kid cooks : double brownies

Today the cooking rolled right along with the kids' fair entries for 4-H. Alexei had to make his bar cookie entry, double brownies. I've made these many times and they are always a hit : a blondie, stacked with a chocolate brownie, topped with a caramel frosting. What's not to love? In spite of the multiple steps this is a fairly easy recipe to make and very impressive looking. Let the kid(s) in your life have a go at it!

He started by washing his hands, checking over the recipe, and preheating the oven. This recipe also hails from our Taste of Home's Best of Baking cookbook. You can find the entire recipe for double brownies online here. We omitted the walnuts - I like to add chocolate chips to the middle layer but he chose to follow the recipe.

Grease a 9" x 13" pan with shortening on the bottom and sides. Don't skimp on this step, you do not want your brownies to stick to the pan!

Assemble your ingredients. This is for both layers; that's brown sugar hiding in the back there. Brownies are really pretty simple.

First, add your butter and packed brown sugar to your mixing bowl, and cream (mix until fluffy).

Add in your eggs and vanilla. It's a good idea to crack the eggs in a separate bowl in case you drop any bits of shell! Mix completely.

Measure and add your flour, and mix in.

Spread the bottom layer evenly in the pan and set aside.

For the second layer, cream your butter and sugar.

Then add the eggs and mix away!

In another bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Dump this in with your butter mixture and stir or mix until smooth.

Spread the second layer evenly over the bottom layer, being careful to not dig up the bottom layer.

Torture your baby brother by turning on the oven light and baking for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

When the brownies are almost cool, assemble the ingredients for the frosting (that's powdered sugar in the bowl).

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat.

Stir in brown sugar and milk and keep stirring until it comes to a boil. Make sure you stay with it or it could burn! Remove from heat and let cool for twenty minutes.

Stir in the powdered sugar until the frosting is smooth and creamy.

Spread the frosting on the brownies and wait patiently for thirty minutes so the frosting can set (firm up) a little.

Cut into squares with a butter knife, and enjoy!

Tomorrow, he tackles yeast rolls and orange almond drop cookies. I'm salivating already.

And he does dishes!