Peanut Butter Nutella Brownies

I just made the best brownies ever. EVER. I organized my recipe bookmarks this weekend (exciting, I know) and I found this recipe on Noble Pig. I would have made it immediately, but I didn't have enough cocoa.

I don't even WANT to know how many calories are in each one of these things, as they're just... wow. I bit into one of these and it was like seeing God. I suggest you eat at least one. They are thick and moist and fudgy-chewy, and everything a brownie should be. Mike ate three the minute they were cool enough to be sliced.

(I need work on my food photography!)

Peanut Butter Nutella Brownies
(adapted from Noble Pig)

1 cup butter, melted
2 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup Nutella
1/2 cup peanut butter

In a medium bowl combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Over low heat, melt butter and stir in sugar and vanilla extract until well-combined. Add eggs, one at a time, and stir them in with a wooden spoon. Add the butter-sugar mixture and cocoa mixture together. Put Nutella and peanut butter in a microwave-safe bowl and heat in the microwave at 20-second intervals until it becomes runny. Stir this into the batter. Pour the batter into a glass 9 x 13 pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Let the brownies cool completely before cutting. (For the icing stuff, I melted white chocolate chips and just sort of flung it about, and sprinkled it with semisweet chocolate chips. OM NOM.)

I might have to have a kid just so I can make stuff for its bake sales.

Cranberry Oat Muffins

Healthy. Whole-grain. Low-fat. And great for breakfast. Mike is a muffin fanatic so he was really pleased when I made these, and I brought some home to my family who liked them too. I don't know how to describe them-- Virginie Meyers does a pretty good job, though. Heck, that's why I decided to make the recipe!

I made some big muffins and some mini-muffins. You can do whatever you like. This is half of a mini-muffin. You can really see the cranberry-sauce filling here, too :-D

Cranberry Oat Muffins
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/4 cups oats
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 tbsp canola oil
1 large egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup cranberry sauce

In a large bowl, combine the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. In a medium bowl, combine the applesauce, buttermilk, sugar, oil and egg. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the applesauce mixture and the dried cranberries. Stir until just combined. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full, add a teaspoon of cranberry sauce, and fill the rest of the way. Bake at 375 for 16-18 minutes.

Cheesy Tuna Melts

So, as everyone probably knows by now, Mike got an iPhone for Christmas. But in his application-downloading frenzy, he thought of me and put on a little thing called the AllRecipe Dinner Spinner, in which you select what sort of dish you want (entree, side dish, salad, dessert, etc.), what you'd like to be in it (fruit, lamb, beef, fish, etc.), and how long you want it to take-- anywhere from 20 minutes or less to slow cooker. It's pretty neat. You can select one, two, or three options, and it'll spin and show you some recipes that fulfill your choices! This recipe is from there, and you can find it online here.

These little buggers are good and easy, and if you don't eat it all in the first batch, it stores well too. Mike said that they were "about the trouble he would go to to make food for himself." You can make it healthier by using fat-free cheese and low-fat mayonaise. Some of the reviews on the website said there was too much mayo, but I thought it was fine-- just depends on your preference, I guess.

Cheesy Tuna Melts
1 loaf French bread
1 small onion, chopped
1 12oz. can of tuna, drained
2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese
1 cup mayonaise

Preheat your oven to 350. Slice the bread and put it on a baking sheet. Spoon the tuna topping on the bread. Bake in the oven for ten minutes.

Tah-dah!

Pumpkin Gobs with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

Oh. My. God. I have created a monster. These are amazingly delicious-- like pumpkin roll, but way better.

Also, apparently everywhere else in America these are called "whoopie pies" or "moon pies". Apparently, "gobs" is exclusively Southwestern PA. Go figure. The "gob" recipe is from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody, and the filling recipe is from She's Becoming Dough-Mess-Tic.

Anyway these were really easy and fun and delicious, except that when I put them together I had to set them all up against each other on a plate so the tops didn't slide off!

Pumpkin Gobs:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 Tablespoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground fresh nutmeg
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1 cup canola oil (I used olive)
3 cups chilled pumpkin puree
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a couple of baking sheets, and set them aside. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and spices-- set that over by the baking sheets. In another bowl, whisk the sugars and oil together. Add the pumpkin puree and whisk to combine thoroughly. Add the eggs and vanilla and whisk until combined. Sprinkle the flour mixture over the pumpkin mixture and whisk until completely combined. Use an ice cream scoop or melon baller with a release mechanism to drop the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, about 1 inch apart. (You don't have to use that, but I found that it works really well in keeping the cookies uniform.) Bake for 10 minutes, until the cookies are just starting to crack on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cookie comes out clean. Let them cool before slapping on the filling. If you know what gobs are like the "cookies" should be more cake-like than anything.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

1 stick butter at room temperature
8 oz. cream cheese at room temperature
3 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
1 teaspoon Vanilla
Dash of Salt

Break out your hand mixer and beat the butter and cream cheese together. Add the cinnamon and salt, then add the sugar little by little. Add the vanilla, and blend until smooth. Then shovel the whole mess into a piping bag-- Kaitlin let me use hers-- and whomp all the cookies together with it. Delish.