Brownies for Dinner

Yes that is right the title is correct, we had Brownies for Dinner the other night.  What can I say, chocolate and brownies are two of my favorite things.  Plus it was one of those days as a mom where you just want to "throw in the towel" and wish is was bed time. Let's be honest we all have those days, and my mom used to tell me all the time that I must cherish them. She would remind me that the "Days are Long, but the Years are Short" 

I scroll thru the social medial feeds and see the parodies of how it the "Month of May" and we as families are swamped with busy schedules. http://theholdernessfamily.com/mayisthenewdecember/

But it is so true. The days become longer, here is Utah it now does not get dark until after nine, and as school come to and end our days are filled with end of year recitals, plays, parties, ceremonies, graduations, and celebrations of summer. Plus Mother's Days and Memorial Day kick's off the summer barbeques and opens the pools. The kids are official out of school and summer break begins, and for me with toddlers and teenagers that means two and a half months of four kids home full time. Which in my world could translate to pure chaos. 

I really do enjoy writing, I just hope that people enjoy reading what I write. But if not and you just want to try the most amazing brownie recipe scroll down below for the full recipe.  Trust me this is the best brownie recipe by far.  I did my research, read lots of recipes and have tried lots of different recipes I have found online.  But they all were a little too much of this of that, so with the help of my amazing sous-chef's Ashley and Brooklynn we have finally to best brownie.

I think that being in the kitchen with the kids is one of my favorite places to be, it really is the heart of our home. My kids love to cook and they all have been active helpers. I would joke and call my babies little counter trolls, especially Brooklynn who we have also nicknamed "tiny monster" because she is often found crawled up on the kitchen counter helping cook. She loves to crack the eggs. I just love tiny fingers in the food, some people may not think this is very sanitary. But I think we keep a very clean kitchen plus I wash and sanitize our hands and counters. Also really I kind of live by the motto "whatever doesn't kill us makes stronger".

Let me get back to why we had "Brownies for Dinner" the other night, because great things come from everything. And after having a "hard-mom" moment or day I am able to look back on the day with a smile and a laugh. Look at the blessings and being rewarded with the best brownies ever and it was so awesome watching each of my kids laugh when they told their dad they had "brownies for dinner" and they would giggle. So in the end it was what Joe would say was a "win-win". 

It all began in the morning when I had this tiny four year old Brooklynn decide that this day she was going to do everything "her" way. And on top of that she did the  opposite of everything I told her to do and she was screaming all words and sounds at the top of her lungs. Brooklynn has a way of pushing peoples buttons, she knows when she is getting on your nerves and making you angry and she just will keep going and going.  It drives me crazy because I watch her do this to Ryan all the time and I should know better to not let her and I get in this type of battle, but it was like I said above "just one of those days." So to add to this she was agitating Christopher who is at the age where some days he will take a nap and some days he will not, and this was (lol) you guessed it "one of those days" Yep, he would not take a nap. So if you have ever experience a day in the life a being a "at home mom" you will be able to relate to how my day just keeps piling up and I am just juggling one kids melt down to the next.  You just feel like a ping pong ball, getting one person one snack in between round of temper tantrums and then cleaning up the snacks. And can I just add why does it always feel like you are always cleaning up more than what you gave them in the first place, did they even eat any of the gold fish crackers? I mean did the pretzels multiply in the bowl and fly out on the floor and I swear I only gave him one bottle today but why am I finding two on the floor again.... oh my!

Next, the teenagers come home, and this is when the real chaos begins. Because mixing teenagers with toddlers is "WOW" - seriously so many words to describe it, I am never bored. When I really sit back and think about it all I can really express is how incredibly thankful and blessed I am to be their mom.  In my previous post, I wrote that my children have the best and worst qualities of both me and my husband, and that this drives me crazy. It drives me crazy because it forces me to look at my flaws, look at my talents and become a better person.  Constantly improve and become the better version of me.

With that being said, Ryan my 12 year old son test my patience. We struggle with his lack of work ethic, motivation, focus, and participation. What I have come to realize is that he is willing to participate, focus, be motivated and work at something if it is what he wants to do and it is something he likes. The issue we have right now is that he only likes to play video games, and I hate video games. So here is the problem, and I am sure it is a problem in many other homes right now. The struggle is real... Ryan comes home and tells me he needs to go drop off his backpack downstairs and then disappears. I find him off sneaking playing a game on any console, tablet, gaming device he can get his hands on. But then anytime I see he is a typical boy and he ask me the famous question "What's for dinner mom?" and this is where my daughter Ashley has a spunky character about her sometimes chimes in with "I want chocolate" and then gets Brooklynn asking to go to the gas station for treats.  Now everyone in the house is amped up and running around, screaming and its basically a mad house.  Did I mention that Joe has been working a lot like seventy hours plus his two hour commute. So I sometimes feel like a out numbered and I am pretty sure they know it.  I think this is when I zoned out and began to look up brownie recipes online. I had a few in my cookbook that I had tried and one memorized that I did not love, so as I began reading I found a few tips that I thought would try. 

