Pinsession.

I have an obsession and it goes like this.

Every morning I stumble out of bed and turn on my computer for some important purpose. You know... things. Legit things. Email. Facebook. Uploading seventy-five photos of brownies. Seeing if the new episode of The Lying Game is online yet. Things.

And the next thing I know, I've just pinned fifteen photos of walk-in closets the size of my house. What?! And now I'm pinning bedazzled stilletos (I don't even wear heels) and every pumpkin recipe in sight. And before I know it, I've made an entire inspiration board full of cupcakes, glittery dresses, and wedding up-dos.

Pinterest. It's addicting. Are you on it? I love seeing what everyone else is pinning and finding new recipes and ideas and inspiration. It makes me feel so creative... even though I've really just been avoiding real life for the last two and a half hours and now my coffee's cold.

I thought I'd share some of my favorite finds here (which is code for I haven't baked that much lately. Which is code for I made pumpkin bars & ate them all before I could take pictures of them). It's like a sneak-peek inside my brain... or at my Christmas list! Here are ten of my favorite pins/obsessions from this week...

1. Sparkly nails (1, 2, 3, 4). Ob-sessed. I'm especially in love with that chocolate brown. It's so shiny! Confession? I've never had a manicure. Ever. 

I think I should change that.

2. This gorgeous bunk bed reading nook. I love everything about this... the lacy curtain, the bookshelves, the pops of color against the dark wood, the top bunk that I would totally pretend is a princess tower... I could seriously live here. 

3. Or here. Can you imagine? 

4. I'm seriously in love with this idea for wedding photographs. It's so creative! They're taken before the wedding, where the bride and groom can't see each other. I think I'd secretly bubble over with excitement at this point and sneak a peek... (Left photo, right photo)

5. Speaking of weddings... I'm wearing purple heels when I get married. Fact. It's just a bonus if I end up with legs like this too. 

6. I love this pin. I think it's something we all need to remember and hear everyday/right now/I hate scales. I wish I could frame it and hang it in my bathroom. And maybe on my bedroom ceiling and above my dresser and in my car and in the shower... 

7. Can a mixer be sexy? Because it just happened. P.S. Can I have this?

8. Keeping it real. This made me giggle.

9. I love Tangled and everything Disneyland so this pin makes me happy. P.S. I would so do this for Halloween, if I could convince someone to be my Flynn Rider. And, you know, if my hair was maybe a bit longer.

10. And speaking of Halloween, this. Because the only thing better than a pumpkin is an Eric pumpkin.

The Baked Brownie.

A few months back, I threw out this crazy idea that I didn't like brownies. I know. But you all got on my case and blew up my Facebook with all your awesome-sounding brownie combinations and the next thing I knew... I kind of wanted one. Like... a brick-sized brownie. In my face. Immediately.

Done. 

This is the part where I tell you how absolutely decadent and rich and fudgey these thick, crackly-topped brownies are.

How I wanted to eat them straight out of the oven with a spoon because I have no patience.

How I was temped to dip a strawberry in the batter and consider it a healthy snack (I mean, it's mostly fruit, right? And it's not technically a brownie... yet.)

Seriously. These things are dreamy. If you haven't jumped on the these-are-the-best-brownies-ever bandwagon, it's probably imperative that you do that soon. Maybe even today. (Psst. If you're looking for a more cakey brownie, these are still my favorite. Because technically... it is cake. And cake will always be > brownies.)

But instead I thought I'd do a behind-the-scenes look at how these brownies went down. Because sometimes you need to keep it real... and I'm pretty sure that's what happened when I went about making these.

(If by "keeping it real" you mean "God is laughing at me today.")

The facts: Last Saturday morning I woke up and knew two things for certain: Somehow I needed to cram all 444 pages of The Help into my brain because I can't stop reading it and I need to know what happens next and sidenote, I really want a caramel cake, and two: I needed to make brownies. I just did.

