Deliciously Decadent Homemade Brownies

I haven't made a recipe with chocolate in awhile. A travesty, I know. I decided to end the no-chocolate streak with a classic! What can be more classic than some delicious ooey gooey brownies? I've made a homemade version before, but it was actually quite a bit more complicated than this one, and with what my memory is telling me, perhaps not quite as good. These are super easy to make, and you can do it all in one saucepan, which is always a plus in my book. The less dishes dirtied, the better!

I mean, who likes to clean a bunch of dishes? Honestly, being of the not-having-a-dishwasher group, less dishes are always on my "yes!" list. Yes, sometimes I can make doing the dishes into a little iPod-wearing dance party, but let's be real, it's not entirely ideal.

There is always the certain lure of the box mix at the grocery. It's so easy, all you do is mix in some eggs and perhaps some oil and/or water, and it's ready for the oven. Simple. But honestly, if you have these ingredients lying around (and you probably do), then you should say to heck with the box mix and go straight for homemade. Miles better than the box, for sure. Perhaps even called "the best brownies I've ever had" by a certain someone (no, the certain someone is not me!), which is quite a statement given that said someone rarely eats chocolate anything.

Brownies are interesting, right? They're like a cake and fudge got together and had a little baby. Because it's not cake, it's not fudge, it's somewhere in between - the brownie. Now don't get me wrong, I love a good chocolate cake and a good fudge as much as the next girl, but sometimes you just need that in between.

Deliciously Decadent Homemade Brownies
Author: Jen @ Fresh From The…
Servings: 9 Brownies
Prep time: 00:10

Cook time: 00:40

Total time: 00:50

Dense and full of chocolate flavor, if you like the opposite of a cake brownie, these are for you.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 325°F and line an 8x8 inch pan with parchment paper.
2. In a medium saucepan, melt your butter and chocolate together over low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon.
3. Remove from heat and stir in the sugar. Next up, the eggs and vanilla. Stir until smooth and you no longer see egg swirly bits.
4. Add in the chocolate chips, flour and salt and stir until that flour is all gone.
5. Pour into your prepared pan, tapping the edges to get rid of any air bubbles. Stick that in the oven, and bake for 35-45 minutes, until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
6. Remove from the pan and cool on a rack.

Recipe via Cravings of a Lunatic

Friday Round Up

I'm not sure why, but I love seeing mashups and reimaginings of Disney things, particularly Disney princesses. Perhaps it's having grown up with them, there's that nostalgia factor, or perhaps a girl never truly grows out of her princess phase. In any case, this week we have Disney characters dressing up for Halloween and ultimate mashups including Disney Avengers. And for a trip in the way back machine, because this one is from a long time ago but I saved it because I liked it so much, Hipster Disney Princesses. Or even this one featuring the princesses in accurate period costume. Have you seen any fun ones around the web? If so, share them with me, because apparently I love them all!

Can you believe it's been 10 years since Lost premiered? That is just craziness! There are quite a few retrospectives around the web, but this (sorta kinda long) article articulates quite well why the show was great and why no one has been able to replicate it since then. Some have tried (The Event, FlashForward), but none have succeeded.

If Lost being 10 years old makes you feel old, then what about Friends debuting 20 years ago? That's right, Friends first hit the air 20 years ago! Can that be any longer ago? What's so great about Friends is that it actually holds up all these years later, aside from the fashion, perhaps. But the situations, particularly in the golden years of the show, are still relevant to today because they are so character-based. Anyway, this article explores some of the most memorable things from the show. Do you have a favorite episode? Off the top of my head I'd say The One Where Everybody Finds Out.

Science has come a long way since the days humans thought the Earth was the center of the universe, but there are still some things that scientists can't quite explain. The Top 10 Unsolved Mysteries of Science explores some of these things, including the whole dark matter deal (what the heck is dark matter, and why is there no real evidence of it?), similarly dark energy, which is really just the name for the unaccountable stuff in the universe, and, of course, why haven't we seen any real evidence of aliens despite the enormity of the universe? All valid questions. Will we find the answers in our lifetime? One can hope!

I don't often like to think about money, because it can be quite a depressing topic, but this article about some things we might believe about money that aren't true is interesting. Like sticking to a budget might not always be the best idea. I don't know that I really stick to a budget, per se, more like I have a vague idea in my head of how much money I have to wiggle with, and use that as a budget. But their point is that if you have a certain number in your head for a particular product, you will always go toward the high end of that budget. Interesting!

