Super Easy Brown Sugar Brownies

         For many years, I was allergic to chocolate. Then mysteriously, the problem left as subtly as it began. Hooray! Because I found an easy and delicious recipe for brownies on the back of a C & H Dark Brown Sugar box. There are only six ingredients! I have changed things up a little, and have made notations below.

1 cup of packed C & H Dark Brown Sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened

2 eggs

2 ounces (2 squares) unsweetened chocolate, melted

1 cup of all-purpose flour (The original recipe only called for 1/2 cup. It seemed too little to me.)

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (I used chocolate chips instead.)




Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

Grease an 8 X 8 X 2" baking dish. (I used  a Pyrex dish with butter-flavored cooking spray.)

Cream butter and sugar until well mixed.

Beat in eggs.

Melt the chocolate squares in a microwavable bowl then drizzle into the sugar/butter/egg mixture while you stir. (This avoids the problem of making the equivalent of chocolate scrambled eggs by dropping a lot of the hot melted chocolate onto the raw eggs.)

Stir in the flour, then the walnuts/chocolate chips.

Pour the batter into the pan, level, then bake for 25-35 minutes.

Cool, dust with powdered sugar if desired, then cut into bars.

The box states that this will make 2 dozen bars, but in my estimation, there were only about 1 dozen.

Absolutely rich, moist, and chewy!

Spiraling in Free Motion

          The last couple days have literally been consumed with free motion quilting the background of my current wall hanging in progress. I really didn't think that there was much area to cover, but I am almost finished with the two spools of thread that I purchased for the task. No surprises there. I am a terrible estimator when it comes to how much thread I will need for a project or how long a project will take to finish.

           I do know that I am thrilled with this thread. It is Mettler Poly Sheen in a medium shade of lavender. The color seems to change, depending on the mottled colors in the batik, but it really is just one solid color. I know that is unbelievable for those of you who know of my affinity for variegated colors. The finish is somewhat shiny, and best of all, the thread is very reliable and doesn't break all of time like another popular brand of polyester thread. The Poly Sheen is primarily advertised as an embroidery thread, but works like a charm for quilting.

          Well, tomorrow is coupon day at Hancock Fabrics, so I will go then and get more thread. I need to start ordering cones of it online. I think I might be irritating the ladies at Hancock's because I am always in there pulling out the storage drawers beneath their thread displays, looking for more of whatever color I want to purchase.

 

          While I have been quilting in circles, my little old lady cat, Courtney, has curled up into her own spiral on this soft pink Sherpa throw. I bought it at Hancock's Fabrics last time I was there. Between the store's half-off sale price and my 10% guild member discount, the blanket only cost me a little over $11. I got two of them. Maybe that sort of makes up for all that thread I bought at very close to full price.