I am not even in love with brownies. When it comes to dessert, I usually opt for something much more elaborate, like a giant piece of tiramisu or a fancy cheesecake slice.

Those kind of desserts fit my dramatic personality.

I just find it amazing how one simple brownie can be transformed with a single topping or addition.

While these brownies may be lacking booze and coffee, I think most would agree that any form of chocolate topped with peanut butter equals comfort food.

And speaking of comfort, these brownies added some padding to my bottom. You’ve been warned.

Mr. How Sweet saw these pictures last night and claimed that he never got to try one of these brownies. He has a terrible memory.

But this time he was correct. For once.

He never got to try one because he was too busy growing a nasty crustache while watching the Daytona 500 and acting like a redneck.

I really wish all of you could see the 600 dyecast car ‘collection’ that has taken over our home.

Last night, I was quizzing Mr. How Sweet on his ‘favorites.’

Wait, you mean we should have known this stuff about each other before we go married? Oh well.

Anyway, I asked him what his favorite beverage was. He replied, ‘I really like water with those Target drink mixes in them.’

I said, ‘I really like water too, it is my favorite thing to drink.’

Five minutes later, I asked him what he thought my favorite beverage was. He responded with ‘I don’t know, that watermelon martini?’

‘I just told you water was my favorite drink 5 minutes ago!’

Obviously, Mr. How Sweet suffers from a short term memory. Otherwise known as being from the male sex.

I forgive him, though – he is an excellent gift-giver – gifts which usually include Godiva and shoes. That more than makes up for it.

I see myself making these brownies again in the near future so Mr. How Sweet gets a taste.

They are so memorable, I don’t think he will forget that he ate them.

And it will also give me an excuse to devour the entire pan and blame it on him and his lack of memory sneak a bite.

Brownies

1 stick unsalted butter

2-3 squares baking chocolate

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.

Melt butter and baking sqaures in a microwave safe bowl. In the mixing bowl, cream melted butter and chocolate mixture. Add in sugar and vanilla and beat until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add in eggs, beating one at a time. Add flour and stir just until combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

Pour into greased 9 x 13 baking dish (I used a 10 x 10 square cake pan).  Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until just barely done. Cool before frosting.

Peanut Butter Frosting

1 1/2 sticks butter, softened

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1 pound powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1-2 tablespoons milk

Cream butter and peanut butter together. Gradually add in powdered sugar and vanilla. Add milk 1 tablespoon at a time. If frosting is too thick, add more milk. If it is too thin, add more sugar.

Frost brownies once they have cooled.

Are you just dying to know why Mr. How Sweet has a stuffed turkey, what meal is his favorite, and why he keeps a crusty moustache when food gets stuck in it?

Ask away. It’s time for a little Mr. How Sweet Q & A.

I only recently started eating goat cheese. I’m sure some slipped by my lips in previous years without me knowing when I have ordered some sort of salad loaded with bacon and fries.

But, I just lately purchased it myself. It was difficult to bring myself to eat something with the word ‘goat’ in it. I just think of hairy, dirty animals with horns. Goats have horns, right? Or something like it.

Anyway, I’m in love.

And even better, I highly doubt Mr. How Sweet has the sophisticated taste buds to eat goat cheese. In fact, I doubt he would eat anything with the word ‘goat’ in it either, unless it involved massive amounts of meat. And that is just gross.

So, as usual, this means more for me.

Something else strange has been happening in my world lately.

 I’ve had this odd craving for . . . salad. Like, a salad full of vegetables.

I know. It is weird.

So I’ve made some of these strange looking things, these salads as you call them, and of course, 2 bites in, I am totally disgusted.

Tastes like grass. And tastes like something else that rhymes with grass.

Just when I thought my taste buds were maturing, were willing to accepts veggies in all colors of the rainbow, I was shot down.

Alas, there is still a tiny bit of promise.

This salad gave me some hope.

Warm, gooey, melty goat cheese coated in crispy whole wheat panko. I could probably eat a pound of this in one sitting, it was that desirable.

Combined with the crisp spinach, the sweet strawberries, and the salty walnuts, it almost turned my love for vegetables around.

Then I realized that there weren’t many vegetables in the salad.

Oh, well.

I still ate a salad, and a might fine and tasty one at that.

Warm Herb-Crusted Goat Cheese Spinach Salad

2 cups baby spinach

1/4 cup strawberries, sliced

1 oz glazed walnuts, chopped

1/8 red onion, sliced thin

1 oz goat cheese

1/4 cup flour

1 egg, beaten

1/4 cup whole wheat panko bread crumbs

pinch of rosemary & thyme

I tablespoon olive oil

Arrange spinach, strawberries, and onions in a salad bowl.

Heat olive oil in a small skillet on medium heat. Place flour, egg, and panko in 3 separate bowls in an assembly line. Add rosemary and thyme to panko.

Coat goat cheese in flour, dip in beaten egg, and roll in panko mix. Make sure to press bread crumbs into cheese. Place in skillet and let brown on all sides, making sure the coating does not burn. As soon as the breading is golden brown and crispy, remove from skillet and lay on a paper towel for 60 seconds.

Add on top of salad while still warm.

You have gotta try this salad soon.

Or at least try this big hunk of crispy cheese. It will brighten your day.

Sure, they looked golden and puffy and crispy and flakey and delicious and enough to make me go up a jean size, but . . . I’m just not a bread person.

Then, I stumbled across the tiny roquefort popovers in my Williams Sonoma cookbook. I’d like to live in that cookbook.

I’d also like to live in the Williams Sonoma catalog. Please and thank you.

If you’ve been reading along, you know I am a complete sucker for gorgonzola. I would bathe in it if I could.

