Sometimes you just feel like making something fun, colorful and easy. I had to throw the easy in there because I have a friend who is an amazing baker and she makes baked goods that are fun and colorful and so friggin hard I would be in tears. Sure she can do a cake in any shape known to man but... I also have another friend who makes bento boxes and she can turn hard boiled eggs into dinosaurs and sandwiches into butterflies so yes fun and colorful but way too friggin detail oriented for me. And another friend who can turn her french fries into smiley faces, um how? Although I love you all dearly I went with easy, fun and colorful. This allows me to stay happy, feel productive and I am still able to drink wine while cooking without injuring myself or others.

So tonight I decided to make Double Decker Confetti Brownies and I am really not so sure where the name came from because they are really just a chocolate brownie layer, a blondie brownie layer and a smattering of M&M's to make it fun and colorful. Let me say I loved this recipe because it reminded me of playing with play dough as a kid...which was definitely one of my favorite toys growing up. Hell if you have ever attended one of my classes you will know its still one of my favorite toys and I always bring it when I teach so people have something to play with while they learn. Anyway this recipe reminded me of play dough because in order to make the different layers of dough I had to use my hands...sure a spatula was an option but it was less fun and the dough kept sticking. Sometimes you just need to get down and dirty with your dough.

Since I had an organic Mom she did attempt to make her own play dough once ok maybe several times. I am not really sure why, it's not like I had a tendency to eat the play dough and she was afraid I was going to die of toxic play dough overdose. But yeah she made it herself and unfortunately I do not have the recipe and its not in the family cookbook so I can not pass on this little tid bit of how to make homemade play dough. I am guessing if you are really interested you could probably google it...just saying. I do remember that it had a crap load of salt in it. Mom, if you are reading this, why did you make me play dough? And do you still have the recipe for those in need?

As many of you know I am on an organic food ingredient kick so I bought a new brand of organic eggs. And I seriously thought my best friend had been in my refrigerator as every egg had her initials stamped on them. E, don't worry I won't forget you...there is no need to sabotage my eggs.

So of course with this recipe just like every other recipe I make I had to change or improvise in some area. With this one it called for M&M semi-sweet chocolate mini baking bits and I just couldn't find those so I just bought regular bags of M&M's and used them. So I guess my "confetti" is a little bigger than regulation but eh works for me. Also did you know that a bag of M&M's is only a 1/4 cup, how depressing is that? 200 some odd calories and I get a 1/4 cup of chocolate...grrr.

I know I have talked about Scharfenberger chocolate before in my blogs and I have to say I used their cocoa powder in this recipe. This is the cocoa powder that I ordered from Amazon and I was so super excited to get it. Um but to be honest I actually like my Hersheys cocoa powder better and since its one hell of a lot cheaper I am going to be sticking to tried and true Hersheys from here on out...well after I use up the way expensive Scharfenberger cocoa powder that I purchased on-line. Gosh just typing that makes me feel neurotic.

Here is the recipe for Double-Decker Confetti Brownies:

3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, divided
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 T butter, melted
1 cup M&M semi-sweet chocolate mini baking bits, divided

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease 13x9" baking pan; set aside. In large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy; beat in eggs and vanilla. In med bowl, combine 2 1/4 cups flour, baking powder and salt; blend into creamed mixture. Divide batter in half. Blend together cocoa powder and melted butter; stir into one half of the dough. Spread cocoa dough evenly into prepared baking pan. Stir remaining 1/4 cup flour and 1/2 cup M&Ms into remaining dough; spread evenly over cocoa dough in pan. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup M&Ms. Bake 25-30 min or until edges start to pull away from sides of pan. Cool completely. Cut into bars.

I also have to say this is my first blog where I used Instagram to take my photos, what do you think? Hope you all have an amazing week. Cheers!