I was skeptical.  Sure… I’ve heard people talk about beans in brownies, but really!?  Must we really put beans in our brownies?  Isn’t that just like having a CNN news break right in the middle of Teen Mom 2?  Kind of a bummer.

I was skeptical and I was dang wrong.  Beans in brownies is totally not CNN!  (When was the last time you typed ‘totally not CNN’?) Beans in brownies is a trick that knocks down the fat and boost up the protein (even if just slightly).  Sea salt and big walnut chunks are also highly advised….so advised, that you may find yourself indulging at breakfast.  Like I did.  This very morning.

Three different kinds of chocolate make these brownies worth their salt.

Semi-sweet chocolate rounds, unsweetened chocolate chunks, and cocoa powder.

Black beans get pureed smooth and you’re well on your way to delicious brownies!

Just look at that.  Not a black bean in sight… but they’re in there!

A 9-inch square pan is buttered, papered, buttered again, and floured.  It may seem like a lot of work, but this trick is wonderfully helpful when it comes time to remove the brownies from the pan.  Just lift the paper and ease ‘em out!

Whole walnuts left over from the holidays.  These beautiful nuts look like brains… I’m all about it.  I leave the chunky and almost whole to top the brownies.  A sprinkling of coarse sea salt is also ideal.

See the tiny specks of sea salt?  That’s where delicious lives.  Black beans disguised by chocolate and sugar, beauty indeed.

The nut-studded, dry and crackled top.  These brownies are undeniably delicious.   So good you’ll want to share them with friends and show off what you can do with beans.

I like to just slightly under-bake these brownies.  Twenty five minutes is pretty golden, and if the center is still slightly moist, it will firm up and cook just a bit as it cools.  Dry brownies are a mild tragedy.

Yesterday I got an email letter.  It went a little something like this.

Dear Ms. the Baker,

Hi there… blah blah blaaah.  I often feel the urge to eat like a trucker.  Blah blah blaaaah.  I always want french fries and hot dogs and meat loaf and steak.  Blaah blaah blaaaaah.  Today I almost ate at a place called Burgers and Pie for lunch. Blaah blaah.  Instead of burgers and pie, I just dreamt up my fantasy dessert.  This bring me to my point.  Will you please, please, please make me some peanut butter brownies with pretzels?  I’ll be your best friend.

Blaah blah,

Rachel

Ironically, this email letter was from my real life best friend, Rachel.

Rachel is prettier than me.  I’m ok with that… mostly because I can’t do anything about it.

Because I want to honor and maintain the best friendship between Rachel and I… I made her these brownies.  Good Lordy Almighty!  These might be the best thing to ever happen to me.

Listen…

Rachel was on to something when she dreamt up these brownies.

Dense chocolate fudge brownie swirled with sweet and salty peanut butter, topped with crunchy pretzel sticks and sprinkled with coarse sea salt.

Come on…

If you don’t have an instant desire to make these… I don’t know what the heck you’re doing here.

Lord have mercy on our midsections.

So… you know that part in Scent of a Woman… yes, hello, 1992…. when blind Al Pacino sniffs out pretty ladies… literally… and somehow worms his way into their good graces?  Have you seen Scent of a Woman staring Al Pacino and Chris O’Donnell?  Of course you have.

If blind Al Pacino were to sniff me out, I’m pretty sure I’d smell like these brownies.  This fact is both troubling and awesome.  Now I kinda want to reinact the tango scene.

To quell your puzzled looks, let me answer a few questions.  Yes… I just watched Scent of a Woman.  Yes… it was amazing.  Yes… I questioned my sanity.

I’m going to keep this short.  I have to go watch Curly Sue and learn a few card tricks.

These brownies seem like the exact right thing to be doing this time of year.

Super fudgy chocolate with nuts and campfire style toasted marshmallows.  Pretty perfect to bring to a summer party.  These brownies are an instant friend maker.

I do have a few pro-tips when it comes to this recipe.  Can I share them with you?

-  So you’ve baked the brownies, loaded the warm brownies up with marshmallows, turned on your broiler and you’re ready to toast your marshmallows?  Put them in the oven and stand there.  Do.  Not.  Walk.  Away.  Your brownies will set on fire before you know it.  It’s scary when you have to pull a pan that’s on fire out of the oven.  It’s really scary.

-  You’re going to need a sharp knife and hot running water to cut through these brownies.  The marshmallows might have a tendency to stick to the knife.  Run the blade under hot water until it’s clean after every slice you make.  That’ll ensure that your marshmallows stay where they belong.

Pro-tips.  I got em.

I’ve made a lot of brownie items around here over the last few years.

These be them:

Peanut Butter Blondies with Milk Chocolate Frosting

S’mores Brownies

aaaand.

Chocolate Brownie Cookies

Now…

In my kitchen this past week I’ve managed to burn my Thanksgiving brussels sprouts, make a bum batch of chocolate brownies, crack my favorite coffee mug and somehow spill a half bottle of red wine under…UNDER my refrigerator.  Additionally, since my kitchen seems to be a vortex of ill fate, I’ve refused to do the dishes.  It wasn’t a pretty sight, friends.  I was just about due for an intervention.

I was just about ready to throw a stick of dynamite into my kitchen and hope for the best.  Instead I opted for one last shot… mostly because sticks of dynamite like the ones they have in cartoons are hard to find… maybe I’m just looking in the wrong places… whatever the case,  I preheated the oven, kept my head down, and… success!  Sweet, dense, chocolate and peanut butter success.

This dark kitchen cloud seems to have passed, and I’ve managed to get all of my dishes in the dishwasher…. things are looking up and tasting pretty darn good too.