But, I know that many people don’t like gorgonzola. While I’m insistant that those of you may come from outer space, I can understand how eating moldy cheese may not be. . . appetizing.

So with that, I’m happy to let you know that these popovers would be incredible with any kind of cheese.

In particular, I am thinking of smoked cheddar, asiago, gruyere, havarti . . . you know, just a few of my closest friends.

I believe there is such thing as a popover pan, but I used mini muffin tins and they worked prefectly.

I’d like to get a popover pan, but I think buying one more kitchen item may result in divorce.

Or, at least a temporary separation until Mr. How Sweet becomes emaciated from starving to death.

Honestly, that separation would probably last 16 minutes.

I can’t wait to make these again. I think they are a perfect treat for a dinner party. I love how tiny they are.

I have not attempted them with whole wheat flour yet, but if anyone has, how do they turn out?

Gorgonzola Popovers

makes ~ 25-30 mini popovers

from Williams Sonoma

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 pepper

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

1 1/4 cups milk (at room temperature)

2 large eggs (at room temperature)

1 tablespoon butter, melted

3-4 oz gorgonzola

Position and oven rack in the lower third of the oven. Preheat to 450.

Spray mini muffin tins with cooking spray or brush with oil.

In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients. In a large measuring cup, mix milk, eggs, and butter, and stir into dry ingredients until just combined. A few lumps may remain.

Pour batter into tins within 1/4 inch of the rim. Place a teaspoon of gorgonzola in in the center of the batter.

Bake for 10 minutes. Do not open the oven. After 10 minutes, reduce the heat to 350 and bake until golden brown and puffed – about 8-10 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool. Serve immediately.

Are you a bread person?

I’m an everything person. Well, an everything-but-veggies person.

I’d most classify myself as a cheese person. And a bacon person.

Mr. How Sweet is definitely a meat person. And a stinky person.

Well, maybe peanut butter + chocolate or chocolate + sea salt. But banana + peanut butter is a combo that allows me to fit into my pants the next day.

When my dad was younger, he and my grandfather used to eat peanut butter + pickle sandwiches.

Yeah . . . that’s a bit much for me.

The furthest I go is chocolate + bacon.

Gosh, I can’t wait until Lent is over.

These muffins came out super moist and dense, just like banana bread, and the peanut butter chips melted slightly.

Each bite had a giant chunk of peanut butter inside. Talk about satisfying!

These were basically my dream muffins.

I considered slathering each muffin with a bit more peanut butter when it was warm, but decided the ratio of banana to peanut butter was perfect already.

Instead, I spread some organic butter on it and let it melt. Best decision I made all weekend.

Peanut Butter Banana Bread Muffins

adapted from allrecipes

makes 12-15 muffins

1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup peanut butter morsel

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place muffin cups in muffin tins

Mix sugar, applesauce, and egg until creamy and light yellow. Add bananas and vanilla. Add flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir until completely smooth. Fold in peanut butter chips. Spoon the batter into the muffin tins.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until toothpick poked in center muffin comes out clean.

Mr. How Sweet doesn’t like banana bread. I know, seriously, what planet did he come from?

Sometimes I wish I could send him back there – maybe his fellow aliens all have moustache’s, too.

Speaking of moustache’s, Mr. How Sweet came home Friday and tried to bribe me with some Godiva truffles.

The truffles were delicious, but they didn’t provide the beer goggles that I need to smooch Mr. How Sweet when he has a moustache.

I may provide you with a picture of the crustache in the near future. I never thought the darn thing would last more than a week. I really thought Mr. How Sweet would shave before he starved.

Plus, I usually get my way. But he is stubborn.

So what is your verdict? Think he’s still sportin’ the crustache?

These cupcakes are a spin off of the popular cookies and cream cupcakes, which I am still having dreams about.

Dreams so vivid, that I can taste them in my sleep.

Or . . . maybe that is just the cookies I was eating in bed.

Kidding! (Sort of.)

These cupcakes are dreamy, too.

I used the good ole’ recipe for my vanilla bean cupcakes, and simply added some chocolate chips.

They came out super moist and tasty.

It’s like a cookie in cupcake form.

I would be lying if I said these stuck around for a few days. Heck, they barely stuck around for a few minutes! And this time, we didn’t share. We hoarded the cupcakes.

That ooey, gooey frosting down there? It tastes just like cookie dough. And you may as well just slather it on the cupcake, because there is no way the chocolate chunks are fitting through a pastry bag.

That’s fine by me. I’ll suck it up for the chocolate chunks.

Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

makes 12 cupcakes

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup milk

1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.

Cream butter, sugar, and eggs together until fluffy. Add vanilla.

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Add half of the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined. Add the milk. Once mixed, add remaining dry ingredients. Add chocolate chips and mix if you’d like them in smaller pieces.

Pour into cupcake tins and bake for 20-25 mins at 350. Let cool, then frost.

Cookie Dough Frosting

2 sticks butter, softened

1 1/2 – 2 lbs powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1-2 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Mix butter and powdered sugar together, adding sugar gradually to the mix. Add vanilla. Mix in milk, adding more if needed. Continue to add milk and sugar until it reaches the desired consistency. Mix in chocolate chips.

I refuse to let Mr. How Sweet eat any cupcakes for fear of the frosting getting stuck in the moustache.

Yep, the ’stache is still going strong. As this point, I am just thoroughly disgusted. He is already 10 years older than me, and now he looks 20 years older than me.

 If he is going to look that much older, he should at least pretend to be a sugar daddy and buy me some expensive shoes. Or a new car. And stuff for my friends. What do you want? I’ll start taking order now.