mini's marvelous minty morsels

i love brownies and it may be 'cause i was born in bangor, maine where supposedly the delicious chocolate treat was invented accidently.

my mom told me that a bangor housewife named betina brown baked a chocolate cake for her husband benjamin brown's brother bob's birthday. seems betina botched up somethin' while bakin' and her plans for a beautiful birthday bundt failed. instead she had something much denser 'n flatter than a cake but taller 'n less cripsy than a cookie.

since benjamin would be bringin' the birthday boy, his brother bob, to their abode before she ould bake another bundt, betina decided to go on and ice the flat cake, cut it into squares 'n serve 'em up on a platter with a big candle pokin' out from the one on top.

betina's accident was a huge success with bob 'n bejamin 'n from that point on betina's 'brownie' was what all members o' the brown family requested for their birthday treat. in no time the betina's brownie started appearin' at everything from birthdays to barmitvahs across the country and quickly became a traditional american desired dessert.

though i am not sure who invented them, i also love junior mints ....mostly eaten in the dark o' a movie theatre but mini's daddy always jams a couple o' boxes in my christmas stockin' so i like eatin' 'em surrounded by ripped up wrappin' paper piles too.

always aimin' to bribe me with her bakin' talents n' aware of my love of chocolate brownies 'n junior mints, mini started bakin' me what she called junior mint brownies not long after her bakin' carreer began. she'd stir up a box o' her favorite brownie mix in two pans and once right outta the oven, she'd dumb boxes o' junior mints on top o' one and then place the layer from the other pan on top, wait just a few minutes for a lil meltin' to take place and then put the whole shabang in the fridge. the result was so delicious she was banned from bakin' them too often.

over the years she has perfected her minty brownie recipe and it is too good not to share with you. it's perfect for all celebrations as the minty layer can be made any color with a bit o' food colorin'.

for the brownies:
use your favorite brownie recipe or even bake up a batch from a box. the ones i like best are dense and fudgy. mini uses her cream cheese brownie recipe most often and you can find oodles o' those online. mini lines her brownie pans with foil - one piece arcoss the bottom n' up the sides one way n' another piece the other way. she then pops 'em in a preheated oven for about 25 minutes or until the brownies start to pull away from the sides n' the edges just begin to brown. if you poke a toothpick in the center it will come out just about clean. when all that happens, she takes 'em outta the oven n' puts the pan on a wire rack to cool. they will stay in the pan until they are ready to cut n' serve.

once you've baked the batch o' brownies, it's time to concoct the marvelous minty layer:
you're gonna need....
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup of confectioners (powdered) sugar, sifted
1 1/2 tablespoons heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon pure peppermint extract or 1-2 tablespoons creme de menthe
your choice o' food colorin'

dump everything but the food colorin' of your choice into a bowl....with an electric mixer , beat all the ingredients until smooth. NOW a few drops of food coloring n' swirl around 'til you are happy with the result. if the frosting is too thick, add a little extra cream - it needs to be just thick but thin enough to spread...now spread it evenly over your COOLED brownie layer and put in the refrigerator until firm...this should take about 10 minutes...just enough time for you to make the glaze!

the chocolate glaze:
for the glorious glaze you'll need...
4 oz Semisweet Chocolate
1/4 cup Heavy Cream

this time you'll need a heatproof bowl...dump your chopped chocolate 'n butter in it and melt 'em over pan of simmerin' water n' the whisk until creamy smooth...then spread it over the minty layered brownies and refrigerate for another 30 minutes.

and finally...they are ready to serve!
to remove the brownies from the pan, just lift ends of the foil and transfer the whole shabang to a cutting board. cut into lil squares with your sharpest knife, wipin' the blade with a damp cloth between cuts. if you don't eat them all within the hour, you can store them in the fridge or even freeze 'em. but be aware that freezin' 'em won't keep you from eatin' 'em...i have tried that thinkin' it would make it harder for me to gobble them down...but they are just as easy to eat frozen!

if you bake up a batch o' these delicious desserts, please take a picture n' send it to me along with how long it took for them to disappear! and if you are new to my blog n' like chocolate chip cookies, please give mini's recipe a try....you can find it here!

the body snatcher

i have been very busy workin' on a new project n' as i've been workin' i've been tryin' to figure out when it was that the body snatcher (that had been here previously) sent her even less charmin' sister to break back into my home to possess my mini again. and also, what hormone or such is it that takes hold - in a blink of an eye - that makes a young person suddenly think they know everything there is to know about everything that could possibly come up in conversation? this led to more thinkin' n' ponderin' about many other things....like...why do young people - 'specially those possessed by creepy other beins' - go to the trouble o' askin' you how they look before leavin' the house for this or that and even twirl n' spin for you so nothin' is missed 'n then once you have given them the opinion they so much desired, why then do they look at you like you're plain nuts, make huffy puffy sounds 'n then go change everything they had been showin' off to you? these are questions i'd like to discover the answers for.

all this leads me to thinkin' about that big lipped octomom with the fourteen kids....thinkin' that if she had birthed just one o' the previous six earlier and already experienced the early double digit ages with 'em, she would have never ever gone on and had eight more.

today's picture is a snapshot o' the other two girls i am mother to...both just as spoiled as my beloved mini but much much easier to live with.

drivin'

my father had some very strict rules when it came to earnin' your drivin' privilege. we had to learn to drive a standard transmission and did so by spendin' a couple o' hours in the ol' chevy without any air conditionin' in the dusty vacant lot between hatton elementary school and the presbyterian church. we also had to have the ability to change a flat tire by ourself and, after sittin' for what seemed like a hunderd hours in front of the lil chalkboard we used to play school with while he chalked out all sorts o' foreign lookin' diagrams, we had to know exactly how a car worked so we'd know what to do if it didn't.

