Twisted Brownies

...no, not the special kind.

I'm supposed to bring a baked good to a meeting I'm going to tonight. I had a box of brownie mix in the cabinet, but I wanted to spice it up a little bit.

I did a quick google search, and then came up with Meringue-topped Brownies. Yum!



They're gooey, with a marshmallowy consistency on the top. Pretty delicious!




To make them:

1 box of your favorite brownie mix
1/2 bag chocolate chips (or more, you know, whatever floats your chocolate boat)
3 egg whites
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar (i used light because that's what was in the house, but either works)
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350. Mix up the brownies according to directions on the box. Grease the pan, pour in brownie mix. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top of batter. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form, then slowly add sugar, brown sugar, and salt and keep beating until stiff peaks form. Spread on top of chocolate chips. Bake for 25-30 minutes, but be sure to check with a toothpick for doneness.

Brain slip: I couldn't understand why my brownies weren't finished cooking, but it turns out I was sticking my toothpick into a melted chocolate chip instead of brownie batter. whoops!

:) spring break in one week! one exam to go!

Put A Little Love in Your Heart

This is my Valentine's post. It's late. So goes the life of a college student. On actual Valentine's Day I was babysitting, talking up Kinesiology, participating in an Exercise Physiology lab, and playing softball.

Supa busy.

So I did all of my Valentine's baking on Wednesday, and shared it with all of my Valentine's!

First up, I made brownies...kind of.

Brownies in a cup. With chocolate. With buttercream. Because who doesn't love a heavy dose of chocolate mid-week?




and then...




Remember those pretty Valentine's presents I got in the mail? Well, I put them to good use :)





So thanks again, BFF's parents!

Up next was dinner. Two of my friends, Jeff and Tim, came over for chicken, because I'm a pro-active student who buys chicken and then lets it sit until it's bad and then can't eat it. So this time, I broke the pattern and MADE the chicken. with cilantro and lime. yummm!



For dessert, I had made chocolate covered strawberries:



...and then we let them cool while Jeff and I watched Tim and his team DOMINATE in his Inner-Tube Waterpolo game. Go Tiger Detectives :)

It was a sweet post-victory snack!




So Happy Valentine's Day all! :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CASSIE!

GO PACK GO!!!

I've been waiting and waiting, avoiding school work that was absolutely necessary, just counting down until the day when it was acceptable to make these cookies. Decorating sugar cookies is still new for me, as this is only my third attempt. I'm still working on finishing the piping without the little nub at the end of a piped line, and tend to miss a few more than the occasional air bubble.



My alliance to the NFL is small, and usually only shows itself around playoff time, but if I'm a Patriots fan first, then I'm definitely a Packers fan second. I think that the Wisconsin fam would disown me if I renounced Packer football. It's bad enough that I go to Michigan :)



Anyway, my cheering was for you, family (plus Charles Woodson is a Wolverine, common ground maybe?)



However, I wanted to please the masses at the Superbowl Party that I was attending, so I made an attempt at the Steelers logo as well.



I have to admit that the Steelers logo was a little more fun to pipe and I don't think that the Green Bay "G" really matches the actual logo, but hey, it was worth a shot right?

I attempted jerseys as well. Who knew how long Roethlisberger's last name was? Well, I did, but there was no way that was fitting on a cookie. I got to the letter b and then had to add a "...."




Overall, Superbowl was a raging success. I'm glad it was a good game and not a blowout, that would have been no fun.

And how about those commercials! My favorite was absolutely the Chrysler commercial "Imported from Detroit". Eminem is the best, it features Detroit, and as I'm watching it for the twelve-thousandth time right now I'm still getting goosebumps.

Also the mini Darth Vader commercial was super cute. Props to the car companies this year!

Here are some extra shots of the cookies, let me know what you think! Ps. Sorry some of the letters are backwards, took a couple of the pics with my computer and it flipped them.

I woke up with the intention of making Banana Bread...

...and ended up with Snickerdoodles. Not upset. They were delicious!



I've never made Snickerdoodles before, but they turned out quite well and were a hit at the potluck I took them to. My favorite part of making them were rolling them around in the sugar. Make it a little more labor-intensive, but it adds something special :)





The sugar cookies for the superbowl are in the fridge waiting to be rolled out, and my housemate's peanut butter phenomenon cookies are being prepared as well. So excited for the Superbowl. GO PACK GO!

Valentine's Presents Make Me Excited to Bake and not Study

My best friend is the best.

And my best friend's parents are the best best.

I came home to this awesome surprise from them waiting for me on a cold, cold Midwest day.





THANK YOU :)

I am so incredibly excited to make Valentine's cookies and cupcakes and share this love with everyone! (I'll send some back home, I promise!)

Hugs and Kisses from Michigan, Valentine's Day is only 2 weeks away!