Brownie Toppers

I wanted to do another food posting but I also wanted to show some of my paper crafts, so here is a combination.

I was remiss in getting thank you cards out to family and friends for the Wonderkid's birthday presents.  It was over 2 months ago and I hadn't done a thing.  So, I thought I would make their cards, bake some brownies and blondies and add these cute toppers.  I was pushed along because I HAD to make some sweet treats for one of my dearest friend's birthday.  She always spends it at the beach and I send a small box of treats for everyone to enjoy while they are there.

The blondies are from my Great Grandfather's cookbook.  It has a catchy name, Grandpa Healy's Cookbook and the third and I believe last version was published in 1972.  I LOVE his cookbook, not just because he was related.  He was very meticulous about his recipes.  Many of them have 3 different types of flour, two types of sugar, etc.  The challenge is he used brand names and many of them are no longer in existence.  He also used a type of sugar called "brownulated".  Domino Sugar still makes it but you can purchase it in most stores.  I have it shipped to my by the case, that caused quite a bit of laughing in my household.  I had three versions of blondies this time, carmel, chocolate chip and butterscotch.

Brachs makes the most wonderful carmel chips, think about those little squares that you would buy to make carmel apples in the fall but get rid of the wrappers and make them chocolate chip sized.  They taste fantastic and bake wonderfully. The chocolate chip is made the way the book says, and finally, butterscotch.  The butterscotch is Moma's favorite.  I made them for vacation a couple of years ago and haven't been able to get the recipe the same again.  I think I've finally done it.  The smell of the butterscotch is so overpowering so I wasn't adding enough butterscotch.

Here are a few of the brownies.

And then the brownies.  I have some wonderful friends that want to make and sell brownies as a business.  I worked with them to get a recipe that they liked. These are not your childhood brownies.  They have a very strong chocolate taste, almost like a bitter chocolate.   I started with a King Arthur flour recipe as a jumping off point. I changed the type of cocoa used in the recipe and I add the Brachs carmel chips or Andes mint chips to some of them.  Be careful with the Andes chips, a little goes a long way. 

Here is the final product, in its box and everything.

My brother is a big fan of Chelsea soccer (futball) and his gift to the Wonderkid was a stuffed animal of Stamford, Chelsea's mascot.  So, I sent him lion toppers and a lion thank you card.  The cut for the toppers and the card were from Zooballoo.

The toppers are cut from a top note on the Sentimentals cartridge.  I used inexpensive cardstock from my stash (JoAnn's, Micheal's, Hobby Lobby, whatever I have handy)  The card was made using Core'dinations gemtones cardstock.

The butterflies, hearts and stars were cut out of silver DCWV metallic stack.  They all came from the Wall Decor and More Cart.  I'm really starting to love that cart.  It has some nice scroll work and cuts very nicely.

The card in this picture was made using the H2O cart.  It was used for a thank you to someone sending sand toys and such.  A similar one went to another friend that sent water sprinklers and such.