chocolate brownies (I'm on a roll here...)

Are you detecting a theme here?  Pregnant lady stuck at home waiting for baby to come with nothing to do but bake and stuff her face?

I wouldn't consider myself an all-star cook or baker.  I can whip up almost anything from a recipe and it turns out decently.  I certainly do OK, and I do love to bake especially.  I know I do a few things REALLY well.  These brownies are one of them.

I haven't made brownies in a while, and I can't remember why.  They are so... dang... good.  I use my mom's recipe, and make my own icing from scratch.  It's so much yummier than the store bought stuff.  I have been known to make a (small... ish) bowl of just icing and eat it with a spoon.  Sick, I know, but no worse than those of you who eat it out of the store bought container, or eat raw cookie dough right from the package... not that I've done EITHER of those things before... ahem.

Chocolate Brownies:

Cream together:
1/2 cup margarine (you can use butter, but I like the results with margarine better)
1 cup white sugar
Add:
2 eggs
3 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix together dry ingredients:
3/4 cup white flour
1/3 cup of cocoa (I use the good stuff - it always make a difference)
1/2 teaspoon salt


Add to wet ingredients.  Grease a square baking pan and pour in mixture.  Bake at 325F for approximately 25 -30 minutes.  Allow brownies to cool completely before icing (this is sooooo hard to do!)

Chocolate Fudge Icing

2 cups icing sugar
2 teaspoons of cocoa
2 tablespoons of butter or margarine
2 tablespoons of milk or coffee cream

Cream ingredients together.  Add milk/cream until you reach your desired consistency (I like my icing a bit thicker).  Spread over brownies, and don't forget to lick the bowl!

thee best chocolate chip cookies ever!

What's a pregnant lady days away from delivery to do when the weather is shoddy, she can stand for maaaaybe 10 minutes at a time, and has a squirrely toddler to entertain?  MAKE COOKIES OF COURSE.  I have been using this same chocolate chip cookie recipe for at least the last 10 years.  I think that it came off of a chocolate chip package, and I believe the secret to the crunchy outside/gooey inside yumminess factor is using shortening, not butter or margarine (although I insist on using margarine in my brownies, but that's another post!)

Allie's Chocolate Chip Cookies:
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
Combine the above ingredients. 
Add:
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
Stir until combined.
Mix together the following dry ingredients:
1 cup white flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Add to wet mixture.  Add approximately 1 cup of high quality chocolate chips (we buy the Chipits in the huge bags from Costco).



Drop by the teaspoon onto an ungreased baking sheet and bake 10-12 minutes at 350F.  Eat warm with milk (of course).

My assistant and I whipped up a quick batch this afternoon.  I think she enjoyed them:

 Did we eat the whole bowl?  You betcha!