pour frosting over the top of the bars, smoothing out to the edges. The top of the frosting will dry quickly. Let set before cutting into bars, about 30 minutes to one hour.

Yield: about 20 bars

This recipe may be linked with:

Monday: Mingle Monday (Add a Pinch), Joy of Desserts. Tuesday: 2 Maids a Baking (2 Maids a Milking), Tea Party Tuesdays (Sweetology), Mushki Loves My Stuff (Mushki Loves), Totally Tasty Tuesdays (Mandy's Recipe Box), Talent Show Tuesday (Chef in Training). Wednesday: Cast Party Wednesday, Made It On Monday (Lark's Country Heart), This Chick Cooks.  Thursday: Sweet Treats Thursday (Something Swanky), Chic-and-Crafty (Frugal Girls), Turning the Table Thursdays (Around My Family Table), Tasty Thursday (The How-To Mommy), Tastetastic Thursday (A little nosh). Friday: Sweet Tooth Friday (Alli-n-son), I'm Lovin' it Fridays (TidyMom), Friday Favorites (Simply Sweet Home). Saturday: Sweets for a Saturday (Sweet as Sugar Cookies), Seasonal Inspiration (Crumbs and Chaos). Sunday: A Well-Seasoned Life,Sharing Sundays (Everyday Sisters), Strut your Stuff Saturday (Six Sisters' Stuff)

Pumpkin Cake with Browned Butter Frosting

If you follow me on Facebook you may have read about my frustrating search for pumpkin puree last week. I had been waiting for the perfect moment to make something pumpkin and that moment was last weekend. I was baking up a storm for a dessert buffet for the teachers at my daughters' school and wanted to include this pumpkin cake.

But I couldn't find any canned pumpkin. (I know I could make my own, but I'm really not into adding hours of work to an already busy baking day.)

I looked at Walmart. There was a huge space for it next to the pumpkin pie filling, but it was empty.

I looked at Savemart (a local grocery store). Same thing as Walmart, space on the shelf with no pumpkin in sight. The checker mentioned that the shipment may have gotten delayed.

After seeing my Facebook post, a friend of mine offered to look at Trader Joe's while she was shopping. No luck.

At this point I was getting nervous. Did the long winter we had mean there was a pumpkin shortage? Would I have to go without muffins and bread and pie and cheesecake? What was I to do?

I started calling other stores in the area. I was in luck! The Safeway near me had five cans of pumpkin in stock. My husband was headed that way and said he'd pick some up for me. I gave him strict instructions (real pumpkin not pie filling, check the expiration dates...) When I saw the bag sitting on the table later that day I was very excited. Pumpkin! Yippee! Then I looked inside and saw four cans of pumpkin puree, just like I'd asked for. But instead being 15 ounce cans, like I'd expected, he'd gotten me four 29 ounce cans. Four. 29 ounce cans. Um, wow. That's a lot of pumpkin. Now you know what to expect from me for the next few months.

This cake is delightful. It's pumpkin goodness all mixed up together. And it starts with a cake mix, so it's easy to make too. Oh, and it's glazed with browned butter frosting.

{Um, can we talk about browned butter frosting for a minute? So. Freakin'. Good. Have you ever had it? I hadn't until I made this batch. It's caramely, nutty, buttery sweet goodness. Go make some. Just serve it with a spoon, no cake needed.}

And if you still can't find pumpkin? Give me a holler...I think I have some to spare. (Wink, wink.)

Pumpkin Bundt Cake with Browned Butter Frosting

Recipe adapted from Betty Crocker

Printed from www.CrazyforCrust.com

Ingredients:

For the cake:

1 box of yellow cake mix (I used Betty Crocker Supermoist Yellow Cake)

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree

4 eggs

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon

1 ½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

For the glaze:

1/3 cup butter

2 cups powdered sugar

4 tablespoons milk

¼ teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

1.       Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour a 12-cup bundt pan.

2.       Using a hand mixer, blend all of the ingredients in a large bowl on medium speed.

3.       Pour into prepared bundt pan and bake 40-45 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool completely before glazing.

