A Birthday Tradition

The boy is officially turning 10 years old this coming weekend, but since he’ll be at his dad’s house we’re celebrating tonight. The impending double-digits are bittersweet for me. I’m one of the (seemingly) rare mothers who enjoys the school-age stage of parenting way more than I ever enjoyed the baby or toddler stages. That’s not to say that I wish away his childhood, but I’m not crying into the birthday cake icing either, if you know what I’m saying.

This particular jump into the double-digits affected me a little bit, though, and it came completely out of the blue. It could be because I realize he’s closer to being a legal adult now than he is to the day he was born. It could also be because at (almost) 10 years old he’s decided to start exercising his right to stay home alone rather than run to the store with me sometimes. Or maybe it’s that I know that “teenage boy body odor” isn’t long on the horizon. I’ve heard the tales.

Nevertheless, tonight we celebrated his still odor-free advancement into the double-digits – and he’s just like his mom in that he’ll take a pan of gooey, chocolatey brownies any day over a big fancy birthday cake. This is one of the tell-tale signs that we share all the DNA that matters.

These aren’t just any old brownies. In the past they were. In the past they were just any old brownies. Now, though, we make spectacular brownies – and I owe it all to digital scrapbooking because on one fateful day back in April of 2009, Katrina of Tiny Toes Designs posted a recipe for these brownies in a thread at My Scrapbook Art and my pants have never fit the same since.

If you are a brownie lover like we are, I urge you to make these and then tell me that you could ever make a boxed mix of brownies again. They’re not any more difficult than preparing a box mix – it’s just that instead of a big mixing bowl you use a saucepan on a stove, where you get to witness chocolatey goodness in the making. Why would you want lumpy, grainy brownie batter when you could have rich, molten chocolate lava batter?

Don’t you want to be good to yourself? Don’t you deserve this? Of course you do. You owe it to yourself.

While they’re still warm from the oven you ice them. Don’t even think about skipping the icing because it’s the best part of this whole experience.

It’s a thin liquid chocolate that spreads across the surface of the still warm brownies to create this glass-like layer of chocolate awesomeness.

So when you cut into them, the icing runs all down the sides screaming “Get out your stretchy pants!!” because that’s exactly what you’re going to need.

And that’s exactly what birthdays are all about.

Plus the obligatory Todd Shot – the “Who Wore It Best” Edition:

Car Wash Brownies
(note: I have no idea why they’re called Car Wash Brownies but I don’t even need to know…)

1 cup margarine
4 Tbsp cocoa
1 cup water
2 cups flour
½ tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
½ cup sour milk (add lemon juice)
2 cups sugar
2 eggs

Icing:
½ cup margarine
¼ cup milk
4 Tbsp cocoa
2 cups icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350°F

Mix in a pot the margarine, cocoa and water, bringing to a boil. Remove from heat and add flour, salt, and baking soda. Stir until combined. Add milk, sugar and eggs last. Mix well and pour into 9×13 pan. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until it tests done.

Icing:

Bring margarine, milk and cocoa to a boil. Take off stove, add icing sugar. Stir until combined add vanilla. Mix with beaters until smooth, then pour over lukewarm brownies.