Not So Spooky Halloween Brownies

Halloween Ghost Brownies

This is my latest Heavenly Cake Bakers entry - Barcelona Brownies (aka Not So Spooky Halloween Brownies). Baker buddy Matthew suggested I call them Frownies - Perfect!

To be completely honest, I did not set out to turn these brownies into little ghosts, but I'll explain that a little later.

For now let's just go through the recipe, which you can find here. I suppose you could do this with any brownie recipe, or even a mix if you like... just have some fun!

Oh, oh, oh... I want to quickly mention how in love I am with my new BeaterBlade attachment for my KitchenAid. I'll write much more about it once I've had a chance to use it more, but my initial feelings are WOW! No more stopping to scrape the mixer bowl... something I loathed doing!

That being said, the recipe for these brownies instructs the use of the whip attachment (if using a stand mixer), but I used the BeaterBlade and it mixed the ingredients perfectly.

Okay, the recipe starts by making a simple ganache from chocolate and heavy cream - set aside to cool and reserve for use later. Sorry, forgot to get a photo of that step.

Next, I melted butter and chocolate together. Easy, and you don't need a double boiler if you have a good quality heavy duty pan and a very, very low flame. Stir constantly - it doesn't take long to melt and you want to make sure the chocolate doesn't burn.

Then I weighed the remaining ingredients, but you can use standard measuring cups/spoons if you prefer. I opted to omit the nuts from this recipe... I like nuts, but I'm just not a fan of nuts in my brownies.

Okay, I combined the ingredients in the order instructed and placed the batter in a heavy duty quart size storage bag to easily fill my pan. I didn't get my silicone financier pan yet so I used a mini muffin pan instead - this recipe made exactly 24 mini muffin size brownies.

See how neat the zipper bag makes filling the pan? Easy clean up too... just throw the bag away when you're done.

Into a 325F oven for 12-15 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 194F.

Don't they look good?

As soon as the brownies come out of the oven, you poke three holes in each using a chopstick or 1/4-inch dowel.

You're supposed to coat the chopstick/dowel with oil to keep the brownie particles from sticking, but I found myself constantly removing brownie bits and recoating the dowel with oil.

Which reminds me of this quick tip - did you know the best knife to use when cutting brownies is a plastic disposable knife? It's true... absolutely no sticking! So I guess I'll start my search to find a set of plastic chopsticks.

Now it's time to fill the holes with the reserved ganache. I find this process a bit messy if using a spoon or pastry bag, but these plastic squeeze bottles make the job effortless!

See how neat :).

Hmmm... I had exactly enough ganache to fill each hole, but it seeped down into the brownies and left these odd looking open voids. Kinda reminded me of alien faces. Not very appetizing.

What to do , what to do...

(lightbulb!!) Since I'm not very fond of alien faces, and since it is October, little ghosts seemed more seasonally appropriate. A quick sprinkling of powdered sugar really helped to drive home the ghost theme... let's see if the kids get it when they come home from school.

(update - yes, they recognized the little ghosts right away)

Be careful not to poke those holes too deeply... I found little puddles of ganache under all my brownies. Anyway, thanks for taking the time to visit!

Amaretto Shortbread with almonds and brown sugar

This is a tweak on a recipe posted by my good friend Laura (aka The Cooking Photographer). Laura's original recipe called for Scotch and pecans, but I didn't have any Scotch in the house so I thought I'd revise the recipe to include Amaretto and almonds. They turned out extremely well and are even better served on day 2 or 3. They'll make a wonderful addition to any cookie try - great served with coffee or tea.

Items used to make this recipe:

(affiliate links)

• almonds https://amzn.to/2HlYplf

• pure vanilla extract https://amzn.to/2E8mUAl

• 9x9 professional cake pan https://amzn.to/3JiKryW

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Amaretto Shortbread with Almonds and Brown Sugar

makes one 9x9-inch pan

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• ½ cup almonds

• 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

• ¼ teaspoon salt

• 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

• ¼ cup granulated sugar

• ¼ cup brown sugar (no lumps please)

• 1 tablespoon Disaronno Amaretto (or 1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract)

• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Topping:

• ¼ cup coarsely chopped almonds

• 1 tablespoon coarse sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325F and place rack in the lower third of the oven.

2. Line a 9x9-inch cake pan lined with nonstick foil. Be sure the nonstick side is facing up. Alternately, you can use regular foil that has been lightly buttered (you want to be able to lift the bars out by the foil edges).

3. Process 1/2 cup almonds, flour, and salt together in a food processor until almonds are finely ground. Set aside.

4. In a stand mixer, beat the butter for a minute until creamy. Add the granulated sugar, brown sugar, Amaretto, and pure vanilla extract; beat for 2 minutes until the texture is light and fluffy.

5. On low speed, mix in the flour, half at a time, until just combined. Be careful not to over mix,

6. Press the dough evenly into the baking pan. Sprinkle the top with the chopped almonds and the coarse sugar - press them slightly to embed them in the cookie dough.

7. Bake for 25-30 minutes until lightly golden brown around the edges.

8. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then grab the edges of the foil and move the shortbread to a nearby cutting surface and immediately cut into squares with a very sharp knife.

9. Transfer to a cooling rack and finish cooling.

Notes

• Be careful to not let the almonds burn.

• For best results, make a day or two in advance.

• For glass pans, lower the oven temp 25F.

Laura's original recipe can be found here.  Please check out her blog... it's one of my favorites!