Aunt Patty’s Family Famous Brownies comfort U.S. Army soldier

My youngest son Joe is a proud member of the U.S. Army serving in Iraq. A few weeks back I got a request to send a batch of his Aunt Patty’s brownies. Getting baked goods shipped overseas comes with a few challenges, we tested the use of FoodSaver Vacuum Packaging Systems

Joe got his brownies. It took 3 weeks for them to arrive and he reported that they were nice and fresh. I used the FoodSaver® set on 3 for the brownies and 4 on more solid cookies. Since this worked so well, I am busy thinking up new applications.

Get the Brownie recipe here 

This is one of my favorite quick meals

They are similar to the ones you can get at Applebee’s Restaurant
I prefer Bangkok Padang peanut sauce (from house of tsang)
and kikkoman’s soy sauce but you may use your favorite brand.

It is also easy to adjust the quantity for the number of people you are serving, just keep in mind the they key to the taste is the dressing and dipping sauce.  I always use 1-1 ratio in the dressing (made of the peanut sauce and red wine vinaigrette) and 3-1 for the dipping sauce.

Quick Chicken Roll-Up’s

Ingredients:

1 bag frozen precooked chicken fingers
1 bag salad mix
6 white flour tortillas
¼ Cup slivered almonds
¼ Cup shelled salted sunflower seeds
¼ cup red wine vinaigrette
1 cup peanut sauce
¼ cup soy sauce

Mix ¼ cup peanut sauce and ¼ cup red wine vinaigrette in a shaker and set aside.
Put salad mix, almonds, sunflower seeds in a bowl, mix lightly to combine.

Microwave chicken fingers according to package directions then set aside until only warm.

In a small bowl mix the other ¾ cup peanut sauce and soy sauce and place in small cups for dipping sauce.

Add chicken fingers to salad mixture and coat with peanut sauce and vinaigrette mixture to make the filling.

Place 1/6 of filling into the center of each tortilla, roll folding ends in to hold filling.

Cut each in half and serve on a plate with dipping sauce
 

Granny’s Molasses Cookies

ingredients
1 Cup Molasses
2 sticks butter (1 cup)
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons ginger
1/4 teaspoon cloves
4 Cups flour
1 Cup brown sugar
2 large eggs

directions:
Cream together butter and sugar, add molasses
and eggs mix until well blended.
add baking soda, and spices- Mix
add flour mix with large spoon or hands
until all flour is absorbed.

Make dough into balls, dip first into water
and then into a bowl of granulated sugar to
coat.
Place on baking pan, press tops with two
fingers to slightly flatten.

Bake in 350 degree pre-heated oven for 8-10
Minutes (less time results in chewier cookie)

My youngest son Joe is a proud member of the U.S. Army serving in Iraq.  Being so far away from home brings a special set of  “needs”, and a little comfort from home is one of those.  I got a request to send a batch of his Aunt Patty’s brownies. 

 

Now, getting baked goods shipped overseas comes with a few challenges, so if you will be shipping brownies, I advise that you employ a means to keep them as fresh as possible.  We are testing the use of  FoodSaver®, which is a great product that removes the air from custom sizable bags & creates a vacuum seal.  I’ll update this after I get a report from Joe on the condition the brownies arrive in, but we have used it successfully when shipping cookies.

 

Ok, now to reveal the family secret… here is the recipe for

 

Aunt Patty’s Family Famous Brownies

 

In a sauce pan melt 1 stick +2 tablespoons butter. Remove from heat as soon as butter is melted.  Stir in 1 cup sugar mixed with ½ cup cocoa powder.  Blend in 2 slightly beaten eggs adding about ½ at a time and mixing well.  Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla.  Stir in ¾ cup all purpose flour.  Add ½ cup of your favorite chopped nuts (optional-Joe really does not like nuts in his brownies) Mix well.  Spread in a well greased 8×8 glass baking dish.  Bake in over preheated to 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.  Remove from oven & sprinkle with powdered sugar while still warm.  Cool and cut into squares. 

 

For shipping I wanted to reduce the cut edges to avoid drying out & so cur the pan into thirds and packaged each third in a separate bag and vacuum sealed with the FoodSaver® our model has a setting to remove air and the #3 setting removed to air nicely without “crushing” the brownies.