I made some brownies the other day with the intention of bringing the rest to work, but the recipe only made 9 and Rob ate 2.  If my math is correct, that is 7 to bring into work tomorrow. Ohhhhh, that will not work.  You see, my mom (and everyone in my family) always prepares way too much food.  Our philosophy is better too much than not enough.  So I tweaked a cookie recipe and am using  a dry  white cake mix instead of all the flour recipe calls for.  And I am adding milk chocolate chips.  And we have some open  bags Oreos,  so they will be stuffed with Oreos.  All this for a football Friday at ESPN Radio.  

You can use whatever cake mix you want, I am going with white.  I am also using milk chocolate chips.  

Ingredients – 3/4 cup butter softened to room temperature, 3/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 egg, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 cup flour, 1 1/2 cups dry cake mix, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1 cup milk chocolate chips, Oreos.

Directions – beat butter, brown sugar and sugar on medium speed 1 minute. 

 Add egg and vanilla.  Then, fold in dry ingredients. 

 Stir in chips.  

Scoop out some cookie dough and divide in half.  Gently press 1/2 piece of dough  flat.  

Top with an Oreo.  

Place the other flattened half on top. 

Form around Oreo.  You may need to add a little extra dough to make cookie “disappear.”

Chill for 1 hour.  Preheat oven to 350.  Line cookie sheets with non stick baking liners.  Stagger cookies 8 to a sheet.  

Bake 12-16 minutes (you will see light golden spots on top ).  

Let cool on sheet 5 minutes.  Let cool completely and store in covered container.

I asked Rob what treat he wanted and he said “brownies like your mom makes.” That means brownies with chocolate chips.  I could have used a mix, but I decided to step it up and go homemade.  The extras come to work with me Friday.  (And I think I will need to bring in something else bc this recipe didn’t make a whole lot.. and I can’t just being in 7 brownies)

Ingredients – 10 that butter, 1 1/4 cups sugar, 3/4 cup cocoa, 1/2 tsp salt, 2 eggs, 1tsp vanilla, 1/2 cup flour.

Directions – preheat oven to 325.  Grease 8×8 pan.  Melt butter.  Stir in sugar, cocoa, and salt. Add vanilla. Fold in flour.  Stir 30 strokes.  Spread into pan.  Bake 25 -30 minutes (until toothpick inserted comes out with a few crumbs).  Cool completely. cut and store in covered container.

(You can leave plain, frost or sprinkle with powdered sugar.)

check out the youtube tribute video Rob and I did for our beloved Charlie.  he was such an amazing pup!

Here is my latest for tomorrow, to get everyone working at ESPN Radio through an NFL Sunday (and hopefully another Bills win).  

(This is the Bills jersey the team sent me in 2011 after their CEO heard me talking about them one Saturday morning on ESPN Radio)

These treats are simple.  You can use your favorite brownie recipe or mix, some marshmallow fluff, melted chocolate and crushed graham crackers. Smores treats and no campfire necessary. I used a recipe I saw on a blog using ht fudge and ice cream instead of water.  😊

Prepare and bake your brownie mix, as directed.  Cool.  Using a wooden spoon to poke holes throughout the brownies.  Heat 1 cup of fluff in a microwave safe bowl 30 seconds.  Pour over brownies.  Top w melted chocolate and crushed Graham crackers.  (Or you can just sprinkle pieces of chocolate on top if you prefer)

Store in covered container.

check out my latest baking video on youtube!  white chocolate brownies with chocolate chocolate chip cookie dough topping!

Cookie dough brownies are one of my favorite treats and I wanted to put my take on them, so I made vanilla brownies with chocolate, chocolate chip cookie dough on top. Woo hoo!

Brownie Ingredients – 1/2 cup butter, 1 bag of white chocolate chips, 3 eggs, 3/4 cup sugar, 1 1/4 cups flour (scooped, using a spoon, from your flour container into measuring cu), , 1/4 tsp salt.

Directions- preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9×13 pan with baking spray.   melt chips and butter in 45 second increments until you can stir the mixture smooth.  Add eggs and vanilla.  Stir in flour and salt.  Spread evenly in pan.  Bake for 15 to 23 minutes, until brownies are golden on sports in top and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out basically clean.  Cool completely. It looks like this.

Cookie dough topping ingredients – 1/2cup butter (softened or melted), 3/4 cup sugar, 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 jar (or more) of hot fudge, 2tsp vanilla, 2 tbs milk (or water), 1 cup flour, 1/2 bag of chocolate chips

Directions – combine butter, sugar and brown sugar.  Add milk and vanilla.  Stir in hot fudge.  Add flour.  Fold in chips. 

Spread over cooled brownies.  Store in covered container.

Today is my hubby’s birthday.  So, I asked what he wanted me to bake and he said “a funni bone cake.” It is a chocolate cake with a layer of peanut butter in the middle (kind of like the inside of a Reese’s peanut butter cup), and frosted with chocolate frosting.  Although there is nothing wrong with Duncan Hines or Pillsbury cake mixes, I went homemade for this and used the Hershey’s Chocolatetown cake recipe.

