Brownies for a Broken Heart

Ever have one of those weeks where just about everything goes wrong? Just one bad incident after another, like your the butt end of a cruel joke? That was my previous week and I’m still trying to put the pieces back together. There were cuts at work; people I have grown to love got laid off and my responsibilities have increased in an already stressful job. I lost a friend who meant the world to me. I got severely sick and still am not physically well. Oh and I got dumped by someone I thought I was going to be with for a long time. Not fun. While I was going through this rough patch I didn’t feel like blogging or baking, hence my absence. And to be honest I’m still not entirely motivated, but I refuse to sulk in things I cannot change. Instead I’m trying to keep doing what I love and look forward to something that I haven’t mentioned yet – I’m going to culinary school! I was able to find an affordable one that will further sculpt my pastry skills and help me get into this professionally. And without sounding too depressing, it is my only silver lining at this point.

I had myself a week-long pity party, maybe longer. And you know what is the best dessert to bring to a pity party? Brownies. Let me tell you, I made a ton of brownies, ate a ton of brownies, and watched a ton of romantic comedies. My heart’s still broken but my tummy sure ain’t.

 

Pros of brownies – the chocolate. You can pick at the pieces while you wait for it to melt. The melting process itself is soothing, just stirring and stirring until you get..

 

Melted chocolate. And you get to lick off any of it that gets on your fingers, yum.

 

Another pro? You don’t need a mixer. Use a whisk and/or fork to mix your wet ingredients.

 

Then when your chocolate’s cooled off, use a spoon and stir it all together.

 

Don’t forget to sift your flour. I used my *new* sifter. The fun thing about the pity party is that you spend recklessly and buy yourself all kinds of things so that you feel better. No shame in my game.

 

Oh and what’s brownies without walnuts? Before mixing it in, combine them with some flour. That’s a little tip I read somewhere, so that they don’t sink to the bottom of the batter.

 

Finally, mix the dry ingredients into the chocolate mixture, stir in walnuts at the end, and pour into your pan.

 
Takes about 20 minutes for them to bake. I usually use that time to clean up. Instead, I ate all the leftover chocolate and then danced around my house (with no pants on) to Christmas music. No one was home. This isn’t relevant. Just being honest.

 

In the end we have beautiful, rich, velvety, chocolate brownies.

 

I had a wonderful date with about 5 more of these bad boys.

And that is why brownies are the best pity party dessert. Aside from a tub of ice cream.

One thing I can say – while it took me a lot of energy to even get up and start the brownies, as I was in the process of making them, baking them – I felt good. For that moment everything was okay. Everything is going to be okay. Do what you love – the rest will come later.

 
Love & Sweets,
Mel

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