That's all for this week! Anything you've found interesting that I missed? Until next week!


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Banana Crumb Cake

I know some people are already embracing the fall spices that are imminently upon us, but I want to hold out awhile longer. Sure, I may have just gone and bought new stocks of ginger, cloves, and all spice to make sure I'm ready to go for pumpkin season, but no! Not yet! It's not even October yet, for goodness sake. It seems like each year the holiday season starts earlier and earlier. Not that I don't like the holiday season, but it does invite early burnout. You don't want early burnout!

So. I made some Banana Crumb Cake. It's not exactly summer, it's not exactly fall, it's perhaps somewhere in between, which is right where we are here at the end of September.

I edited this recipe down a bit from the original on Cookies and Cups. It was a bit too much sugar for me, and reducing the sugar from 2 cups to 1 1/3 cups did not make the cake unsweet in any way. In fact, I would never have known it was meant to have more sugar if I didn't see the recipe. I also halved the crumb entirely. Three sticks of butter and another two cups of sugar in one cake just seemed on the high side to me, and even though I really do love me a crumb topping, I figured it would be fine with half. And it is! You can, of course, go ahead and double it to have a much higher percentage of crumb, but I'll leave that up to you.

There's something sort of magical that bananas do to baked goods. They just add so much extra moisture it makes cakes and quick breads all the more delicious. And even better, they get even more tasty on the second day, which is not something you can say for many baked goods. Maybe I'm just having a love affair with fruit of the banana/plantain variety lately, because I also can't seem to stop eating Plantain Chips. Which is funny because bananas by themselves are sometimes too much. Ah, taste buds, you are strange and wonderful.

Anyway! You should definitely try out this banana crumb cake, especially if you like any kind of banana baked good at all. You will not be disappointed!

Banana Crumb Cake
Author: Jen @ Fresh From The…
Servings: 18 Pieces
Prep time: 00:15

Cook time: 00:55 

Total time: 01:10

Great for breakfast for dessert, with a delicate banana flavor that doesn’t overwhelm.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter, cubed
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray your 9x13 baking dish with some cooking spray and set aside for now.
2. I recommend making your crumb first. Combine 1/2 cup cold butter, brown sugar and 1 cup flour in a medium bowl until a coarse crumb forms. You can use a pastry blender or cutter, or a fork, or even your hands. Set that aside for the moment.
3. In a large bowl, mash the bananas until liquidy. Beat in the butter until combined, then mix in the sugar, eggs and vanilla.
4. Stir in the milk and flour until just combined.
5. Pour 1/2 of the batter into your prepared pan. Top with 1/3 of the crumb mixture, then pour the remaining batter on top, and the rest of the crumb mixture on top of that.
6. Bake for 50-55 minutes until the center is set and a tester comes out clean.
7. Cool for 10 minutes, then chow down. It's good warm and at room temperature.

Adapted from Cookies and Cups

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Friday Round Up

It's already time for another Friday Round Up! This week somehow went by both incredibly slowly and incredibly quickly.

It has been incredibly hot here in Los Angeles this week, making the apartment living situation quite unbearable. Of course, we can't afford to have a nice apartment that has air conditioning and whatnot, because the rent is too dang high. This site has a bunch of graphs displaying the sad situation. People are paying too much of their paychecks toward rent, and the paychecks aren't getting any higher, but the rent sure is. It's depressing, for real.

My boyfriend and I live in quite close quarters right now thanks to that rent issue, making the subject of this video about weird things all couples fight about even more hilarious to me. Some of those things hit close to home for sure!

Writing is one of my passions, as hopefully most of you who read this know. I've written stories since I was a little kid, but have also kept a journal since I was really young as well. Now a study is showing that writing helps both your emotional and physical health. Like, wounds physically heal faster if you write about your thoughts and feelings! I've been telling a certain someone they should try writing in a journal for a while, and you can bet I used this article as further proof that it would be a big help.

We live in a world now full of screens - TV, Movie, Phone, iPad, Computer.. now even watches are going to have screens. But are they so great for our health? Not so much, though I'm not sure this is a huge surprise. But basically, this article talks about the effect of the blueish light that emanates from said screens interfering with proper sleep, but also hurting our eyes as well. I write this, of course, from a computer, but I do try to not look at a screen other than my Kindle Paperwhite, which I think is one of the okay ones (I hope!), before going to bed.