Chocolate cake – 1/2 cup cocoa, 1/2 cup boiling water, 2/3 cup shortening, 1 3/4 cups sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, 2 eggs, 2 1/4 cups flour, 1 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 1/3 cups milk, 2 tsp lemon juice or white wine vinegar

Directions – preheat oven to 350.  combine milk and lemon juice or vinegar and set aside 10 minutes  to make buttermilk.  Stir together cocoa and boiling water.  In a separate bowl, cream shortening, sugar and vanilla.  Add eggs.  Stir in dry ingredients, then cocoa mixture.  Blend in buttermilk.   Divide batter evenly into two round cake pans sprayed with Pam.  Bake 25 to 30 minutes (until toothpick inserted in center comes out basically clean).  Cool completely.

Funni bone filling – 3/4 cup peanut butter, 1 tsp vanilla, 2 cups powdered sugar, 2-3 tbs milk.

Directions – Combine and mix with mixer.  You can add more milk or powdered sugar to get the consistency you want.  

Frosting – 6 tbs butter (softened), 6 tbs Crisco, 3 cups powdered sugar, 2 tsp vanilla, 1/3 cup cocoa, 1/8 cup milk or water.  

Directions – cream butter and shortening.  Blend in powdered sugar.  Add milk or water  and vanilla.  Beat to desired consistency.

Place one cake layer, flat side up on a plate.  Spread funni bone layer over, like this.

  Place second cake layer, flat side on top of peanut butter layer, and gently press down,  like this.

Then you frost, like this!

Store in covered container.

I asked my goddaughter Sara what treat I could bring for her 9th birthday party and she said “sugar cookies stuffed with brownies. ”  ask and ye shall receive.  I used a brownie mix (shhhh.  Don’t tell) and  my Swig sugar cookie recipe.  The cookie  dough can be a little soft, so you may want to add a little extra flour to the dough or flour your hands when stuffing the dough with the brownies to make the process easier. 

I always have this issue when I make treats.  I have too much cookie dough, brownies, frosting etc.  This time I had some leftover brownies, so I whipped up a little frosting and made suzy q’s in brownie form. (Pic at end  of blog)

Onto the brownie stuffed sugar cookies!

Ingredients – brownies (either a mix or your favorite recipe), prepared as directed and  cooled. I cut them into 24 squares and cut off any edges. 

Cookies – 1/2 cup butter,  1/4 cup + 1/8 cup oil, 1/2 cup + 1/8 cup sugar, 1/4 cup + 1/8 cup powdered sugar, 1 egg, 2 1/2 tsp water, 1 tsp vanilla, 2 3/4 cups flour, 1/4 tsp baking soda,  1/4 tsp cream of tartar, 1/4 tsp salt.

Directions – mix butter, oil, sugar and powdered sugar.  Add egg, water and vanilla.  Stir in dry ingredients.  Using floured hands, scoop out 3 tbs cookie dough and form around each brownie.  Chill 1 hour.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a cookie sheet with nonstick baking liners, stagger 8 cookies to a sheet.  Bake 10 to 11 minutes (lightly golden on bottom).  Let cool on sheet 5 minutes.  Remove from sheet and cool completely.   Store in covered container.

Here are my suzy q brownies!

(Note – this post contains an affiliate link)

Lately I’ve seen a bunch of recipes using Matcha tea, and since I’m  always looking for new things to bake, I thought “I love green tea, so why not try something with Matcha?” I contacted the folks at Tenzo Tea, and voila, I got a packet to bake with.   Matcha  is a stone ground green tea powder, and has a lot of cool health benefits (you can find out more at tenzotea.com).   I like to think I made some chocolate chip cookies a little healthier with some Tenzo Matcha 🙂  The Matcha made the cookies green, and you can not taste in the cookies.

If you are interested in trying Matcha in baking (or as hot or  iced tea), the link is at the end of this post.

Ingredients – 1 cup butter (melted), 3/4 cup sugar, 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar, 2 eggs, 2 tbs water, 2 tbs vanilla, 3 cups flour (scooped from your flour container into your measuring cup), 2 tsp matcha powder, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, 1 cup white chocolate chips.

Directions – combine butter, sugar and brown sugar.  Add eggs, water and vanilla.  Fold in dry ingredients.  Mix in chips.  Using a cookie scoop, roll into mounds of dough.  Chill at least 2 hours.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line cookies sheets with nonstick baking liners. Stagger 8 cookies on each sheet.  Bake 9-12 minutes.  Let stand on cookie sheet 5 minutes.  Remove and let cool completely.  Store in covered container.

And of course, I even topped some cookies with melted chocolate!  (Just melt 2 cups of milk chocolate chips with 2 tbs oil in 45 second increments until you can stir it melted.

If you are interested in trying the Tenzo Matcha, you can check out their products at  tenzotea.com