OMG Rockie Road Brownies

If you don't like rockie road I think you need to get off your computer, go find some good rockie road (not the crappy powdered chocolate with awful sugary "turkish delight" jelly and hard marshmallow), eat it and instantly change your mind. Trust me, your life will be better - your hair will smell sweet, your eyes will sparkle, your boss will tell you what an amazing job you're doing (possibly give you a raise), your boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse will for no reason start rubbing your shoulders, your children (or the neighbour's children) will go to bed early and sleep through the whole night without waking you up... see, better life.

So, with the amazing flavours of a good rockie road now causing you to salivate uncontrollably, I want you to further this intensity and start thinking of brownies. Gooey, rich, chocoloaty brownies. Now, call me crazy, but what if we combined these two amazing delights!!!!!!! If that was too much for you, I request that you take a moment before reading the below recipe, it will blow your socks off with deliciousness and divine taste sensations!

Something to look forward to when you eat these is how the marshmallow melts throughout the brownie when it is being cooked. If any marshmallow was lucky enough to be near the top, it partly explodes and creates a chewy, sweet sensation on top. The marshmallow throughout the brownie develops as little sweet sections of loveliness, mixed in with the crunch of the pecans and then the surprise of the dates. I don't think I need to encourage you any further, just make these for someone special (and that someone special can be YOU).

When in doubt, make brownies

Last week was a big week. Really busy at work, sick child and I was feeling sick as well. At the beginning of the week I'd organised a dinner at my place for Friday. I was looking forward to it, however once Friday came around the thought of cooking dinner made me feel exhausted. So, we opted for some really nice Thai takeaway. However, I couldn't have people over for dinner and not make them some kind of dessert. A few weekends ago I bought 2 new cook books, which I have had my eye on for ages. They were Desserts from the famous Loveless Cafe and SprinkleBakes. I hadn't had a chance to try any recipes from them, so I flipped through the Loveless Cafe cookbook pages for something that would match my energy levels (aka something simple). I came across the Peanut Butter Brownies and knew I was on a winner. The brownies were moist and rich and had a wonderful salty peanut flavour marbled through it. I would have liked the peanut flavour to be stronger, but a day later the flavours had matured and tasted so much better - so if you can, bake a day in advance. ENJOY.

Even Hummingbirds love Brownies!!

This weekend has been a quite one. The toddler and I have been hanging out and playing and of course, baking. I have a few other treats to post from this weekend, but thought I'd start with these disgustingly rich brownies from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook. They are a special treat for a few different people, but all say the same thing - YUM and THANK YOU!

No need to go on, these babies speak for themselves. ENJOY!

An abundance of raspberries

At the markets yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised to see fresh raspberries. What was even more exciting though was the sign under them reading: 3 punnets for $5. Now, how can you pass up an offer like that?

There are so many things you can do with raspberries. I contemplated raspberry stuffed profiteroles, white chocolate and raspberry cake, raspberry jam, or something simple like a raspberry smoothy (very likely will also do this one). In the end though, I decided the best match for raspberries was chocolate. So, this weekend we are enjoying some choc-raspberry brownies. Let me hear you say "Mmmmmmmm".