Ladies Night

Periodically it's nice to be able to get together with friends (girls), have a glass of wine (or diet coke), eat chocolate (or cheese fondue), and catch up with all of the frisky details of one another's lives (minus mine because it's boring).

I don't see these ladies too often, but Thursday we all got together for fondue.

Now this whole idea wasn't mine (obviously since, I am after all on a "diet"), but after seeing this recipe over at The Stories of A to Z, it hasn't left my head since I drooled over the pictures of these amazing looking brownies.

I knew I couldn't make these brownies for Philip, Adeline, and me at home because... well I'd be afraid to eat the entire pan.

So I baked them and brought them to ladies night where they were a total hit.

I wanted to make sure to blog this recipe for my future reference and your inevitable weight gain after baking these things.

So here it is,

The original recipe can be found at Lets Get Cooking.

and a modified version again at The Stories of A to Z

and here is my own modified version here:

I love to bake, but I never use box mixes for my deserts.

The brownie recipe that has been an equal balance of chewy and fudgy which is my favorite kind of brownie!!

I'm a chewy, fudgy brownie kind of person but in order to please everyone in the house this recipe has provided perfect balance.

It can be found through that link or at allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 2 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the cocoa and baking soda. Add 1/3 cup vegetable oil and boiling water. Mix until well blended and thickened. Stir in the sugar, eggs, and remaining 1/3 cup oil. Finally, add the flour, vanilla and salt; mix just until all of the flour is absorbed. Spread evenly into the prepared pan. 
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool before cutting into squares.

 [Buttered parchment paper on the bottom of the baking dishes always make for easy clean and easy brownie lifting.. just a tip ;)]

So yea I used that for the basic brownie.

Then for the cookie dough frosting you use:

Ingredients:

1-1/2 sticks butter, softened

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup sugar

4-1/2 tbsp milk

1-1/2 cups flour

1-1/2 cups mini chocolate chips.

Bake your brownies, and let them completely cool before frosting.

Combine frosting ingredients adding flour last and slowly until combined

Stir in chocolate chips ( I used regular semi sweet)

Frost the brownies and stick in the refrigerator until cooled, then once chilled slice and eat.

THEY WERE SO YUMMY!

Now I only had a half of a brownie (diet, ya know), but I could have quite possibly wiped out the entire pan! Good thing everyone else did before I had the chance ;)