4.       To make the glaze: Heat butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly until butter has browned. Remove from heat and add powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla. Stir until no lumps remain. Pour immediately over top of cooled cake, allowing it to drip down the sides.

Yield: 12-15 slices (or less if you’re like me)

This recipe may be linked with:

Monday: Mingle Monday (Add a Pinch), Joy of Desserts. Tuesday: 2 Maids a Baking (2 Maids a Milking), Tea Party Tuesdays (Sweetology), Mushki Loves My Stuff (Mushki Loves), Totally Tasty Tuesdays (Mandy's Recipe Box). Wednesday: Cast Party Wednesday, Made It On Monday (Lark's Country Heart), This Chick Cooks.  Thursday: Sweet Treats Thursday (Something Swanky), Chic-and-Crafty (Frugal Girls), Turning the Table Thursdays (Around My Family Table), Tasty Thursday (The How-To Mommy). Friday: Sweet Tooth Friday (Alli-n-son), I'm Lovin' it Fridays (TidyMom), Friday Favorites (Simply Sweet Home). Saturday: Sweets for a Saturday (Sweet as Sugar Cookies), Seasonal Inspiration (Crumbs and Chaos). Sunday: A Well-Seasoned Life,Sharing Sundays (Everyday Sisters)

Ice Cream Buttercream Frosting

Being a kid today is so different than back when I was growing up. While things like Barbie, Disney, and My Little Pony are still around (although modernized), so many things have changed since we were kids. Which is why I was thinking the other day about all the things my 6-year-old daughter says to me that I never anticipated coming out of her mouth at such a young age.


"Mommy, take my picture!" (As she poses when I pull out my phone in the grocery line. Oh, and the fact I have a phone in my purse.)


"Will you upload that to Facebook?" (After I've taken the requested picture.)


"Who was that texting you?"


"Why can't we fast-forward this commercial??!!" (Because, shock of all shocks, we are watching live TV.)


"Mommy, I know how to get to pbskids.org. You don't need to help me." (Uttered when she was barely 5.)


"What's a VCR?"


"Why can't you just play the Selena Gomez song I want in the car?" (Uh, 'cuz radio is LIVE.)


"I want to have a blog too someday."


And then there are the constant recipe requests, like this one:


"Mommy, can you make some cupcakes and somehow make frosting using ice cream?"


Which led me to this recipe.


She asked me that question a few weeks ago. I initially thought she meant for me to use ice cream as the frosting but I was wrong. She wanted ice cream in the frosting. As just a component of it. I figured, why not?

The beauty of this frosting is that you can make it whatever flavor you want. I used mint chip because I liked how the green would show for photography purposes. Also, mint chip ice cream has a very distinct flavor and I wanted to be able to see if I could actually taste the ice cream. And you can. It's amazing! I can't wait to make this frosting with other flavors of ice cream.


I thought it would be cute to serve them in ice cream cone wrappers. I used this template, printed it on brown card stock and used a crayon to make the sugar cone marks. Then tape the wrapper into a circular shape and place your cupcake inside.


Make sure to taste your frosting as you are adding the powdered sugar (I've made note of this in the recipe instructions). Some ice cream flavors or brands are sweeter than others. You also need to chill this frosting for awhile before attempting to decorate your cupcakes. Otherwise it's too runny to hold up.

Ice Cream Buttercream Frosting

Recipe by Crazy for Crust

Print Friendly

Ingredients:

½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened

12 ounces (about ¾ cup) melted ice cream, any flavor (I used 2 single serving size cups of mint chip)

3-4 cups powdered sugar

¼ cups mini chocolate chips or other garnish to reflect your ice cream flavor

Directions:

Using a hand mixture in a large bowl, beat butter and ice cream until lumps are gone. Slowly beat in powdered sugar, starting with 3 cups and working up to 4 depending on the sweetness of your ice cream. Here’s the hard part – chill for at least one hour before frosting cupcakes. Sprinkle with garnish.

Yield: enough frosting for about 12 cupcakes.

What things do your kids say that remind you the 2000s are so not your 90s? (Or 80s or 70s or ??)

