Need to make tonight: Is the Baked Brownie to-too to give kids? Should I leave out the coffee?

M

mariadnoca

Moderator
Because I'm lazy,

really lazy

and it's hot (currently 94 @ 6pm)

and oh yeah, did I mention I'm feeling lazy?

I've decided to gift my grand niece who I know won't need another cross/bible/piece of jewelry, brownies for her first communion tomorrow. I'm going to wrap them into a shape of a cross, stick a bow on 'em and call it done. (Then reap the rewards of the aunt who gifted chocolate!)

So I need to make some brownies tonight, and I've been meaning to try the Baked Brownie, but wondering if that might be a bit too rich for a child.

If not these, any ideas on what might be a good, fairly quick to make, alternate?

 
The Baked Brownie is beautifully bittersweet, so I would say it's more

of an adult brownie, since most American kids like things sweeter. Of course, you could always increase the sugar a little.

Or you could make Baker's One Bowl Brownies, which are a little sweeter, but still nice and chocolatey. I've made them for kids and they loved them, even with the sugar reduced by 1/4.
I use an 8x8 pan instead of the 9x13 that's listed in the original recipe. I also omit the nuts that are in the original recipe.

BAKER'S CHOCOLATE ONE BOWL BROWNIES

INGREDIENTS:

4 squares (4 oz) Baker's unsweetened chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup (1 1 /2 sticks) butter
2 cups sugar (I used 1 1/2 cups)
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup unbleached all purpose flour

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F (325 F for dark pan or glass pan).

2. Grease an 8x8 pan OR line with foil with ends of foil extending over sides, and grease the foil.

3. Melt chocolate and butter over double boiler. Stir until chocolate is completely melted.

4. Stir sugar into melted chocolate mixture. Mix in eggs and vanilla until well blended. Stir in flour. Spread in prepared pan.

5. Bake 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out with fudgy crumbs. DO NOT OVERBAKE!

6. Cool in pan. Remove foil, if using, and cut into squares.

Makes 12-16 fudgy brownies.

Adapted from Baker's Chocolate

http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/bakers-one-bowl-brownies-54515.aspx

 
You could also make Magic Bars - They're much much much too sweet for me, but kids love them:

MAGIC COOKIE BARS

1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
6 oz (1 cup) semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used a little more)
3 1/2 ounces (1 1/3 cups) flaked coconut (I used a little less than 1 1/2 cups unsweetened)
1 c. chopped pecans (I used 3/4 cup)

Preheat oven to 350 F. (325 for dark or glass pan).
Melt butter in a 13x9 inch baking pan in the oven while it's preheating.
Sprinkle the graham cracker crumbs over the melted butter, mix together and press into pan.
Pour the condensed milk evenly over the crust and sprinkle with the remaining ingredients. (I added the chips first, then coconut, then nuts. I also sprinkled a few more chips on top). Press down firmly.
Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly browned.
Cool thoroughly before cutting.

Makes about 24 or 25 bars

 
This is exactly what I was thinking of as an alternate...but...?

I'd also omit the nuts. Is that timing correct? It's the same as the 13x9-inch pan.

This sure would be quick/easy - and that's sounding good to me. Plus, I have the Baker's unsweetened chocolate on hand.

(Yeah, I feared the baked brownie might be a bit much for a kid's palate.)

 
Yeah, the timing for the 8x8 is correct. Strange that it's the same as listed for the 9x13, but

that's how I've always baked them, and they come out perfectly. It sounds like the timing on the 9x13 is too long.

 
You're welcome! Oh, it makes 12-16 brownies in the 8x8, not the 24 as listed above - I'll

change it.

 
For years I would help my kids make a giant chocolate chip cookie. . .

for birthdays, etc. Kids love them--the "all for me" thing.

 
My friend does this for every occasion - she got pizza boxes at the cake & candy store

and bakes up the giant cookie in a pizza pan...with all the appropriate decor (M&Ms, skittles, pretzel bits, etc.).
It's always a huge hit!

 
Hey Maria, what recipe did you end up baking

I usually use very strong decaf coffee when I bake for the kids.

"The Aunt that gifted chocolate" - you rock! Colleen

 
The Reveal: Behold...Our Lady of Chocolate...

I ended up making the One Bowl Brownie recipe topped with some chocolate chips (shout out to Meryl on timing) the kraft site said 50 mins for a 9x9 pan and my 8x8 was perfect with Meryl's timing of 30-35 (32). All of their timings would be way off IMHO. They weren't too complex for a child's taste buds, but I ate the last of them this morning and they were plenty good.


So to turn this into something worthy of a communion gift, after they cooled I cut them as normal, but arranged them into a cross shape, then cut a cardboard backer to fit (first cut a cereal box, but it needed actual cardboard), and wrapped it with the last of the good Reynolds plastic wrap. Stuck a bow on it and named it Our Lady of Chocolate. I wrote in the card, you'll get lots of gifts today, but just remember your auntie gave you CHOCOLATE!

(To my surprise it was a huge hit! She LOVED it and carried it around like a bouquet much of the day.)

I didn't manage to get good pixs, because I had to dash out, so these are some taken in the car, but hopefully you can get the idea. The pictures look like more plastic wrap than in person. In person it was very clearly a solid chocolate brownie cross.

(I'm old school and don't like to post pixs of people's face's on the internet, so I've obscured her face here.)

http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy163/4ebay_bucket/personal/Our%20lady%20of%20chocolate/IMG_2085_zps79341918.jpg

http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy163/4ebay_bucket/personal/Our%20lady%20of%20chocolate/IMG_2091_zpsed263044.jpg


http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy163/4ebay_bucket/personal/Our%20lady%20of%20chocolate/535de122-acd0-4d88-84d9-672b9189f3b4_zps9bcf908c.jpg

 
And what a sweet dress she's wearing! You can see the big smile around the blob smileys/smile.gif

 
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