Glazed Mint Brownies Recipe, Taste of Home Recipes

I wanted to make something appropriately festive for dessert for St. Patrick's Day and decided to go with this Glazed Mint Brownies Recipe from a a little small publication I picked up from Taste of Home last year called Irish Food & Fun. I can't find the publication online anywhere to provide a link to purchase the publication, nor could I find it at Taste of Home's website either, so apparently it was a one time, limited publication. That being the case, I'll share the recipe since I can't find it anywhere to purchase.

Firstly, however, here's our critique of these chocolaty minty brownies.... We liked them, but they came out more fudge like than brownie like. Not that we're complaining, we liked them a lot and ate every single one of them over the course of the next few days, but they weren't as much cake like as they were fudge like. 

It is a recipe I'd make again, as we all liked them flavor of them, but they need a little tweaking on. Mine didn't rise very much in the middle and kind of sunk so they were very thin in the middle. I do, however, live at 7,500 feet in elevation, and tweak on my recipes a little bit to adjust for high altitude cooking, but these still didn't really work in adjusting for the altitude. If they were made at a normal elevation I'm sure they'd turn out perfectly.

Another thing I'll mention is that these were to be made in a 9-inch square pan, which I did, and I thought they were quite thin, especially when it came to the layers. I barely had enough of the layers to cover the previous layers, especially with the chocolate glaze on top. Just a little more would have been better. 

Bottom line, they were good, just need a little tweaking on, at least in high altitude.

Here's the recipe, enjoy!

GLAZED MINT BROWNIES

BROWNIE LAYER:

• 2 squares (1 ounce each) unsweetened chocolate
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 eggs
• 2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour

In a microwave, melt chocolate and butter; stir until smooth. Cool slightly. In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs, sugar and flour until blended. Stir in the chocolate mixture.

Pour into a greased 9-inch square baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

MINT FILLING:

• 3 Tbsp. butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners' (powdered) sugar
• 2 Tbsp. milk (approximately)
• 3/4 tsp. peppermint extract
• 3 to 4 drops green food coloring, optional

In a small mixing bowl, beat the filling ingredients until creamy, you may need a little more milk if it seems too stiff. Spread over brownies.

GLAZE:

• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 Tbsp. butter

For glaze, in a microwave, melt chocolate chips and butter on half power, stirring every 15 seconds, until smooth. Spread over filling.

Refrigerate until filling and glaze are set.

Makes 12-16 brownies.

Irish Soda Bread Recipe, St. Patrick's Day Recipes

For St. Patrick's Day this year I really wanted to make a few traditional Irish recipes. I'm not really even sure if this is a traditional Irish dish, but since it's called Irish soda bread I just assumed it is. But you know what happens when one assumes. 

I buy these mini magazines at the grocery store sometimes when I'm standing in line; yes, I am an impulse shopper sometimes and it's a weakness of mine to flip through cookbooks at the store. Last year I bought this little booklet from Taste of Home called Irish Food & Fun. I did a search for it online and at Taste of Home's website and can't find it. Since I can't find the cookbook to purchase anywhere, I'll share the recipe here.

I've never had Irish Soda Bread before and I really LOVED this bread, as did everyone else in my family. I'm kind of picky about raisins and fruit in my breads. I like them in some things, and not in others. My hubby loves them in anything. He likes them in the cinnamon rolls I make, but I don't like hot, plump raisins. But I do like regular raisin bread. So I wasn't sure how I was going to like this bread. Turns out, I loved it, as did everyone else. My daughter doesn't like raisins in her cinnamon rolls either, and didn't think she was going to like this either, but she did. 

And the leftover bread was great toasted the next morning with some butter or jam on it. 

I will probably make this recipe again next year as part of our traditional Irish dinner. 

Here's the recipe, enjoy!

IRISH SODA BREAD

• 1 pkg (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water (110 to 115 degrees)
• 3 Tbsp sugar, divided
• 1 cup warm buttermilk (110 to 115 degrees)*
• 2 Tbsp. butter, softened
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 3 1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup golden raisins

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add 1 tablespoon sugar; let stand for about 5 minutes. Beat in the buttermilk, butter, salt, baking soda, 1 cup flour and remaining sugar until smooth. Stir in raisins and enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.

Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes (I use my Kitchen Aid mixer with the bread hook for this and just walk away while it's kneading). Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 40 minutes (I put mine in the microwave and turn the light on under the microwave and the heat from the light helps warm it; or in the oven with the light on and the temperature off).

Punch dough down. turn onto a lightly floured surface; knead for 2 minutes. Shape into a round loaf. Place on a greased baking sheet. With a sharp knife, cut a 1/4-inch deep cross on top of the loaf. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from pan to cool on a wire rack.

Makes 1 loaf.

*Warmed buttermilk will appear curdled. The first time I heated my buttermilk in the microwave I did it for too long and it not only curdled, but separated as well. The second time I did it in short intervals of 15 seconds on half power and stirred it in between. This worked much better.

Corned Beef & Cabbage, St. Patrick's Day Recipes

I made this CORNED BEEF AND CABBAGE recipe as one of my St. Patrick's Day recipes this year. It's from the Better Homes and Gardens Biggest Book of Slow Cooker Recipes cookbook, but it's not a slow cooker recipe, which was surprising to me. 

I've never actually made corned beef and cabbage before, and can't remember if I've ever even eaten it specifically, especially on St. Patrick's Day. I wanted to make a whole meal of Irish food for St. Patrick's Day this year and one of the most traditional, of course, is Corned Beef and Cabbage. I looked through a number of my cookbooks and found recipes in most of them. I decided to go with this one thinking I could just put it in the crock pot in the morning and forget about it, but that's not the case with this recipe.

The meat cooks in a dutch oven (large pot) on the stove for a couple of hours, then you add your veggies to it, and finally the cabbage. It took about 3 hours to cook from start to finish, but the actual time I spent in prep and actual cooking was very minimal, less than 20 minutes, total, with a little of it here and there with the veggie prep.

I must say we were all very happy with how this recipe turned out. The meat was so tender and flavorful, and the veggies were good. I also served sauerkraut with it as well. We didn't have very much meat left, but did have quite a lot of the veggies left, which I served as a side to another dish a couple days later.

Everyone in our family liked this dish and it's a definite keeper. My only regret is I didn't buy 2 corned beef briskets and make twice as much meat. I love Reuben sandwiches and was hoping to have leftovers for some Reubens, but there really wasn't enough meat leftover. The recipe says it will serve 6, and I bought my brisket just a little larger, hoping for leftovers. There were 4 of us that ate this dish and I would say the meat portion is really suited for 4, not 6 as the recipe suggests.

I think this recipe will become a yearly tradition for us :)

Butternut Squash Soup with Sauteed Radicchio

Still trying to play catch up with my blogging. This BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP with SAUTEED RADICCHIO I made a few weeks ago along with the Chicken Pot Pie that I made (which was a hit, by the way.

This is another recipe from the Best of Cooking Light cookbook. We really liked this soup, with the exception of the radicchio, which was very bitter. Even trying to eat it with the soup it was still way too bitter for us. We ended up tossing the radicchio and eating just the soup.

The soup itself, however, was delicious. It was a rich, creamy, and surprisingly hearty soup. The squash gave it a sweetness, which I'm guessing the radicchio was supposed to balance, but we loved the soup without the radicchio. The flavors in the soup blended very well. And it was pretty easy to make.

This is a soup I would definitely make again during the fall or winter months, skipping the radicchio, however. 

Chicken Pot Pie, Southern Living Cookbook

I have always loved pot pies, but my hubby has never been a fan of them, mostly because he hates peas, which are always a staple in pot pies, and he's never had a "good" pot pie, so he says they're just filled with "pea swill". Since I haven't had a pot pie in years I've been craving them, so decided to find a home made recipe and make them. 

I found this CHICKEN POT PIE recipe in the  Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook. I used the pie crust recipe from this cookbook instead of my own cookbook, and it was a good pie crust recipe. I made these into 3 small pies instead of 1 regular pie. Each of the pies were large enough for two people. 

