Silver and Gold and Recipes (Pumpkin Brownies)

          

There’s an old campfire girls saying about friends “Make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold”. Friends are like a precious metal that enrich our lives.  Recipes are like that also; we have our old favorites, but like to try new ones. So when I volunteered to bring brownies to a friends’ lunch, I thought of my all-time-favorite-tried-and-true recipe (blog of August 6, 2011). But I’ve been seeing lots of pumpkin brownie recipes on Pinterest and in the magazines that were tempting, keep the old or try the new??

The Friends’ lunch was great – our ‘old’ Extension staff (Jeff, Cherie & I) and the ‘new’ Extension staff (Amanda & Anna). It was good to visit with all and to appreciate the specialness of these friendships – a celebration of long-standing friends and the discoveries of new friends.

The ‘new’ recipe of Pumpkin Brownies was special too. With two favorite flavors – chocolate and pumpkin, it turned out to be a new favorite.  Best enjoyed with a cup of kindness.

Pumpkin Brownies

Ingredients:

¾ cup all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

¾ cup butter, melted

1 ½ cups white sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 eggs

¼ cup cocoa powder

½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used white chocolate chips)

½ cup pumpkin puree

½ cup chopped walnuts

¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground cloves

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions:

1.     Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8x8-inch baking pan. Stir flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl.

2.     In another bowl, stir together the melted butter, sugar, and vanilla extract, beat in the eggs one at a time with a spoon. Gradually add the flour mixture, and stir the batter until it’s evenly moistened. Divide the batter in half I two separate bowls.

3.     Into one bowl of batter blend cocoa powder ad chocolate chips In the second bowl of batter stir in the pumpkin puree walnuts, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.

4.     Spread ½ of the chocolate batter into the bottom of the prepared baking pan, and follow with ½ of the pumpkin batter. Repeat the layers, ending with a pumpkin layer, and drag a kitchen knife or small spatula gently through the layers in a swirling motion, to create a marbled appearance.

5.     Bake in the preheated oven until the brownies begin to pull away from the sides of the pan, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 40-45 minutes. Cool in the pan, cut into squares, and serve.

Makes 16 servings.

We've had many coffee times, birthday cakes, and office conferences around this table.