symphony brownies.....

I feel kinda stupid posting this "recipe" because its not really a recipe and its so simple. We had a baby shower to attend 2 weeks ago, so I whipped these up( along with muffaletta sandwiches) the night before. Just use your favorite brownie recipe for an 9 inch square pan( or a mix which is what I did). Ghiradelli makes a great mix, but its not sold in Canada. I used a Duncan Hines family size 9 x 13 mix, but baked it in a 9 x 9 square pan( so they're thicker). I subbed out coffee for the water and part almond oil for some of the canola oil. You could even use melted butter instead of oil.

Pour out half your batter and then layer in 2 family size Hershey Symphony Chocolate bars( I dont know if they're sold in Canada, I bought them for 1.00 each at Walgreen's in MI). In the picture above, you see a little square of chocolate missing. I took a little taste. Symphony comes in two flavors. Plain and an almond toffee. You want to use the almond toffee so you gets bits of both of those flavors. Pour the other half of the batter over the top and bake as directed. I refridgerated them overnight for easing cutting. They were polished off within a matter of minutes. They're really good and super easy.

Butterfinger cookies......

Monday was a new holiday here called Family Day, it was also President's day so we decided to take off for a few days of eating out and shopping in Ann Arbor, MI. We like to visit Target a lot so we made it a point to check out 4 different Target stores on our trip. We hit the motherload of clearance sales when we found all the remaining Valentine candy for 90% off. As long as the chocolate is decent, I can chop it up and use it for baking. We ended up buying about 10 packages of butterfinger hearts. The reason I love these is because unlike a butterfinger candy bar, this is real chocolate. The butterfinger candy bars are mockolate!! I found this cookie recipe and I'm happy to report they're fabulous. I only made one change which was to use 1/4c. of brown sugar instead of all the white sugar. Next time, I'll use an even amount of both brown and white. The recipe does call for butterfinger candy bars, use them if you want, but they wont taste the same.

Butterfinger Cookies

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened (we recommend LAND O LAKES® Butter)
1 large egg
1 cup (about three 2.1-ounce bars) coarsely chopped NESTLɮ BUTTERFINGER® Candy Bars


PREHEAT oven to 375°F.

COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat sugar
and butter in large mixer bowl until creamy. Beat in egg;
gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in Butterfinger pieces.
Drop by slightly rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on
baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Makes about 2 1/2 dozen cookies

Holy Cow Cake......

I've been a bad blogger. Its not that I havent wanted to blog, its just that I really havent been cooking. I've been working a lot and my boss is really generous with leftovers. I helped her with a cooking class last Tuesday and she gave me lots of food to bring home. I fed that to Robin and I skipped dinner. I worked with the seniors on Thursday and I ate what I cooked. I ate leftovers on Friday. Truthfully, I havent felt like cooking at home much because I've done so much of it at work. I did make this cake tonight to test out the recipe. I have this planned for the Seniors for May 10th. This recipe comes from The Cake Mix Doctor. Yes, Yes, I know its a cake mix, but honestly, I dont have the time or the inclination to make from scratch cakes for the Seniors. I only get paid for 7.5hrs and I have to plan the menu, shop for and cook a salad, a main, 2 sides and a dessert for 50 ppl.

So, this is your basic chocolate cake mix( with pudding). The recipe calls for poking holes in the top and then pouring over a mixture of sweetened condensed milk and caramel topping. I skipped the milk, because I think it will just be too sweet. Then, you crush up butterfinger bars( I used butterfinger jingelers left over from xmas) and sprinkle those on top. The "frosting" is a mixture of cream cheese and coolwhip. More butterfingers go on top. Verdict: It was good, nothing spectacular but good. I'm going to bring the rest of this cake to the ladies in the agency I work for. I'll see what they say.