Attempts in the Kitchen

Since we got married and have gotten so many awesome gadgets and things for the kitchen I have been trying to cook more often. Here are a few things I have done lately that turned out:

Peanut Butter Cup Brownies

Recipe:

• Regular Box of Brownie Mix (I prefer Ghirardelli) and ingredients required for that
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• chocolate chips
  
• peanut butter chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 and spray cupcake pan with cooking spray.
   
2. Prepare brownie batter using directions on brownie box. Mix in 1/2 bag of chocolate chips.
3. Fill the cupcake cups halfway.
4. Cook for 15-20 minutes, or until the brownies are almost done (crisp sides but are not solid in the middle)
5. Meanwhile beat together powdered sugar, peanut butter and vanilla until smooth. Place in a ziplock bag and cut a corner off to make a pastry bag.
   
6. Collapse the middle of the brownies with a spoon and pipe in a generous amount of the peanut butter mixture into each brownie. push the mixture down with the spoonso that the brownie mix goes over the peanut butter.
7. Cook for another 5 minutes.
   
8. Top with regular chocolate chips and regular chocolate chips.
   
9. Let cool.
   

Makes 12 cupcakes.

Wheat Beer Bread

So Cam initially made fun of this and said it looked like meatloaf, but it tasted great, was very simple to make, and kept for a while in the breadbox.

Recipe:

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
• 4 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 1 12 oz bottle of beer (I used Sam Adams Octoberfest)
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 350 and spray loaf pan with cooking spray.
2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, garlic powder, and cheese and stir to combine.
   
3. slowly add in beer, mixing to combine.
   
4. Knead dough until well mixed.
   
5. Pour batter into the prepared pan and pour melted butter over the top.
   
6. Bake 50-60 minutes (until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean)
   

Creamy Three Potato Soup

This recipe, as written, was far to long to put in here, but is a crock pot recipe so its not hard. Basically, its just cutting up yukon gold, baking, and sweet potatoes with two onions and a clove of garlic. Then add four cups of vegetable stock and 2 cups of water. Add a bit of olive oil and rosemary. Season to taste. Turn the crockpot on high for 2 hours or low for 4 hours. They suggested using an immersion blender but Cam and I felt like it turned the soup into pureed baby food. Instead, I would just eat it as is.