Then my life went a little like this.

1:15 PM: Finally decide on a recipe. The Baked Brownie. It's famous, right? Oprah loves it. America's Test Kitchen loves it. I need bittersweet chocolate. To the store!

1:30 PM: Stare at the chocolate aisle with a completely vacant expression. Was it unsweetened chocolate I needed? Bittersweet? Semisweet? Dark chocolate? How many ounces again? Thank God for smartphones. Google that thing. 

1:31 PM: Why isn't the Internet on my phone working.

1:32 PM: No, really. 

1:33 PM: Why are there so many types of chocolate? 

1:34 PM: Seriously?   

1:35 PM: *shakes phone*

1:36 PM: Give up. Drive home & google the recipe on my computer. Bittersweet! I want Ghiradelli cuz I'm feeling fancy. Head back to the store.

1:43 PM: This. 

1:44 PM: Buy chocolate ice cream instead. Head across town to the other grocery store. 

1:47 PM: Curse my life. A bird's flown into a power pole and the intersection lights are all out. Sidenote: The power's out over half of the town. What? That's a powerful little bird. Traffic cops are everywhere and it's total mass confusion. Wonder if the ice cream's melting. Wonder if I'm going to be stranded here forever. Wonder if I have a spoon in my purse.

1:57 PM: Finally. Get to the grocery store. Grab the chocolate and run. 

(Relax. I paid for it.)

2:15 PM: We're doing this! Brownies! Mix the flour, melt the chocolate, stir stir stir, add the sugar, add the brown sugar...

Wait. 

No. 

*slams spoon down*

Brown sugar? 

2:16 PM: Swear profusely. 

2:17 PM: Make homemade brown sugar.

Seriously.

All I got to say is I hope stress burns calories.

The Baked Brownie 

Printable Recipe

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons dark unsweetened cocoa powder (I used regular unsweetened cocoa powder)

11 ounces dark chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used Ghiradelli 60% cacoa bittersweet chips)

1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 teaspoon instant espresso powder

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

5 eggs, at room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter the sides and bottom of a 9x13-inch glass baking pan. Line the pan with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, salt, and cocoa powder together.

Place the chocolate, butter, and instant espresso powder in a large saucepan (or using a double broiler) over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate and butter are completely melted and smooth. Turn off the heat, but keep the  and add the sugar and brown sugar. Whisk until completely combined, then remove pan from stovetop and allow to come to room temperature.

Add 3 eggs to the chocolate mixture and whisk until combined. Add the remaining 2 eggs and whisk until combined. Add the vanilla and stir until combined. Do not overbeat the batter at this stage or your brownies will be cakey.

Sprinkle the flour mixture over the chocolate mixture. Using a rubber spatula (not a whisk), fold the flour mixture into the chocolate until just a bit of the flour mixture is still visible.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake in the center of the oven for 30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the brownies comes out with a few moist crumbs sticking to it. Let the brownies cool completely, then lift them out of the pan using the parchment paper. Cut into squares and serve.

Store at room temperature in an airtight container or wrap with plastic wrap for up to 3 days. 

Makes 24 brownies.

Source: Brown-Eyed Baker.

Crackly top!

Today.

Photo by Andrea Booher/FEMA News Photo. 

I made this video a year after September 11th, of photos set to "I Believe" by Blessed Union of Souls. It's not the best... I was 15 and had no idea what I was doing. I just knew I wanted to do something so I'd never forget. 

Writing about September 11th is something I've never done and something I still can't do without getting tears in my eyes. I wasn't there, I didn't lose anyone I loved, but it's as real to me as if it were yesterday. 

I was 14 when the planes hit the World Trade Center. A freshman in high school and just barely into my second week of classes, I'd never heard of the Twin Towers or terrorism. I could maybe point to the Middle East on a map, maybe, and war was something we studied in history class. I was sheltered and naive, convinced that nothing could ever hurt me or the people that I loved.

