Sunday Baking - Blonde Brownies and a Birthday

Good evening everyone! This morning I whipped up a batch of blonde brownies. And yes, they weren't normal brownies. I ended up adding a bag of crispy s'mores M&Ms to the batter.

My sister had me pick up a bag of the M&Ms when we saw them a couple of weeks ago. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them and then I thought to add them to a brownie recipe.

I went with a blonde brownie recipe I found in our copy of Betty Crocker's Cookbook because I thought the taste of the candies wouldn't get lost in a blonde brownie compared to your normal chocolate brownie batter.

My aunt and uncle liked them. My mom wasn't a fan. She told me I had to stop adding strange things to my batters. Lol She's such a traditionalist. It's not like I was adding squid ink to the cookies or anything!!!

After making the brownies, I took a trip across the bay to the World Market. Bought some chai filled chocolate and some Kinder chocolate. Wandered over to Michael's in search of Issac Mizrahi yarn. They didn't have any of his sparkly yarn left, but I was able to buy a lovely new color of Caron Simply Soft yarn called neon coral.

No trip across the bay is complete without stopping at Barnes and Noble. I ended up buying an issue of Simply Crochet, which had some lovely Oriental themed patterns, and a sci-fi book that caught my eye.

Coming back across the bay and through downtown Government Street, I noticed someone had bought the house I have been eyeballing for a while. It is a dilapidated Victorian house with a tower. I think it was a foreclosure. I was worried that the city would tear it down, but much to my surprise someone bought it and started to renovate it!!! Seeing people giving older homes a new life always makes me happy. Especially with a city as old as ours :)

Later this afternoon my family got together to celebrate my birthday with presents and cupcakes.

I got a bunch of books (bookworm, remember?!), DVDs, Starbucks mug, gift cards for craft stores (woohoo for yarn and cross stitch addiction) and Starbucks ( yum!). My aunt got me a gift card for Down Sunshine Lane's website. I can't wait to buy new cross stitch patterns! Now I have to sit down and figure out which ones I really want.....there are so many!!

My mom got me two new brooches, a spring hat with flowers and an adorable fox.

She also got me a Kitchen-Aid handmixer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YES!!! Not that I hate the Sunbeam handmixer I have been using, but it is slowly giving up the ghost. This morning I had to hold the plug to the outlet for a few seconds to keep it mixing.

So I am very happy to get a new mixer. I can put the Sunbeam handmixer in retirement. Who knows, I might actually see if someone can fix it as a backup for the Kitchen-Aid handmixer because the Sunbeam is a trooper from the 1980s. That's a lot of baking!!!

Hmm.....I can't decide what to make first with my new handmixer......to be traditional or non-traditional, that is the question.

Until next time >___<