tuesday eats.....samoas brownies

i have not posted on here in soooo long. believe me when i say it is not because my world has halted. i feel as if i am in constant full steam ahead mode. any mom probably feels this way some of the time or perhaps sometimes more than not. our world has also changed a lot since the october before last. and there are lots of things to still figure out.

but, today i want to give you something sweet to think about and try.

somehow, a certain someone, keeps sneaking boxes of girl scout cookies into the house! i know, kind of hard to handle right?!?! i have become much more of a do everything from scratch kind of person. so i went looking for a recipe to use up some of these infamous cookies (and save myself from just downing box after box).

cookies + brownies ...... so easy from scratch or just buy a brownie mix at the store and totally change the add in however you would like. sweet anna has lot so f suggestions on her site. i changed her original recipe a little bit.

i hope you will give them a try and let me know what your favorite add ins for brownies are.

toasted coconut samoas brownies

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup dutch-processed unsweetened dark cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2/3 cup butter, melted divided (1/3 cup + 1/3 cup)
• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar (or organic coconut palm sugar)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 box Samoas Girl Scout Cookies, coarsely chopped

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350ºF, and butter a 9x13" glass baking dish.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the cocoa and baking soda. Stir in 1/3 cup of the melted butter until smooth. Stir in the boiling water until the mixture is smooth and thick. Stir in the sugar and eggs with the remaining 1/3 cup melted butter.

Into the chocolate mixture, stir in the flour and vanilla until just smooth. Stir in the chopped cookies and spread the mixture into your prepared baking dish.

Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the edges start to pull away from the pan. (Always better to under-bake than to over-bake brownies!!) Cool completely in the pan.

*If you'd like, melt 1 cup of chocolate chips in the microwave and then drizzle on top of the cooled brownies for decoration. Not necessary at all, but it sure looks pretty!

how sweet it is to be loved

v day love and cookies

this year a and i decided to stitch a little love into each valentine. we added denium hearts to colorful paper....some for the boys and some for the girls.

a worked very hard on the lettering. somehow she has already gotten to the stage of embellishing her handwriting with little circles on the ends of her letters.

 

the next day we added candy cane hearts and heart bracelets to the cards.



of course, we also had to have some sweets to enjoy ourselves so, we made some peanut butter cookies with dove dark chocolate hearts in the middle.

 it is best to taste them when they are all chewy and melty.

this little guy has a thing for just the chocolate hearts! i {heart} my babes!

peanut butter cookies

1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
About 1/3 cup sugar for rolling
1 package Dove dark chocolate hearts
Cream butter, peanut butter, and sugars. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in dry ingredients. Roll dough into 1" balls and roll in sugar if desired. Place on lightly greased cookie sheets. Bake at 350 for about 9 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately press a chocolate into the center. Let sit for about 3 minutes, then carefully remove to cooling racks to cool.