Eggs, Eggs and more... Eggs?

I think Tuesdays may just be my favorite day of the week. I so look forward to Eli's play group... watching the little ones learn how to interact with each other, seeing each of the children growing as individuals, getting a glimpse of the people they will become as their little personalities develop, and having time to talk with other moms have become moments that I cherish.

This morning, our play group had an easter egg hunt for the kids and they had a marvelous time!

After play group, I drove out to meet my husband for lunch. I had made more delicious treats for him to take to the office, but in a rush to get out the door, he accidentally forgot them. So I drove the 40 minutes it takes to get to his office in Tampa to drop them off, not wanting all that yumminess to go to waste. The staff was literally fighting over them. Curious to know what I made?

My good friend Betty Crocker came up with a wonderfully simple recipe that had me drooling when my sister first made it a long time ago.... Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies! Sounds delicious doesn't it? Well, it sounds even better when you add chocolate ganache to the top like I saw on Bakerella (If you haven't visited her blog yet, you should... she has some amazing recipes!). The basic brownie recipe can be found on Betty Crocker's website but here's what you're looking at:

Ingredients:

1 box Betty Crocker Original Supreme brownie mix (with chocolate syrup pouch)

1 pouch Betty Crocker chocolate chip cookie mix

1/3 c. vegetable oil

1/4 c. water

3 eggs

1/2 c. butter or margarine, softened (not melted)

1 container Betty Crocker Rich & Creamy chocolate frosting (I substituted Bakerella's chocolate ganache)

Follow directions on the box to make brownies and pour into greased 13x9 pan. Then, make cookie dough as directed on pouch and drop by rounded spoonfuls into brownie batter (I must have been using a really big spoon, ha ha). Press down lightly.

Bake for 35-40 minutes in a 350 degree preheated oven. Or if you're like me and take everything out earlier than the package says to make sure they're nice and moist, bake them for about 33 minutes =) Place on cooling rack until cooled completely (about an hour).

Then frost them with chocolate frosting or the ganache.

If using the chocolate ganache, you'll want to let it sit until the ganache sets. It seemed to take forever for me, so I ended up sticking it in the refrigerator to help it along. Once set, you can cut them up.

Since I was sending these to work with the hubster, I wrapped them up too (I'm a sucker for pretty packages)...

I baked these the night before sending them off, and my husband and I agreed that they tasted better the next day.

After taking the brownies to Cliff's office, we grabbed some sushi for lunch with Cliff's boss/friend Victor. I ordered an amazing spicy salmon tempura roll, but we all sort of shared our food. After eating a few bites of California roll and a spicy tuna roll (which were both incredible) I was told that the orange stuff on top wasn't seasoning like I had thought, but rather smelt roe. What is smelt roe you ask? Fish eggs. Yes, it's true. I figured that since I'd already eaten them and couldn't really distinguish the difference in texture between the eggs and the rice I'd just continue eating them. I feel tough =)