DIY Birthday Cake Frosted Brownies

Hey everyone!

It's been a little while since I have had time to experiment in the kitchen, but last weekend I finally got the chance to do just that! I wanted to come up with something more than just my normal cookies, so I looked up some ideas for brownies and tweaked the recipes I found with my own touches! What it turned out to be: brownies from scratch with homemade birthday cake flavored frosting. YUM! Here's how you make them:

What you'll need:
- 9x13 pan
- cooking spray
- 2 large mixing bowls
- kitchen aid mixer or beater
- spatula

Brownies:
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 2 sticks (1 cup) butter unsalted
- 2 cups graulated sugar
- 2 cups cocoa powder
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 3 eggs

Frosting:
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter unsalted
- 1/3 cup yellow cake mix
- 4 tbsp milk (and have on hand to add PRN)
- 1 tbsp vanilla

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
2. Spray your 9x13 pan with cooking spray
3. Combine semisweet chocolate chips and butter into a microwave safe mixing bowl. Heat in 30 second increments, stirring in between, until consistency is smooth
4. Combine cocoa, granulated and brown sugar, and salt into a separate bowl and sift together well
5. Add dry mix into chocolate mix and combine using a spatula
6. Add in the 3 eggs, vegetable oil, and vanilla, beat on medium with a mixer
7. Slowly add in the flower, making sure all is mixed in from side and bottom of the bowl
8. Place brownie mix into 9x13 pan
9. Bake for 24-28 minutes or until fork comes out mostly clean
10. Prepare frosting by mixing all ingredients together. Add milk as needed.
11. Let brownies cool. Frost frosting over the top of the brownies.
12. Place in fridge for 30 minutes before cutting and serving brownies.

The recipe I was following for the most part did not include oil, and when I got to the end of mixing everything, the batter just looked too dry so I added the 1/3 cup of vegetable oil to help make them more moist. They turned out great! I don't usually LOVE brownies from scratch, because IMO the box kind are amazing so why mess with a good thing? But I do like making things from scratch, and these turned out well. I don't know if I would love them as much without the frosting, but they were great as made above! Baking is such a relaxation tool for me. It really does help me chill out and focus on task oriented things. Any recipes you think I should try? Or any type of baked good you think I should try to experiment with? Let me know!

Thanks for reading,
Olivia :)

#BookWorm: All the Missing Girls

Hey fellow readers,

Last night I finished up with my latest read: All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda. WOW. It was SO good. Similar to books like the popular The Girl on the Train and Luckiest Girl Alive,  this thriller takes you to the town of Cooley Ridge, NC where the main character Nic returns after her dad starts losing his mind and they need to sell his house. She hasn't lived there since her best friend Corrine disappeared ten years ago. While she is there, another girl Annaleise goes missing. When they start uncovering what happened to the latest victim, it brings back memories of the past and what really happened to her friend Corrine. This book was BOMB. To me, it was easier to follow then The Girl on the Train, more similar writing to Luckiest Girl Alive but without the language. There were choice bad words, but not as much as the other two thrillers. It also was WAY less graphic than The Girl on the Train or Gone Girl. Like I only was like "ew that's gross" once (whereas the others it was like every chapter). I feel like this book slipped through the cracks a little since it came out about a year after The Girl on the Train, but it is totally worth reading.

If you hated the previous books mentioned, don't write this one off. Like I said, way less graphic and way less bad language but just as intriguing. I'm always one to try and guess right away "who did it" but in this one I could NOT figure it out and I LOVE books like that. The characters were also pretty loveable, and parts of the book were predictable but not overly so. Overall rating? 9/10. Very good. I am trying to keep dwindling down my stack, but somehow keep buying or coming across more books (oops ;) ). But I am working on it!

I have thoroughly enjoyed having way more free time since being done with my OCN exam. There are lots of big and exciting things coming up this spring and summer for the Franeks (no I'm not pregnant) and I also look forward to projects and baking galore! We will be traveling quite a bit starting this month through the end of the summer, so I will try to keep up with our adventures as best as we can!

Thanks for reading with me,
- Olivia :)

#BookWorm: Talking As Fast As I Can

Hello fellow readers,

I just finished up reading Lauren Graham's autobiography Talking As Fast As I Can. For some reason, I either find certain celebrity's autobiographies totally boring or totally fascinating. This one was on the fascinating side. Lauren Graham went through talking about her life from basically her earliest memories all the way up until Gilmore Girls: A Year In the Life was filmed. I found her perspective of filming both Gilmore Girls and Parenthood fascinating. I also reminded myself to add her book Someday, Someday Maybe to my reading list! If you generally like autobiographies (or love Lauren Graham) reading this book is worth your time. It is a quick and easy read, could have been a little longer and/or more descriptive but it is what she wanted in the book. Overall rating, 8.5/10.

I had already seen Gilmore Girls: A Year In the Life prior to reading this, and if you are a Gilmore Girls fan, I would suggest you do the same. It does give away a few things, nothing huge, but some important things. With that being said if you HAVE seen the new Gilmore Girls episodes: WHY WHY WHY?! Such a frustrating ending. Obviously there will be more right? And maybe or maybe not does Lauren Graham think so too... Ugh so frustrating.

Anyways now that I am done with my OCN exam and am an officially certified oncology nurse (woohoo!) I have WAY more time to get back to projects, baking, and reading. YAY! Made a stop at Barnes and Noble a few weeks ago and added to my already overflowing stack of books I want to read at home. I'm pretty sure my list is up to like at least 50. It's getting long folks! With that being said, still tell me what you love and want me to read too!

Thanks for reading with me,

- Olivia