Oreo Brownies

I bought a package of Oreo cookies the other day and totally forgot about them. Until recently, when I came across Lorraine Pascale's Baking Made Easy cookbook. I love Lorraine; she's so sweet and makes gorgeous food. Her recipes are all really easy and yet decadent. So I saw her Oreo Brownies recipe and had to make them. These brownies are so squidgy and fluffy in the middle, but the Oreos make a great crunch. One of the best brownies I have ever eaten! I used chocolate filled Oreos, but you can use the original ones or any kind you like.

165g butter

200g dark chocolate, finely chopped

3 eggs

2 egg yolks

2 tea spoons vanilla extract

165g brown sugar

 2 table spoons flour

 1 table spoon cocoa powder

 A pinch of salt

 154g pack Oreos, broken into quarters

Melt the butter over medium heat and set aside. Stir in the chocolate and sit for a few minutes. Then stir together so you get a nice, melted gooey mixture. Whisk the eggs and yolks in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add the sugar, but be gentle so you don't knock out the air bubbles, pour it to around the side of the egg mixture. Keep mixing until you get a stiff mixture. Now add the melted chocolate and mix gently. Next, add the flour, cocoa powder and salt. Mix it up and add a third of the Oreos, mix up until combined. Pour into a greased baking tin, lined up with parchment paper. Scatter the remaining Oreos on top and bake for 25 minutes on 190°C.

When you remove the brownies out of the oven, the middle should be still a bit gooey. Leave it in the tin to cool down. Pull the brownies out of the tin and cut into squares.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate Chip Cookies are pure art. A perfect chocolate chip cookie is so hard to find. I haven't found the one yet, but this recipe is the closest to perfect :) These cookies are double chocolate, inside and outside just the perfect cookie you'll want to eat.

It's from this blog.

2 1/4 cups flour1 tsp baking soda1 cup [2 sticks] margarine1/4 cup sugar3/4 cup brown sugar 6 oz. chocolate chips4 oz. instant chocolate pudding1 tsp vanilla2 eggs

Mix flour and baking soda and set aside. In a separate bowl mix the softened margarine, sugar, brown sugar, pudding mix, vanilla and beat until smooth. Add eggs and beat until smooth. Gradually add flour mixture and beat until smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips and drop by spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes on 190°C.

Lemon Pretzels

In case you were wondering If I am baking anything else than cookies lately - no I don't. Here's another cookie recipe. :)

My mum surprised me with these beauties on Monday when I came home. These pretzels are so delicious I had to share the recipe with you! They're like lemonade in cookie form. Totally addictive and so easy to make.

200 grams flour

100 grams butter

70 grams sugar

1/2 lemon - squish the juice out of it and grate the peel

2 egg yolks

1 tea spoon vanilla

Mix all of the ingredients together with a wooden spoon. When it starts getting thick, continue with your hands and knead the dough. Form into a ball and put in the fridge for 30 minutes. Form the dough into a long, sausage looking shape. Now cut the dough to walnut sized pieces. Form this little pieces of dough into pretzels by rolling the dough into a small sausage looking shape and turning the edges to the middle of it, pressing slightly with your fingers. Just use your imagination, you can also do other shapes if you wish. Bake at 180°C until they're golden brown. Sprinkle the pretzels with powdered sugar while they're still warm.

Swiss Roll Bomb

Yesterday morning I woke up and it was snowing! Everything was covered with the white, cold, wet thing….argh. I hate snow. I just don't like the cold, crisp winter mornings. So basically I wanted to crawl under my blanket and fall back asleep. But I'm a responsible adult and chose to go into the kitchen and prepare some dessert.

This dessert is perfect for those of you who like frozen treats and chocolate. It's a perfect combo with chocolate ice cream and swiss rolls. In the form of a giant bomb.

2 Swiss Rolls (I used chocolate flavored)

1 Chocolate ice cream

3 table spoons rum

First prepare a medium sized bowl – wrap the inside of the bowl in plastic and set aside. Cut the swiss roll in 1 centimeter thick pieces and place them all over the bowl, one next to another. When you're done and the bowl is covered in swiss rolls, brush them with rum. Put the ice cream in the middle of the bomb and press it gently with a spoon so you don't have any lumps (it's good to let the ice cream sit at room temperature for a few minutes before that). Now cover the bomb with remaining swiss rolls so you have a 'lid' and the bomb is closed. Cover with plastic wrap on top and put in the freezer for 2 hours. Let the bomb sit for a minute or two at room temperature or simply warm it with your hands a bit. Now carefully put it on a plate; remove the foil from the top and place a plate upside down on it. Turn around and try to get it out gently, it should pop out. Don't force the bomb out, or you'll get a messy thing! That's it. Just cut it in pieces and enjoy.

Coconut Oatmeal Cookies

Here's another cookie post. I don't know why, but these days I crave cookies. Like crazy! I wanted some oatmeal cookies and found this beautiful recipe. These cookies are so good it's not humanly possible to eat just one. Seriously, they're crazy good. And contain oats, which happen to be my favorite ingredient for desserts these days.

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups flour

2 cups oatmeal

1 cup coconut

Cream together the butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla. Set aside. In a separate bowl mix together all dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients to wet and mix well. Spoon onto greased baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes at 200°C.

Grandma's Easy Bars

This recipe is a family classic. No scale is required, you just take a coffee mug (mine holds about 1,5 deciliter) and put every single thing in a bowl. It's an easy, no fuss dessert when you have little time to please your guests. I like to bake these bars because they're so quickly done - just mix everything up and put in the oven, forget about it for a few minutes and slice them up.

They disappear really quick too! The softness and the delicious smell of these will make your mouth water. I wish I could show you how amazing they smell fresh from the oven. Unfortunately, you'll have to bake them and see for yourself how great they are.

2 coffee mugs flour, combined with 2 table spoons baking powder

1 cup yogurt of choice (I used a peach flavored one)

2 coffee mugs sugar

2 coffee mugs walnuts, finely grind

2 coffee mugs milk

1 coffee mug oil or margarine or butter

4 eggs

1 coffee mug dark chocolate, grated

Put everything, one by one, in a big bowl, mix carefully and slow, but make sure there are no lumps. The batter should be smooth and silky. Pour the batter in a greased pan and bake for 30 minutes on 180°C. When baked let cool and slice into bars. Enjoy.

Nutella Cookies

The thing is I absolutely love Nutella. It's my all time favorite spread; back when I was a kid I ate straight from the jar with a spoon. Mmmmmmmmm

Then I discovered I could use Nutella in various dessert recipes, too. Nowadays I bake a lot with this deliciousness. These cookies are so easy to do and so so yummy, you have to make them! I found the recipe on Pinterest.

And here they are; straight from the oven.

1 cup Nutella

1 cup flour

1 whole egg

Just put all ingredients in a medium sized bowl and mix all up. I started mixing with my hand mixer and then kneading the dough with my hands. Shape the dough into little balls and put on parchment paper, flatten with a glass a bit. Bake for 8 minutes on 190°C.