I thought the pie turned out really good. It really had a lot of chicken in it, which my husband liked. And here's the kicker, my hubby actually LIKED this pie. When I was making it, I told him I was making a pot pie from scratch and he was "going to like it", even though I pretty much knew he wouldn't. But, we were both surprised to find that he really liked it... a lot. He said he could see several peas in every bite and he kept thinking..... yuck, I'm going to taste peas.... yuck.... but he never could decipher or pick out the pea flavor, so he was pleasantly surprised. There were other vegetables in there as well.... corn, carrots, potatoes, and mushrooms, along with the generous portion of chicken. And the sauce was made from scratch as well, and even had a little cheese in it. My hubby even told his Mom (who knows how much he hates peas), that I worked my magic on the peas and the pie and he loved it :) That really was the best compliment I could get, I was a happy camper, and still am :)

So this recipe is a definite keeper. My hubby says I can make pot pies again and he'll eat them, so I'll be happy to oblige :)

Kung Pao Chicken

I actually made this Kung Pao Chicken recipe a couple weeks ago, but have been a bit behind on posting my meals, so hope to get caught up here in the next week.

This recipe came from The Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook. This recipe was pretty good, but not nearly as spicy as Kung Pao Chicken typically is, it was quite tame. As a matter of fact, my hubby said it was "Kung Chicken" without the "Pao". However, the flavors were ok, it just needed much more spice and kick. I think it also needed to be more saucy. I would have increased the amount of sauce in it, and probably would have doubled the spice in it to give it more kick. It also looks pretty bland in the way of presentation.

It was ok, but could have been better. I will probably try to find a different recipe if I want to make Kung Pao Chicken in the future.

Chocolate Lava Cakes with Pistachio Cream

A bit delayed, but here are our favorite recipes for February 2011, and a featured recipe.

There were several recipes that we really liked last month, and it was difficult to pick just one favorite recipe.

My favorite recipe for the month was the Linguine with Two Sauces. Brian had a hard time picking just one recipe. What he really liked was the whole Valentine's Dinner that I made. When I asked him to pick his one favorite "recipe" he couldn't come up with one, he liked the main dishes together as a whole that I cooked on Valentine's Day, which included Pepper-Crusted Filet Mignon with Horseradish Cream, Roasted Asparagus with Balsamic-Shallot Butter, Rosemary Garlic Fingerling Potatoes (no recipe, I just do my own thing with those), and Steamed Lobster Tails (recipe found online somewhere). We also had a Heartthrob Salad, which we didn't like very much, and Chocolate Lava Cakes with Pistachio Cream for dessert, which we both liked very much. He finally said if he had to pick one recipe, he ended up choosing the Pear Dutch Baby Pancake because it was one complete dish in itself.

So in trying to come up with an agreement on one recipe that we both liked as much as the other, and one I know will be a great recipe for anyone to make, I've chosen the Chocolate Lava Cakes with Pistachio Cream to feature as the Recipe of the Month for February. So here's the recipe. This recipe comes from the Best of Cooking Light Cookbook, which can be purchased here. Enjoy!

CHOCOLATE LAVA CAKES WITH PISTACHIO CREAM

• 1 cup shelled dry-roasted pistachios
• 1 3/4 cups sugar, divided
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 2 large eggs
• 5 large egg whites
• 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• Cooking spray
• 1 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
• Dash of salt
• Powdered sugar (optional)

1. Place pistachios in a food processor, and process until a crumbly paste forms (about 3 1/2 minutes), scraping sides of bowl once.
2. Place 1/4 cup pistachio butter, 1 1/4 cups sugar, cocoa, eggs, and egg whites in top of a double boiler; stir well with a whisk. Add chocolate, cook over simmering water until chocolate melts and sugar dissolves (about 3 minutes). Remove from heat; add baking powder and vanilla. Stir with a whisk until smooth. Spoon batter into 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray. Chill 2 hours.
3. Place remaining 1/4 cup pistachio butter and 1/2 cup sugar in food processor; pulse 4 times or until combined. Add milk and salt; process until smooth. Strain mixture through a sieve into a small saucepan; discard solids. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 4 minutes or until thick. Remove from heat; pour into a bowl. Cover and chill.
4. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
5. Bake the cakes at 450 degrees for 9 minutes or until almost set (centers will not be firm). Let cool in pan for 5 minutes.
6. Invert each cake onto a dessert plate; drizzle about 2 teaspoons sauce over each serving. Garnish with powdered sugar, if desired.

Serves 12