All the pretty colors!

While I was stuck on the couch  recovering from my knee and foot surgery, I took up an old pastime.

When I was about 10 years old my grandma taught my older brother and me to crochet. Looking back, I think she taught us so she could have a little piece and quiet. You see we were on a summer trip to Alaska in a pickup truck with a camper. Four of us all cozy in the truck cab for hours and hours each day. I don't think Grandma Dorothy ever got to sit by the window. She had to sit between us squirmy kids. So when the view of the Canadian prairie passing by the window couldn't hold our attention, she taught us to crochet. Nothing fancy. Basic stitches. I made sleeping bags and sheath dresses for every one of my Barbie dolls on that trip!

So there I was on the couch. Bored. Restless. So I dug some cotton ombre out of my yarn basket, took up a wooden hook and started to crochet. Dish clothes in every shape and size with pretty ruffled lacy edges, hot pads and pot handle covers and thick table protectors to put under hot dishes all blues and yellows piled up on the coffee table. My dear husband ,who is always the comic, couldn't resist noting that the pot handle covers looked like they would make nice warm cozies for something more personal.(Use your imagination! Think like a guy!)

Now my kitchen is neither blue or yellow. So I gave piles of crocheted goodies to my daughter and daughter in law for Christmas. I think they both liked them. Lydia asked for an extra long table protector. I'm still working on it. It's taking so much longer now that I'm back at work. I've got about 4 inches to go.

As soon as it's done I'm going to start on dish cloths for my kitchen in brown/green/cream ombre. Hmmm...then I think I'll try the pattern I found for kitchen towels and then...

Contestant number one...

My DD gave me what she says is THE best homemade brownie recipe ever: Malt Fudge Brownies

Ok. I had been promising Brian homemade brownies for about 2 weeks. My excuse for not making them... well I kept thinking I'd make them  in the evening after dinner. Problem is after dinner I am too tired and my foot/knee hurt too much to spend time working on brownies in the kitchen.

So Friday morning as soon as I got up I started making brownies. I wish I had waited until I had at least had a cup of tea!

Here is what I did:

Preheated oven to 325 degrees. Ok so far so good. The recipe said to stir together 1 1/2 cups flour, 1/3c malted milk and 1/2 tsp of salt. I didn't have any malted milk so I left that out. It will be ok, right? Set aside. Grease a 13 X9 pan. I used glass.  Seemed like a good idea and it's the only 13 X9 pan I own.

In a saucepan over medium heat put 1 cup butter, 4 oz unsweetened chocolate cut up. Heat and stir until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in 2 cups of sugar. I forgot to stir in the sugar.

Add 4 eggs one at a time, beating with a wooden spoon between each egg just enough to combine. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla. Stir.

This is when I realized I forgot the sugar. So I stirred it in too. 

Stir in flour mixture, 1 cup nuts (The recipe calls for walnuts but I'm allergic to walnuts and Brian doesn't eat nuts. So I left them out at this point.)

Squash up about a 1/4 cup of malted milk balls and stir those in too. This was sort of fun and a whole lot easier when I used my biggest round spatula to do the squashing.

 

Honey waited patiently in hopes that I would drop something

yummy on the floor. Or is that a worried look? Maybe she noticed

that I forgot the sugar?

I squashed up some more malted milk balls for the top and added a handful of pecans to one end for me. Then popped it into the oven for 35 minutes.

The recipe said to cool the brownies in the pan on a wire rack. This part I did right.

So how are they? I don't think they are chocolatey enough.The finished product was pretty blonde. The texture was good and fudgey though.  Brian says they are good but "Wow! They're rich!" What did he expect from all that butter and sugar?

I think next time I will half the recipe. A 13 X 9 pan of brownies on the counter is just too much temptation and too much sugar for our middle aged selves. I think I may cut down the sugar just a bit - and remember to put it in at the right time.LOL  Also I think I will add more chocolate or maybe higher coco content chocolate. I used some organic chocolate I had in the pantry this time.

Bring on ultimate brownie recipe contestant number II!!

I'll let you know how it comes out with the tweeks just as soon as we recover from this batch!