I know I've featured creepy places before, but this time I've got a link for you that focuses solely on places in the United States. Some feature some quite mysterious stories. I'm not sure I would want to ever actually visit some of these places, other than the Winchester Mystery House which I find interesting.

Have you seen the lip synch battles that Jimmy Fallon hosts on The Tonight Show? I think they are pretty hilarious, especially the one he had with Emma Stone. But this week was another funny battle featuring Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani. I'm not sure it tops the Emma Stone one, but it's still pretty fun.

And for my last feature this week, have you ever wondered what some old timey black and white photos would look like if they were in color? Well, wonder no more, because this site has a bunch of colorized old photos. Some look more realistic than others (some look like they were painted rather than a real photo), but some are pretty cool.


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Vanilla Blondie Bars

You guys, it has been HOT here in Los Angeles the last few days. Normally, since I live pretty near the beach, the heat isn't as much of an issue, as it is at least 20 degrees cooler than going inland, but damn man, it's been hot even here! Which makes baking a bit of an issue, as you might imagine, in a small apartment with no air conditioning. During the winter? Sure, it heats the whole apartment right up! In the dregs of summer when it always seems to get super hot in SoCal? No thank you.

Luckily, I made these bars just one or two days before the heat wave really hit, so they didn't heat up the apartment too heinously. I also was able to use this fancy ground vanilla a coworker brought back from Mauritius for me, so that was fun as well! I've never used ground vanilla, and it took me a little bit to figure out that's what it actually was in the first place too! But really, you just use it in place of vanilla bean or vanilla extract. I can't compare these bars when using the other two, but feel free to scrape a full bean into the batter or just put in a couple teaspoons of vanilla extract and I'm sure they will still taste great!

These bars are super easy and take only a handful of ingredients, making them a great little bar for when you want something fresh-baked, but don't want it to take ages, and especially if you aren't in the mood for brownies. They keep pretty moist for a couple days afterward if you store them properly wrapped away from the air, and are especially delicious if slightly warmed, or straight from the oven. The ground vanilla gives these an extra something as compared to just vanilla extract, but if you can't get ground vanilla (or vanilla paste as it may be called), then I would recommend scraping one 1 vanilla bean rather than using extract if possible. Who doesn't love the sight of the little brown-black flecks?!

Vanilla Blondie Bars
Author: Jen @ Fresh From The…
Servings: 9 Bars
Prep time: 00:10

Cook time: 00:30

Total time: 00:40

When you’re looking for a vanilla-spiked blondie rather than a brownie, give this easy recipe a try.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground vanilla or vanilla paste
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup all-purpose flour

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line an 8x8 inch pan with foil.
2. Cream together your butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in your vanilla. You can also substitute the beans out of 1 vanilla bean if you so desire. Beat that in with the egg and salt until well combined.
3. Finally, slowly stir in the flour until it is just mixed. Your dough will be thick, but try your best to get it into your prepared pan and smooth the top into an even layer.
4. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the bars a tester comes out clean and the edges are just slightly browned. Let cool in the pan, then lift out your foil and slice 'em up! 

Recipe via Baking Bites

No step-by-step photos this time around, as they really weren't very exciting. I may stop doing the step-by-step photos on a general basis unless the recipe is particularly difficult, as most of the time, the steps are very similar in most baking recipes.

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Friday Round Up

Apologies to any dedicated readers of the blog that may exist out there as my posting has been light this week and that is all a big no-no and whatnot. Well, I've been having myself a bit of a mini vacation visiting my hometown - Portland, Oregon. And gosh, every time I go there lately, I just want to move back! Anyway, on to this week's Friday Round Up, featuring some of the stuff around the ole web that I thought was interesting or neat or whatever.

Back in the day, I was totally against reading Harry Potter. It was this "trend" and I was against being trendy. But on one magical day at the movies, I saw the preview for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and thought - damn it all! I would like that. And so, I started reading. And just basically devouring the entire series that was available at that time, which I think was up through book four. Anyway! The point is - I love Harry Potter. And I love all of the original artwork on/in the books. But now they are going to be updating them with new artwork for the next generation, which I have been a bit dubious about. While I don't think I would want to exchange the old art - this new art by Jonny Duddle is pretty cool too. It has a much more modern feel to it, with a more exaggerated take on some of the characters. Kinda neat!