September 11th was the day that innocence about the world was shattered. It was the day I realized that bad things happened to people who didn't deserve them, things I couldn't understand and would never understand. It was the day I realized that everything could change in a moment.

In a heartbeat.

Photo by Richard Drew/AP Photo.

It was the day I watched a plane intentionally tear through a tower. I felt as if the ground had fallen out from beneath my feet. Was this real? I watched as people jump to their death off the sides of the buildings, watched them fall and fall and fall to avoid the flames. I watched people run, ashen and terrified, through the streets of New York, listened as people screamed for their loved ones, played voicemails left by those saying "goodbye, I love you" for the last time, held up photos of their missing husbands, wives, children, and friends, and shifted through the wreckage at Ground Zero, looking helplessly for anyone still alive. 

No, I wasn't there. I didn't lose anyone I loved. But that day is forever etched into my heart as if I did. 

Photo by Konrad Fiedler/New York Sun.

We all lost something that day. And today is about remembering. 

No matter what you believe or where you were, today is about remembering how it felt that day. Watching silently as the news reports came in. Watching as the second plane hit and the towers fell. What it felt like to be lost, helpless, confused and scared, wondering if there'd be another attack, what was next, if everyone we loved was safe... and how we rebuild and heal. 

It's about remembering there are still families out there who lost everything. That 9/11 is more than a just a historic moment, a talking point, or a day of patriotism, not when there are children who have grown up without their mother or father and parents who've had to bury their children. 

It's about remembering the people who survived. The lucky few who made it out of the tower, were somewhere else that day, or were pulled miraculously from beneath the wreckage.

It's about remembering the people of New York- those on the street, the first responders, the heroes who ran towards Ground Zero as others fled, those who risked thier lives to search for survivors- all those left standing in the aftermath, who saw the plane, the fires, the people who jumped above them as the towers fell, images that are forever seared into their minds. People whose lives will never be the same... and who still need just as much love, support, and prayer as they did in 2001. 

Today is about remembering that life short and unpredictable... and being thankful for every moment we have. The passengers on those planes weren't worried about the spiraling economy, which celebrity was in rehab, whether they'd gain ten pounds, or the price of gas. They spent their last moments thinking of the people they loved.    

So today, remember. Take advantage of every moment. Tell someone you love them. And above all else, never forget. 

Photo by Chang W. Lee/Getty Images. 

Chocolate-Covered Buttercream Cherries.

Remember when I teased you all a few weeks back about something I'd made that wouldn't be ready for another two weeks? 

Something involving lots and lots of melted chocolate... and Christmas? 

Chocolate-covered cherries! 

Bite-size chocolate bombs filled with juicy maraschino cherries and a sugary-sweet buttercream center. Really it's a wonder any of these made it to the "officially done" two-week mark. I haven't been sneaking these every night for two weeks. I have patience. Totally. 

Not. 

To me, chocolate-covered cherries are right up there with candy canes and thumbprint cookies when it comes to Christmas. Every year, my dad gets a shiny gold box tied with a red ribbon, filled with fancy handmade milk and dark chocolate cherry cordials which, he doesn't know, we're gonna end up sharing. We just are.

Relax. I only steal the dark chocolate ones.

(And he totally knows. Why else would he hide them in his closet? At the very top? Hello. I'm 5'4.)

But this year, that's not happening. 

For the same reason I won't be shopping at Borders for awesometown stocking stuffers. 

Or picking out fancy, expensive, hand-blown Christmas tree ornaments from the little hardware store downtown. 

In fact, it's the very same reason I spend all day plastering the Internet with chocolate and sugar instead of working a respectable job the requires me to get out of pajama pants. 

The economy. 

It's okay... I cringed too. That word is practically profanity to me now.

My favorite little family-owned candy store closed! I don't even want to think about where I'm gonna find chocolate-covered honeycombs now.