Ashley wanted chocolate, Ryan was hungry and he was always down for chocolate, Brooklynn wanted a treat and she would be willing to help me cook them.  So that is where all started, and these crazy kids and I came together and made "Brownies for Dinner"

Time to get all the ingredients out a ready. We like to get prepared first, Ashley gets the all-purpose flour, salt, baking powder, cocoa powder, vanilla extract, semi-sweet chocolate chips, 4 large eggs, and 2 sticks of butter. Everyone started sneaking chocolate chips.  Even the big bag of chocolate chips from Costco never last long in this house between the kids eating them, chocolate chip pancakes often and we love chocolate chip cookies too... Also for this recipe you will need a medium sauce pan, spatula, your stand mixer (I use my Kitchen-aid), two glass bowls and measuring spoons.  Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees and use a cooking spray to grease a baking dish, I use a glass 11x15" baking dish for this recipe.  

When the cooking began Ryan disappeared again, with a handful of chocolate chips I am sure.  Christopher's mouth was full of chocolate chips as he sat at the counter observing every thing that went on.  I gave Brooklynn a bowl and the four eggs so that she could start cracking the eggs.  I usually have her crack the eggs in a shallow clear glass bowl, this way I can hold the bowl up and look to see if she got any shell in. I have to admit she is really good now and rarely gets any shells in.  As she was cracking the eggs, I began to melt the two sticks of butter over medium heat on the stove top in the saucepan, and Ashley measured out the dry ingredient into another bowl, leaving the cocoa powder separate.  Once the butter was all melted, be careful that the butter does not come to a bowl. Slowly I added the sugar and mixed in on low heat.  I continued to cook the butter and sugar on low heat for about two to three minutes until smooth and combined.  Then I added transferred the butter and sugar mixture to my stand mixer. I let Brooklynn pour in the eggs. Ashley measured in the vanilla and added the cocoa powder, starting slow until the cocoa powder was dissolved and then turning the speed up to high and mixing few minutes until nice a fluffy. I don't like to over mix the dry ingredients, so I removed my whisk and hand mixed the dry ingredients into the wet, but you can just slowly add the dry on a lower speed.  After the brownie mixture is all combined your batter will be very thick and sticky, your will be tempted to lick the spoon, your fingers and the bowl. But remember this has raw egg so please don't.  Last step add chocolate chips, stir a few last time times. Then spread into the prepared pan and bake for thirty to thirty five minutes. Let cool and serve. 

While this was cooling off, everyone was getting restless again.  Ryan had left for his evening activity and Ashley and Brooklynn were off doing girl stuff.  So I decided to take off for a walk around the block with Christopher. Joe was on his way home and it was turning out to be a beautiful evening. I could hear lots of kids out playing. As we walked around the block, I stopped to talk with a neighbor and friend. I am super sad as she is selling her home and moving soon, like so many in our neighborhood.  As we stood and talked my husband drove around the corner.  Guess we were chatting for longer than I thought. Christopher was excited to see his daddy and jumped in the cap of Joe's truck. We then began with the usual daily conversation... Where are all the kids and as I began to list off all the locations of each child. And then he asked the question, you know the one... "What's for dinner?" And I with a big smile on my face and a confident stance, as I had just got done telling my friend my whole dinner story I proudly say "Brownies are for dinner tonight" and my husband with a smile replies "So, Frozen pizza it is. Ok" and then he looks over at me still with a stroller and no children says "Would you like to put the stroller in the back of the truck or just walk it home a look like the crazy lady walking an empty stroller around the neighborhood..." I reply "I will walk the stroller home, thank you" and he then says bye and drives off.  We giggle, chat for a little bit longer and yes I look like that crazy person walking home with an empty stroller and a little dog.

But I come home to a pizza cooking in the oven and a bunch of kids laughing at their dad telling him they don't need to eat pizza because they had brownies for dinner.  At least one of us was the adult that night, he made us eat pizza for dessert. 

Best Brownies 

Serving Size: 12-24
Duration: 1 to 1.5 hours

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Pre-grease 11x15" Baking Dish
Ingredients:

1 C Butter, unsalted
2 1/4 C white sugar
4 large eggs
1 C Hersey's Cocoa Powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 Tblsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1 C semi-sweet chocolate chips