I've never smoked a cigarette. Truth. I have always found them disgusting and really had no desire to even try one. This article has some cool graphics demonstrating how taxes have increased on cigarettes over the years throughout the country, and the subsequent drop in sales over the years. Probably there is also a correlation to the health issues with smoking as well as it not being "cool" like it used to be, but I'm sure money has a lot to do with it too.

Did you know a person can function without a cerebellum? Apparently one woman was born without one, and though she has some difficulties with her motor skills and such, has been able to live for quite a long time. Pretty crazy how the brain can compensate for certain deficiencies!

I was going to post a link to a video of the alternate ending to How I Met Your Mother, but Fox has already blocked the video. But, apparently, in the alternate ending, things ended on a happier note for Ted and the Mother rather than the ending they actually went with. Personally, I was not a fan of the ending they decided on. It felt like a big ole waste, particularly when the Mother was actually so cool.

OkCupid sometimes features blog posts on some of their data trends. Their latest post is on race and attraction. It's actually quite fascinating to see that, in general, certain races get a bit of a short shrift on dating sites, which probably means they get a short shrift in the dating pool in general. It's pretty glaring in some cases.

And on one last final note, the first Supernatural season 10 official promo has been posted. Give it a watch and let me know if you are excited for the new season and some Demon Dean. I'm on the fence, though I am looking forward to them mixing up Dean's character a bit as it always used to be Sam getting the weird things happening to him. Wondering how long he will be kept a demon as well. Guess we will start to find out in October!

That's it for this week! Have a great weekend!

Friday Round Up

I'm back for my second Friday Round Up! Hope you are finding it interesting so far. And hopefully I will not ever run out of fun/informative things to share. I suspect that will not be the case, but I suppose you never know! What's that? Get on with it? Well okay then!

That weird Saved by the Bell unauthorized tell-all film was on this week. I haven't watched it, but I am a big SBTB fan. On that note, are you? Take this quiz to find out. (I got 37/50 - Zack - "Just smart enough without being showy") But let's not stop there! TVLine discussed some of the top episodes, and for the most part I have to agree with these as well. Though I do agree with the comments at the bottom that I loved that all in the mall episode a lot as well.

Abandoned buildings are weird and cool and creepy. Just check out this list. There are some seriously creepster places on that list, and some that are just interesting. Like the insane North Korean Ryugyong hotel, perhaps better know as the Hotel of Doom! It was abandoned for 16 years in the middle of being built, but they have "finished" it now. That is, they've finished the outside and some of the inside. You will be in awe, but not in a good way.

You may or may not know that I love Game of Thrones. We are in the doldrums in between TV seasons right now, and the even longer doldrums in between books, so (don't click if you don't want spoilers!) everyone on the web is talking about fan theories. No, I won't discuss these spoilers out in the open here on the blog because I know many people are spoiler averse. But I will say that I agree with some of these but disagree a lot with others. If you want to get more specific, I suppose we can start a convo in the comments section!

For something more serious, this story about a girl who went to jail for being part of Occupy Wall Street is sad. It really just speaks to the corruption in the justice system, which only serves to make me upset. Man oh man.

Okay, back to something fun! Do you love '80s movies? I love '80s movies. Here are some fun facts about quite a few of them! Some of these I already know, of course, like that Eric Stoltz was originally going to be Marty McFly in Back to the Future, but some of the others are new, like how Ferris Bueller was supposed to have more siblings?! Also, if you are a big fan of BTTF, there are these crazy life-like figurines going on sale soon. I mean they are realistic enough to be eerie.

And, to end on a bit more of a serious note this week, do you know what dystonia is? This month is Dystonia Awareness Month, so I'm spreading a little awareness. After all of the attention that ALS received, it's time to let another, lesser-known, neurological disease get some attention.

That's it for this week! Have a fabulous weekend!

SYTYCD Season 11 Finale

Well, my friends, it is truly the end of summer now that So You Think You Can Dance is coming to a close. The real question is - will it be renewed for another season? It would really be nice to know ahead of time so we could have a sort of retrospective of the best dances ever, wouldn't it? Alas. Anyhow, tonight is not about that, tonight is about Ricky, Jessica, Zack and Valerie, the final four of season 11. As you know, before we find out the results, we get treated to some of the best dances from the season along with some new ones to join the mix.

