BRRRRRROWNIES.

brrrrrrr. mmmm.... oooo. la laaaaa....

did you know that europeans don't have brownies? when i was a nanny, i made brownies for my two little darling german kids i watched, and they were totally confused by this manna from heaven. the 10 year-old boy reviewed the brownies with, "not bad." and the 2 year-old ate the entire thing in seconds flat, and, wearing some of it on her face, left the table, saying, "i don't yike it."

yeah right.

i ask you ~ who on earth doesn't like brownies?

i have been testing healthy desserts for months, even years, trying to substitute honey for sugar, whole wheat flour for white, etc. i will continue to do that, but i came across an amazing recipe in my book that i have been dying to try. "orange blossom brownies". (kacey ~ remember you found this recipe in your book in miami and you copied it for me??)

welllll, i'm making them this morning. my whole apartment smells like a chocolate paradise! i've been experimenting with healthier dessert recipes for so long, and this recipe obliterated any healthy guidelines i had been following! it was so hard to put THREE cups of sugar and SIX eggs into the mixing bowl. and then, it turned into true decadence on an otherwise-boring thursday morning. i giggled with joy when i looked into the bowl and saw all of that refined, white sugar swimming in the eggs.

when you sin like this, make it big.

i put them in mini muffin tins, will frost them later (the sinning continues) and will take them to my old church job choir rehearsal, to treat them for being so wonderful last year when my father died. i'm leaving the job this year to pursue my HEALTHY food biz. har har har.

i just bit into one of these little heavenly treats. OMG. brownies from scratch. they're chewier and softer at the same time, and you can almost feel the crunch of sugar. and the orange zest is divine.

i have decided ~ i will make these just once a year. and not feel guilty in the slightest.