And while I like those $1 boxes of cherry cordials that all the stores sell in December, they're really only good for mindlessly shoving in your face on Christmas Eve, while you blast the Nsync Christmas CD (real life.) and finish wrapping all those awkward-shaped Christmas presents that you kind of hoped would wrap themselves. They're good? <--- question mark. But they're just not the same.

So I made my own!

Hi. I love you.

They're rich and creamy and taste just like the ones I've been paying $15 a dozen for all these years. And bonus! They look super fancy, if you're the Christmas-party-throwing type.

Even though they take a little bit of time to make- between the buttercream and letting it chill, rolling it into dozens of cherry-sized balls, flattening it, wrapping the cherries, dipping them in chocolate, and, oh yeah, waiting two weeks for the centers to get perfectly soft and gooey- they're so worth it. So. Worth. It.

And, besides the whole patience thing, super easy! The centers may not be as creamy as the store-bought kind, but they taste a thousand times better. Three guesses what I'll be doing come December. 

Alright. Back to pumpkins and apple pies. 

Chocolate-Covered Buttercream Cherries

Printable Recipe

60 maraschino cherries with stems (About  2 10-ounce jars)

2 cups powdered sugar

3 tablespoons butter, softened

3 tablespoons light corn syrup

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

2 tablespoons shortening

Pat cherries dry with paper towels; set aside. In a small mixing bowl, combine the sugar, butter, corn syrup, and salt; mix well. Turn onto counter and knead until smooth. Don't worry if it seems crumbly at first; it'll come together after a few kneads. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Roll dough into 1/2 inch balls (about the size of a cherry); flatten each into a 2-inch circle with your hand. Wrap each circle around a cherry and lightly roll in hands to cover. Place cherries with stems up on waxed paper-lined baking sheets. Cover loosely and refrigerate for 1 hour.

 In a microwave or heavy saucepan, melt chocolate chip and shortening; stir until smooth. Holding onto the stem, dip each cherry into the chocolate; set on waxed paper. Refrigerate until hardened. Store in a covered container and refrigerate for 1-2 weeks before serving.

Best if served at room temperature.

Source: Taste of Home Best Holiday Recipes, 2008.

Meet Buddy.

Meet Buddy.

He's a flufferball pufferkins.

And he's kind of my best friend.

And, yeah... maybe that's the bedspread from Twilight. It happens.

Buddy showed up two years ago, huddled stubbornly under my car, and refused to come out until my dad blew him out with a leafblower. And despite that... his favorite person in the entire world is my dad. Unless I'm eating bacon. Go figure.

But that was that. He weighed a whopping five pounds and was shaggy and fluffy, with little button eyes, fat lion paws, a fierce little attitude, and an adorable underbite.

He pretty much demanded a place in our hearts and, well... look at him. No question. Silly puppy. I don't think I stopped holding him for three days straight.

Everything about this little man makes my heart melt.

Even his sleepy, snarly, grouchy face.

So why am I sharing photos of fuzzy puppies instead of brownies, scones, or cake?

Because he's cute. Because I don't wanna edit brownie photos. Because he's cute.

 

Oh and because he's really, really cute.

P.S. If it's officially fall, why is it like 90 degrees today?

Okay, but really because there's an entire part of my baking and blogging life that you don't get to see. Behind the scene stuff. What happens when the camera's not around.

Like how he chases his tail around my ankles like a miniature tornado... but only when I'm holding hot cookie sheets.

How he sits in front of the oven and stares at me while I bake.

 

And by "stare" I mean "uses puppy mind control to make me drop pecans everywhere." It's happened.

How his face is always perched just off to the side of whatever I'm trying to take pictures of.

Unless it's snickerdoodles. Then he becomes part ninja. Honestly.

How he tends to unfold of all my clean laundry and play innocent-face while I'm off distracted and frosting cupcakes.

And then tries to destroy the proof. Because everyone knows that cameras are tasty.