So let's get on with it! On the judging panel is Tara Lipinski, Adam Shankman, Jenna Dewan Tatum, Debbie Allen, along with Mary and Nigel of course. So let's see their favorites and the final four's favorites as well (all are clickable to view)...

Mary Murphy - Jessica & Casey - Travis Wall contemporary

Debbie Allen - Ricky & Valerie - Pharside and Phoenix hip hop

Zack Everheart - Zack & All-Star Amy - Sony Tayeh contemporary

Nigel Lythgoe - Rudy & All-Star Allison - Ray Leeper jazz

Valerie Rockey - Valerie & Zack - Anthony Morigerato tap

Ricky Ubeda - Ricky & Jessica - Sonya Tayeh contemporary

America's Twitter Choice - Carly & Serge - Luther Brown hip hop (it's the one I voted for!)

Jenna Dewan Tatum - Tanisha & Rudy - Sonya Tayeh jazz

Adam Shankman - Zack & Ricky - Pharside and Phoenix hip hop

Tara Lipinski - Emilio and All-Star Jasmine - NapTab hip hop

Jessica Richens - Jessica & All-Star Robert - Travis Wall contemporary

Cat Deeley - Ricky & Valerie - Travis Wall contemporary

Throughout the show, the results were given. Zack was in fourth place, Jessica in third... which leaves it down to the duo of Ricky and Valerie.

And the winner is....

 RICKY!

To me it was a bit of a foregone conclusion this season, but that's not to say he isn't deserving. Yay Ricky! And congrats to Valerie for making it as far as she did, because I didn't really see that happening, I must say.

Well, here we are at the end of the line. Are you happy with Ricky's victory, or were you hoping someone else would win? Let me know in the comments!

Previous Episode 

Soft Oatmeal Cookies

It's Labor Day, which I hope means most of you are off work today. Yay to long weekends! I must say, it's been a bit hot here in LA lately, so baking anything has been a little bit on the "ugh" side when you live in a place with no air conditioning. Normally, it's fine because we get a decent breeze coming off the ocean a few miles away, but it's been especially humid this summer so... bluck!

Nonetheless, last night I was determined to make something to share with all of you, and my boyfriend made a request for oatmeal cookies. Now, if I'd had my druthers, I would probably have made some homemade brownies, but he is one of those crazy people who doesn't like chocolate. I know, right? Also, I didn't have enough chocolate to make the kind I wanted to make, so poo.

Anyhow, these soft oatmeal cookies are chewy and have a little hint of cinnamon. The BF is not the biggest fan of the cinnamon addition, but I kind of like it myself. It gives it a little extra bit of flavor without shouting at you that there's a bunch of cinnamon. To each their own! If you don't like cinnamon, then you can go ahead and omit it from the below recipe.

If you would like your cookies to not spread as much, go ahead and stick the dough in the fridge for a couple hours. I was not in the mood to wait around for refrigerated dough, so these ended up being a little bit flatter than I normally like. BUT! They still taste really good and are just as chewy and soft, so it's no big deal.

Soft Oatmeal Cookies
Author: Jen @ Fresh From The…
Servings: 15 Cookies
Prep time: 00:10 

Cook time: 00:15 

Total time: 00:25

For those who aren’t chocolate fans, but still want a classic cookie, look no further than these soft cookies stuffed with oatmeal.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
• 3 cups old-fashioned oats

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line your cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silpat.
2. Cream together the butter and two sugars until combined (in a large bowl). Add in the eggs and vanilla, and beat until smooth. Next, stir in the flour, baking soda, baking powder and ground cinnamon, if your using it.
3. Finally, add in the oats and stir until combined. You can also put in any desired add-ins at this stage as well (i.e. raisins).
4. Scoop dough onto your cookie sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes depending on the size of your cookies. They will be light brown in color. Remove from the oven and let sit on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before moving them to wire racks to cool completely. 

Recipe via What's Cooking America

I did not take photos of the whole process this time around, as I was baking them at night and you know those night pictures never turn out very well thanks to no natural light. So I hope you enjoy the pictures of just the final product this time around!

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