There is not a lot he will eat that is out of the ordinary. He is a simple meat and potatoes kind of a guy, and he doesn't even eat a lot of those. My daughter ends up cooking two separate meals most nights.
I thought he might like brownies. He always takes those Little Debbie's kind of cakes to work in his lunch every day. How much better is a homemade brownie than those!
And how much better than a homemade brownie are Mississippi Mud bars! Sinful and indulgent, I cannot think of too many people who would not enjoy Mississippi Mud bars. To do so would be indecent and not human!
I made a small batch of a recipe that I found for Mississippi Mud Bars in Southern Living, Comfort Food. This was another one of my cookbooks that I chose to replace here in Canada.
Anyways, I thought a full recipe would be far more than my daughter and her husband could cope with, or should cope with so I cut the recipe in half with great success.
Yes I did taste them. A woman's got to do what a woman's got to do. Its a dirty job but somebody's got to do it. I was only too happy to step up to the plate.
After all I wouldn't expect anyone to eat anything I wouldn't eat, right? My only regret is sprinkling milk chocolate chips on top. They came off looking white in the photographs and I can promise you they were not white.
I hope you will forgive me for making something that doesn't look nice in photographs anyways, look even worse! Don't let that deter you from making them. They are gorgeous!
Nothing too spectacular. Simple ingredients put together in the most delicious way! (That's my motto most of the time!)
For the brownie base and marshmallow topping:
- all purpose flour (plain flour in the UK)
- unsweetened cocoa powder (not chocolate drink mix, they are not the same thing)
- granulated sugar
- baking powder
- salt
- melted butter
- large free range eggs
- vanilla extract (I always use the pure stuff)
- miniature marshmallows (I like the all white ones)
For the frosting:
- melted butter
- unsweetened cocoa powder
- evaporated milk (not sweetened condensed milk, you could also use half and half or single cream)
- vanilla extract (again I use pure)
- icing sugar (also known as powdered or confectioner's sugar)
HOW DO YOU MAKE MISSISSIPPI MUD BARS
The hardest part of making these lush bars is keeping your hands off them until everything sets up!
The base for these is essentially a rich fudge brownie. If you can make a brownie then you can make these. The dry ingredients are whisked together and then you whisk in the melted butter, eggs and vanilla, whisking only until the mixture is smooth and homogenous.
You then spread the batter into your prepared pan. I butter the pan and also partially line it with baking paper, so that there is an overhang on two opposite sides.
While they are baking put your frosting together as you will be needing it not too long after your brownie base is baked.
Once that happens you just scatter the marshmallows over top and return them to the oven for a minute or two.
You don't want the marshmallows to brown at all. You just want them to melt until they are ooey and gooey.
Once that has happened, take them out (they will be all puffy) and then spread the frosting over top of the warm marshmallow. It won't be easy, but it will be worth it.
The frosting is as easy to make as beating the ingredients together with an electric hand whisk until smooth and spreadable.
Use cocoa powder and not chocolate drink mix. Chocolate drink mix is considerably sweeter than cocoa powder and has a completely different consistency which just won't bake the same. The two are NOT interchangeable in my opinion.
Sift your cocoa powder. Cocoa powder can be really lumpy and doesn't mix in well, so sift, sift, sift. Nobody wants to bite down on a lump of cocoa powder. It won't taste nice and it will be unsightly.
Always toast your nuts when baking. They just taste better.
Sift your icing sugar to get out all of the lumps. Nobody wants to eat a lumpy frosting and it just doesn't look nice.
Don't sweat it if your icing doesn't completely cover the marshmallow. It is okay if a bit of mallow peeks through. That's just the nature of mud. Trust me, they will still be delicious!
Try (if you can) to leave them overnight before cutting into them. You will get much nicer cuts. Lift them out of the pan to cut. In an eight inch square pan, four cuts one way and 3 cups the other will give you 12 nice, decently sized squares.
Trust me, these are so sweet you won't want huge pieces. Break out the milk, because a nice tall glass of cold milk goes really well with these!
Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy! (And leave off the chocolate chips unless you like really sweet things!)
Mississippi Mud Bars (small batch)
Yield: 12 barsAuthor: Marie RaynerPrep time: 10 MinCook time: 32 MinTotal time: 42 MinDeep dark, chocolatey and decadent delicious! Oh my goodness!Ingredients
For the bars:- 3/4 cup (110g) plain all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (4 TBS) cocoa powder (Not drinking chocolate)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup (120g) butter, melted
- 2 large free range eggs, beaten lightly
- 1/2 TBS vanilla
- 1/2 cup (60g)chopped toasted pecan nuts
- 1 1/2 cups (75g) mini marsmallows
- 1/4 cup (60g) butter, melted
- 2 1/2 TBS cocoa powder, sifted
- 2 1/2 TBS evaporated milk (not sweetened condensed)
- 1 3/4 cup (225g) icing sugar, sifted
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4. Butter an 8-inch square baking tin. Line it with baking paper, giving yourself an overhang to lift the cooled squares out with.
- Whisk the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt together in a bowl. Add the butter, eggs, and vanilla. Stir everything together until smooth. Stir in the pecan nuts.
- Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the pan comes out clean with only a few moist crumbs attached. Remove from the oven and immediately scatter the marshmallows over top and return to the oven for one to two minutes to melt the marshmallows.
- Remove from the oven and carefully spread the frosting over top of the marshmallows. Cool completely and cut into squares.
- To make the frosting beat all of the ingredients together with an electric mixer at medium speed until the dry ingredients are moistened. Beat at high speed until the frosting reaches a spreadable consistency.