Good eats

This weekend I did a lot of baking and cooking. Some recipes were home runs while others were OK, but won't be going into the rotation of regulars.

Earlier this week I made brownies cocakaigne (recipe follows). They were easy and gooey. I ate most of them myself. I love brownies.

Saturday night we made these chocolate cookies from Martha Stewart's daughter. They are very tasty but alarmingly flat. They aren't a pretty cookie. But, again they taste divine. I'd only make these again if I adjusted the recipe a bit to make them not quite so flat and crisp.

Sunday morning we had Sticky Buns. I am a sucker for a sticky bun. These weren't quite as good as my mom's, but they aren't bad for a quick, indulgent treat.

Sunday evening, we grilled out, Modern Mama style. I marinated tofu cut into large chunks in soy sauce, honey, ginger, and garlic. The tofu went on the grill along with yellow squash and zucchini and pineapple. I served it over long grain and wild rice with a sprinkle of fresh mint. Very tasty and good with a nice crisp white wine.

Thankfully the weekend ended on a healthy note, but the rest of it was sinful. I've been putting in some serious time on the treadmill to make amends.

Brownies Cockaigne
source: Joy of Cooking, 75th anniversary edition

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
4 oz semi-sweet chocolate
4 eggs, room temperature
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped (optional)

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Melt chocolate and butter in double boiler and then cool mixture *If you don't cool the mixture, your brownies will be heavy and dry.
Beat eggs and salt until light in color and foamy in texture and gradually add sugar and vanilla. Continue beating until well-creamed.
With a few swift strokes, combine the cooled chocolate mixture into the eggs and sugar. *Even if you normally use an electric mixer, do this manually. Before the mixture becomes uniformly colored, fold in the flour, again by hand. Before the flour is uniformly colored, stir the nuts in gently. Bake in a greased 9x13 pan for about 25 minutes. Cut when cool.

--MM