Why No Woman Should Diet

    So Tessua decided to do a liquid diet on Monday, and if you know me you know that if I had my way no woman would ever go on a diet.  I'm all for getting in shape and making yourself better, but I am not about sacrificing good food. To me life is about balance, and if you balance good food with good exercise, it should all even out.  That's my rationalization at any rate, and it works for me  (not that I truly do much working out, but it's still my rationalization!) .  So when Tessua was on her all-liquid, 24-hour diet, I'm not going to lie, I really wanted to bake these brownies just to tempt her, but  I decided to be supportive instead.

   Yesterday I got all of my running around in Vicki out of my system, so today I was all set to stay home and bake.  So I finally got a chance to make these:

   That my friends is a Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownie.  I found the recipe here, but I took step-by-step instructional photos!  (I'm so proud of myself.)  So here we go.

For the brownie part you'll need:
4 oz unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups light brown sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour


For the cookie dough part, you'll need:

¾ cup unsalted butter
¾ cup light brown sugar
¾ cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons whole milk
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1½ cups mini chocolate chips

(Pretend there are chocolate chips and milk in this picture.)

Brownies first!  

Preheat oven to 325 F.  Line a 9x13" pan with foil.  Butter the foil. In a small glass bowl, melt the chocolate in the microwave at 30-second intervals, stirring after each, until smooth.  Set aside to cool slightly. 

*If you end up with chocolate on your fingers DO NOT lick them.   Yuck!  Although a friend of mine did have a good idea.  If you just can't bring yourself to waste that precious chocolate, dip it in sugar first.*

In a large mixing bowl, mix the butter and brown sugar until fluffy.  Beat in the eggs and vanilla.  Mix in melted chocolate.  Mix the flour, just until combined.  Don't over-mix.  

Spread into prepared pan.  Bake 25-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes away clean.  (Mine took the full 35 minutes.)  Cool completely.  

Resist the urge to sample.

On to the Cookie Dough...

In medium bowl, use a mixer to combine both sugars and the butter. 

 Add milk and vanilla and beat until combined.  

Mix in flour, being careful not to over-mix.  Stir in chocolate chips with a spatula.  Spread the cookie dough over the cooled brownies.  Refrigerate until the dough is firm.  It says about an hour, but mine was more like two hours. 

   These were so good.  To be honest, I don't like brownies.  I'm more of a cookie girl myself, which is probably why I liked these.  Scratch that, loved these.  AND, I got Tessua to eat one!  (Yes, it's a hollow victory considering her 24-hour diet was over Monday evening, but it's a victory none-the-less!)

  So after dinner, I was plating up the brownies and I asked Monkey what she wanted to drink. 

Me:  Hey, baby girl, what do you want to drink with your brownie?

Monkey:  Juice!

Me:  Well you've had a lot of juice today and not much milk, so how about milk?

Monkey: *silence*  How about juice?

She inherited her Daddy's stubborn streak.   o.O

   These were so fun to make and share.  I will definitely be making them again.  I hope y'all enjoyed my attempt at step-by-step photos instructions.  And let's have a round of applause for our lovely Willow Tree models :-D

Oh, no thanks.  I'm on a diet.

Well, maybe just a bite...