Yup. You heard me. Pumpkin Rocky Road Brownies. I love Rocky Road ice cream and I love the fall flavors of pumpkin, cinnamon, ginger, and cardamom. So why not combine them into a brownie?

Kelly of Evil Shenanigans (and she is evil, people, make no mistake!) issued a challenge: In honor of the new show, Top Chef: Just Desserts, let’s see if we can duplicate the elimination challenge. We, of course, would have the whole following week and post on Wednesday. Last week’s elimination challenge was “Bake Sale”. The cheftestants had to create items that would sell big at a high school bake sale, so that became our challenge, too.

That was my inspiration for these – and I’m betting they’d sell big-time!

Pumpkin Rocky Road Brownies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup pumpkin purée
1 cup natural cane sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
1/2 tsp. table salt

1 cup California Walnuts, chopped or crushed coarsely
1 cup chocolate chips
2 cups mini-marshmallows

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 325º F. Prepare a 9″ x 9″ pan by spraying with cooking spray, or by lining with non-stick aluminum foil.

Melt the stick of butter over medium-low heat and allow to brown (yes! brown butter!). Remove from heat and stir in the cocoa powder until completely blended. Transfer mixture into a medium bowl.

Add the pumpkin puree to the cocoa mixture and mix on low speed with an electric mixer. Add the sugar, then add the egg and vanilla extract, and mix well after each addition.

Sift together all the dry ingredients, except the chocolate chips,nuts, and marshmallows, and add to the wet mixture in thirds, and mix thoroughly after each third. Fold in the nuts, chocolate chips, and mini-marshmallows by hand. This is a fairly thick batter.

Pour batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly.

Bake on the bottom rack of the oven for 30 – 35 minutes, or until the top appears dry. Allow to cool completely in the pan, on a rack, before cutting.

Notes:

* Again, allow the brownies to cool completely before cutting, or you’ll wind up with a sloppy (albeit delicious) mess. Patience, Grasshopper.

* For all my brownies, rather than greasing the pan, I like to line it with non-stick aluminum foil. Not only does this eliminate the need to grease and clean a pan, but after a few minutes, you can remove the brownie cake from the pan, in the foil, allowing it to cool faster. When it’s completely cool, you can peel back the foil and never worry about digging out that first piece – every piece you cut can be perfect!

It finally came off! After weeks of rejection by every commercial venue down here you can think of, and acceptance with open arms by Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, the Miami leg of the National Food Bloggers Great American Bake Sale to benefit Share Our Strength, happened this past Saturday! That is, with a lot of help from my friends.

Sweetness Bake Shop donated dozens of delicious mini-cupcakes (red velvet sold out fast!). Thanks, Stephanie!

Our good friends at Dunkin’ Donuts South Florida (@DDSoFla on Twitter) were kind enough to donate dozens of doughnuts and boxes o’ joe (coffee) for us to sell, and believe me, the coffee was especially appreciated.

Friends Astrid W., Kristin H. (also known as “BooBoo” to my very long-time readers), Lynne (Miz Shoes of Girlyshoes), and Paula (of Mango & Lime), and I, baked into the night, resulting in dozens of cookies, brownies, biscotti, rugelach, healthy muffins, quick breads, and so much more! A couple of my co-workers even contributed baked goods (“Sheila, I need you to bake me about a half-dozen banana breads.” “What?!?”)

I even got a volunteer baker referred to me by Tasha of That’s So Yummy, who was running her own GABS in Orlando! Shana lives about an hour away in Broward county, baked some wonderful cookies and brownies, and then drove them all the way down to us. Thanks go out to both of them, too!

This little ladybug landed on my shoulder and stuck around for nearly an hour – a sign of good luck, right?

And good luck we had, too! After threatening us with rain that never materialized during the day, we had a very good day, indeed. Counting the donations, proceeds from our raffle (see previous post), and food sales, we were able to put $748.00 in the mail to Share Our Strength! If you include online donations, that’s a total of $828.00! Not bad for a week-and-a-half’s notice, eh?

Thanks to Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, our intrepid volunteers, and wonderful donors! Next year will be even better!

(Photos by Paula Nino, Renée Joslyn, and Lynne Cohen. Additional photos from our day can be found by clicking here.)

For more information, or to donate to my team (and we will happily accept your money, thankyouverymuch!), click here and visit my team page. To find a bake sale near you, click here

Rumors to the contrary, I have not disappeared off the face of the Earth! For the last couple of weeks, I have been immersed in baking and jamming in preparation for the National Food Bloggers Great American Bake Sale to benefit Share Our Strength.

After a few episodes of tearing my hair out to find a location, and being led down the proverbial garden path more than once, guess what? I should have gone down that garden path to start with – Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden, that is! I should have known that an organization that emphasizes education and children’s programs, would be familiar with SOS and might have a natural affinity for an event such as ours. I am thrilled and honored that Fairchild agreed to host our bake sale!