These peanut butter blondies are serious.  The blondie is dense and packed with brown sugar and peanut butter flavor.  The chocolate frosting is the perfect compliment, although if you simply wanted to add chocolate chips or broken up Reese’s Peanut Butter cups to the blondie batter, that would be just as delicious.  I think frosting on brownies is the ultimate indulgence…. so why not go for it.  Be warned… you’ll need milk to drink with these.  Lots of milk.

Everyone has their own way of enjoying toasted marshmallows.  It’s very much a personal thing… this I understand.

I like my roasted, toasted marshmallows extra crispy… extra well done.  I want that sucker on  the end of the misshapen close hanger, stuck right into the depths of the fire.  I want it to come out flaming.  That’s right, I’m a marshmallow torch girl.

Apparantely, the marshmallow torch is not how you make friends at all-girl sleep away camp.  I would always get groans of disapproval from the girls that were trying to keep their precious marshmallows just far enough away from the orange coals to perfectly toast them.  Maybe they were less than thrilled with my marshmallow torch because I usually managed to set at least one of their darling marshmallows on fire just out of sheer proximity.  I considered it a favor.  Them..?  Not so much.

But these brownies aren’t really about my summer camp misadventures, are they?  These S’mores Brownies are more about fudgy, dense chocolate that bakes up with graham cracker bits and toasted marshmallows.  Toasted, not torched.

There are few things quite as spectacular as a pan of warm brownies just about 15 minutes out of the oven.  With their  slightly crackled top and perfectly chewy  chocolate center, brownies are a simple pleasure.  These S’mores Brownies are  simply an improvement on something that didn’t really need much fussing with.  The result is a marshmallow topped brownie that’s so good, you might find ways to rationalize a big hunk for breakfast.  Chocolate can be breakfast too.  Life is entirely too short not to make a S’mores Brownie breakfast from time to time.

Settle in friends. You might be here a while. Come and experience the better part of 48 hours behind the camera with Joy the Baker in San Francisco.

From the Oakland Bart Station to the streets of San Francisco and back again. It’s a whirl wind trip. Hold my hand and play along.

Have you met my sister? This is Lauren. She is my San Francisco connection, and incidentally, one of my reasons for living. She’s carrying my bag, leading the way to breakfast at Citizen Cake.

Puppies and people living the good life outside of Citizen Cake on a flawless San Francisco day.

Sitting at the bar, doing it up omelet style.

I came up to San Francisco for a few reasons. My sister was having a Halloween party and insisted that I make an appearance, I love love love San Francisco, and I wanted to met up with my Foodproof friends.

Of course no party that I attend would be complete without some sort of baked yummy. For this reason, Lauren and I made Candy Bar Blondies. These beauties are the best way to consolidate and enjoy all your favorite Halloween candy. It’s just the most practical Halloween option, right!?

What’s this? A box of Jello? This particular box of Jello had a Jello Shot recipe printed on the back. How convenient! Trust me when I tell you that I’m simply too old for Jello Shots. Just take my word for it.

These are the neighbors we’re going to keep awake until all hours of the night with my sister’s party. As stated earlier, I’m too old for Jello Shots.

I am, however, not too old for good, clean pumpkin carving.

This fiendish smile is a sure sign of an impending party. Caution. Party. Big, crazy party.

And this is where the party began and the nights pictures ended. I’ll spare you the madness. Combine these images in your head and you’ll have an idea of how the party went: Pabst Blue Ribbon, movie projector, cute Michael Phelps, drunk Jenga, cowboy and cowgirl friends, pass the guerrilla suit, turn down the Michael Jackson or you’re going to be evicted. Where are my glasses? Seriously, where are my glasses?

Got it?

So yea. It was a good night.

The next day’s adventures took me across the bay to Oakland. Time to get my Foodproof on. I’ve mentioned Foodproof before, but allow me to do it again with more ferocity.

Meet Mitch. Mitch is one of the minds behind Foodproof, a really fun, super intuitive, easy to enjoy, new food site. Here’s Mitch videotaping (yes, that’s a tiny camera) Simon outside of an Oakland cafe.

Say hello to Simon. He’s on the other end of Mitch’s camera. Together, Mitch and Simon are Taste Buds- hilarious friends who eat and talk about it on camera. They’re relaxed, they’re fun, they’re unintentionally hilarious. Check out One Day’s Eating with Simon. There’s a kitty and a cookie… and I’ll leave you with that.

If you don’t yet support Foodproof, what are you waiting for!?

This concludes this installment of 48 hours behind the camera with Joy the Baker. I’m living the good life. Thanks for being a part of it. Really, thanks.

There are countless reason why I love making brownies.  All they require is a bowl and wooden spoon.  They’re moist and satisfy that deep chocolate craving.  But more sentimentally, brownies are one of the first things I remember making with my sister growing up.  We’d take out one bowl, one pan, follow the directions on the back of the unsweetened chocolate box, and about 45 minutes later- warm brownies!  We’d burn our fingers trying to get the hot brownies out of the pan.  But it was worth it to sit down with a plate of warm brownies and cold milk to watch episode after episode of I Love Lucy.  Those were the days.  These old school Fudge Brownies with walnuts and chocolate chunks were made in an effort to reach back to those days eating brownies on the living room floor with my sister.  The amazing thing is that one bite into the warm chocolate  took me right back to being 10 years old, baking with my sister.  It’s pretty remarkable what a brownie can do!

I took the recipe for these brownies right off the chocolate box, just the way my sister and I used to rock it.  The result was a dark, fudgey and nutty chocolate brownie.  Just perfect!  And you must eat at least one piece hot out of the pan with a glass of milk.  It makes life worth living.  You think I’m exaggerating… well I’m not.