During this morning’s bombardment of elementary school aged stream of conscious banter, Kindergartener Ben piped up and said, “I know how to spell C-3PO.” Crunching up his face in a serious bout of concentration, Ben began spelling aloud, “C…  3…  O.”  Oh dear, time for some spelling early intervention.

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“This weekend, I embraced one of my old standbys, ‘Fudge Brownies.’ These brownies provide such a wonderful and rich chocolate flavor, in addition to a lovely subtle hint of coffee.  Enjoy with a cup of coffee and savor the moment.” – Cookie Dave

FUDGE BROWNIES

1 cup Butter

2¼ cups Sugar

4 Eggs

1¼ cups Cocoa Powder

1 teaspoon Salt

1 teaspoon Baking Powder

1 teaspoon Espresso Powder

1 tablespoon Vanilla Extract

1½ cups Flour

2 cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Grease a 9”x13” pan and set aside (I prefer my glass baking pan, but they also turn out fine in a traditional metal baking pan.)

Use a 4-plus cup size bowl to melt the butter in a microwave.

Stir the sugar into the melted butter and heat some more in the microwave, until right before it begins to bubble. Careful, the butter/sugar mixture will be very hot.  Set aside.

Mix the eggs together.

Mix the cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, espresso powder, and vanilla extract into the eggs.

Mix in the hot butter/sugar mixture.

Mix in the flour and 1 cup of chocolate chips. Set aside for 20 minutes to cool.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Stir in the remaining 1 cup of chocolate chips.

Pour the batter into the 9”x13” pan.

Bake for 30 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out mostly clean.

Cool in the pan on a wire rack.

Makes about 24 brownies.

Revised Source: King Arthur Flour, “Fudge Brownies.”

The remnants of a pan of “Fudge Brownies.”

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“I was looking for a new recipe and this time, I went ‘Back to the Future,’ by digging out an old cookie cookbook from the early 1960s. The recipe calls for chopped cranberries, but I substituted Craisins, in an attempt to marry the 20^th and 21^st centuries in one delicious cookie.  So line your baking sheets with parchment paper and take a step back to the Kennedy Administration.  I truly believe that Camelot would have welcomed these cookies on their desert tray.  Enjoy.”  – Cookie Dave

CRANBERRY DROPS

½ cup Butter

1 cup Sugar

¾ cup Brown Sugar

¼ cup Milk

2 tablespoon Orange Juice

1 Egg

3 cups Flour

1 teaspoon Baking Powder

½ teaspoon Salt

¼ teaspoon Baking Soda

2½ cups Craisins

Cream together the butter, sugar, and brown sugar.

Mix in the milk, orange juice, and egg.

Mix in the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.

Stir in the Craisins.

Chill dough in the refrigerator for one hour. Although not necessary, this step makes the dough a little easier to handle.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Drop tablespoon size balls of dough onto parchment paper lined baking sheets.

Bake for 10 minutes. Cookies will be lightly browned on their tops.

Makes about 36 cookies.

Revised Source: Betty Crocker’s “Cooky Book” from 1963.  “Cranberry Drops.”