A Super Bday

Yesterday was a dear friend's birthday. By dear friend, I mean, she's practically the Lemonade of Lemonade Stand. You see, Lemonade Stand was her idea. She's kind of the mastermind of insane ideas. And I used the idea to write up a business plan in order to show my understanding of the business world in order to score a scholarship. And when we lived together, we'd spend a lot of weekend time baking, not to mention, she actually worked around delicious foods as a job (delicious except for that rose chocolate...which I ate to be nice, but I wish I didn't). Eventually, she moved on to her next great idea, but I stayed in the kitchen and managed to keep the idea alive.

So, when we lived together, she kindly shared a secret brownie recipe. I've only shared it with my brother, who, as I've previous mentioned, isn't much for the kitchen anyway. It's a secret that I can't share with the public, but I can tell you, it's delicious. It's insanely sweet and borders between being a fudge and a traditional brownie. People who don't even like sweets really enjoy these brownies. Especially with ice cream. After having made these, no other brownie seems to compare b/c they all just seem too...dry!

Inspired by Bakerella's Betty Crocker post, I used the Chicago Metallic Sweetheart Pan and poured a little bit of brownie batter at the bottom of each pan. Then I rolled up a ball of chocolate chip cookie dough (use your favorite recipe) and dropped it in the center. I popped it in the oven for about 30 minutes and I honestly couldn't help but eat one right away. It was good...more than good...and I told myself that it really couldn't handle extra chocolate ganache, but I figured it couldn't hurt anyone but my weight, and I did it. I've been making a lot of ganaches without butter, but I think the butter in Bakerella's recipe did the trick for this one. I'm glad I went with it instead of something else.


Here's the ganache from Bakerella:
Chocolate Ganache
12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate morsels
3/4 c heavy whipping cream
6 Tbsp butter

1)In a small saucepan, heat cream and butter until just before the boiling stage.
2) Pour over the chocolate morsels.
3) Let stand about 20 seconds and stir until smooth.
4) Pour over brownies and let set before cutting.

I got impatient and stuck them in the fridge to cool down, so all of the ganache cracked.
Note: Try not to use a chocolate chip cookie dough recipe that bakes flat. My concern is that it'll flatten out and leave holes in your brownie! That's not what you want at all.

And when I was done, I boxed them up all pretty and rather than giving it to Lemonade, I took it to my gym. Lemonade had a bbq bday feast. It's probably counter productive to eat brownies while at the gym, but they were well received by everyone not prepping for the Golden Gloves. The chocolate chip heart brownies were such a hit with the owner, that he offered me a pair of free tickets to the next boxing match in exchange for a box! That's a $60 value for these brownies!