Friday, March 26, 2010

In The Kitchen

Recently I was contacted by Jamie from CSN stores to see if I'd like to review some products on my blog.  Since we all know my obsession with free stuff, naturally I said yes.  The best part was I actually got to pick the items I wanted to review from their Cookware.com website.  Aside from exercising, I really enjoy cooking and baking (and eating - and I wonder why I have a weight loss problem!).  I've been on the hunt for a nice 13x9 baking dish and some dish towels in the blue color I want for my kitchen.  So this is what I chose:
I chose a beautiful Le Creuset  12x9.5 baking pan in lime green and a set of MUbamboo kitchen towels in Pacific.  I choose the pan because the pan I currently have in this size doesn't cook evenly and it burns the edges of stuff while the middle isn't done yet.  Let me just say this new pan was the solution to my problems.  In the Le Creuset pan I baked a batch of brownies.  I found that it decreased the cooking time, but it cooked evenly.  I mean, look at how nice they look in the oven:
And here's the finished product:
Yum!  These came out so good.  The towels are also quite lovely.  The kitchen towels I currently have are ok.  They just don't absorb much, which is kind of obnoxious since that's the whole point of a kitchen towel!  These MUbamboo towels are awesome at soaking up whatever.  And the color is really pretty, although my crappy camera doesn't do it justice:
 
I also figured you might want the recipe for these bad boys:
 
This brownie recipe was given to my by my grandmother.  I wanted a recipe that produced a nice fudgy brownie from scratch.  No box.  Of course my grandmother had the solution!

Memere's Brownie Recipe
In a large mixing bowl, combine the following:
3/4 c. flour
1 c. sugar
6 tbsp. cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
To the dry ingredients add:
1/2 c. soft shortening (DON'T use butter)
2 beaten eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tbsp. oil

Mix until blended.  If you like, you can add nuts, chocolate chips, or other goodies.  Bake in an 8x8 pan at 350 degrees about 30-35 minutes.  The trick is to not over-bake them.  In fact, I've found that just a little underdone is perfect.  If you are using a 13x9 pan, simply double the recipe.

Happy Baking!

Thank you to CSN stores, who provided the products I reviewed at no cost to me.  The review is all my own.

3 comments:

  1. jealous! i would love to try out new cookware. One thing I would love to get my hands on is a Le Cresuset Dutch oven. I think id die a happy woman if I did :)

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  2. Sounds like great products! Thanks for sharing the recipe too... looks yummy!

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  3. Yum those brownies look DELICIOUS. I think I have that exact same green pan- I use it to cook my fish mainly, but I never realized I could use it to make a smaller batch of Brownies. And we all know I like to eat like you like to eat so it's probably better if I make a small batch of brownies haha

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