brownies | Just About Baked

Footballs and Hearts (Brownie Truffles!)

Today’s post is both delicious and adorable. Yes, I’m complimenting myself. I can’t help it. I took brownies and made them into footballs and hearts!

Confession time: I am not happy about this year’s Super Bowl. If you’re wondering why, just know that my hometown is Indianapolis, Indiana, a.k.a. home of the Colts. For those of you who follow football, you are probably realizing right about now that Tom Brady (along with his pretty face and his snooty supermodel wife) ranks pretty low on my list of famous people I’d hang out with.

Ganache-Frosted Peanut Butter Cup Brownies

January 16, 2015
Mir
Bars n' Brownies
22 Comments

How many days can you go without a brownie? Because I can last two days. Then it all falls apart.

There are two desserts in this world that I can never say no to. The first is a chocolate chip cookie. I know very few people who can ever resist one. I even love the Costco ones. They’re processed. They’re huge. They’re delicious.

And then, taunting me always, is a perfectly fudgy brownie. You’d think that there aren’t a lot of good ones out there, but man, is that wrong. There are incredible brownies everywhere. It’s kind of encouraging, really. What kind of world would we live in if good brownies weren’t available on every street corner along with Coke Slurpees and Starbucks?

Triple Chocolate Cheese-Filled Brownies

November 21, 2014
Mir
Bars n' Brownies
14 Comments

Help! There’s a chocolate shortage!

I’m not kidding, you guys. I just saw this article and I’m freaking out! I don’t want this to happen. How can we stop this from happening? Now I feel really awful about using so much chocolate all the time. This is my fault!

And this post isn’t helping, either. I swear I made these before I learned about the shortage. But I can see that really, using three times the amount of chocolate that I need to in a recipe might be going too far. But isn’t that what makes baking fun?

Maple-Glazed Bronuts

I warned you this was coming. The mashup of all mashups. The moment in my baking career all will look back upon and point to as that one, special instant when everything came together.

Or maybe it’s just a nice post for a nice day.

Boys, this one’s for you. You like beer. You like donuts. And your feminine counterparts are pretty wild for brownies and anything with maple syrup. Actually, we like beer and donuts, too. Why gender stereotype?

Brownie Truffles

October 26, 2014
Mir
Bars n' Brownies, Candyland, Gluten-Free Goodness
8 Comments

Every problem is an opportunity.

My mom used to say that to me when I was growing up and I’d be all miserable because the girls in my class were mean evil witches. My goodness, when it comes to psychological torture, girls have it down pat. I’m still bowled over by the behavior my classmates exhibited toward me when I was a kid, and I kind of wonder how they live with themselves today. Are they telling their own kids to go out there and make fun of the kid in class who doesn’t have the perfect designer outfit?

Anyway, I could write about this forever, so I’ll pause here and talk about the proverbial lemonade from lemons thing. Or in this case, brownie truffles from an epic fail.

Brownie Pie

September 14, 2014
Mir
Bars n' Brownies, Pie Day, Pies
6 Comments

Whenever I’m feeling kind of meh, I have a few options. A nap isn’t usually possible (there are small children about), so I can either try to sneak episodes of whatever TLC show is new on Netflix without the li’l ones noticing, or I can make a pie. It’s hard to hide what my iPad is doing, so I think the pie wins this one.

Peanut Butter Surprise Brownies (Gluten-Free!)

His job just got moved to a farther location, and there isn’t much food available for him out there. So I’m trying to be a cute little wife and bake him goodies. Plus, I like a challenge. Not all gluten-free desserts taste like their wheat-filled counterparts. But I promise you that everything I post tastes like I threw flour everywhere.

You can believe me when I say that because my husband won’t eat the desserts that don’t taste like what he remembers food should taste like. He’s picky. But I’m grateful for that, because he picked me!

Raspberry Cheesecake Brownies

August 8, 2014
Mir
Bars n' Brownies, Cupcakes and Cheesecakes
14 Comments

Today I took my kids to a splash playground. It sounded like a good idea at the time. But several hours and one indecent exposure later, I’m not so sure.

My son went into the bathroom to change. On the way, he must’ve dropped his Spider-Man underwear. He burst out of the bathroom in the nude in front of everyone, screaming, “I can’t find my underpants!”

Ah, kids. Can’t live with them. But I sure can’t live without them.

Cookies and Cream Frosted Brownies

I think we all have our weaknesses. Some are more serious than others, for sure. People argue quite heatedly whether sugar is an addiction, and I’m going to ignore all the studies and state with quite a bit of certainty that if sugar’s not an addiction, it sure as heck comes close. Because anything that I crave this much is entering danger territory.

I’ve tried to fight it. I even went two months sugar-free last year to see what would happen. Nothing happened. I didn’t have cravings as madly as I’d supposed, but I also never lost the desire to eat chocolate. So there you have it.

No Time, No Gluten Bars

Is it just me, or have women engineered our lives so that we have no time at all?

See, we have rights and we can work and vote and do all those great things. Super! I’m excited to be alive in this time, really I am. But why does having permission to be considered equal to men translate into women suddenly being superheroes?

Because I am, ya know. Sometimes I lie back against my fluffy pillows at the end of the day and just sit there, dazed at how much I could pack into a day. And I’m not bragging, because I’m not pretending to do it well or anything. But somehow, it’s totally legit for women to figure out how to pack in work, family time, exercise, errands, logistics (don’t get me started on how much we plan), general hygiene, and oh so much more in one day. Every day. Relentlessly.

I’m not necessarily complaining, mainly because I’m lazy and tired and don’t feel like opening that can of worms right now. I’ll open it next week. I’m just trying to explain how I wound up baking when I had no time. These bars, to be exact.