Aggie's Starbucks Chocolate Brownies

I call this Aggie's because I checked out a few brownie recipes and tweaked them by adding a single serving packet of Starbucks Blonde Via instant coffee. The result is amazing!

1 cup butter softened
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup all purpose flour
1 pinch salt
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 single serving Starbucks Via Blonde Instant Coffee

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease your baking dish. I used a shallow square loaf pan.

Mix butter and brown sugar until smooth and add one egg at a time. Add vanilla and combine.
In a separate bowl sift together flour, cocoa powder, salt and coffee powder.
Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and combine.

Bake for 25 minutes until the top is dry and edges begin to pull away from the sides.

Chocolate Chip Banana Buttermilk Muffins

I enjoy experimenting, and adding a bit of this or that to a recipe to get it to satisfy certain cravings. For example, I knew I wanted banana bread, or something like it. I was also craving chocolate. So I looked around at different recipes, and found one that included buttermilk! I tweaked it a bit to include some whole wheat flour to make a slight adjustment and add more healthy elements.

2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 cups buttermilk

2 cups mashed ripe bananas (4 bananas)

4 tablespoons canola oil

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees, place muffin cups in 2 muffin trays (yields 24). 

In mixer bowl mix together the buttermilk, banana, oil, eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine flours, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix on low until blended. Add chocolate chips. 

Spoon batter into cups, filling about 3/4 full. Bake 15 mins and check with toothpick. When it's dry once inserted, remove and cool in pan for 15 mins, then cool the rest of the way on a wire rack. 

Stuffed Crust Pizza

My pizza crust recipe came with my KitchenAid stand mixer. That thing has been worth every penny! The original recipe calls for olive oil, but I substituted vegetable oil instead. The original recipe calls for cornmeal as well, but I don't use that at all. 

Crusty Pizza Dough

2 tsp Quick Rising Dry Yeast

2 cups Warm Water

1 tsp Salt

4 tsp Oil

5-6 cups All Purpose Flour

Heat your mixer bowl by letting hot water sit in it for awhile. Once heated, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let sit about 10 minutes, and then add salt, oil, and 5 cups of flour. Combine at speed 2 on mixer for a couple of minutes. Add remaining flour a bit at a time until everything comes together and beat for a couple of more minutes. Use some oil in a bowl and place dough in, rolling around to coat in the oil. Put in a warm place to rise for a couple of hours. 

For these pizzas I used ingredients I had in the house. On one pizza I used hot capicollo ham, cremini and button mushrooms, and sliced olives. On the other I used pre-made bbq chicken from the grocer, red, yellow and orange peppers. The third pizza was the works! I used canned pizza sauce, and topped them with mozzarella, marble, and fresh grated parmesan cheeses. 

I rolled out the dough so that it was about 2 inches larger than the pan, and placed slices of mozzarella around the rim, folding and pressing the dough. 

Once prepared, I baked at 450 degrees for 15 minutes, then set the pizzas directly on the rack for another 3 minutes. 

This recipe yields 4 medium sized pizzas.