Christina Lane’s Best Ever Frosted Brownies

I don’t usually publish on Thursday but today we are celebrating!  Last Friday I handed over my Christmas money to my best friend, Steph, and sent her off to buy me a new computer while I finished working.  Steph is my tech guru so I trusted her to get me the best computer she could within the confines of my budget and with the features I wanted.  Steph not only got me a terrific deal, she got me features I didn’t think I could get with my small budget, like a touch screen.

I love my new computer!  It is going to make my life so much easier.  Well, at least it is going to make my blogging life easier.  I have been a blogger without a computer since last March.  How does one blog without a computer? I wrote everything out long hand in a notebook. then on my  one weekday a week off I would go to the library and type, edit, add pictures, proof read and schedule all my posts for the week.  That is great when it isn’t cold, I am organized, or I don’t have something else I have to do on my one weekday off. It’s not so great the rest of the time.  Now I can go back to lying in bed and watching reruns of Chopped, Iron Chef and Iron Chef America while I compose my posts on any day I want to, at any time of day I want to.

To celebrate, I made the brownie recipe from Christina Lane’s new cookbook, Sweet and Simple, to share with you all.I am not going to go into the cookbook because I will be doing a post about it soon.  So enjoy your small batch of frosted brownies while I wipe the frosting off my touch screen.

• Difficulty: Easy
• Print

Brownies

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons white sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp fine sea salt

1 large egg

1/2 cup all purpose flour

Frosting

6 TBS unsalted butter, softened

1/4 cup cocoa powder

3/4  cup powdered sugar

2 to 3  TBS milk or cream

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Line a 9 inch bread loaf pan with parchment paper.  In a microwave safe bowl, combine the butter, cocoa powder, and sugar.  Microwave at full power for 30 seconds.  Stir the mixture and return it to the microwave for another 30 seconds.  Stir again.  Add one more 30 second pulse if the butter isn’t mostly melted.  Let the mixture cool for 1 minute.  Stir in the vanilla and the salt.  Stir in the egg.  Finally, add the flour and stir vigourously for about 1 minute or 50 strokes. Scrape the mixture into the loaf pan and bake for 40 minutes.  The top of the brownie surface should appear dry and be starting to crack.  Do  not over bake because you want the inside to be fudgy.  Meanwhile, beat together all of the frosting ingredients, adding milk or cream as needed to make the frosting spreadable.  Frost the brownies once cook and cut in half to serve.

Walnut Brownie Pie

I am on vacation from my job as a cake decorator so what do I spend most of my day doing? I spend several hours of my vacation day looking at cakes on Instagram and watching a cake on YouTube on how to decorate cakes, specifically how to do various ruffle style cakes.

This isn’t a recipe for cake. This is a recipe for a lovely brownie for two. The first time I made this recipe I didn’t have a 6″ spring form pan. I used a 6″glass pie pan instead and it worked just fine. So enjoy your brownie while I resume my cake free vacation.

• Difficulty: Easy
• Print

Ingredients
¼ cup butter, softened
½ cup sugar
1 egg
½ tsp vanilla extract
¼ cup flour
3 TBS baking cocoa
¼ cup chopped walnuts
Frosting:
½ cup powdered sugar
1 TBS baking cocoa
2 ½ tsp milk
In a small bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine the flour and cocoa. Slowly add to the creamed mixture. Stir in the walnuts. Coat a 6 inch round spring form pan with cooking spray and dust with sugar. Add batter. Place pan on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degree for 20-25 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Remove sides. In a small bowl, mix frosting ingredients together and spread over the brownie. Serve