This recipe may be linked with:

Monday: Mingle Monday (Add a Pinch), Joy of Desserts. Tuesday: 2 Maids a Baking (2 Maids a Milking), Tea Party Tuesdays (Sweetology). Wednesday: Cast Party Wednesday, Made It On Monday (Lark's Country Heart), This Chick Cooks.  Thursday: Sweet Treats Thursday (Something Swanky), Chic-and-Crafty (Frugal Girls), Turning the Table Thursdays (Around My Family Table), Tasty Thursday (The How-To Mommy). Friday: Sweet Tooth Friday (Alli-n-son), I'm Lovin' it Fridays (TidyMom), Friday Favorites (Simply Sweet Home), Fusion Friday (Jane Deere). Saturday: Sweets for a Saturday (Sweet as Sugar Cookies), Seasonal Inspiration (Crumbs and Chaos). Sunday: A Well-Seasoned Life,Sharing Sundays (Everyday Sisters)

Sugar Cookie Bars

Christmas is my cookie holiday. Every holiday seems to have its own kind of treats: candy for Halloween and Valentine's Day, pie for Thanksgiving. But Christmas? Christmas is a cookie holiday. I often think if I look up the definition of Christmas in the dictionary it would look something like this:

Christmas n. 1. Jesus' birthday in the Christian faith 2. A time to spend with family 3. The day to eat cookies.

Every Christmas I make sugar cookies with a sugary, buttery cookie frosting. They are the kind of cookies that, if eaten in excess, require the use of Rolaids. These, by far, are my favorite cookies of the season. I make them on Christmas Eve and look forward to eating them for days after the festivities are over.

My step-father-in-law, Mark, also loves these cookies. The first few years we celebrated with him I spent Christmas eyeing his trips to the cookie platter. Then I started making him his own basket of sugar cookies.  It's part of his present. Now, because I know he loves them so much, I make them for him on other holidays too.

That's where these cookie bars come in. I've made the cutout sugar cookies for Mark's birthday the past few years. This year there was so much going on around his special day that I didn't have time to roll, cut, and frost a bunch of cookies. Right about the time I was thinking how I was going to fit it all in, I saw this post and a lightbulb went off in my head. I could use the same recipe I always do but make them into bars. Brilliant!

This is one of those oh-so-simple modifications that I know come Christmas Eve, when I'm doing a million other things, I'm going to want to do again. The bars are thick and sweet and so easy to make. Jordan chose the frosting color, not caring that they were a gift for a boy.

When you need a quick and yummy treat, make bar sugar cookies. (And then, if you're like me and can't control yourself, head to the drugstore and stock up on antacid.)

Bar Sugar Cookies

Recipe Source: Land o’ Lakes

Printed at www.CrazyforCrust.com

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 ¼ cups powdered sugar

1 cup butter, softened

1 egg

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1.       Preheat oven to 375°.  Line a 9x13” baking pan with foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.

2.       Combine all ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer (or in a large bowl if using hand mixer). Beat at medium speed, scraping the sides as needed, until well mixed (about 3-4 minutes).

3.       Spread dough into the bottom of the 9x13” baking pan. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until they just start to brown. Cool completely before frosting.

For the Frosting

Ingredients:

4 cups powdered sugar

½ cup butter, softened

2 teaspoons vanilla

3 to 4 tablespoons milk

Food color, if desired

Directions:

Combine powdered sugar, ½ cup butter, and vanilla in a large bowl. Mix slowly with a hand mixer, adding enough milk for desired consistency. Add food coloring if you want tinted frosting. Spread over cooled cookie bars and decorate with sprinkles, if desired. Cut into squares.

Yield: approximately 24 bars, depending on size.

Enjoy!

