Megan

Chewy Crinkle Top Espresso Brownies

April 15, 2020 by Megan

It’s brownie time! Brownie time! Chewy crinkle top espresso brownies to be exact!

I’m been doing a crazy amount of baking lately. It’s been so great! Nothing too fancy just the usual cookies, brownies, rice krispie treats that sort of thing. Don’t get me wrong. I’m still trying hard to feed my family lots of healthy dinners round the clock but the baking in my life is making me forget about all of the bad stuff lately.

Cooking is kind of the way I tell my family how much I love them even if they aren’t ecstatic about what I put on the table at times. Since we could all use a few more smiles, baking is doing that for them. And it’s been a lot of fun for me so win-win for everyone involved I guess.

These days I don’t have a lot of extra time but I’m certainly spending the free time I have a little bit differently. I’m reading more and baking, and that would be why you are seeing more of that on the blog. It’s been hard to create new dinners while also trying to homeschool the kids and attend to each of them as they need it. Still working on getting some new dinners in though!

These are simple everyday brownies. There’s not too many ingredients and they don’t even require you to get out your stand-up mixer because some days it’s just the limiting factor in making a dessert. I love my stand-up mixer but more dirty dishes, ugh. I just can’t always commit to that especially in a time like this. I want delicious treats but really love when they are simple and also simple did I say that?

Your Ingredient List:

Butter
Semi-sweet chocolate chips
Granulated Sugar
Eggs
All-purpose flour
Baking powder
Vanilla extract
Cocoa powder
Kosher Salt

I learned (from Half Baked Harvest) to help get that crinkly top it’s best to whisk your eggs really well until they get that foamy look. That will seal the deal so make sure you put a little muscle into beating your eggs before adding them to the chocolate mixture.

Our days can be long when isolating at home. We have been trying to break up the day by getting outside every day unless the weather is terrible like really terrible. Even a half hour outside makes a huge difference in our attitudes. We are so used to being outside the majority of the time and when they can’t, it’s not a good situation sometimes.

Getting outside, snack breaks, GoNoodle, and Ipad time are a few things that seem to be their favorite. This is a hard time for everyone, even kids. They have feelings of uncertainty, sadness of missing friends and extended family members, and frustration of not understanding fully what’s going on. I have been trying really hard to make this as easy on them as possible by saying yes more often to them within reason of course. They have been asking to go to the store more lately and we have not been letting them do that so we have found a solution of letting them pick out some things online that they want. We are all dealing with this time in a different way and this is just what has worked for us.

When all else fails, just make these Chewy Crinkle Top Espresso Brownies. They will fix almost anything. Hope you love them as much as we do!

Chewy Crinkle Top Espresso Brownies

Crackly tops and chewy centers with a hint of espresso make these brownies unbelievably good. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream for the best kind of dessert!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 30

Course Dessert

Servings 12

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
1 1/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp espresso powder*
2 eggs, room temperature
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
pinch kosher salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350℉. Line a 9x13 baking dish with foil and set aside.
Add butter and 1 cup chocolate chips to microwave-safe bowl and melt in 30 second increments until smooth. Stir in between sessions. Add sugar, vanilla, and espresso powder if using and stir.
Beat eggs in a separate bowl with wire whisk for 1 1/2 minutes until foamy on top. Add to chocolate mixture. Add flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt and stir just until incorporated. Add in remaining chocolate chips and fold in. Transfer to baking dish in an even layer using a rubber spatula. Bake 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out almost clean. Allow to cool completely on a cooling rack. Enjoy!!

Notes

* May cut this out or use 1 tsp depending on preference.

More Yummy Dessert Ideas

Strawberry Pie Jello Bars

Key Lime Bars

5-Ingredient Ham and Cheese Omelettes

April 10, 2020 by Megan

It’s been an unforgettable spring so far. Life is definitely different on so many levels. This time is hard to navigate some days and other days I get so thankful for every extra minute I get to spend with my kids and husband. Aside from the infrequent grocery shopping trips and trail runs I don’t leave the house much.

Loving Breakfast Recipes these Days

Eggs! We can’t keep eggs stocked in this house. And I may be the reason…been making these ham and cheese omelettes recently and the fam is loving them!

They are super simple, fluffy with a bit of a crust on the outside which adds tons of flavor and stuffed with cheddar cheese and cubed ham on the inside with a touch of salt and pepper. They are my ultimate breakfast game that is continuing to get better during these weeks of #socialdistancing. These will likely make an appearance at our house real soon for Easter Sunday brunch because we all loved them so much.

They aren’t fancy, they aren’t over the top difficult, and yes they are the tastiest things I have had all week. Lately, I have lived for breakfast foods and baking cookies. They are giving me the extra oomph I need in my life.

We eat eggs for dinner about once a week. They are usually scrambled or fried because they are easy, so good, and we start to miss them if I don’t cook them regularly. However, now that we were introduced to these amazing omelettes we can add a little extra variety on our eggs-for-dinner nights.

Here’s what you need:

Eggs (duh)
Little butter for the pan
Splash of milk to mix with the eggs
Salt/Pepper but we aren’t counting these in the 5 ingredients, mmmm k
Cubed ham
Cheddar cheese

That’s it my friends. That’s all you need to make these ham and cheese omelettes that are basically life-changing. A non-stick pan 10-inch skillet is also pretty important for these omelettes. Oh and they are super filling. I made each with 3 eggs just FYI.

Tips for Omelette-Making

Like I said above, a non-stick 10-inch skillet is ideal for omelettes but work with what ya got!
A well pre-heated skillet is crucial to getting that perfect outer “crust” on your omelettes. I also add just a bit of butter (1 tsp) to the pan and tilt the pan back and forth until the butter is evenly coating the entire pan.
My method goes like this –> after pan is well heated (medium high) add the whisked eggs and milk to the skillet. If the skillet was hot enough the eggs will start to bubble a bit and this is ok. Turn the heat down to medium or just below medium at this time. After a couple minutes, tilt the pan to let the runny eggs that are on top run down. As you are doing this, lift the edge of the eggs that are at the bottom so the runny eggs can fill up underneath and cook. Keep doing this around various parts of your pan until there are no more runny eggs on top and your eggs looked cooked. At this point you can add the cheese and cubed ham to half of your omelette. Add some more freshly cracked black pepper and fold the empty half over the half with the filling using a pancake turner.

Life Lately

Social distancing has me a little anxious at times and I’m certainly not my usual self in the kitchen lately and I think it has been very good for me.

I’ve LOVED the extra baking time and my family seems to love it too as they eat up everything I bake as soon as I bake it. Like literally the cookie dough disappears before my eyes before I can even get my cookies baked lately. I would definitely recommend getting outside your comfort zone when it comes to cooking because even though we might fail (hello, yes this is me all of the time) those wins make everything so worth it.

Also every opportunity you can get outside and just enjoy yourself even if it’s only in your backyard. This is something I have started to do more of lately and it’s so unbelievably helpful especially when we barely leave the house these days.

Hope you all have a safe and joyful Easter! Hope you give these ham and cheese omelettes a try and be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below! 🙂