Brownies! The Apple Variety!

I bought 8 Granny Smith's last Friday with the intention of making my Apple Crisp *swoon* for my little get together this past weekend. Unfortunately procrastination took over and I ran out of time so I didn't get to make it for my friends. Or maybe it was my subconscious subliminally forcing me not to make it so I wouldn't have to share it?? I am that selfish when it comes to The Crisp.. I admit that. But yeah.. no, it was because I was lazy and didn't want to get my fat arse up from the loveseat an hour earlier than I had too.. it was cold.. I had a blankie and 3 pooches on my lap!! hee! Yesterday morning I realized that dear Hubbs had already ate 3 of my apples. (!!) So I figured if I didn't get on The Crisp he'd eat the star ingredient and I'd be S.O.L. So directly after work last night while he was standing knee deep in some river trying to catch a smelly trout, I started peeling and slicing my apples.. I was giddy with anticipation of how my house was going to smell in just a few minutes. My oven was pre-heating and I was humming (okay badly singing) to the 80's hairband music that was playing in the living room all the while peeling and slicing and practically doing a jig in the middle of my kitchen while the kids looked on in mild alarm. I went to gather the rest of the ingredients, Rachael Ray style, piling them precariously in my arms.. when to my utter shock, as I lifted a rather light cannister of quick oats, I realized I didn't have close to enough for The Crisp! Now how the hell was I to make my number one most favorite dessert of all time without quick oats?? *sob* My apples were peeled! My oven pre-heated! What the f*ck does a girl do? Well firstly, she throws a temper tantrum. I'm so mature that way. The F bombs were flyin', the dogs were cowering and I was literally stomping my feet. I dropped the rest of the ingredients on a counter and ran back to the office in search of a new recipe that called for 4 cups of sliced Granny Smiths! I didn't feel like the apple cake I've made before - although quite yummy - I figured since I couldn't have The Crisp, I should try something new. Simultaneously searching through both All Recipes and Recipezaar, I came across a couple interesting recipes and ultimately chose something called Apple Brownies only because I couldn't be bothered with making a pastry dough as it was already closing in on 7 pm. I'm quite happy with the end result - the "brownies" were easy to put together, they baked to a lovely golden brown and although they looked exactly like the apple cake in the baking dish, I had hopes that they would be chewy like a brownie and not cake like. After a quick dinner of ham steaks, baked potatoes, kraut and green beans I sliced into the brownies, which were still warm. I topped each slice with a lil french vanilla cool whip and served it to Hubbs. This was after 9 and I was whipped, so for the first time ever since starting my lil blog, I did not take the time to take a picture of the plated slice. I know! I'm going to hell!! I'm going to have to describe what an apple brownie looks like.. okay.. refer to this picture and remove the cinnamon sauce and replace with cool whip.. there ya go! Although the brownies did resemble the apple cake they didn't taste like it at all. They are dense where the middle of the slice is on the gooey side and the sides carmelized to bring a most excellent chewy texture as well as the top being crispy. I doubled the recipe to fill a 9" x 13" x 2" baking dish (original recipe called for a 9" x 9" x 2"). The brownies are on the sweet side, so I'm not sure if that was because I doubled the ingredients or if they are suppose to be so sweet. The ONLY change I'll make next time is to cut back on the white sugar by at least 1/2. All in all, these Apple Brownies rock! I'm looking forward to trying a completely cooled slice later tonight to see if the sweetness has mellowed out. I'll letchas know! :D Apple Brownies Courtesy of Recipezaar The following recipe is doubled with the apple amount tripled 1 1/3 c. butter (ya'll!) 2 c. brown sugar 2 c. white sugar (I'd cut it to 1 cup or less) 4 eggs 2 tsp. vanilla 3 c. flour 4 tsp. baking powder (does that equal to a TBS.?) 1 tsp. cinnamon (I added this - wasn't in original recipe) 1/2 tsp. fresh nutmeg (I added this as well) 1/2 tsp. salt 3 c. chopped apples 1 c. chopped walnuts or pecans (I omitted this and subbed raisins) Preheat oven to 350º F. In two separate bowls, combine all dry ingredients and combine all wet ingredients. Add the dry slowly to the wet until just combined. Add the raisins (or nuts) and the apples, mix. Transfer to a greased 9" x 13" x 2" glass baking dish and bake in pre-heated oven for 45 minutes. If your brownies are goldeny brown at this point, loosely cover the dish with foil and continue baking for another 15 minutes. Test with toothpick for doneness. Yum! :D I'm 2 days late.. but I realized these brownies would be perfect for Sara's WCC No. 9 - the theme this month is to use an ingredient from your country's culture. Although apples are found world-wide, I believe picking apples from local orchards in the fall is quite traditional for us Yanks, so I'm going to try to slip this in if Sara doesn't mind. ;) Check out the rest of the fabulous dishes at The Weekend Cookbook Challenge!