Oreo cupcakes and cookies and cream brownies

Ok, so bad news bears. I've been so busy, that I've hardly baked or cooked anything. I've hardly done any tri training either. Basically, I've been a huge failure while I'm working my little booty off. However, I did quit one of my jobs!! Yay! No more coffee discounts tho :-(   It's probably for the best.

I also got to ride my BRAND NEW tri bike. Actually, its old, but its new to me. And its FRICKIN SWEET! And crazy fast. Basically, I love it. Except the seat, which clearly was chosen for lightness, not comfort (my poor tush!). So I took it out for a couple of spins Friday and Saturday with some non-Race team Fraser friends. It was great! A little tip tho: 1. Tandem bikes are GREAT for drafting, but 2. they can really haul on flats and downhills, so be prepared to grind some gears.

I did squeak out a batch of really really good oreo cupcakes.They are basically crunched up oreos held together by a minimal amount of cupcake, and some really great frosting. Lifeguards and bike mechanics really enjoyed them. However, I did not get any pictures, so I have to refer you to the website I got them. Oreo cupcakes  This recipe requires a whole package of regular stuffed oreos. I made the cupcakes, then crushed up all the cookies left over (which didn't have frosting on them) and mixed them into the frosting recipe to make cookies 'n cream frosting. Basically wonderful.

My basically wonderful cookies 'n cream frosting left me with a whole lot of leftover frosting. So, since I didn't get any pictures of my cupcakes, and since I was pretty much eating frosting out of the fridge and getting fat, I decided to make some yummy yummy cookies 'n cream brownies for my lifeguards, again. I know, I know, you're thinking I'm gonna make the lifeguards fat. In actuality, the club severely cut down on what and how much the guards can eat, so they're pretty much starving.

 They were truly glorious brownies. I used this brownie recipe from my baking Yoda, Smitten Kitchen. Then I added some chopped up cookies 'n cream Hershey's bars instead of the nuts. I don't like white chocolate, but I like nuts in my desserts even less. Man, was this brownie recipe good. I think it's my all time fav homemade brownies recipe. The brownies had a little bit of cakeyness to them, but were so very fudgy in the centers, with a light flakey crust. Sooooo good. Then of course I frosted them with my cookies 'n cream frosting, which was still insanely delicious. The result: Mind Blowing Cookies 'n Cream Brownies. Watch out, these brownies are very bad for you, unless of course you eat one after a run or bike :-)

Brownie Cupcakes

So, I had some frosting left over from Liz's funfetti birthday cupcakes. And I put it all in a ziplock bag, but it was taking up all this space in the fridge. So I needed to use it. But on what? I decided to use it up on a weekday night, so I had like 2 minutes to make something, and didn't want to have to go buy ingredients. So I made....drumroll please....BROWNIE CUPCAKES!!!

They were so delicious. And all it takes is a box of brownie mix. I used Duncan Hines, and made them with an extra egg to achieve the "cake like" brownies as instructed by the box. I also made them in cupcake tins, because really, cutting up brownies is a big pain in the keester, and I usually end up eating too many cause I goofed on the cutting, and then I get a tummy ache. So cupcake pans were the way to go.

However, I have clearly not mastered the piping icing from a ziplock bag technique. Or really any piping technique, but no one needs to know that. So my brownies were somewhat hideously looking. My lack of piping skillz was also exacerbated by the fact that the frosting was all weird leftover colors like pink, orange, green, blue and white. Which isn't a color palate I would have picked on purpose. Oh well. They still tasted ridiculously delicious. And I pawned them off on lifeguards and swimmers, so I didn't end up eating all of them. Hoo ray!

Ooo. This pink one is pretty good. Very impressed with myself.

Hmmm. This multicolored one is a little melty, but not the worst. The frosting started getting pretty heterogeneous, because some of it was melting from the heat from my hands, while the icing in the middle of the bag was still pretty stiff from being in the fridge.

This blue, green and white one is very manly, but still a weird color mix. And not the best piping job. Maybe if the shades of blue and green were different. 

Oh well. So my piping skillz suck, so what? They were still ridiculously delicious and you know you are jealous of everyone who got to eat one. And, if you're somewhere that is gray and cold all day like where I live, you'll probably whip these up right now. I say GOOD. DO IT. Because they're delicious.

This is the food processor I used to make these yummy brownies. It belongs in a museum as the oldest food processor still in use. I couldn't find the plunger, which was fine, because my veggies kept getting crammed into the corner and "mushing." Notice the carrot and zucchini confetti around the counter - yeah, that's what happens when your food processor is not enclosed and you have to just aim for the bowl. Needless to say, after this experience, a food processor is on my wish list, underlined and in bold.
So, I currently live with my grandparents, due to being a poor post-grad student, which is sometimes a downside. One of the downsides is they think I'm a freak. I exercise all day long (according to them), constantly dashing off to the next tri training session. Or, I'm constantly buying groceries and cooking things. Not really constantly because my Nana runs her kitchen with an iron fist, and gets antsy when I'm in there. Also, my grandpa comes in and hovers and watches and makes comments, which just makes me nervous. SO, since they're out of town watching my brother swim, I'm going on a crazy cooking spree! Thus the sweet potato burritos yesterday, and a bunch of other things that I will blog about in the future.

First up for blogging about are YUMMY VEGGIE BROWNIES!!!!! I know, I know, they sound super bizarre. I got the inspiration for these brownies from various vegetarian and health food blogs. They're a little bit healthier than normal brownies because of the veggies and whole wheat flour.

Now, they were a bit of a challenge, because I used unsweetened apple sauce and cocoa, when the recipe I started from called for sweetened. So I added some sugar. I still think I could tweak this recipe to make these brownies more satisfying and healthy, but they're delicious now.

I recommend everyone try these brownies! They're thick and fudgey, chocolatey and moist, with an original texture. Plus, the added bonus of having veggies, apple sauce and whole wheat flour.
Ta Da!! They turned out well. And they look delicious.
Where are the veggies? I can't see them...
This picture was taken before I remembered my digital macro setting. You can see the top picture for a prettier picture, where I used the macro setting. Much better!

Yummy in my tummy veggie brownies!
1 large carrot
2 medium zucchinis
1 egg
2 c. whole wheat flour
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. unsweetened apple sauce
1/4 c. maple syrup
1/3 c. brown sugar
3/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 c. granulated sugar
1/4 tsp. baking soda
3/4 c. semi sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350, grease up a 9"x13" pan
2. Stick the carrot and zucchini in a food processor and process until you get a finely grated salad of veggies. Use 2 c. of this in the brownies.
3. Dump it all in a bowl and mix thoroughly.
4. Bake for 25-30 min (I did 25)
5. Cut into 24 squares. Eat 'em up!!

Nutrition Data - from nutritiondata.com
(serving size 1/24 of recipe)
139 calories (not bad for a good sized brownie!!
3 g fat
1 g saturated fat
0 g trans fat
9 mg cholesterol
9 mg sodium Vitamin A 11%
28 g carbs Vitamin C 5%
2 g fiber Calcium 2%
18 g sugar Iron 6%
3 g protein

These are some darn tasty and pretty healthy brownies!