May's Favorites

My dear friends. It is June.
Holy mother of pancakes...it's June! Maybe the rest of you already came to the realization that summer is here. But my poor addled brain just beheld, processed, and accepted my surroundings. I'm a little late to the party, I understand. But I'm here now...so let get this sunny, hot, beach-going, bare-footed party started! Oh wait...let's recap the delicious month of May first. Then we can start pumping the beats for June.

My sister visited me THREE times in May. Three times! That's three times the long deep conversations in the driveway, three times the laughs at inside jokes, three times the amount of coffee in my system, and of course...three times the fun! My sister is so awesome. Sometimes I forget this because she lives two hours away, but she really is the bestest. (HI, BEST FRIEND.)

Oh yeah...you wish you had a sister this awesome...

Alsoooo....Mother's Day! My mom deserves everything beautiful and sparkly and expensive beyond belief. Usually she just gets handmade cards or homemade food. It's so unfair. But it's probably a good thing because if she was beautiful and smart and funny and had all the prettiest things in the world...well. She would probably get mobbed or something because the whole population would be overcome with jealousy.

I mean, look at this lovely lady!

Memorial Day came and went. We were most unpatriotic and threw a thoroughly British tea party at 4 o'clock. (cheerio!) There wasn't an American dish in sight. We had so much fun...it was like Downton Abbey! Except no one died and we didn't say as many witty things at the Dowager and Mary. Because they are the queens of witty and we wouldn't dream of competing with their womanly genius. But we had fun pretending. :)

And here are the Pinterest Finds! Did I tell you I like pinterest? I like pinterest.
Something about baking illustrations makes me giddy. They are just perfect...like this cake would be if it were in fact edible.

Aren't these macarons the cutest thing you've ever seen? Even if you don't like tomatoes you'll agree with me...these must be eaten. Or just looked at, because they are adorable. And the photography stylizing is perfect for those little sugar tomatoes.

Oh yeah...cute food? It's a thing. I love it.

Your May Favorites:

-Facebook-

Mint Citrus Shortbread

-Pinterest-

Sausage Mushroom Angel Hair Pasta

Have a Happy June everybody!! It's going to be a crazy busy month for me, I have a lot planned. I'm really excited for it. :)

Nutcase Confessions and Peanut Butter Mocha Brownies

I'm one of those weirdos that enjoys bizarre flavor combinations. And I'm not talking about french fries and Wendy's Frostys, I like some pretty strange things. But I try rEEEEally hard not to let my bonkers food preferences cross over into the food I make for other people. Because you know, its hard not to scare people off in matters of my personal appearance, personal sense of humor, personal dance moves. You know, personal anything. So I proactively avoid scaring them with the fact that I sometimes eat potato chips with strawberry jam.

Oh my gosh. I just admitted that I eat potato chips with strawberry jam on the internet. My secrets are out; I'm a complete nutcase. And now that I've let that smidgen of information slip out I'm tempted to make a comprehensive list of all the odd things I eat in secret. Lift the burden of guilty indulgence I've been living with ever since my first glazed doughnut with cheddar cheese fiasco at age 12. Oh my word I need to shut the clap trap before something truly horrid escapes.

But at least I don't make Peanut Butter and Jelly cupcakes with Frito corn chip topping. (Wouldn't that be awesome? I'm just sayin', I think it would.) I have compassion on the boring people of the world who balk at the idea of culinary freedom and stick to pretty acceptable flavor combos. So when the idea of Peanut Butter Mocha Brownies arrived in my brain I was super excited. An unusual mix of tastes, but one that most people will be on board with? Ho yes. So much yes.

Peanut butter isn't really a popular flavor for coffee drinks, but I know for a fact that they have peanut butter syrup for them. It is one of many at my local Cash n' Carry. (If you have a slight obsession for flavored syrups go to Cash n' Carry. You will have a heart attack of happy. It's like an entire aisle of absolute joy.)
And if it is enjoyed by enough people that they would make a syrup for peanut butter coffee drinks, then I am putting it in dessert form. It's undeniable.
An thick fudgey chocolate-laden peanut butter swirled dessert of awesome. (I have realized that I use the word "awesome" in every. single. post. I have no regrets.)

Peanut Butter Mocha Brownies
4 large eggs
1 1/4 cups of unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tablespoon instant coffee granules
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 cup butter
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 1/2 cups All purpose flour
3 oz of chopped semi sweet chocolate
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
Preheat the oven to 350 F. lightly grease a 9x13 glass baking dish. Crack the eggs into a large bowl and whisk them together with the cocoa, salt, baking powder, instant coffee, and vanilla until smooth. On the stove top melt the butter over low heat. When completely melted add the sugars. I don't particularly care about the shininess on the top of brownies, but if you are a sucker for the shiny crackly crust on top, heat the sugar and butter until about 110 F. (A couple minutes more) This will dissolve more of the sugar which gives you that nice "boxed brownie mix" look. Add the hot butter/sugar mixture to the egg/cocoa mixture and stir until smooth. Add the flour and shaved chocolate and stir. Spoon the batter into your greased dish. Dollop the peanut butter intermittently and swirl it until it looks pretty. :) Bake for 30 minutes or until a cake tester runs clean of batter when stuck in the middle.