SimplyGrand Dishing with Steph: From Yeh to Yah, That’s Good (V4)!

Yesterday was the kind of day where I just really needed chocolate. The Easter candy was gone and nothing in the pantry (or the candy stash we hide from the kids) would do.

My daughter, Helen, and I took a break from work and homework and made Molly Yeh’s recipe for her Mum’s Schnapps Brownies found on page 235 of Molly on the Range.

Tools and Ingredients:

I had all the ingredients we needed in my pantry, even some peppermint candy left over from Christmas baking. And I was excited to finally use the big bottle of peppermint schnapps I bought this winter. I don’t remember what cocktail I thought I was going to need it for. Later this week I’ll try to figure out some drinks I can use it in.

Brownies are pretty easy to make, I didn’t need any special tools, although I used an offset spatula to smooth out the surface before baking. It also came in handy when frosting the brownies.

Making Molly’s Mum’s Schnapps Brownies:

This is a quick and simple recipe and Molly’s instructions are easy to follow. My daughter, Helen, took over almost all the measuring and stirring. I’m proud of how she’s learning to read recipes and find the right measuring cups and spoons.

The brownies were in the oven in just a few minutes and we set upon the spatula and bowl, the batter was delicious!

Tips and Tricks:

My kids used a meat tenderizer to break up the peppermint candies. My son, James, came running in to the kitchen when he heard the noise. Then the kids fought over who got the crush the candies. You can always use a food processor for a task like this, but if you don’t want to bother, just put the ingredient in a Ziplock bag, grab a meat tenderizer, and smash away. Be careful, it’s easy to go overboard and end up with holes in your plastic bag. This is a great way to get your kids involved in cooking or do it yourself and release some stress.

Results:

We followed Molly’s directions to cool the brownies for 10 minutes before removing them from the pan, and spreading on the glaze while they were still warm, but we could not wait until they were cooled completely before digging in.

The kids and I started scarfing up the brownies before they were fully cooled. They were very gooey and messy – and to use one of my daughter’s vocabular words for the week – delectable! This recipe absolutely satisfied my craving for chocolate.

Because we were impatient and couldn’t wait for the brownies to cool completely, they were very soft in the center and impossible to cut neatly. I wanted to do Molly’s recipe justice, so I whipped up a second batch. I was curious to see how they turned out without the glaze and how they would hold up after cooling completely.

After dinner we had a side my side comparison. It was a tie. The brownies with the peppermint glaze and peppermint candy topping would hit the spot any time of the year. You could also leave off the glaze and have a perfect unfrosted brownie, if that’s your style.

Thank you for letting me share my experiences cooking my way through Molly on the Range. Let me know if you have a recipe you’d like me to try out. You can reach me at sports@visitgrandforks.com or post to VisitGrandForks on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.