The marshmallows in the batter melt into it to make a really chewy gooey brownie – the neighbors’ favorite!

S’more Brownies

They won't last long!

1 18.4oz box Betty Crocker Original Supreme Premium Brownie Mix with Hershey’s Syrup in Pouch.

2 cups mini marshmallows (divided)

1 pkg of 9 graham crackers (divided)

For the brownie mix:

1 egg

¼ cup water

¼ cup oil

Preheat oven to 350F.  Line bottom and sides of an 8-1/2” x 11-1/2” (quarter size) sheet pan with parchment paper.  USE PARCHMENT or you’ll never get it out of the pan.

Break up about half the graham crackers into ½ or so size pieces into the bottom of the lined pan. 

Mix brownie mix per package instructions. 

Fold in 1 cup of mini marshmallows and spread mixture onto broken grahams in lined sheet pan. 

Make the cracker pieces small to make cutting the brownies easier

Break up the remaining crackers over the mixture and bake for 15 minutes. 

Remove from oven and sprinkle remaining 1 cup of mini marshmallows over mixture and put back in oven for 15 to 18 minutes.  Toothpick will come out with crumbs on it – find a spot with no marshmallows to test.

Allow to cool before slicing.  Use a knife dipped in hot water to cut into desired size portions.

Are you looking for a cute Halloween gift to send?  Check out our “Hey Jack” mug bouquet

FAL01

Not exactly Jack Skellington, but just as cute, our Halloween pumpkin face mugs are just the seasonal gift with a bouquet of orange roses, statice, wax flowers, grevelia and purple ting ting.

¾ c shortening
2-1/4 c granulated sugar
3 eggs
1-1/2 oz red food coloring
1-1/2 t vanilla
2 t cocoa
½ 2 salt
1-1/2 cup buttermilk
1-1/2 t baking soda
1-1/2 T vinegar
3-1/2 cups cake flour (sifted)

Grease two 9” cake pans, line bottoms with greased parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350F.

Sift together the flour and salt on a piece of waxed paper.

Make a loose paste of the food coloring, vanilla and cocoa.

In standing mixer, cream shortening and sugar until fluffy, add eggs all at once, beating to combine.
Add cocoa mixture. Alternately add buttermilk and sifted flour mixture (1/3 of the milk, then a 1/3 of the flour and so on, ending with flour)
Add baking soda to vinegar in separate bowl (it will foam up). Gently stir into cake batter.

Divide batter evenly into the two prepared pans.
Bake at 350 for approx 30 minutes (rotating pans at 15 minutes) or until toothpick comes out clean – be careful not to overbake – check at 25 minutes.

Allow to cool in pans on rack. Make cooked part of frosting while cakes are baking and set aside to cool or refrigerate)

FROSTING
4-1/2 T all purpose flour
1-1/2 c milk
1-1/2 c granulated sugar
1-1/2 c whipped butter (not stick butter) at room temp.
1-1/2 t vanilla

Cook flour and milk until thick, whisking constantly. This will only take a minute.

It will be the consistency of that gravy you get with biscuits. Remove to bowl and set aside to cool and then refrigerate.

Press plastic wrap on top of flour/milk mixture to avoid a skin on it.
Cream butter and sugar until very fluffy and sugar has dissolved – about 5 minutes.
Add vanilla and blend well.

Add cold cooked mixture and beat again until the icing is the consistency of whipped cream.

Toothpic trick to put layers back together evenly

As worth the calories as this cake is, I just had to give half to the neighbors!

I think next time I make this cake I’ll cut off the mounds on top for even layers – those mounds will be good snacking!
Happy Birthday Robin!

Want to send a zero calorie birthday cake? Walter Knoll Florist has just the cake for you!

I gathered together celery, onions, carrots, garlic and ginger in the food processor and chopped it all pretty fine in case there is any throwing up going on!

Then I sauted the veggies until pretty soft add a couple cartons of chicken stock and a can of petite diced tomatoes a bit of salt & pepper and marjoram. Since I had ginger in there I also added a bit of soy sauce and Mirin.

I think little kids have got to have noodles in their soup so I broke up about a cup of hollow macaroni sticks into 1/2 to 1 inch pieces. I cooked the macaroni in a separate pot then added it to the soup. Took the whole pot over and plopped it on their stove. Feel better soon!

mm mm good!

especially with Grammy’s Chocolate Waffies!
Makes about 60.

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup Dutch process cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
2-1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Preheat Oven 350
Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter, 2 cups sugar, and eggs on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add vanilla, and mix to combine. Gradually add dry ingredients, and combine with mixer on low speed. Form dough into tablespoon sized balls – inch and a half apart on silpats or parchment paper bake 8 minutes – turning at 4 minutes, just until shine just starts to go away – cool on sheet a few minutes before transferring to cooling racks –

I made my dough a week ahead and refrigerated it in a bowl with plastic wrap pressed to the dough and a lid on the bowl – worked great to let it sit on the counter to soften a bit while I prepared the veggies for the soup!

Speaking of cookies . . . I just love this Merry Memories arrangement we are featuring this year – the container could be a great cookie jar kinda gift container next year! So a great gift for that baker friend of yours!

Speaking of cookies . . . Our Italian Cookies offering from our baker friends on the hill are selling like hotcakes this year! We also have their pies! The Cherry Pie is as good as my own!

Here’s the recipe:

Hershey’s Cocoa Pudding/Pie Filling

1 cup sugar
3/8 cup Hershey’s Cocoa (I like the “Special Dark” now)
4 tbl cornstarch
½ tsp salt
3-3/8 cups milk
2 tbl butter
1 tsp vanilla
Baked and cooled 10″ pie crust

Combine sugar, cocoa, cornstarch and salt in medium saucepan; gradually whisk in milk. Cook over medium heat stirring constantly until mixture boils; boil and stir one minute. Remove from heat and blend in butter and vanilla. Pour into cooled pie crust.

I went a little crazy this year with my crust, from my little tin of alphabet cutters I pulled out the letter J and grabbed a skewer too, ’cause it’s hard as %$#^!* to get the pie dough out of that J! Anyway, before baking the crust, I carefully placed the J’s to look like candy canes around the edge – here is a shot of the baked edge, beautiful isn’t it!

But I wasn’t happy with beautiful, I decided the candy canes needed to be colored like candy canes! (And oh, did I mention I did all this with a fever thanks to the flu / cold I was suffering?)

Well as you can see, the pie came out pretty darn cute and the family loved it. Chocolate Pudding Pie is their favorite.

Decoratively piped whipped cream made the candy canes pop and I was very happy with the look!

I’m sure by now you have learned that 2008 has been declared by the United Nations to be the International Year of the Potato – lets have some fun with potatoes and not lose sight of the reasoning of the United Nations of “the need to revive public awareness of the relationship that exists between poverty, food security, malnutrition and the potential contribution of the potato to defeating hunger.” Here is a link to the official International Year of the Potato website.