Pumpkin Spice Kiss Brownie Bites

Pin It Now!

After making some scrumptious caramel filled pumpkin pie spiced snickerdoodles yesterday, I realized something.  As tasty as they were, I wanted chocolate.  They held no interest for me.  And after guiltily eating a few spoonfuls of nutella right out of the container, I decided I really needed to fix my need for a chocolate fix, ASAP.  I had some Hershey's Pumpkin Spice Kisses in my cupboard, waiting for some brilliant excuse to use them and so I started thinking about what they would go well with.  Eventually, after not long, I decided what I really wanted was brownies.  I took off on the search for a simple, yet rich brownie recipe, and came across Smitten Kitchen's My Favorite Brownie Recipe.  They looked simple, I had everything, and I didn't even have to pull out the mixer.  Win!  Since I wanted to use the Kisses, I thought I would portion control them and make individual brownie bites in a mini muffin tin, and this way each one could have a lovely Kiss center.  In 45 minutes start to finish, I was done, and enjoying rich, chocolately brownies that had a wonderful center that tasted like pumpkin pie cheesecake.  Win, win, win.

Batter in the mini muffin tins with the inverted Kisses before baking.

Pumpkin Spice Kiss Brownie Bites
(Adapted from Smitten Kitchen's My Favorite Brownies)

Makes approx. 40 brownie bites

Ingredients:

• 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, roughly chopped
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
• 1-1/3 cups granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 2/3 cup all purpose flour
• 40 Hershey's Pumpkin Spice Kisses, unwrapped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Spray two mini muffin tin pans with non-stick cooking spray.
2. In a medium, microwave safe bowl, melt the butter and chocolate together, in 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until the chocolate and butter are melted  and combined.
3. Whisk in the sugar, and then the eggs, one at a time.  Add vanilla and salt and whisk well to combine.
4. Stir in flour with a spatula until combined.
5. Using a 2 teaspoon cookie scoop, place a level scoop full of batter into each muffin tin cup.  Press a Hershey's Kiss, pointed side down, into the center of each scoop of batter.
6. Bake for 14-17 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the inner most brownie batter comes out with just a few crumbs, if any.
7. Let cool in the pan for several minutes and then carefully use a knife to pop each brownie bite out of the pan.

End of Year Teacher Thank You Gifts

Pin It Now!

I confess, I am about as creative as a door knob.  A very, very boring door knob.  I scour pinterest shamelessly for ideas, because I am utterly incapable of coming up with all the cute, creative, and tasty things that are on there.  Pinterest has been my muse.

When I found out/realized (yesterday) that tomorrow is our sons last day of school with this particular set of teachers (he is in preschool), I wanted to do something nice for them, since I can't even fathom what they must go through teaching a bunch of two year old toddlers for a year.  I immediately turned to pinterest for ideas.  Sadly, nothing feasible jumped out at me.  So then I took to Facebook.  My wonderful cousin suggested a cute cup idea that is filled with a gift card and some goodies, and a great friend, as well as my sister, offered up the suggestion to bake something.  I love to bake, and any excuse to bake is fine with me.  I just couldn't figure out what to bake.  Given this dilemma, I ended up doing a little bit of everything.

For his teacher and the teacher's aids in his class that he has had all year and all summer, I did the cup idea.  I had seen some version of this on pinterest, so I kind of mashed all the ideas together.  I got some insulated cups at Walmart, along with a Target gift card (from Target of course), and some Hershey's Hugs (white chocolate and chocolate kisses, together in one).  On the label, in my abysmal hand writing, I wrote "Thank you for being the Target of my Hugs and quenching my thirst for knowledge."  OK, OK. I know.  Lame.  Cheesy. SO uncreative.  Well, the internet was failing me on cute quotes that used the word Target, Hugs,  Thank You, and Thirst.  So, this is what they get.

To finish it off, I wrapped it in some great all purpose bags that get used for everything from storing my bread and goodies I bake, to my husbands 1st edition signed books.  Like I said, they are all purpose.  I tied some yellow ribbon around it that I had leftover from my son's birthday party (check out the party here) and attached a note card I printed out from the printables set I got for his party, which I glued on some construction paper and wrote my lame saying.

Hopefully the saying holds true that it is the thought that counts.  My son really loves his teachers, as well as all the staff at his school, and we think they are great too.

Speaking of the staff at his school...they all kind of work together to teach and watch the kids, and my son is so fond of everyone there that I decided to make them end of the year thank you gifts as well.  Here is where the baking comes in.  I decided to play it safe since I was making them for so many people, and do my tried and true chocolate chip cookie recipe (sorry, there are a few recipes I am not prepared to part with in case I ever have a bakery or restaurant.  Hey, it could happen).

I made smaller size chocolate chip cookies, placed four each in small plastic cups I had also left over from my sons birthday (thanks to Sam's Club, I have like 150 leftover), placed them in a goodie bag I got from Michael's, and added a tag that I printed from Sweet Metel Moments.

 Secured with a twist tie that came with the baggies, and Ta-Da!  We have gifts for the staff.  24 to be precise.

Cookies!!!!

 Final haul!

Thank goodness for the printable, now no one else has to be subjected to my less than aesthetically pleasing writing.  I thought they were pretty cute.  Now, I just have to figure out how to get them all there.  Oh well, one problem at a time.



Bottom line


Teacher's put up with a lot of junk, they definitely deserve to be showered with some appreciation.  I mean really, could you teach 12 two year olds 5 days a week for a year, and do it with a smile, compassion, and love?  I am sorry, but I think those that do are saints.  My hat's off to you (because I am so not one of those people!)!


Here are links to all the sites that inspired my gifts, as well as where I got the printable tags for the cookies:

Sweet Metel Moments - printable tags for the cookies

Happy Home Fairy - cup with gift card and candy

Little Pumpkin Grace - Hershey's Hugs candy