brownies

What do you think?! How does the new website look?

I am SO excited about the new site. It has been a work in progress over the last month as I decided that I really wanted to grow my blog, my followers, and transform Never Skip Dessert into it’s very own self-hosted website! In the last few weeks I bought the domain (www.neverskipdessertblog.com) and migrated my old site over to this new self-hosted site on Bluehost. I want to thank Katie Clark over at www.clarkscondensed.com for helping me with the migration – she was very helpful and I didn’t have to worry about a thing!

So now that the big process of migrating and setting up the new site is done – I’m ready to begin posting recipes again! If you want to stay up-to-date on what I’m cooking and where I am in the world (lots of changes in the near future!) I’d love for you to subscribe to my site so that you’ll receive an email with each new post. You can also follow Never Skip Dessert on facebook, instagram or twitter! All the links are on the right hand side of the page.

But back to the kitchen… luckily, I have been able to cook a lot lately! It’s fun to have a whole office ready to eat whatever treat I bring in – and last week, it was these blackberry brownies!

It is HOT and HUMID in DC. Ugh. It’s quite miserable during the day but thanks to the underground tunnels connecting all of the Senate office buildings and the Capitol, I am rarely outside in the middle of the day. But one hot, sticky walk back from work I was craving chocolate and thought about how I could incorporate something summary and refreshing into a classic chocolate treat. For whatever reason, I immediately thought of adding blackberries to brownies and thought – wow, now this is an idea I have to try!

I used a recipe I already had on my blog for Salted Caramel Brownies and omitted the salted caramel and instead added fresh blackberries to the batter just before baking – crushing a few to get blackberry juice swirled into the batter. They turned out fantastic – a sweet surprise in every few bites!

My coworkers loved them and actually asked me to bring them again – so I did! I brought them in two days in a row and they were quite the crowd-pleaser!

Try them out and let me know what you think! Also, I would love a comment if you have one on the look of the new site! (Or any glitches if you can find one!)

Blackberry Brownies

Recipe Type: Dessert

Author: Mackenzie (Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

Serves: 18

Ingredients

3 oz. unsweetened chocolate, roughly chopped
1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Heaped 1/4 teaspoon flaky sea salt
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 6oz (small) package of fresh blackberries, washed

Instructions

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9×13 pan with cooking spray.
Melt chocolate and butter together in a heatproof bowl over gently simmering water (double boiler) or melt in the microwave in 30 second bursts, stirring in between. Stir until smooth. Beat in the sugar, then the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla and salt. Add flour and mix until combined. Finally, stir in the blackberries (don’t be afraid to crush a few and infuse the batter with blackberry juice)
Pour batter into prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Let cool and then cut into squares and serve!

Notes

PS – if you’re short on time/ingredients, you can also use a store-bought brownie mix and just add blackberries to the batter! But shhh – don’t tell anyone 😀

Salted Caramel anything is automatically my favorite dessert – I love salted caramel ice cream (especially from Molly Moon’s in Seattle), salted caramels themselves (Fran’s has the BEST – also in Seattle), salted caramel frozen yogurt (new flavor at Chill in STL this month), salted caramel milkshakes (Bailey’s Range in STL has awesome ones!), salted caramel pie, salted caramel chocolate chip cookies… you name it and I love it. So when I saw these brownies on Smitten Kitchen’s blog (a blog Libby and I follow semi-religiously!), I knew these were going straight to the top of my “Next Up to Bake” list!

I brought them to a College Central Fellowship event and they were devoured!!! I even doubled the recipe and they were GONE. And I’m not ashamed to say I had three (although they were cut small so I didn’t feel quite as guilty!).

This recipe is GREAT and I highly recommend you take them to the next event you need to bring a dessert to – so you can’t eat them all because I totally would have if they had been left on my counter…

Salted Caramel Brownies
Recipe from Smitten Kitchen
Makes an 8×8 pan

Ingredients:

Caramel:
1/2 cup sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
Heaped 1/4 teaspoon flaky sea salt
3 tablespoons heavy cream

Brownies:
3 oz. unsweetened chocolate, roughly chopped
1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Heaped 1/4 teaspoon flaky sea salt
2/3 cup all-purpose flour

Directions:

Caramel:
1. Place a square of parchment paper on a plate – spray the plate to keep the paper from slidding off and also spray the paper just to make sure the caramel will come off easily.

2. Melt sugar in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat – about 5 minutes, stirring to break up chunks. It should be copper colored when it is done, if not, cook until it reaches a nice copper. Remove from heat and stir in the butter, then the cream and salt. Return the saucepan to the stovetop and cook over medium high heat, melting it fully and cooking until it is a shade darker.

3. Pour caramel onto the parchment-plate and place in the freezer. Freeze until solid, about 30-40 minutes.

Brownies:
1. While the caramel is firming up, make the brownies. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8×8 inch square baking pan with parchment, making sure that it extends up the sides so you can easily lift the whole thing out. Spray with cooking spray.

2. Melt chocolate and butter together in a heatproof bowl over gently simmering water or melt in the microwave in 30 second bursts, stirring in between. (I did the microwave way because I was impatient). Stir until smooth. Add in sugar, then the eggs, one at a time, then the vanilla and salt. Add flour and mix until combined.

Assembly:
1. When the caramel has hardened, chop into rough 1-inch squares. Gently fold 3/4 of the caramel squares into the batter. Pour batter into prepared pan, spreading evenly. Scatter the remaining caramel squares on top of the batter. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Blackberry Brownies (+New Website!!)

Salted Caramel Brownies

Mackenzie

A Look Back