From Bread to Brownies! A little catching up....

Its been a while since I have blogged, as it is definitely hard to keep up sometimes! I have continued to bake, so don't think that I baked all of these things in one weekend....it has been a few weeks!

So, to start out the yeast breads, I had to start with White Bread 101. While, I am not a fan of white bread, I thought I would give it a try. This recipe was so easy, especially since I threw all of the ingredients into my bread machine, and turned it to the dough setting. I then, threw it a pan and let it do its second rise, and voila!! I thought I took a picture of this, but apparently, I did not! Oops! I will actually make this bread again. My daughter really did love it with peanut butter and jelly for her school lunch. It also made a mean piece of toast with a little bit of honey. Here is the recipe, give it a try, I think you will find many good uses for it.

White Sandwich Bread: King Arthur Flour

It also made a mean french toast...Which leads me into my next recipe: Rich French Toast. I followed this recipe to the T, and it definitely made an awesome breakfast, very rich. My husband does not like french toast, but he even commented that this was a good recipe. I think using the white bread from the recipe above made it over the top. Make sure to dust with with cinnamon sugar, and of course, a good size drizzle of maple syrup!

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/french-toast-recipe
I followed this recipe as it states here, and even used a drop of butter rum flavoring, which put this breakfast on the sinful list!

Next, for Nate's birthday, he did not want a traditional cake....bummer, as there are a lot of cake recipes that I have to make..... He instead wanted brownies. I did not get a picture of these either, but not to worry, I see myself making these again in the near future. This recipe is the quintessential brownie recipe. It was ooey gooey on the inside and had a crisp crust on the top. They were so good! I chose not to add any additions to these brownies, as the simplicity was perfection! I have tried the "On the fence Brownies" in the Cookie Companion KAF Cookbook, which is one of my favorites, but these were so sinful! Every one should give this recipe at least one shot!

 6 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks, 5 ounces) unsalted butter
5 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2, cups sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1 1/3 cups unbleached all purpose flour

In a medium-sized saucepan,  melt the chocolate and butter together over low heat.
Set aside to cool slightly.
ln a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs, vanilla, salt, sugar, and corn syrup together until light and fluffy., which takes a few minutes. Preheat the oven to 375oF and lightly grease a 9 x l3-inch pan. Stir the flour into the chocolate and butter mixture. Fold the chocolate batter into the egg mixture, stirring to combine. Spread the batter into the pan. For extra glossy top, brush 1 TBSP milk. Bake the brownies for 35 minutes; top should be crisp but toothpick inserted into the center will come out coated with chocolate. Remove the brownies from the oven and let them cool for several hours before cutting into squares.  That is the toughest part, and probably something that I did not do!

If nothing else, give this brownie recipe a try!