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.

Frozen Peppermint Cheesecake

It was the week of Thanksgiving and my wife was getting in the holiday spirit and asked me to fix something festive. She suggested I try a recipe she had pinned on Pinterest, it was a recipe from Smucker's for Frozen Peppermint Cheesecake. I looked it up and printed it off, as I was on my way to the store she had some recipe change requests, which I obliged and made the necessary changes. The original recipe calls for a chocolate Oreo crust, the picture looks to have some chocolate pieces mixed into the cheese cake but there's no mention of it in the directions. I prepared the recipe using a vanilla wafer crust and prepared the cheesecake as directed in the recipe, the end result was mediocre at best. The cheese cake it's self is dead on for the Holiday season, but I think the Oreo crust would have been a better pairing. I'm not sure yet if I will try this recipe again with the appropriate crust or let it go, I may give it another go for one of my Christmas get togethers.

Recipe as shown on Smuckers.com

Ingredients;
2 cups chocolate wafer cookie or sandwich cookie crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1 (14 oz) can Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 teaspoons peppermint extract
2 cups heavy cream, whipped
Red food coloring (optional)
Smucker's Chocolate Fudge Spoonable Ice Cream Topping (optional)

Directions;
1. Line 9 inch round cake or spring form pan with foil
2. Combine cookie crumbs and sugar in medium bowl. Add butter; mix well. Press 2 cups crumbs firmly onto bottom and partway up sides of prepared pan. Chill.
3. Beat cream cheese until fluffy in large bowl. Gradually add sweetened condensed milk until smooth. Stir in peppermint extract and food coloring, if desired; mix well. Fold in whipped vreap. Pour filling into pan.
. Cover; freeze 6 hours or until firm. Garnish with fudge topping, if desired.

Pumpkin Bread

With fall in full swing nothing says fall like pumpkin and I've got some recipes that will put your taste buds in the fall mood. The first one is Pumpkin Bread and this one has quickly become a family favorite. In fact my wife took a loaf to work and was receiving raved reviews on it.

The recipe makes three loaves, but I made a dozen muffins and two loaves with no problems. My two year old loves these muffins for breakfast and their something quick an easy to warm up for her in the morning.

Ingredients
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree or 1 cup homemade pumpkin puree
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup water 3 cups white sugar
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/ teaspoon ground ginger

Directions
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease and flour three 7x3 inch loaf pans.

In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into the prepared pans.

Bake four about 50 minutes in the preheated oven. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. For muffins bake time is about 30 minutes.

Recipe found on allrecipes.com, Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread by Laurie Bennett

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.

Ginger Snap Cookies

A few weeks ago we celebrated both my Mother-in-laws and Father-in-laws 50th birthday, which is only a small accomplishment. We hosted the party and I was put in charge of cooking, no surprise there and it took little to convince me to do so. So we fixed simple nachos, nothing exciting there. But for dessert I made ginger snap cookies and chocolate chip cookies, which I've done before. It was the first time I've fixed ginger snaps and it's a bit of an art form in getting the dough onto to the cookie sheet, but it's pretty easy to figure out just the same.

I love ginger snaps and these cookies did not disappoint. I'm sure I'll be making these again some time soon.

I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and was posted by Elaine.
Ingredients
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/3 cup white sugar for decoration

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375º F.
2 In a large bowl, mix together the brown sugar, oil, molasses mixture. Roll dough into 1 1/4 inch balls. Roll each ball in white sugar before placing 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in preheated oven, or until center is firm. Cool on wire racks.

Yields 36 cookies.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

I fixed this a few weeks ago with my daughter when it was just way to hot to be outside. I used a chocolate chip cookie recipe that was included with my Kitchen Aide Mixer. The recipe was for cookies, but I adapted it for a 8x12 cake pan. I followed the recipe until it came time to dish it all out, then I just simply placed the cookie dough into the pie pan and baked it at the same temperature as the recipe four about 30 minutes when the dough was nice and golden brown. The end result was delicious and I will be repeating this again, but with one slight change. The recipe makes enough dough for 54 cookies, so there is easily enough dough to fill a large bar pan. Which I'm sure would cook much more evenly and be a little closer to a cookie serving size making it much easier for those concerned about their calorie intake.

