Sometimes there needs to be chocolate

There are times we just need chocolate. Not like to have, but have to have chocolate moments.

I had one of those nights last week. And then there were brownies. I used to make a brownie recipe from one of my best go-to cookbooks, the Better Homes and Gardens red and white cookbook that everyone should have (more on that later). For 20 plus years, I have been using that recipe. It calls for melting chocolate in butter, adding sugar, vanilla, eggs and flour. But then I tried a recipe from Hershey's. I didn't have baking chocolate and needed brownies one day, so I used the Hershey recipe since it called for cocoa. Now I am hooked on this recipe. These brownies are just perfect. They have the perfect gooey texture, and I use Special Dark chocolate to make them even more decadent.

I used the Pioneer Woman's recipe for mocha frosting, though I cut it in half. I have used a dark roast recipe in this frosting, but this night we used a mocha flavored coffee and it really pushed it over the top.

These brownies were just what I needed. Gooey chocolate equals a happy Lisa.

Homemade strawberry syrup

I couldn't help it. I went to Lowe's last weekend and I got sucked over to one of the tables with someone giving away free samples. So, note to self, the rosemary olive oil bread is really tasty. There were also strawberries. And her selling point was that they were actually ripe and sweet, in January. And they were a two-fer purchase. So I bought a couple pints with no idea what I would do with them.

This morning I thought it was a pancake kind of morning. I opened the fridge and saw the strawberries. They were starting to turn on me, the traitors. I decided to make a quick syrup out of them. I combined 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup sugar and cooked until the sugar was dissolved. I cooked it over low heat, mostly because I was unloading the dishwasher and drying rack at the same time and didn't want to have to babysit it. Then I rough chopped the strawberries. I added them to the simple syrup and turned up the heat. I boiled it on high for a few minutes, then turned the heat down to medium-high as the syrup darkened and some of the liquid had evaporated. You have to really pay attention at this point. You don't want it to stick and it progresses pretty quickly at this point. I also added a few drops of vanilla. I hate it when I see this in a recipe, but...I didn't really time it, so all I can say is that I cooked it until it was the consistency I wanted. All told, the strawberries cooked in the syrup for at least 15 minutes. Probably.

Honestly, what I made is probably more a strawberry compote than a syrup. Maybe if I cooked it for less time it would have been more syrup-y. What I do know is that it was just what I wanted.