even after i passed my father's stringent driver's education, i failed the first three attempts to obtain the much desired license. i aced the written portion o' the testin' - it was the actual drivin' part that i had the triple trouble with. the first effort was so pathetic that before departin' the parkin' lot, the poor policeman panicked and told me to pull over promptly. i was told not to appear again until i was properly prepared.

queenie was assigned to give me another sweaty session in the vacant lot and though she allowed me only 15 minutes cause she had twirlin' practice that afternoon and didn't want to have the naugahyde pattern from the seats fried into the back o' her thighs, i optimistically set up a new session o' testin.

i can't blame my second failed attempt on her tryin' to save her lovely legs though....that time was completely my father's fault cause he had told me so many times not to take my eyes off the road that i never did - i stared straight ahead the whole time - i never took my eyes off the road - even when the policeman told me to change lanes or to back up. this time the officer by my side said little but did seem close to slappin' me when we finally returned to the DMV parkin' lot.

on the third try i performed perfectly until the policeman proposed i demonstrate a bit o' parallel parkin'. i had never participated in any sorta parkin' - at least not in the front seat or in daylight - and i pleaded with the policeman for pity points. but once again i departed the appointment without earnin' enough points for the drivin' privilege.

the fourth foray into fightin' for the right to navigate four wheels on my own was a complete success only because my lifelong friend bruce smith figured my bad fortune was due to the rule that i take the test in a stick shift and convinced my father to let me give it a try in his own automatic instead. i was finally an official licensed driver. only problem was, though i didn't realize it and no one else seemed to care, i really had no idea how to drive.

over the oh so many years that have followed, i have become a competent cautious driver but i am sure i used up a bundle o' the lifetime o' luck we're doled out at birth survivin' those first few years o' travelin' the highways and byways o' east texas and probably forced anyone who traveled alongside me or past me to use up much o' theirs too.

the time i have dreaded since givin' birth to mini is now loomin' - her desirin' drivin' privileges of her own. i find myself feelin' sick at even the thought o' her drivin' down our long driveway and takin' to the road on wheels...without a helmet or knee pads or even wrists guards. i've been brainwashin' her from the time she was born into thinkin' it would be much nicer to be driven than to drive but now that her age is in the double digits her mind is no longer easily molded.

i have poked around the blogdom hopin' to find some other mothers who may have discovered some sort o' technique to overcome the fear o' handin' over the car keys to the children they have loved and protected since beginnin' life a mere sixteen years ago...even one mother who can tell me how to continue to breathe when a child is out and about - commandin' a large movin' vehicle among other large movin' vehicles - and a siren can be heard off in the distance...but...so far i have found nothin'. i can't possibly be the only mother who wants to run from the room screamin' every time the subject of a learner's permit comes up...can i?

if any o' you can help me with this drivin' dilemma i'd be ever so grateful and promise to return the favor if ever i have helpful motherin' advice your'e in need of.

dust bustin'

early spring cleanin'...that's what has kept me blogless for so very long. it all started when the backyard trailer dwellin' dame (my cousin jo for those o' you who may be stoppin' by for the first time) - deposited the latest model o' the dust buster into the doo dad den. she won it as third prize in a drawin' down at the wall-mart. first prize was an autographed glossy o' her dream dude fabio.

jo donated her prize to me because the week before she accidently busted up lil flo's tail durin' her weekly doggie groomin' via dust buster session (thankfully the tail is still safely attached to the lil dog) and neither jo or flo can tolerate the site or sound of even a half charged buster for a while - if ever. this is a really big deal for jo cause she swears that any domestic chore can be taken care of with just a dust buster and a tub o' baby wipes.

anyway...once i got the sleek blue and cream colored plastic cordless buster fully charged 'n ready to go i left the doo dad den armed and determined to discover a lil dust to bust. in days past this would'a been a duty deemed difficult as della, our housekeeper for over a decade, was dedicated to domestic perfection. but not long ago some dastardly gang gatherin' developed in her district and she decided to pack up her family, cash in her 401k and depart for wisconsin. after some deliberation, we decided to designate della's duties to dena, the part-time domestic diva. apparently this wasn't the decision best suited for situation 'cause my adventure in seekin' a lil dust bustin' turned into two and a half months o' hard core bustin', scrubbin' and reorganizin'. seems dena is blind to dust and loves to 'stuff' stuff...in fact, i'm thinkin' maybe dena is in the wrong profession altogether.

my full-time domicile do-over has left lil time for anything else - includin' my plan o' bloggin' every day in 2009 or designin' many doo dads for delivery via download. but as bad as i have felt about havin' to neglect the online part o' my life, i love any kinda' hard labor and enjoyed myself thoroughly.

for those o' you who emailed, worried that i was blogless due to some new calamity, i'm proud to say i experienced only one minor yet major-ly painful episode in the almost three months i have been away from blogdom....that bein' the bedazzelin' of the bottoms o' both feet while reorganizin' mini's craft closet. i have known pain in my life but a bedazzeled body part ranks right up there with a root canal. as for the un-bedazzlin', in pain and in a panic, i grabbed the new dustbuster and sucked those damn dazzlers right out, wiped up the blood with a baby wipe and donned foot protection while performin' the rest o' my domestic tour o' duty. seems jo was right after all about bein' able to solve any domestic situation with just a dust buster and a tub o' baby wipes.

thanks for stoppn' by even when i didn't...i'll try not to get sidetracked again any time soon!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox