Hi Punkin! (Part Two)

Sorry about the delay in getting back to you, but I was unavoidably detained. Doesn't that sound official? Actually my life is having lots of growth spurts (in a good way) and I'm just trying to jog along beside it.

So, did you watch Golden Pond? Isn't it a great film? My favorite part is when she says, "Norman, you're my knight in shining armor". Sniff. That and when she calls him "an old poop". Speaking of which, let's bake shall we?

Let's see, where was I? Ahhh yes. My sister Kathy asked me to stay with her two little ones while the rest of the family went out for a couple of hours last weekend. So I packed up my collapsible cooler, put the dog in the car and headed over for an afternoon of baking. Cody wanted nothing to do with baking but informed me that he would be happy to "taste test" when the brownies were done and promptly headed downstairs to watch T.V. On the other hand, Brenna couldn't wait to help me unpack my little cooler. She insisted on doing much of the brownie preparation herself....so I let her. For a six year old, I have to admit that she is extremely capable. Scary capable even.

I used Scharffen Berger Unsweetened Baking Chocolate and roughly chopped it up.

Then I we placed it in a double boiler over simmering water and added the butter. Once that was melted together, I we added the sugar, stirred it well, then removed it from the heat.

Then add the flour .

"We" added two eggs (broken in a separate bowl) and the vanilla. At this point, you would add the nuts as well unless you are baking with "someone" who doesn't really care for them and stomped her foot on the floor when you said that you'd like to add them. I'm not saying anything.

Ahem.

Then I added 1/2 cup canned pumpkin to this mixture and stirred it up well.

Now in the meantime, keep in mind that this is the month of October. We haven't even happened upon Halloween yet. Nor have the leaves started falling from the trees. Yet at one point when we looked up from our baking project, this is what we saw....

(Insert screaming here.)

Back to the kitchen! Just had to get this shot of Brenna, fishing around in the far back corner of the kitchen cabinet for the proper size pan for our Pumpkin Brownies. If there are any kitchen designers in the house, could you please answer me why.......for the love of all baked goods everywhere........what good are these corner cabinets???

Ahh...she found the right sized pan...sort of.

Moses.

Bake at 325 degrees for 30-35 minutes. The pumpkin makes the brownies incredibly moist!

So here is the original recipe for Katharine Hepburn's brownies and also the "pumpkin" version. Enjoy!

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 cup granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Preheat the oven to to 325 degrees and place rack in center of oven. Butter and flour an 8 inch square baking pan (or whatever you can reach in the very back of your sister's kitchen cabinet). Melt the chocolate and butter in a stainless steel bowl placed over a saucepan (or double boiler) of simmering water. Remove from heat and stir in the sugar. Next, stir in the vanilla extract and eggs. Finally, stir in the flour, salt and chopped (if using). Pour into the prepared pan and bake for about 30 - 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. Serve at room temperature or chilled. These freeze very well. Makes about 16 brownies.

For the Pumpkin Version, I increased the chocolate to 3 ounces, increased the sugar amount to 1 1/2 cups then added 1/2 cup of canned pumpkin.