Mmmm and camera phones.

And when he's succeeded in tripping me up, making me drop pecans, and otherwise just being in-my-face adorable... he does this.  

And speaking of in-your-face adorable... this is my other sous-chef, Maggie.

Because being this cute is exhausting.

Marbled Peanut Butter & Chocolate Snickers Cookies.

Important things first. 

It's September. 

I can officially bake with pumpkin pie spice and candy corn now. No? Yes.

But what? How did this happen. I promise you, it was just June. And if we're going there, it was maybe even still technically spring. I was daydreaming of red, white, and blue things to bake and lazy afternoons laying on the beach and grilling pizzas, picnics and hiking and summer fairs, concerts and funnel cakes, ice cold drinks in frosty Mason jars, new flip-flops, fireworks, barbeques, peanut butter s'mores, and camping.

Oh P.S. And an entire season of TrueBlood.    

Now there's only one episode of TrueBlood left (one! ONE.), my s'more count is at zero, and it's September. 

Dislike.

But the one thing I did do this summer, in droves, and the one thing that always makes me feel a bit more like myself, even when it's September and I haven't been camping or felt the sand between my toes or had a s'more in my face or landed a career or come anywhere close to having that perfect body that fits into a bikini, (let alone a one-piece. P.S. Just that word "bikini" makes me want to punch something.)... is baking. Because it's my thing.

And it probably explains the whole swimsuit situation.

But I think I do it pretty well. And for five minutes, or, you know... forty-five minutes to an hour, it makes me feel confident and purposeful and in control of my life and, honestly, a little bit sassy.  

I'm bolding that. Cuz that's what you do with important things. And because real life? Five minutes after I post this I'll probably sink back down into this quicksand of a funk I've been stuck in the whole summer, where I don't feel confident or purposeful or in control or sassy.

But instead... I'll tell you about these cookies. And then maybe I'll check out of life for 72 hours and finish reading The Help. 

Sugary-rich peanut butter chocolate chip cookies + double chocolate chip cookies with chunks of chewy, bubbly, caramel-y, nougat-y Snickers bars and bits of almonds. That's what's happening here.

These marbled cookies started out the way most of my cookies do: my boyfriend demanded wanted them. Not feeling all that inspired that day, I asked him what kind he wanted and got this real specific answer:

"I don't know. Cookies, you know? Something chocolate-y. Or something peanut butter-y. Oooh, maybe something chocolate-y almond-y?" 

So I made two batches of cookies and swirled them together! And threw in some in Almond Snickers, since they're his favorite (and hopefully counted as something "chocolate-y almond-y"). 

My favorite part is the gooey pockets of caramel that bubbled up out of these cookies.

I think they would taste even better with chopped up bits of peanut butter Snickers bars... or even Reese's peanut butter cups. Peanut butter = <3.

P.S. If I had my way, the surface of the moon would look like this. 

But then I'd become an astronaut and, you know... eat the moon.

No biggie.

Marbled Peanut Butter & Chocolate Snickers Cookies

Printable Recipe 

Peanut Butter Dough

2 cups creamy peanut butter

2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 cup chocolate chips

Chocolate Dough
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 regular-sized Snicker bars, chopped into small pieces
3/4 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F. 

For the peanut butter dough, cream together the butter, sugar, and egg until dough forms. Stir in chocolate chips. 

For the chocolate dough, cream together the butter, sugar, and brown sugar until well combined. Slowly beat in egg and vanilla until well combined. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Slowly add the butter mixture until well combined. Stir in chopped Snickers pieces and chocolate chips. 

Take a tablespoon of peanut butter dough and a tablespoon of chocolate dough and press together. Gently roll into a ball and place on a lightly greased baking sheet. 

Bake for 9-11 minutes, or until done. Let cool 5 minutes on baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes about 5 dozen cookies. 

Source: Adapted from Picky Palate.