On a side note, I recently contacted Target about their Market Pantry Chocolate Chips and if they were produced on shared equipment. They stated that they are not produced on shared equipment and in fact safe for those with Peanut Allergies. This is a huge relief for us for two reasons; one being that their safe for our little girl and two, because its incredibly convenient since we don't have to special order them off of the internet.

1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips

Place sugars, butter, eggs, and vanilla in mixer bowl. Attach bowl and flat beater to mixer. Turn to Speed 2 and mix about 30 seconds. Stop and scrape bowl. Turn to Speed 4 and beat about 30 seconds. Stop and scrape bowl.

Turn to Stir speed. Gradually add baking soda, salt, and flour to sugar mixture and mix about 2 minutes. Turn to speed 2 and mix about 30 seconds. Stop and scrape bowl. Add chocolate chips. Turn to Stir Speed and mix about 15 seconds.

Drop rounded teaspoonfuls onto greased baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake at 375ºF for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from baking sheets immediately and cool on wire racks.

For the cookie cake place the cookie dough in a large greased bar pan or a 9x13 pie pan. Bake at 375ºF for 30 minutes or until the cookie dough has turned a golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow pan to cool on a wire rack.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Sammie, my daughter, and I whipped these up a few weeks back on a rainy day. They were absolutely delicious and we had a blast making them. Sammie really enjoyed eating them, as did my wife, either on of them could keep their hands out of the cookie jar. I guess I'll have to wait a while in making these again for the sake our waistlines.

Recipe from Better Homes and Garden New Cook Book
Makes 48 cookies
Ingredients
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups rolled oats

1. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add brown sugar, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and, if desired, cinnamon and cloves. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally, Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in in any remaining flour. Stir in rolled oats.
2. Drop dough by rounded tsp 2 inches apart onto an un-greased cookie sheet. Bake in a 375º oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are golden. cool on a cookie sheet for 1 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool.

I wound up with 28 cookies and had to cook them 11-12 minutes in my oven till they had nice golden edges.

Chocolate Cake (with beets)

After the unexpected set back with the Carrot Cake I was know back to searching for a fun new cake. My wife had set one parameter, it had to include a veggie. Thankfully I just received a free copy of Deceptively Delicious from an old friend and coworker. I knew the book contained a recipe that was worth a try and met my wife's request.

On the day I decided to make them I ran into one little hold up, I didn't purchase any butter milk. My wife in all her wisdom hopped on the computer and searched for a substitute. What she found called to use 1 tablespoon of white vinegar and enough low fat milk to make one cup when added to the vinegar, mix together and wait a few minutes. I reluctantly followed their directions and used the substitute. The final product was delicious, so this little substitute is going into my bag of tricks for sure! When it came time to serve up the cake I quietly informed a few guests that it had beets, I don't know of any allergies to beets but it's possible. After a few people had tried some I then informed everyone, a few noticed a different ingredient and thought they were cherries, but overall they loved the cake.

Ingredients
Batter
Nonstick cooking spray
1 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar
/4 cup canola or vegetable oil, or trans fat-free soft tub margarine spread
1 large egg
2 large egg whites
3 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled
1/2 cup beet puree (I used canned beets and pureed in a food processor)
1/2 cup low-fat (1%) butter milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Cream Cheese Frosting
1 (8 ounce) package reduced-fat cream cheese
3/4 cup confectioners sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablesp0on pure vanilla extract

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Coat a 9-inch baking pan with cooking spray.
2. In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the brown sugar with the oil or margarine until creamy. Add the whole egg and egg whites one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the melted chocolate, beet puree, buttermilk, and vanilla.
3. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt and beat until smooth.
4.pour the batter into the pan and bake until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center, 35 to 40 minutes. Let the cake cool 5 minutes in the pan before turning it out onto a rack to cool completely.
5. Meanwhile, make the frosting. Beat the cream cheese with the confectioners' sugar, cocoa powder, and vanilla until smooth. Slice the cake in half horizontally. Spread the frosting over the top and between the layers of the cooled cake.
6. Refrigerate in in airtight container for up to 4 days.
Makes one cake.

