Merry Christmas! I didn't take Christmas Eve off from cooking, but I unfortunately didn't make anything new. I did however make Eric's dad's recipe for Swedish Oven Pancakes for brunch (a Christmas morning tradition for them) and I made chirashi for dinner so we could have a dinner from my roots. We both great enjoyed both meals.
Back to Christmas. I decided long ago to do a dessert on Christmas since we got to spend all day with my family this year. I knew they would all appreciate the combination of brownies + ice cream, with the little bit of festive feeling from the candy canes. It turns out the candy canes were the big hit. Everyone was surprised at how much they added and it was agreed it was worth despite the extra chewing that was required. Eric and I weren't totally surprised how good they were since we already knew the power of candy canes from my festive angel food cake last week.
The "NO-fuss brownies" were also a hit on their own. They tasted nothing like regular brownies from the box and had a really light chocolate flavor. I used a biscuit cutter to get them the round shape, and my mom made the excellent call of dropping the cutter in a glass to make sure the cut brownies would fit. Very smart mother. The finished photo doesn't do the dessert justice - it was fantastic and a great way to end the day.
Things I learned from this recipe:
As much as I liked the flavor of the brownies I'm not sure they'd be the best of their own. Coupled with the ice cream they were okay, but I think if I would to just make the brownies again some sort of chocolate or caramel sauce would be a perfect accompaniment.
Would I make this recipe again?:
Definitely