Taste A Rainbow

 

Today is the first day of Spring, in celebration of the Sun passing over the Earth’s equator, we made Rainbow Cupcakes.  Using just a regular box of yellow cake mix and a box of food coloring we were able to turn a batch of cupcakes into a bright and colorful afternoon snack.

After making your cake mix according to the package directions separate the batter equally into 5 small bowls, then proceed with the following chart to make each color.

To make each color you will need:

Purple: 9 red drops, 6 blue drops

Blue: 12 blue drops

Green: 12 green drops

Yellow: 12 yellow drops

Red: 18 red

After you have made each color divide the batter equally into muffin pans.  You will probably get one or two less cupcakes than your package says you will get.  Bake in the oven for 20 minutes and then…

taste a rainbow (with your favorite icing of course).

Welcome, Springtime!

Fudgy Brownies

I love brownies.  Too much.  I always bake at least two batches whenever I make brownies.  A batch to eat now and a batch to freeze and eat slowly over two or three days.  Ghirardelli Double Chocolate are my go to brownie and I have sort of perfected them to my liking.  Canola oil, exactly 28 minutes, 11x7 pan regardless of what the box recommends.  And of course a lot of love. 

For Valentine’s this year I was thinking it would be nice if I could take my brownie obsession one step further and actually make them from scratch.  So this brownie obsessed full spent all afternoon and Excel to compare some of the best recipes on the internet (based on user ratings).  I compared ingredients which overlapped across the board and I compared technique.  I read what worked and what didn’t work.  I planned out a recipe based on my research and got to work.  I did a little tweaking as I went a long and now, three batches later, I think I have found a most awesome from-scratch-brownie.

I will admit that Ghirardelli are a lot simpler and just as tasty but I think your Valentine would appreciate the extra time and work required by these brownies. 

Fudgy Brownies

ingredients

4 oz. unsweetened baking chocolate

3/4 cup unsalted butter

1 cup white sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp all purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

directions

1. Preheat oven to 350*F.  Line 11x7 pans with aluminum foil.  Spray aluminum lightly with cooking spray.
2. Microwave unsweetened baking chocolate and butter for two minutes in large microwave safe bowl.  Stir until chocolate it completely melted and mixture is smooth.           
3. Stir is sugars.  Add eggs and vanilla.
4. Sift flour, salt and baking powder.  Stir into chocolate mixture.Stir in chips.
5. Spread into prepared pan and bake 28-30 minutes.

  I’m thinking of just asking these brownies to be my Valentine.