Cooking with Georgie

This past long weekend we had an asado.  It was a gorgeous spring/summer day and Georgie decided we needed brownies to go with our requisite ice cream.  We combed the internet for a new and interesting twist on brownies and found this recipe that called for peanut butter.  GM returned from his US trip last week with a 1.13 kilo container of Skippy so we are flush with peanut butter.  Our only modification was to throw some chocolate chips on top of the batter and cooking it less than the suggested time (again, we like it gooey).

Georgie likes to crack the eggs. Interesting technique, huh?

Georgie's favorite part

Healthy Humpday Snack with Kid Review

My kids were getting sick of oatmeal everything.  I always use whole wheat flour but I cant pretend that this week’s recipe is healthy.  Again,they are not processed and my nurturing energy has been baked into them, but they are chock full of  butter and sugar.

Regarding this week’s recipe.  Recipe is hyperbole.  Although there are numerous recipes on the internet for this bar, that is how I was inspired, it hardly warrants one.  It is a brownie chocolate chip cookie bar.  Its a brownie that has chocolate chip cookie dough cooked on top.  So make your favorite brownie recipe, bake it for about 10 minutes before slopping approximately 1/2 to 2/3 of a chocolate chip cookie recipe (make buttons and freeze the rest) on top of the semi cooked brownies.  Return it to the oven to finish cooking.  Probably between 30-45 minutes of baking at 350 in a 9×13 baking dish.  They are brookies or chip cookie brownies (we like them gooey), easy to make and require a glass of cold milk.

Cal is back:  Excellent but could have been better if the brownie was bigger.  I didnt get a really good taste but think it was  a 4 out of 5.

My sad reality.  I am trying to learn how to use my SLR.  I am taking some on line classes and unfortunately for my family I practice by taking pictures of them doing almost anything,the dogs, flowers, and food.  Food turns out  not to be naturally photogenic and is quite temperamental.  I was trying to photograph the brownies and the natural light was crap.  So the photo is not very sharp and doesn’t really do a good job of capturing its very tempting texture.  The photo is not great.

Henry likes to play with the camera and has a very natural instinctive relationship with it.  He screws around with the buttons, has a decent idea about how to use the creative mode settings but doesn’t seem burdened  by them, like me.  He came up with this concept.  He half closed a shade in his room and turn off all the lights, it was late afternoon so there is was some natural light. He left the camera shutter open for seconds and moved the camera around. They are pretty cool.

Healthy Humpday Snack with Kid Review

They are healthy if you eat just one.  And they are good, and they are easy.  Hard to beat that.  Made a big pan with more than half of it going into the freezer for a later date.  I found the recipe here.  Its a cute blog where she has fun photographing her baked goods.  My only modification  would be to cook it for more like 23-25 minutes for chewy brownies.  I had some technical challenges as well,  the melted peanut butter part was kind of a bust for me as I am forced to use a 3rd world plastic bags, which if pressured at all, the seams all spontaneously burst open.  So instead of  pretty drizzles I got blobs that I spread out with a knife.  I also just put the chocolate chips directly on the warm bars where they securely half melted.

Given Cal’s sports schedule for the foreseeable future, Owen is going to step in until further notice to give the kids review.    You really should ask the dog since he ate my first bar, but since he cant talk I will say “Woof Woof”. Transaltion:  really good especially with a glass of cold milk, 3.5 out of 5.

Healthy Humpday Snack with Kid’s review

I don’t know if you can really call these healthy, other than the fact that they are not processed and were made by my loving hands.  Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies. I found them on Tastespotting and that site sent me here for the original recipe, its a great baking blog.

Not much can be said except this is a easy straightforward cookie dough that wont disappoint.  What I will share is something I do when I make cookie dough.  I always double it and I always freeze the dough.  Sometimes the task if baking cookies is daunting when you think of having to sit around and be more than passive as the 3 or 4 batches bake.  BORING.  So I do something I learned from my mom.  Take the cooking dough and roll balls of dough and press down to make buttons. Put the buttons on the cookie sheet, fill up the cookie sheet like below and put into the freezer for about 2 hours.  Then put the buttons into Ziploc bags. (either all together or in batches in sandwich bags)  Return to freezer.  Now you have cookies on demand.  It allows you to bake a batch for an after school snack and have warm cookies quickly.  You make what you need and cant overeat.  Or each time you pass the freezer  you can help yourself to a button of  yummy cookie dough!

As Cal, the regular reviewer, has volleyball practice today, Owen will be stepping in to give the kid’s review today.   He is a man of few words but his words mean what they say.

They taste like I need another one now.  I am not sure if they are brownies in the shape of a cookie or a cookie that tastes like a brownie.  I definitely would like to have them again for snack but I would like to see them bigger. I rank this 4 1/2 candy bars. (one candy bar is crap, 5 is the best dessert EVER)

Humpday Snack

When things get busy, like they have this week, I don’t always have time to research a new fabulous recipe off my favorite food site Tastespotting.  So today I went to an old standby and always a crowd-pleaser.  Embellished Brownies.  These are brownies out of a box that I play with the directions and then make a gooey topping to hold some candy jewels.  I don’t ever add butter to a box mix, I substitute oil, which makes the dessert moister and it doesn’t dry out as fast.  The other change would be to cook them in a cupcake pan (no papers just spray) and cook them for considerably less time than is indicated on the box so the centers are soft.  Its not everyone’s bag but its the way we like it and the next day they are still moist.  The topping is driven by what I have in the pantry.  Today I mixed peanut butter and as much condensed milk as possible while the mixture is still spreadable and then topped them off  with M&M’s and marshmallows (mini marshmallows work better than cutting up the big ones with scissors:() .  Some  other ideas we have tried: putting a mini peanut butter cup in the batter, melting chocolate and condensed milk to make a great icing and making peppermint brownie with thin mints in the batter and a fluffy pick frosting with mint extract and crushed up candy canes on the top.

