Quick and easy brownies.

Ever in a hurry and craving something chocolaty? Well, I do on occasion. On such occasions, I may have made these quick and easy brownies. These brownies always hit the spot. The great things about brownies are that they are chocolaty, gooey, and most usually everybody loves them. In my family, they never last more than a day. The other day I made these to go with some homemade chocolate ice cream that I made. 

To make these brownies you will need:

• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup walnut halves (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9 x 13 pan.
2. Melt butter. Then mix all ingredients in the order given.
3. Pour into greased 9 x 13 baking pan and bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes.

Optional: sprinkle a little powder sugar on top for an extra touch.

** I sometimes use a sheet cake pan, instead of a  9 x 13, though you must adjust the time.

As always enjoy.

Peace, love, bake on.

                                   Andrea

 I found the original recipes here, but I made a few changes to make it my own.

Hairs ideas for PROM-- Part II

Hey everyone! So I promised another post devoted to Prom hairstyles, and I intend to follow through. I have  just been so busy. Among fighting sickness, getting lines memorized, and getting songs down and memorized, I almost forgot about it. To say the least I keep busy, usually. 

So if your prom isn't already here or isn't around the corner, it will be soon. It comes faster than you think. Time really flies by. 

So I have a friend that asked me to help her find a hairstyle for prom for her hair. She has short brown gorgeous hair. She has a strapless gown, so she wants her to be down. And so I had a mission, and on my mission I found that a lot of hair style were similar, especially when  they were hairstyles that were down loose instead of up in an up-do or something. But I learned after realizing that it all depends on the technique in which you style and prep your hair.

So I wanted to give some ideas and pictures to show you some different ideas for short curly hairstyles.

This hair style is super cute and fun. To do this hairstyle, you could either use a 1/2 curling iron or 3/4 inch curling iron. Depends on how short you hair. I can't guarantee the same results, but it should be the type of curl. Here is a good hair tutorial for this type of hairstyle. Looking on YouTube for tutorial is a good source to help you curl your hair.  This would be great if you want something care free and bouncy. 

This hairstyle is very vintage but screams classy! Personally, if I had short hair this is how I would always wear my hair. I feel like it is a timeless hair style. I found a couple great tutorials that I have to share with you because they each go at it with a different technique but they are each so pretty. Here is the first one, my favorite, I think. Another one you find HERE, is also really good. And the last two that I also love are HERE and HERE. I am sure there are even more great ones that are on YouTube, but these are the ones that stood out to me the most. 

There are two other prom hairstyles I found but couldn't find good pictures to depict them. So I am just going to direct you to tutorials. The first is curling you hair with a flat iron. It would give you a unique curl, and you can find a good YouTube tutorial here. It even shows you how to add volume. BONUS! Last but certainly now least, I found this super chic hairstyle tutorial that I just have to share, and you can find it right here. I love it.

All these hairstyles would be great for prom, you just have to dress them up, add volume and a flower or a different accessory. You could even try to incorporate braids. I love braids. And they always look cute. For example you could curl your hair and then do a water fall braid. Just in case you don't know what or how to do a waterfall braid, so here is one that'll teach the basics.  

Those are some ideas, and now just run with it. Be creative. Thanks!

                                                                   Andrea 

Cinnamon roll pancakes

I love pancakes, and I love cinnamon rolls. So why not combine them? Duh. So that is what I did. I had found a recipe for one on Pinterest and was linked to this website. It was very detailed and had great instructions, though I made a few twinks to it when I made this scrumptious breakfast food. 

My family, especially my little brothers, loved these pancakes. They really loved it with the attached cream cheese  glaze/syrup that goes on top of these wonderful pancakes. 

When I made these the first time, I used a pancake mix I had on hand and mixed it up like I normally do. 

Ingredients:

Cinnamon Filling:

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, just melted (not boiling)
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Cream Cheese Filling:

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

2-ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pancakes:

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon canola or vegetable oil

Directions:

Prepare the cinnamon filling: In a medium bowl, stir together the butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. Scoop the filling into a quart-sized heavy zip baggie and set it aside (see *Tips below).

Prepare the glaze: In a small pan, heat the butter over low heat until melted. Turn off the heat and whisk in the cream cheese until it is almost smooth. Sift the powdered sugar into the pan, stir and add in vanilla extract. Set the pan aside while you make the pancakes.

Prepare the pancake batter: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk in the milk, egg and oil, just until the batter is moistened (a few small lumps are fine).

Cook the pancakes: Heat a large, nonstick skillet over medium-heat and spray with nonstick spray. Use an ice cream scoop (or 1/3 cup measuring cup) to add the batter to the pan. Use the bottom of the scoop or cup to spread the batter into a circle (about 4-inches in diameter). Reduce the heat to medium low. Snip the corner of your baggie of cinnamon filling and squeeze the filling into the open corner. When your pancake begins to form bubbles, add the filling. Starting at the center of the pancake, squeeze the filling on top of the pancake batter in a swirl (just as you see in a regular cinnamon roll). Cook the pancake 2 to 3 minutes, or until the bubbles begin popping on top of the pancake and it's golden brown on the bottom. Slide a thin, wide metal spatula underneath the pancake and gently but quickly flip it over. Cook an additional 2 to 3 minutes, until the other side is golden as well. When you flip the pancake onto a plate, you will see that the cinnamon filling has created a crater-swirl of cinnamon. Wipe out the pan with a paper towel, and repeat with the remaining pancake batter and cinnamon filling. Re-warm the glaze briefly, if needed. Serve pancakes topped with a drizzle of glaze.

Tips:

*Quick and easy tip: Use a boxed pancake mix as the base for this recipe.
*Tips for the cinnamon filling: Before swirling, open up the baggie again and give it a good stir to re-incorporate any butter that may have separated from the sugar. You want the mixture to thicken a bit- it's best when it's similar to the squeezing texture of a tube of toothpaste, which will happen if you leave it at room temperature for several minutes. Don't try to use the filling for the pancake swirl unless it has thickened as it will be too runny to make a solid swirl.

*Keep the heat low or your pancakes might cook up too quickly. Don't flip them until you see those bubbles starting to pop on top. Flip them with a wide spatula so you can grasp the whole thing without batter and filling dripping all over the place!

***I found this directly from this wonderful website called Recipe Girl. She has a wonderful site, check it out. 

Thanks and enjoy!

Peace, love, bake on.

                                           Andrea