I’ve personally made strawberry jam, two different types of biscotti, my signature Framboise Brownies, lemon sweet rolls and even some strawberry sweet rolls (using my own jam!). If I get the time, I may even make some marmalade! But it’s not all about me – seven very talented local ladies are baking with me: Miz Shoes (of Girlyshoes), Paula (of Mango & Lime), Stephanie (of the newly-opened Sweetness Bakeshop & Cafe), as well as good friends Kristin H. & Astrid, and two of my co-workers.

We’ll be having a raffle, too! This fabulous full-size quilt, lovingly handmade by Tante Leah Handmades (a/k/a, Miz Shoes):

A beautiful Bromeliad plant, donated by Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden (the Bromeliad Show & Sale is happening that weekend at the Garden, too!); and a basket of my Framboise Brownies, together with a bottle of the elusive secret ingredient – Pacific Rim Framboise Wine – and the recipe, are all items being raffled at our bake sale!

For more information, or to donate to my team (and we will happily accept your money, thankyouverymuch!), click here and visit my team page. To find a bake sale near you, click here.

I’m making up the annual holiday treats platter for our local post office, right now. I put together a selection of treats for these hard-working souls every year, because, well, between MJ and me, we can be pretty trying. No, really. Stop laughing.

Anyway, the centerpiece of the platter is the Framboise Brownie. These brownies are rich and moist, with just a hint of raspberry. In past years, the secret ingredient was always Bonny Doon Vineyard’s Framboise raspberry wine. Indeed, I found the recipe on their website. Can you imagine? Rich, dark chocolate, paired with lush, sweet undertone of raspberry? In a brownie? Mmm….

The Framboise became more difficult to find, so I stocked up whenever I saw it. A couple of months ago, I found out that Bonny Doon stopped making Framboise. Oh, no! Whatever was I going to do?!? How was I going to make my signature holiday sweet?!? Ack! Twitter to the rescue. Seriously. One day I discovered that Bonny Doon is on Twitter. So, I “followed” them and asked, “What happened to Framboise? How am I going to make my holiday brownies, this year?” And they answered me! Probably sensed my desperation.

A few years ago, several alumni of Bonny Doon moved to Oregon and started up their own vineyard, concentrating primarily on Rieslings. They called themselves Pacific Rim Winemakers. Pacific Rim (who I wish would hook up on Twitter, hint hint!) is making my beloved Framboise. Yay! I bought six bottles, because, you know, shipping was free. Well, wouldn’t you?

By the way, the Pacific Rim Framboise is delightful on its own, but seeing as most of our bar winds up in our food, rather than in our glasses, these days (bourbon & Grand Marnier in the sweet potatoes, amaretto in the cranberry sauce, etc.), it’s not unnatural to find wine in the brownies, around here.

Framboise Brownies
(adapted with permission of Bonny Doon Vineyard)

6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate
1/4 cup Pacific Rim Framboise Wine
8 oz. (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350º F. Butter and flour an 8 inch square baking pan. Set it aside.

Melt the chocolate in a small heavy sauce pan over low heat, stirring constantly. Add the Framboise and stir well. Remove from the heat and add the butter. Beat until smooth. Stir in the vanilla and the eggs; mix thoroughly. Add flour, sugar and salt and mix until smooth. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake just until cooked, approximately 30 minutes. Allow to cool completely in the pan. Cut into squares and transfer to a serving plate.

*Notes:

Rather than buttering and flouring my pan, I line the pan with non-stick aluminum foil. When it comes out of the oven, wait about 5 minutes and you can lift the entire thing out of the pan by the foil lining, and allow it to cool on a rack.

Ready for your bonus, now? Are you sure? It’s… Cookies! Are you surprised?

I’m participating in Gourmet Girl Magazine’s Virtual Holiday Cookie Crawl. For the purpose, I’ve adapted my favorite Framboise Brownies into Framboise Brownie Cookies!

For the Framboise Brownie Cookies:

Preheat the oven to 350º. Prepare cookie sheets by lining them with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

Mix up the brownie batter, above, allow to stand for about 30 minutes, and give it another good stir, by hand. The batter will have thickened. Drop by measuring spoon teaspoonfuls about 1-1/2″ apart onto the cookie sheets (they will spread), and bake for 12 minutes. Allow to cool completely on the cookie sheets before removing, using a thin metal spatula.

A ballot will be posted on Gourmet Girl Magazine’s site on December 22nd, so you can vote for your favorite cookies. Of course, I hope you’ll vote for mine. ->Blush!<- I’ll let you know when the ballot goes up.

Oh, and just so you know, I have received no consideration or compensation in any form from either Bonny Doon Vineyard or Pacific Rim Winemakers. Bonny Doon gave me permission to re-post their recipe, and Pacific Rim has no clue that I’m even mentioning them. Although I’m going to tell them. Really. E-mail’s going out as we speak. As it were.

And yes, I am going to finish up The 12 Days of Cookies! Coming soon! I swear!