Grandma's Brownies

Doesn't that sound fabulous? The brownie you remember your Grandma making? The problem here is twofold: One, I really don't remember my Grandma making them, my mom did and called them Grandma's, does that make them my great-gramdma's? And two, they aren't brownies at all. It's Texas sheet cake. Sadly, like many of my childhood favorites, it wasn't exclusive to the Petitti/Rohlik family. But that's okay, it is a very popular dessert and I have garnered many fans with this recipe.

The recipe is pretty easy, and other than buttermilk, most of the ingredients are on hand for the casual baker. And, I promise you'll find that buttermilk is a great ingredient to have on hand as well. Use it in pancake mix, marinate chicken in it, make real Ranch dressing...just to name a few.

The cake is a light, cocoa cake, very thin in a jelly roll pan. The star is the frosting! Soooo good! I made the recipe without nuts, but a cup of chopped pecans in the frosting or dropped on the moist frosting is a great addition. Paula Deen makes a version of this with a little more butter (surprise, surprise!) and she bakes it in a 9X13. It is delicious any way, but I love the sheet cake. It's a small, thin dessert with the richest frosting! Chill them and it turns into a small, thin dessert with fudge on top! And of course a sheet pan or jelly roll, makes a lot of servings. And yes, there is a difference in the sizes. A jelly roll pan is smaller at 15X10X1 a sheet pan is 18X13X1. Either pan will do, just keep an eye on your baking time.

Grandma's Brownies
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 stick unsalted butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup strong coffee or water + 1 T instant coffee
1/4 cup dark cocoa (I like Pernigotti from Williams Sonoma)
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt

Frosting
1 stick unsalted butter
2 Tablespoons dark cocoa
1/4 cup milk
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine flour and sugar in bowl. In a saucepan, combine butter, shortening, coffee and cocoa. Stir and heat to boiling. Pour cocoa mixture over the sugar and flour and mix well. Add eggs, buttermilk, baking soda and vanilla. Mix well until smooth. I use a hand mixer.
Pour into greased pan, (no Pam, use Baker's Joy). Bake at 400. It will take anywhere from 15-25 minutes depending on the thickness. You will see the cake set.

During the last few minutes of baking, prepare frosting. In a saucepan heat butter, cocoa and milk to boiling. Stir often. Turn off heat. Mix in powdered sugar and vanilla with electric mixer until frosting is smooth. Add nuts now or later if desired. Pour warm frosting over hot cake.

When Life Gives You Bananas...

So, we are preparing for a volleyball tourney in Chattanooga this weekend. The volleyball world is an interesting one. The teams, about 16, check in at the gym and are required to stay on premises the entire day. If matches go quicker than scheduled, everything gets moved up. So the prospect of 10 hour stretches in a gym are a little overwhelming. Many teams have wizened up. We pack coolers of good food to keep everyone nourished and happy, parents too. School concession stands are okay, but you don't get much energy from Nachos and Cheese Sauce!
I have been travelling with Christina for a few years now, and my banana bread has earned a reputation. It's a great snack, nutritious, and easy to travel with. So yesterday with the relentless rain, I baked.
For the occasional baker, banana bread can be a problem. Grocery store bananas are usually too green, and when mine are perfectly ripe at home, the mood just isn't there. My solution is the freezer. I toss perfect banana bread bananas right into the freezer, skin on. When your ready to bake, pull them out and let them sit at room temp for about 15 minutes. I am not going to lie to you, they are a little gross. They get black skins,mushy and wet, but when they are still a tiny bit firm, cut the stem off, peel them and cut them up. When they are totally thawed they'll be perfectly mushy!
The recipe is always the dilemna. I've made a bunch and they all seem the same. Most old fashioned banana breads call for vegetable oil instead of butter. It makes it a snap, but vegetable oil is pretty flavorless. I was going through my tub file yesterday,( I know most people have recipe boxes), and I went through the quick bread file looking for something different. And there it was. A low fat banana bread. Dated 2004. Unfortunately, I have no idea where it came from, but I must have liked it by the looks of the recipe so I baked up 2 fabulous loaves. One studded with bittersweet chocolate. They rose beautifully in the oven, and cooked all the way through, no goopy middle. I cooled them in the loaf pans and wrapped them in them overnight. When I sliced them today to freeze they were soft and moist and pretty damn good!
Here's the recipe, make it often! Happy Baking!

Banana Bread

3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 ripe bananas, smashed up
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 Tablespoon canola oil
1 Tablespoon vanilla
1 3/4 c flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
4 oz. chopped bittersweet chocolate

Preheat oven to 325 degrees, I use convection bake. Spray a loaf pan with BaKlene or Baker's Joy. Beat eggs and sugar until it is pale yellow and light. Mix in bananas, buttermilk, oil and vanilla. Add all dry ingredients through a sifter and mix well with a rubber spatula. Do not overmix. Pour into loaf pan.
Bake about an hour. Cool in loaf pan. Yum!
Makes 1 loaf, Do not double, make it twice if you want 2!