Wednesday, September 4, 2013

IT'S FALL AND THAT MEANS PUMPKIN EVERYTHING: 4 INGREDIENT PUMPKIN BROWNIES

So I know it's like bittersweet being September and all, but I feel like I'm reaping all the benefits here in VA.  Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte is out as well as their delicatessen treats, Dunkin Donuts' Pumpkin Swirl coffee is out, and it's 80 degrees and sunny today.  WINNING.  OMG I DIDN'T EVEN MENTION ALL THE PUMPKIN BEERS WE'VE TRIED.  I think we're up to at least 9 at this point, which is a whole nother blog subject in itself, but just for your reference Schlafly Pumpkin Ale is our #1 (sorry PA peeps, I was informed you can't get it there), and Dogfish Head Punkin Ale is definitely my close second anyway.  You get more bang for your buck from Schlafly; Dogfish does their typical four pack.  STILL WORTH IT THOUGH.

Anyways, I love rambling, if someone knows of any jobs that are looking for anything along those lines, I'm obv their girl.  So, I found a pumpkin brownie recipe on pinterest--Two Ingredient Brownies
and because I always want to bake things but feel like I never have enough time and rarely do I have enough money to buy the ingredients (why would I spend money on food when I can buy a shirt or something? i have problems) I thought this would be PERFECT if they ended up coming out okay.  It can be my like go to recipe.  So, I had Steve pickup my ingredients last week, literally all you need is a 15oz can of pumpkin (not pumpkin pie, just straight pumpkin, although the pie kind might taste good--probably end up too sweet though which may or may not be a problem) (who puts these long of sentences in a parenthesis? i may as well put them at the beginning and end of my blog) a box of brownie mix, I chose a dark chocolate double fudge kind, and that's it really, but I also had him grab some chocolate chips because I LOVE chocochips in my brownies!  The only other thing I ended up throwing in was a teaspoon of cinnamon, because I love cinnamon and it pairs well with both chocolate and pumpkin, obviously.

So, in case you don't want to read all of the in between word nonsense I love to throw in, the recipe is:

1 15 oz. can of Pumpkin
1 box of brownie mix of choice
Optional:
1/2 bag of chocolate chips (give or take)
1 tsp. of cinnamon

As the recipe above via Pinterest states:  DO NOT ADD OIL OR EGGS THAT BROWNIE MIX MAY CALL FOR.  I don't know what that would do, but they definitely don't need it.

So mix them up and basically follow the cooking instructions otherwise.  Mine called for 350 and the cooking times depended on the pan size.

I started with a muffin pan because I like how you don't have to cut them or anything and they're just ready to go, but they don't shape up as they cook, they literally cook and stay exactly as you drop them in, so I cooked the rest in a glass dish.  Here is what the two looked like:



VS.



Either way they were delicious!  Super moist and you'd never know they're missing the egg or oil.  The pumpkin isn't overwhelming at all, it's literally just right.  I ate mine with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream and I was in heaven for the five seconds it took me to eat them.  I calculated them to be about 160 calories each (I got 6 muffin sized and 12 in the dish as you can see).  The muffin sized were a little bigger so they may be pushing 200, so we'll just average it at a good 180 which is nothing for a brownie, in my opinion.  If you omit the chocolate chips or don't add as many, you sinner you, then that would cut a good amount of calories as well.  Some of us were happy to be able to omit the oil and eggs though :)  I highly recommend!