Stuffed Brownies, Three Ways

  Before I start this post I just want to say how saddened I am by what happened on Friday.  I have been home with a bad cold or flu or something.  And I was watching movies all day. I did not hear about the horror until I picked up Pork Chop from day care.  He had seen it at day care, and I had to try to explain to him that those kids were now in heaven.  That even the man that did this, is in heaven.  I had to try to explain suicide to an 8 year old.  It was not something I ever wanted to have to do this young.  He seems fine, but I hurt for those that were affected.  I just had to make mention, as I just don't know how you can go on like nothing happened.  I wrote this post a few weeks back.


So I love brownies, but not just regular ones. I mean those are good too, but I need something more. Be it just a fudge frosting, or a mint layer, I need it.  So I had this really smart idea to stuff some of my brownies. And by smart idea, I saw it on another blog where they put stuff in their brownies and I figured I could do it too.  And I did; sort of.

My plan was to make three kinds.  Two of the options turned out well, the other, well lets just say I cried a little over the loss of sugar.

  So to start I used the awesome brownie recipe I got from Glorious Treats.  Here is the post with it, but these are for Mint Brownies, which are amazing.  You just need the brownie base for what I did.

This is the left over mint filing, I froze it then rolled it out then cut it with a cookie cutter.

These are the fillings I used.  The top is the chocolate covered salted caramels, and then the marzipan. I got a log of it and just cut it into circles.

To start I used about 1 TBSP of brownie filling.

  I wanted to use up the left over peppermint patty filling I had.  I had frozen  it and kept it for just this very thing.  And I also think this was the worse of the three.  But live and learn, right? I also made marzipan filled brownies and salted caramel ones.

I don't know how something so yummy can look so gross.

So I baked the first layer of brownie for about 5 minutes, I figured that it would help keep the filling from sinking.

And I was running out of brownie batter so the filling was not totally covered.

 So to start I mixed up my brownie batter and I used muffin tins, I lined them because I didn't want to chance anything from the filling burning onto my pans.  I cut up the log of marzipan into circles, if you buy the tub or block of almond paste, just roll out and flatten balls of it to fit into the tin.  Then I rolled out and cut circles of mint with a cookie cutter, and the caramels they were just easy.  I found these large caramels covered with chocolate and sea salt at the drug store.  So I just had to unwrap those.  I out should have done a few less as I was running out of brownie batter by the last batch, but you know me, I kept going even though I knew it would not be great.

It's hard to see but those are the chocolates in the there, they were the perfect size!!

So to start I put about 1 TBSP of brownie batter in the cupcake liner, then I baked it for about 5 minutes. I then worked one filling at a time.  The marzipan could have been cut thinner but oh well. Basically I would put the filling in then try to cover it in a bit more batter. It worked well for the caramel ones, the others, not so much.

My mint.

Like this right out of the oven they didn't look too bad.

But as they cooled I noticed the mint was getting hard and the brownie was sinking.

One they were all baked I let them cool fully.  I then got to work icing them.  I used this really great fudge sauce I found on line, and it works so well.  And with that tempt I have to admit I cannot for the life of me find the frosting recipe I used! This was the left over I had in the freezer from a few months back.  I promise I will find it and share, really it was awesome!.  Anyway just pretend you know the frosting I am talking about.

There were the caramel ones, they were the best.  Also the ones I made the least of. Because I may have eaten a bunch of the chocolates before I thought to make these.

 So when I was ready I microwaved the frosting to make it pour able  and I filled the cupcake liners to cover the brownies.  Then depending on the filing I decorated them.  

All ready to frost.

It's hard to see but this is the salted caramel ones, so I sprinkled on some flaked sea salt, just a pinch.

These are the marzipan ones, I put on silver balls, because I don't really know what else screams marzipan.

 Once they were all iced I let them set up and brought them to work.  I kept one of each to try.  And I may have said it before, but the caramel ones were to die for.  Like I will make those again, for sure!

You can sort of see the filling, so good!

The mint ones were a fail, but at least I tried.  I think maybe if I make these with the mint filling covered in chocolate it may work better. 

Apple Nachos

Yeah I know, not the nicest picture, but you know what, I am at peace with my crappy picture taking abilities.  Sort of.

  When I saw this on Shugary Sweets I knew I had to make it.  Why, well I don't know.  I mean I am truly against any kind of fruit in a desert, no matter how much sugar you put in there, you know there is fruit.  So I pinned it and just sort of forgot about it.

  Then I had plans to have my sister over.  We were going to order take out and watch a movie with Pork Chop.  So  I wanted a desert but really didn't want to make anything.  I had a craving for something though. So this is where I went, I went with fruit. As a desert.  And I am sort of ashamed to type that out.  Please forgive me.  It's actually really good, which I am really happy about.

This is all I used, I could have added sprinkles or something, but I forgot.

  So what Shugary Sweets did was actually an involved process, and by involved I mean she actually did her own sauce and such.  I am way too lazy for that.  I just hit up the ice cream isle and grabbed a few things.

  I got chocolate sauce, because that is classic.  I was going to get caramel but wanted something richer, I mean we had fruit to cover.  So I got dulce de leche.  It's good, trust me.  Then I got marshmallow fluff, I have never actually eaten that stuff before. But for the sake of my sister I was willing to try it.  And apples, you need apples, or else you are just making a sugary soup, which come to think of it, would not be a bad thing.

This is a great thing to have if you eat apples a lot, as it is I is another one of those things I had to have and use once in a while.

  Anyway I got granny smith apples as they are really sort of tart, and I figure that would allow me to put more sugar on it.  It's a scientific fact that you can eat the same amount of fruit and sugar, and there are no calories in the sugar.  Look it up, I swear.

  Okay so what I did was made my sister and I each our own plate.  Only because I don't like to share, and we would make less of a mess on ourselves this way.  Also I tried to get Pork Chop in on this, but he was not having any of it.  He likes apples, but only when we don't have them in the house.  He was all " I want green ice cream!"  And I was all " I don't have that!"  And he was all "Your the worst mom ever!"  But he said it with his eyes, which is way worse than really saying it.  So he ate popcorn and was fine.

See how easy?

Then into a bath of water and lemon juice, and slice them in half  so they are more nacho like.

  So I used my apple cutter thingy.  I got it a while back from pampered chef after seeing someone else I know with it.  I washed my apples then used the tool to cut them.  I left the skin on the apple because that is where all the healthy stuff is.  According to my mom anyway, and I might as well let her be right about one thing.

  I also got a bowl with cold water, and added some lemon juice, about 1/4 cup to about 2 cups water I guess.  Who knows really, I just eye ball things.  Then I took each apple slice and cut it in half to make it thinner.  Then I put them in the bowl of lemon water and sort of tossed them.  Then I laid then out on a plate all pretty like and we were ready to go.

I first put them on a smaller plate, but there was so much so I did this, way less chance of making a mess.

 Now if you want to be really fancy you could have chopped nuts or chocolate chips or something, but you all know I didn't do that, so I won't even pretend that I did.

  I tried the marshmallow fluff and it was just like my home made marshmallows, before they dry out.  So I could be really fancy and do this with fresh ones, but you all know I won't right?

And the money shot, it tasted way better than it looked.

  So it was really good, and I cannot believe how full I got off of one apple, I couldn't even finish it all.  My sister said it was good, and that I could write that on the blog.  So there you go, we both liked it.  And it was mostly fruit.  Maybe we are getting sick, who knows.  I just know I need more chocolate soon, no more of this fruit stuff.

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