Feliz Día de la Independencia

We had a kind of sad little 4th of July.  GM and Henry left for their respective destinations in the Northern Hemisphere last night so its me and three kids for the next few weeks.  The plan had been to go to the center to a Fourth of July party that the Argentine-American Cultural Institute does every year.  We have never been, we usually aren’t here for winter, but we thought we would check it out.  While it was not promising fireworks, it was advertising American food, music and games for the kids.  Well, it was canceled.  Because of the swine flu.  Yes, the swine flu is hitting pretty hard right now.  It is flu season here and there are 15 million people living in this metropolitan sprawl called Buenos Aires.  So there have been about 2400 reported cases in the country and about 50 deaths.

Enter the Kirchner government, who only last Sunday choked big time in their congressional elections.  They were not gracious losers.  But never to turn down an opportunity to look good, the government has roared into action on the swine flu.  Feeding into an already amplified latin paranoia about health related issues and germs (per my latina friend), the government has order pretty much everything and anything shut down, closed, keep out.  That means school (which only has a 2 week winter break) has been closed down 3 weeks early, most cultural/civic events (like the big 4th of July in town), and some musical concerts have been postponed until further notice. There is discussion about non essential businesses closing for several weeks.  I heard my gym might be closed next week and the hairdresser was closed for the weekend.  So there is a bit of panic going on.  Since the weather has been BEAUTIFUL here and the Kirchners finally got theirs, I guess there needs to be something to talk  and worry about.   God bless the swine flu.  And God bless America.

The kids wanted barbecue ribs but I wasn’t able to find any pork ribs so I had to modify the meal (which is the challenge of cooking here, a key ingredient will be in the market one day, not the next) and instead we had pork chops, applesauce, macaroni and cheese and a green salad with tomatoes.  Kind of American.  For dessert, we made these yummy red velvet cup cakes with cream cheese icing.  They might not look like Martha but they tasted like Martha.

Daddy’s Day Brunch

This year’s Father’s Day started last night when Callum, Owen and I made a Cinnabon facsimile to be eaten this morning  for brunch.  We made the linked recipes up to the point of slicing the rolls and putting them in the pan for baking .  We put the pan in the refrigerator overnight and then put the pan in a cold oven and then turn the oven on for cooking time plus 5 minutes.  Also we made an improvised cream cheese icing that is imperative if you are aspiring to the Food Court version of this sugared and fat laden treat.  They were a hit with everyone.  We served them with fresh fruit, yogurt and fresh squeezed (in a carton) OJ.  GM received a beautiful card from Georgie, a book about the Mob in Greenwich Village in the 1960’s from Cal, a sports autobiography by Bill Russell from Owen and a DVD documentary about Joe Strummer from Henry.  Its been a lazy day, kind of chilly and cool so much of the day has been spent in front of the TV watching sports.

Just out of the oven, the smell was unworldly

Georgie is always styling...food or fashion, like the chandelier crystal turned necklace?

Dad, looking concerned about having 4 kids..too late for that!

Next up, Father’s Day Dinner, Rack of Lamb, Wild Rice, and Green Beans.  I better get on it…

Required Eating with Kid’s review

I am a bit behind on my healthy snack posts.  So here are two of the last baking projects I endeavored.

First up was a really easy raspberry muffin recipe from a great cooking site that happens to be vegetarian, Picky Cook.  I subbed whole wheat flour for regular and did add in extra cinnamon.  I used frozen raspberries and smashed them up in a plastic ziplock and they worked fine.  My raspberries weren’t particularly sweet so I  added a white sugar based streusel (1/4 cup white sugar, 2 tbsp each cold butter and flour) that I sprinkled on top before baking.  I thought they were yummy.

Last week I made this Roasted Banana Cake with Brown Butter Icing  for the kids.  It’s really too good for the childrens.  It was a lot of work but worth the effort. I didn’t mess with this recipe much, just used whole wheat flour instead of white.  Dont take short cuts and omit the banana roasting or butter browning, it wont be the same.   If you served a slice (2 triangles would look nice) with good quality vanilla ice cream and drizzle with dulce de leche, you would have a dinner party worthy dessert.  I found this recipe at another real quality food blog called On My Plate.  I have pirated her photography, which is very good, just like her dessert.

Callum Says: The muffins were too messy and sour.  They would be better if the raspberry had been fresh. (2 1/2 chocolate bars)   But the banana bread was totally different.   Both the cake and icing were super  sweet and moist. (4 chocolate bars)

HumpDay BarDay (kid reviewed by Callum)

 Wednesday is baked treat day at our house.  In an effort to eat more sanely, we have instituted Wednesday as the one day of the week when the kids are greeted by a butter and sugar laden concoction often enhanced with chocolate.  The rest of the week they need to be happy with nuts, fruits, yogurt or popcorn as an afterschool snack.  So the pressure is on me to come up with a baked good that will satiate them until next week.  I have a softspot for bars..yummy cookie dough without the wait.   Because I cant get Reeses here, I substituted  two large bars of good quality chocolate chopped up (1 or 1 1/2 would have been sufficent).  I also used all whole wheat flour and 1 1/2 cup oatmeal.  Recipe and kid review after the jump.