Kahlua Brownies to celebrate BrianFest2011!

It was a BIG weekend, with lots of celebrating.  Okay, okay, as we get older, we are really not big party animals.  But there was celebrating, relaxing, and lots of good food enjoyed!  My husband turned the BIG 45 this weekend, and he deserved all the bells and whistles involved in BrianFest2011.

We first started off the fun weekend by enjoying a delicious meal at a local restaurant called Lebowski’s.  Ummmm….we may have very well embarrassed ourselves there too….oops!  I blame Lebowski’s for their amazing burgers, and world’s best chicken wings, HOLY WOW!!! On my burger I enjoyed homemade pimento cheese.  Why would anyone want to buy pimento cheese, when you can enjoy homemade?  My hubby ordered the house special burger, it had roast beef, was soaked in au jus, and is served on a beautiful salty bun.

We decided we needed to walk off all that delicious food, so we took sweet Ode for a walk around the neighborhood.

After 15 years in Arizona, I get to experience four seasons again.  I really did not realize how much I missed the different changes that occur in each season.  Spring has sprung here for sure in the South.  The flowers are so colorful, and peaceful.

Now that we were feeling better after a walk, what better thing to do, than to sit on the couch and watch the first season of ‘30 Rock?’  We are finally going to watch that hilarious show, love our Netflix!  We wanted to eat pizza….but that would have been VERY bad….so we snacked a bit for our dinner.

I should probably share, when it is our Birthdays, we celebrate for way longer then a day.  So on his Birthday on Sunday, I promised him a homemade treat.  Of course something very chocolatey, he LOVES chocolate.  So after some searching, I decided on Kahlua Brownies, with Kahlua Butter-cream Frosting.  I found the recipe from Lipstick Blogger, and then made some changes.

I decided to double the recipe, we need an 9×13 pan of happiness, not 8×8 pan.  Plus, the people my hubby works with always like what I make, so we needed to have enough to share.  I did cook the brownies for 45 minutes, and they may seem really fudgy in the center.  They really should be fudgy, and ooey gooey!!

Recipe:

Crust:

2/3 cup light brown sugar
10 T. unsalted butter, softened
1.5 c. all purpose flour
1 c. semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 tsp. salt

Brownies:

1 c. semi sweet chocolate chips
2 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 c. sugar
1 c. light brown sugar
4 eggs (I think I forgot to double the eggs)
2 t. pure vanilla extract
4 T. Kahlua
1 c. all purpose flour
1 tsp. salt

Butter-cream Frosting:
12 T. unsalted butter, softened
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
4 tsp. Kahlua
2 T. half and half

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Line an 9 x 13 inch square baking pan with parchment paper and spray lightly with cooking spray.

To make the crust, cream the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Slowly add the flour and continue to mix until blended. Add the chocolate chips. When completely combined, press the dough into the bottom of the prepared pan; set aside.

Make the filling, combine the chocolate, and butter in a large saucepan over low heat. Stir until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Cool for 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in the sugars and then add the eggs one at a time, blending well. Add the vanilla and Kahlua. Slowly add the flour and salt, and mix until the batter is smooth. Pour and scrape the filling into the prepared crust. Bake 45 minutes, or until a tester inserted near the center comes out with a few fudgy crumbs. Be careful not to over bake. Cool.

For the frosting, cream the butter, sugar, Kahlua and cream in a bowl until smooth and creamy. Spread over the cooled brownies and refrigerate 30 minutes.

Hubby said the Kahlua Brownies were, “spectacularly, sinfully, delicious!”  Score, BrianFest2011 perfect!

To end our weekend, we seriously finished watching all of season 1 of ’30 Rock.’  I now can not get enough of Kenneth, he makes me giggle.  Now we could have just eaten brownies all night, but that probably would have been kinda unhealthy…. So we made homemade pizza!  His favorite pizza is anything with meat, so we made a fun pepperoni lovers, YUM!

What is your favorite dessert for your birthday?

What is your favorite pizza?

Until next time, Come on in, Have a seat,

Hugs, Terra

Tagged as: 30 Rock, Arizona, Baking, Birthday, BrianFest2011, Chocolate, Dessert, Flowers, Four Seasons, homemade, Homemade Burger, Kahlua Brownies, Lebowski's, Lipstick Blogger, Lunch, Netflix, Ode', pizza, Recipe, Walk