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

This cake was actually a practice run for my daughters second birthday. The recipe and cake was delicious and well liked by everyone, everyone but my daughter that is. When I offered her a piece of the cake she just blankly looked at me with a puzzled look, here I was all excited about her trying the cake and she seemed to not understand why. I'm not sure why she wasn't crazy about it but I knew it was necessary to find another recipe.

Recipe from The Complete Cooking Light Cookbook
Carrot Cake
Ingredients
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup applesauce
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup plain fat-free yogurt
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large egg whites
1 large egg
2 cups finely shredded carrot
Cream Cheese Frosting

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375ºF.
2. Coat 2 (8 inch) round cake pans with cooking spray, and dust with 1 tablespoon flour.
3. Lightly spoon 2 1/4 cups flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine 2 1/4 cups flour and next 5 ingredients, stirring well with a whisk. Beat granulated sugar and next 7 ingredients at medium speed of a mixer. Add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Stir in carrot.
4. Pour batter into prepared pans. Sharply tap pans once on counter to remove air bubbles. Bake at 375º for 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes on wire racks; remove from pans. Cool completely on wire racks.
5. Place 1 cake layer on a plate; spread with 3/4 cup cream cheese frosting, and top with remaining cake layer. Spread remaining frosting over top and sides of cake. Store cake loosely covered in refrigerator. Yield: 16 servings

Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
1/2 cup (4 ounces) block-style fat-free cream cheese, chilled
1/4 cup butter or stick margarine, softened
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions
1. Beat first 4 ingredients at medium speed of a mixer until smooth. Gradually add sugar to butter mixture; beat at low speed just until blended (do not over beat). Yield 2 cups

Bananas Foster

We celebrated our New Year's at home with just a couple of family member's and various finger foods. I decided I wanted to fix something that would be fun and entertaining. Now any one who has ever had this dessert prepared at a restaurant knows just how exciting it can be, as it involves setting the sauce on fire. It was as much fun preparing as it was eating this dish and in all the excitement that night I forgot to get a picture, but a picture alone will not do justice to the reaction you get by setting the sauce on fire.

4 medium bananas, firm but ripe
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Sauce
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup dark rum
1/4 cup banana liquer

Vanilla Ice cream

1. Prepare the grill for direct cooking over medium heat (350º to 450º)
2. Cut each banana in hal lengthwise and leave the skins attached (the will help the bananas hold their shape on the grill). Brush the cut sides with the 2 tablespoons of melted butter.
3. Brush the cooking grates clean. Grill the bananas over direct medium heat, with the lid open, until warmed and well marked but not to soft, 2 to 3 minutes, without turning. Remove from the grill. Peel the banana halves, cut them into quarters, and set aside.
4. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, melt the 1/2 cup of butter. Add the brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg, and cook, stirring constantly, until it bubbles, about 2 minutes. Stir in the rum and banana liqueur. Allow the liquid to warm for a few seconds and then carefully ignite the rum with a long match or multipurpose lighter. Let the flames die down. Add the banana pieces and cook over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes or until the bananas curl slightly. Spoon the banana mixture over ice cream and serve immediately.

Serves 6-8

Peanut Butter Fudge

This was my first attempt at peanut butter fudge and it came out perfect. It was soft, creamy, and absolutely delicious. I have prepared chocolate fudge before and I have learned a couple of lessons from past failures. The first lesson is to use a timer to keep track of the seven minutes, or you can use a candy thermometer if you have one. The next lesson is to use either a wooden spoon or a metal spoon to stir the sugar, evaporated milk, and butter mixture; a plastic spoon will melt and become part of the fudge. Go ahead, ask me how I know!

Ingredients:
4 cups white sugar
1 cup ligh brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
1 (7 ounce) jar marshmallow creme
1 (16 ounce) jar peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.

2. Ina medium saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar, brown sugar, butter and evaporated milk. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, and boil for 7 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in marshmallow creme until well incorporated and melted. Stir in peanut butter and vanilla until smooth; spread in prepared pan. let cool before cutting into squares.

Philadelphia Caramel-Pecan Cheesecake

My wife and I LOVE cheesecake, so when my wife came across this recipe in our Kraft Magazine she quickly thrust the magazine at me and said "Make this please!" This was my first attempt ever at a cheese cake and guess what, I didn't get a picture of it. How sad is that! I will say it was very tasty and definitely worth fixing, but I'm sure there has got to be some simpler recipes out there.

Ingredients
50 Nilla Wafers, crushed (about 1 1/2 cups) (I put them in the blender and pulsed it till coarse)
1 cup chopped Planters Pecans, divided
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted
4 pkg. (8 oz. each) Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup Breakstone's or Knudsen Sour Cream. (I used the Target brand)
3 Tbsp. Flour
1 Tbsp. vanilla
4 eggs
1/4 cup caramel ice cream topping

Directions
Heat oven to 325°
Mix wafer crumb, 1/2 cup nuts and butter; press onto bottom of 13x9-inch pan. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Beat cream cheese ans sugar in large bowl with mixer until blended. Add sour cream, flour and vanilla; mix well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each just until blended. Pour over crust.
Bake 45 min. or until center is almost set. Cool. Erfrigerate 4 hours. Drizzle with topping; top with remaining nuts. Let stand until topping is firm.

Homemade Apple Pie

This past weekend was the first weekend the local apple orchards were open for self picking of the apples. We had tried to attend last year, but unfortunately were just not able to make it in time, so this year we were on the ball to make sure we made time to go. We all had a blast picking apples, playing with a little play house they had there, and we almost came home with a kitten; thankfully they weren't old enough to be adopted. When we got home I knew just what needed to be done with the fresh picked apples, apple pie. I've made apple pie before and used a store bought pie crust, but I decided making pie crust is a skill I need to learn. I scoured my cook books and the internet and finally found a recipe that would work for the ingredients I had on hand. I don't use, therefore I don't keep, shortening in my kitchen. I do however try to keep plenty of butter, or imitation butter anyway, on hand.

For my first attempt at making a pie crust I think I did a pretty good job. It was a little tough and dry especially around edge, so I may have used a little to much flour and will have to try to use less next time.

The pie filling came out wonderful! The spices were great, the apples were cooked through, and it was so juicy. The only thing that was missing was a scoop of vanilla ice cream to with it.  That day was a perfect fall day, the temperature was on the cool side and the house was filled with the smell of baked apples and cinnamon.

Butter Pie Crust
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flout
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, chilled and diced
1/4 cup ice water

1. In a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in water, a tablespoon at a time, until mixture forms a ball. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.
2. Roll dough out to fit a 9 inch pie plate. Place crust in pie plate. Press the dough evenly into the bottom and sides of the pie plate.

Apple Pie Filling
5-6 cups sliced apples
1/8 tsp salt
1/2-2/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1-1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
1/8 tsp nutmeg

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Line a 9 inch pie pan with crust. Peel and slice apples into thin pieces. Combine sugar, salt, cornstarch, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir apple slices in until they are well coated. Place the apples in layers in the pie shell. Cover with upper crust. Be sure to prick holes in it for venting. Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for 35-50 minutes more until done.

Tropical Creamy Dessert

Here's another recipe from my wonderful mother-in-law, yes I'm probably kissing up a little bit, but she really is awesome. She got this recipe from Kraft as well and it was so good, I only wish we had more. If you haven't noticed yet we had a whole dinner that revolved around Caribbean flavored foods and of course we had to have a dessert that kept with the theme. This dessert is rich, light, and very full filling.

1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened

1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk

1 tsp. grated lemon zest

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

4 cups chopped assorted fresh fruit, such as papaya, strawberries, pineapple and mango

1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup prepared TANG Orange Flavor Drink Mix

1/2 cup Baker's Angel Flake Coconut, toasted

1. Beat cream cheese in small bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until creamy. Add milk, lemon peel and juice; mix well

2. Spoon evenly into 8 dessert glasses; cover. Refrigerate at least 1 hour.

3. Place fruit in medium bowl. Add sugar and prepared orange drink; toss to coat. Spoon evenly over desserts; sprinkle with coconut.

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.