Top 5 Recipes of 2011; Sun-butter Truffle Brownies

It's time for my top five recipes of 2011 and the first on the list is my Sun-butter  Truffle Brownies. This recipe is destined for greatness and I hope that it will become one of my requested specialties in the years to come. But I must caution you, it's incredibly rich making it a great dessert for your next special get together.

I found this recipe off of my wife's Pinterest and I'm so glad I made it. It's absolutely delicious and I will be making it again for our family Halloween party that's quickly becoming a family tradition. Halloween is one of my favorite holiday's and we decided that the best way to celebrate it with a newborn was to have a party at our house with dinner and snacks. Well when our daughter was diagnosed with a peanut allergy we quickly realized most Halloween candy was going to be off limits due to containing or possibly containing peanuts. Which means I can no longer enjoy the wonderful Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Well when I saw this recipe that combines chocolate and peanut butter, I knew I had to try making it and simply substituting Peanut Butter with Sunflower Butter. The end result was a treat so rich, delicious, and filling that I knew this is what Peanut Butter Cups dream of being. I highly suggest you try this recipe, you will be so happy you did.

Brownie Base
I used my brownie recipe or you can use any recipe as long as it will fill a 9x13 pan.

Filling
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup Sunbutter sunflower seed spread (Recipe originally called for peanut butter)
2 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons milk

Topping
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup butter

Heat oven to 350ºF. Grease bottom only of 9x13 inch pan with cooking spray or shortening.

Prepare and cook brownies according to recipe and allow to cool completely, about 1 hour.

In a medium bowl, beat filling ingredients with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Spread mixture evenly over brownie base.

In small microwavable bowl, microwave topping ingredients uncovered on High 30 to 60 seconds; stir until smooth. Cool 10 minutes; spread over filling. Refrigerate about 30 minutes or until set. For brownies, cut into 9 rows by 4 rows. Store covered in refrigerator.
Recipe adapted from The Girl Who Ate Everything.

Sunbutter Truffle Brownies

I found this recipe off of my wife's Pinterest and I'm so glad I made it. It's absolutely delicious and I will be making it again for our family Halloween party that's quickly becoming a family tradition. Halloween is one of my favorite holiday's and we decided that the best way to celebrate it with a newborn was to have a party at our house with dinner and snacks. Well when our daughter was diagnosed with a peanut allergy we quickly realized most Halloween candy was going to be off limits due to containing or possibly containing peanuts. Which means I can no longer enjoy the wonderful Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Well when I saw this recipe that combines chocolate and peanut butter, I knew I had to try making it and simply substituting Peanut Butter with Sunflower Butter. The end result was a treat so rich, delicious, and filling that I knew this is what Peanut Butter Cups dream of being. I highly suggest you try this recipe, you will be so happy you did.

Brownie Base
I used my brownie recipe or you can use any recipe as long as it will fill a 9x13 pan.

Filling
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup Sunbutter sunflower seed spread (Recipe originally called for peanut butter)
2 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons milk

Topping
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup butter

Heat oven to 350ºF. Grease bottom only of 9x13 inch pan with cooking spray or shortening.

Prepare and cook brownies according to recipe and allow to cool completely, about 1 hour.

In a medium bowl, beat filling ingredients with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Spread mixture evenly over brownie base.

In small microwavable bowl, microwave topping ingredients uncovered on High 30 to 60 seconds; stir until smooth. Cool 10 minutes; spread over filling. Refrigerate about 30 minutes or until set. For brownies, cut into 9 rows by 4 rows. Store covered in refrigerator.
Recipe adapted from The Girl Who Ate Everything.

Brownies

The other day my daughter was desperately wanting to help me bake some cookies, well she wanted chocolate chip and I didn't have the things to be able to fix those, but I did have stuff for brownies. So after a lot of back and forth about having to go and get stuff or fixing the brownies she finally caved for brownies. Here's where the real fun began, after hunting down a recipe and getting everything ready for her to help she decides to help to "do the dishes", which only means to play in the water. It's at this point where I wound up making the brownies on my own while she played in the water. We both had a good time and made a huge mess of the kitchen, which she managed to find a toy to play with while I cleaned up; I better get used to that I have a feeling. 

The brownies came out delicious! They were nice and fluffy, more cake like than fudge like, with a nice light flavor making them a joy to eat.

Ingredients
1 cup shortening (I substituted in 1 cup of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Baking Sticks with good results)
8 tablespoons cocoa or 4 1 ounce squares of unsweetened chocolate
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking powder
2 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cup flour

Melt 1 cup shortening and cocoa or chocolate squares in a pan over low heat.

Mix eggs, vanilla, baking powder, sugar, salt, and flour in a bowl until well combined. Next add the chocolate mixture and mix well. Pour the batter into a greased 9x13 inch pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes at 350º.

Fudge Brownies

I had intended on doing these for a food day my wife was to have at work, but she forgot what day that was. Which worked out, because we got to enjoy them all. This is the first time since high school home ed class that I have made brownies from scratch. I found the recipe in the small cook book that came with my Kitchen Aide Stand Mixer. I received this as a Christmas gift from my wife a couple of years ago and it has gotten a lot of use. It's also very helpful since I have never been much of a baker, or cooked many meals that have required the use of a mixer. I hope to get more confident and begin to broaden the use of the appliance, I'm sure the possibilities are endless.

1 cup margarine or butter, softened, divided
4 squares (1 ounce each) unsweetened chocolate
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (I didn't add these)

Melt 1/2 cup margarine and chocolate in small saucepan over lowe heat: set aside to cool.
Place remaining 1/2 cup margarine, sugar, and vanilla in mixer bowl. Attach bowl and flat beater to mixer. Turn to speed 2 and mix about 30 seconds. Turn to speed 6 and beat about 2 minutes. Turn to speed 4. Add eggs, one at a time, beating about 15 seconds after each addition. Stop and scrape bow.
Add cooled mixture. Turn to speed 2 and mix about 30 seconds. Stop an scrape bowl. Add all remaining ingredients. Turn to Stir Speed and mix until well blended, about 30 seconds.
Pout into grease and floured 13/9/2 inch baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes. Cool in pan on wire rack and cut.