Fall Brownie Tree - From a Mix

Category: Cookies > Bar > Brownie > Fall Brownie Tree

Looking through the pantry and organizing things a bit (the pantry tends to get more and more shuffled as time passes and every once in a while I need to go in there and straighten things out) I noticed that we had three boxes of brownie mix. Don't ask me why. I know my brother loves brownies but, really, three boxes?

So I decided to be a nice sister and bake up one of the boxes of brownies for my little bubby. It was my mom who suggested using the Christmas Tree pan to see if we could find alternative uses for it. So, this was my attempt at creating a Fall Brownie Tree.

One thing you might noticed from the picture was how much the brownie rose in the pan. I was really surprised to see that the brownie from a mix rose so much. I'm curious if other brands also rise so much. But, it's just something to be aware of that brownie mixes will rise as much as a cake will.

Autumn / Halloween Sugar Cookies

Category: Cookies > Rolled Cookies > Sugar Cookies

Fall is coming, fall is coming - my favorite season of all! So... I decided to make some Autumn and Halloween theme sugar cookies to celebrate. The craft stores has just put out all their Halloween/Fall cooking stuff so if you are interested now is the time to pick the cute stuff up before it's all gone.

I ended up picking up some cute cookie cutters! I couldn't help myself.

Here are my cookies after I baked them but before they have been decorated:



Here are my cookies after I have glazed them. Glazing cookies is really simple and they look good just like this. If you don't want to go through all the trouble of doing the detail work, something simple like this is still really eye popping.



And here are my cookies after I put the details on them with royal icing:







Glaze Recipe:

• 1 cup Powdered Sugar
  
• 1 tbsp. Light Corn Syrup
  
• 1 tbsp. Water
  
• Few drops Flavoring
  

Mix everything up in a small bowl with a spoon. Taste your icing and add more flavoring if you want. I never add more than 1/8 tsp. of my flavoring. Your glaze should be thick so you can control it when you put it on your cookie. If your glaze is running on your cookie, it is too thin. If you let the glaze sit for a little bit, it will thicken up.

Add food coloring to the glaze for different colors.

To apply glaze to a cookie, take a spatula and place a little bit of glaze on the middle of the cookie. Use the spatula to spread the glaze around cookie. Add more glaze to the cookie as needed. Glaze will dry with a smooth shiny look in a few hours.

Royal Icing Recipe:

• 2 cups Powdered Sugar
  
• 1-1/2 tbsp. Meringue Powder
  
• 3 tbsp. Water
  
• 1/2 tsp. Flavoring
  
  

Make sure your mixing bowl and beaters are oil free. Place everything in your mixing bowl and beat together for 7 to 10 minutes until thick and fluffy.

You should mix in about 1 tsp. of piping gel to help the royal icing flow when you are using it for details on cookies. Add food coloring as desired for different colors.

Royal icing starts to dry out quickly so your icing should always be covered in an air tight container. Don't let it sit out.

Cookies with royal icing should be allowed to dry overnight.

Brownies

Category: Cookies > Bar Cookies > Brownies

There are a lot of different types of brownies out there. Basically, you can add anything you want to your brownies that you like. But, at the base, a brownie is a brownie.

Brownie mixes makes good brownies, but if you are interested in how to make a brownie from scratch, below is a good basic recipe. If you are interested in what the difference between a chocolate cake and a brownie is, it is usually that brownies don't have any Baking Soda or Baking Powder in them so they don't rise up.

This recipe has just a tad bit of Baking Powder so they have just a hint of a cake texture to them.



Recipe:

• 1/2 cup Butter
  
• 1 cup Sugar
  
• 2 Eggs
  
• 1 tsp. Vanilla
  
• 1/3 cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
  
• 1/2 cup Flour
  
• 1/4 tsp. Salt
  
• 1/4 tsp. Baking Powder
  

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour an 8 inch square pan.

In a large saucepan, melt butter. Remove pan from heat and stir in sugar and vanilla. Next you need to stir in the egg.

To add egg, place egg in a small bowl and beat while adding a spoonful of the butter, sugar, vanilla mixture to the egg. Continue beating and adding a little bit of the mixture. Now take the egg mixture and slowly beat it back into the butter, sugar, vanilla mixture. You do this because you never want to add an egg to a hot or warm mixture because it will cook the egg and you will get egg clumps.

Beat in cocoa, flour, salt, and baking powder. Spread batter into prepared pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Do not overcook.