Frozen Brownies

My husband is back in school working on his MBA. We are almost to the half way point! He has weekend classes, so as of now, our schedule on the weekends has him leaving early Friday morning for work, going to class all afternoon and all day Saturday. He crashes in Salt Lake where he has school and comes home sometime Saturday evening. We miss him while he is gone and have tried to make the best of it. I have come to use my weekend time as my "alone" time. Once the kids are down, I catch up on a project or two or sometimes I just crawl into bed and watch 4 hours of "Say Yes To The Dress". And then there are some weekends when I need chocolate to survive! Last weekend was one of those weekends, so I decided to make myself a chocolate stash...something I try not to have because, lets be honest-my thunder thighs really don't need a stash! However, these little beauties are the perfect treat for a chocolate stash! Especially in my house because once I made them, my kids had like one a day until they were gone-totally eliminating my stash. Thunder thighs problem solved. But, the one or two I did eat hit the spot! 

We liked having these in the freezer when I was growing up so that when siblings (mainly teenage siblings) brought friends over there was always something to share with everyone. An oldie, but a goodie!

Frozen Brownies

Brownies:
1 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup cocoa
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
4 eggs


Frosting:
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup butter, softened
3 tbsp cocoa
2 tsp vanilla

In a mixing bowl, combine melted butter and cocoa. Stir in sugar and flour. Add eggs; mix well. Pour into greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
Meanwhile, for the frosting, beat together all the frosting ingredients in a mixing bowl until smooth. Cool brownies for 15 minutes before frosting. Cool completely. Cover with foil and freeze until firm. Serve frozen or thawed.
*I like to cut them up and freeze the squares in ziplock bags for easy access.

Serves about 3 dozen

Mississippi Mud Bars

Last night we had a recognition program for one of my Laurels. My counselors and I can't seem to do anything small. We had delicious treats for everyone. My contribution were these Mississippi Mud Bars. You can't go wrong with Paula Deen-lots of butter and sugar makes anything taste amazing!

Mississippi Mud Bars

paula deen

1 cup butter

1 cup milk

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup water

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups sugar

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

3 cups mini marshmallows

Mississippi Mud Frosting (recipe follows)

Preheat oven to 350*. Grease a 15x11 inch jelly roll pan. In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Whisk in milk, cocoa, water and eggs. Bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking constantly. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla.

In a large bowl, combine sugar, flour and baking soda. Pour butter mixture over sugar mixture, whisking to combine. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 20 minutes. Immediately sprinkle marshmallows evenly over hot cake. Pour hot Mississippi Mud Frosting over cake, spreading it with knife if necessary. Let cool in pan completely. Cut into squares and serve.

Mississippi Mud Frosting

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup evaporated milk

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp vanilla

4 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar

In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Whisk in milk, cocoa and vanilla. Bring to a boil, whisking constantly. Remove from heat. Whisk in confectioner's sugar until smooth.