red velvet brownies, anyone?

It feels like forever since I last baked something.

I just had too much going on the past week that I can't squeeze baking in my daily routine.

Anyway, it's high time that I break the silence with something very nice.

Uh, nice is an understatement. I can't find the right word to describe these rich brownies.

Okay, brownies. They don't even look brown to me. And they have the slightest chocolate taste.

But well, who am I to argue? They're red. They have chocolate. They're adapted from a brownie recipe.

So yes, what a pleasant surprise to break my silence. Red velvet brownies.

Yes, brownies! Not cupcakes!

That's something kinda new, right? Seems to me it is! :)

Anyhow, I've been wanting to try my hand at baking red velvet cupcakes, but I wanted to shy away from cupcaking, and I didn't want another cookie disaster.

I recently got a new brownie pan from an online shop, and I was excited to try it out. It promised of 15 clean cut brownies in minutes, and I was in for a challenge. The brownie kit had four parts - the baking pan itself with a removable bottom, brownie divider/cutter that you put once the batter is evenly spread out, a serving rack and a serving spatula.

I didn't use the brownie cutter while baking, I opted to use it after my brownies were baked. They still came out perfect. (More on the product review on another post.)

Newly baked and cut. Gotta love my new brownie cutter!

I got the recipe for the Red Velvet Brownies from Jessica of How Sweet It Is. They were perfect. I literally followed it to the last dot.

Enough with my thought bubble. Here you go.

Red Velvet Brownies
From How Sweet It Is 

1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 tablespoons red food coloring
2/3 cups chocolate chips (optional) 

Preheat oven to 350. 

Butter and flour cake pan. I used a 10x7 pan. 

In a small bowl, combine cocoa powder, red food coloring, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to create a paste. 

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, then add remaining teaspoon of vanilla. With the mixer on medium speed, add in cocoa powder mixture. Beat until batter is completely red. (If at this time your batter is NOT red, you can add a little more food coloring if desired. Color will depend on brand.) Add flour and salt, mixing until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips. 

Spread in the prepared pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting.

Ultra red and ready to go in the oven.

Fresh out of the oven.

There you go.

The original recipe used white chocolate frosting. I decided to use a recipe I have been wanting to try - The Best Frosting Ever which I got from Ree of The Pioneer Woman.

Perfect, absolutely perfect combination.

The Best Frosting EverFrom The Pioneer Woman / Tasty Kitchen 

5 tbsp flour
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup butter
1 cup granulated sugar (not powdered sugar!) 

In a small saucepan, whisk flour into milk and heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens. You want it to be very thick, thicker than cake mix, more like a brownie mix is. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature. It must be completely cool before you use it in the next step. Stir in vanilla. 

While the mixture is cooling, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. You don’t want any sugar graininess left. Then add the completely cooled milk/flour/vanilla mixture and beat the living daylights out of it. If it looks separated, you haven’t beaten it enough! Beat it until it all combines and resembles whipped cream.

All whipped up.

Enjoy!


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All recipes are copied from the sources.