This recipe may be linked with:

Monday: Mingle Monday (Add a Pinch), Joy of Desserts. Tuesday: 2 Maids a Baking (2 Maids a Milking), Tea Party Tuesdays (Sweetology). Wednesday: Cast Party Wednesday, Made It On Monday (Lark's Country Heart), This Chick Cooks.  Thursday: Sweet Treats Thursday (Something Swanky), Chic-and-Crafty (Frugal Girls), Turning the Table Thursdays (Around My Family Table), Tasty Thursday (The How-To Mommy). Friday: Sweet Tooth Friday (Alli-n-son), I'm Lovin' it Fridays (TidyMom), Friday Favorites (Simply Sweet Home). Saturday: Sweets for a Saturday (Sweet as Sugar Cookies), Seasonal Inspiration (Crumbs and Chaos). Sunday: A Well-Seasoned Life,Sharing Sundays (Everyday Sisters)

Maple Cream Cookies

Did you know that tomorrow is Maple Syrup Saturday? It's true. A few weeks ago I googled "food holidays" and so many came up I started laughing. Food on a stick day? Waffle day? And those are just a couple for March!

Maple Syrup Saturday stood out to me, probably because the day before a friend of mine had requested "cookies like those maple ones at Trader Joe's." Have you ever had those cookies? They sell a version at the dollar store too, as well as some grocery stores. They are shaped like a maple leaf and filled with maple cream filling. They are sweet, delicious, addicting, and downright dangerous. (It's easy to eat 3 or 4 or 5 or...in one sitting.) I did a little online research and found some recipes to try. I ended up adding a few things to both the cookie and frosting recipes to make them more like what I wanted.

You'll notice my cookies are round and not maple leaf shaped. I don't have a maple leaf cookie cutter. Do you know how hard it is to find a maple leaf cookie cutter in March? It's not still winter anymore right? There is no snow falling anywhere. No one still wants to eat comfort food. I guess I better go shopping for my fall cookie cutters in July. (I know I could have gotten it online, but I wanted the cookies now. Once she mentioned those cookies I had to have them!)

These cookies are very good. You'd think they would be overly sweet, but they aren't. If you don't want to sandwich them you can put the frosting on top of each individual cookie. The star of this recipe is the frosting. I want to make it again, soon. I already have a few ideas for it. One involves muffins. I'll keep you posted!

So enjoy some maple syrup this Saturday! Make some pancakes or waffles or make these cookies. I know I'll be making at least two one of those!

Maple Cream Cookies

Printer-Friendly Recipe

For the cookie:

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 cup real maple syrup

1 teaspoon maple extract

2 teaspoons baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

4 cups all-purpose flour

Directions:

1.       Preheat oven to 350°. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or grease them.

2.       Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.

3.       Cream the butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer. Add in the egg, syrup, and maple extract and mix until well blended. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet carefully to avoid wearing your flour. Beat until just combined.*

4.       Shape into 1 inch balls (about 1 tablespoon each) and place on cookie sheet. Try to make the balls the same size so they will match up well for sandwiching. Flatten slightly with the palm of your hand or the bottom of a drinking glass.

5.       Bake 8-10 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking. Let cool completely before frosting.

*At this point, if you’re lucky enough to have a maple leaf cookie cutter and wish to use it, refrigerate your dough until firm enough to roll (probably about 1-2 hours). Use flour to help you roll out the dough and cut out your cookies. If your cookie cutter is not symmetrical, be sure to flip it over to cut half the cookies or flip the cut-out over on the baking sheet (so the cookies will match up when sandwiching them).

For the icing:

Ingredients:

8 tablespoons butter (1 stick), at room temperature

2 cups powdered sugar

4 tablespoons maple syrup

¼ teaspoon maple extract

1 tablespoon whipping cream

Directions:

1.       Cream the butter with an electric mixer. Slowly add in the powdered sugar until combined.  Mix in the maple syrup and maple extract. Add the cream and beat until combined and smooth.

2.       Turn half of the cooled cookies upside down. Frost the bottom half of the all the cookies and then sandwich them with the top of the cookie. When I started out I was not using a lot of frosting and then went back and filled them more when I realized how much I had left. You will use about a teaspoon per cookie.

Yield: about 40 sandwich cookies or 80 stand-alone cookies

Source: Cookie recipe adapted from Allrecipes.com. Frosting recipe adapted from I Dream About Food.