BROWNIE BITES

Brownies are always a huge delight for everyone.   The problem is a pan is consumed in one afternoon! 

When my children were little one could buy a bag of “Brownie Bites” in the snack food section of their local grocery store.   They were little brownies the size of a mini muffin.  (great idea for portion control!)     The problem was…..they were a budget buster!   I decided to make my own.   I would leave several dozen out and secretly put several dozen in the freezer for a quick sweet treat to eat or take somewhere when the need arose.

I didn’t decide to blog this day until after the fact, so I do not have before pictures.

WHAT YOU NEED:

1 box of your favorite brand of Brownie Mix (On this day I used two.. one to eat and one to freeze)

Chocolate Chips

Mini muffin pans

Pam Spray Oil

Powdered Sugar

1.        Mix brownie mix according to the directions on the box (or make your own from scratch)

2.       Spray muffin tins very well!!  (important you want them to come out easily or use mini cupcake cups)

3.       Fill cups ½ full and put 3 or 4 chocolate chips on top of each one.

4.       Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 mins.   Time varies from oven to oven

5.       Remove , let sit for 5 minutes,  then remove from pans and place on rack

6.       When cool, dip each one in a small bowl of powder sugar for frosting.

7.       Eat or freeze.

To Freeze:   Place on cookie sheet and put in freezer for an hour then place in plastic storage bags or freezer containers.

A Day for Baking- for the Freezer

When I woke up the other day it was cloudy and cooler than it had been in weeks, so…  I decided it was the perfect day for baking.   I absolutely love to bake but recently have not had the opportunity or if the opportunity was there, I had no desire to heat the house up by turning on the oven.    That’s why this nice cool day was the perfect motivation.

When my children were small I definitely had more time than money.  I became very good at budgeting and meal planning.   Now, most of my children are grown and I find myself answering many questions from them on this subject.   Oh, they remember what was IN the freezer, but they weren’t always sure how it got there!  J

I have found it to be very helpful to have baked goods in the freezer.   A frozen cookie has a “fresh baked” taste after five or ten seconds in the microwave.   I also like to have frozen homemade cookie dough in the freezer, for the times, I want fresh baked but not the hassle of making the dough.    I freeze brownies, banana bread, muffins, biscuits and much, much more.   The trick is to keep your freezer full because store  bought snacks are a huge budget buster!

    In the next few post I am going to highlight that day.    I hope you enjoy the posts.