I am thankful for the fact that I work in a profession that allows me to have an a plethora of guinea pigs. Its not every job where you have a eating audience of 25 at your disposal and if I really want to reach I could even say I have approximately 256 peripheral consumers. As you all may have guessed by now I love to cook but I don't know how to make small portions and I don't know what to do with a ton of leftovers because I hate eating the same thing over and over again. So my job allows me to cook until my hearts content and always have someone to eat it because as we all know from our childhood there are starving children in Ethiopia. I know the country often changes but that saying seems to be timeless. When I was a kid we use to call it being a member of the "clean plate club," however as I got older I realized that members of that club aren't always healthy so I had to adjust that belief a bit.

Photo by Marlana

Tonight we had the 2nd potluck this week at work and although it was fajita night I opted to bring dessert. I found a recipe for fudgey brownies with icing and mini chocolate chips so how could I go wrong. They smelled like heaven as they came out of the oven and because I started baking them a little late they also made my car smell like a chocolate factory as I drove to work.

As most brownies are they were super easy to make. Just cream the butter and sugar in a mixer and add sour cream which was new to me. I couldn't taste it in the brownies so I am not really sure of the purpose but I figured if its in the recipe lets go with it. I also added an egg and vanilla. In a separate bowl you combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt...which you then add into the butter/sugar mixture. Finally stir in the mini chocolate chips and place in pan to bake. The frosting was also very easy-butter, powdered sugar, vanilla and milk. Voila!!! And the icing was great to lick off the beater.

Here is the recipe:  Hersheys Double Chocolate Chip Brownies

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened ***I never use margarine for baking just don't like the flavor ***
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup dairy sour cream ***why do you think they put dairy in the title? ***
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup Hersheys cocoa
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup mini chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9" square baking dish. In bowl, beat butter, sugar and egg until light and fluffy. Add sour cream and vanilla; beat until well blended. Stir together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Add to butter mixture and blend well. Stir in chocolate chips. Spread batter evenly into prepared pan. Bake 30-35 min or until wooden pick inserted in center barely comes out clean. Do not overbake (love that instruction like anyone has the intention of burning the shit out of their brownies). Cool completely. Frost.

Frosting:
3T butter or margarine, softened
3T cocoa
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
2T milk

In a small mixer bowl, beat butter and cocoa until blended. Add vanilla and powdered sugar; beat well. Gradually add milk, beating until smooth and of spreading consistency. Add additional milk, 1 tsp at a time, if needed.

And because my blog just wouldn't be the same without some random fact, did you know that they had a competition for the worlds best pizza in Las Vegas and the winner was a pizza by Goodfellas Brick Oven Pizza from Staten Island. However, the winner wasn't what I imagined...this spicy marinara sauce, mozzarella laden and pepperoni filled heaven...it was asiago cheese, mozzarella, shrimp, lime, mango salsa and a pineapple cream sauce with petron. Oy what has the world come to!!?? I love creative food but really I am not so sure about this.

Also if you are looking for an entertaining food blog other than mine try: http://www.twogirlscookingblog.com/
Please share any other interesting food blogs because I am on a quest to find other kindred spirits.