Black Forest Brownies

 Recipe:
Box of brownie mix
Eggs, vegetable oil, water (see back of box for exact amounts)
Cherry pie filling
Cream Cheese frosting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 13 X 9 baking pan. Mix brownie batter according to directions on box. Pour into pan and bake for ten minutes. Pull brownies out of oven and pour pie filling over the brownie. Spread evenly (because the brownie is not fully baked, the pie filling might mix into the batter; this is perfectly okay!). Bake for another 30-35 minutes. Allow to cool completely. Spread frosting over cooled brownies. Cut and enjoy.




Adventure:
Monday nights are family home evening in our house. That means a short lesson, lots of games and laughter and, of course, treats! Gary loves treats of all kinds, but he especially loves anything that has fruit in it. So he was really excited to help me start the brownies. He stretched his arms up to touch the countertop. "Up, county? Up?"
I picked him up and put him on the counter. "Are you going to help Mommy with the brownies?"
"Yep."
"Can you count eggs for me?"
"Yep."
"Okay, here's one egg." Crack.
"One. Two!"
"Good job, Gary," I said as I put the last egg in the brownie batter. Then I measured the water we would need.
"Mine, mine!"
I handed Gary the measuring cup and helped him pour the water into the bowl. Then we measured the oil and he put that into the bowl.
After that it was time for Gary's favorite part of baking: stirring. Once I got it started for him, he took over. It didn't take him long at all to get the brownie batter completely mixed together.

  

               

Then I poured it into the pan and Gary helped smooth it out. Once it was all ready, I put it into the over and set the timer for ten minutes. It seemed like a long wait for the beeper to finally go off. As I opened the oven door, I was greeted with the pleasant aroma of baking chocolate. I pulled the half-baked brownies out of the oven and put it onto the stovetop to pour the pie filling on top. Because the pan was very hot, Gary wasn't allowed to help with this part of the process. Instead he went with his uncle John to play in his room.

Once back in the oven, I set the timer again and we waited. The sweet smell of chocolate and cherry wafted through the apartment as we waited again for the beeper. Luckily we had dinner going while it was baking so that our growling stomachs could be soon satisfied. The brownies finished and I pulled them out of the oven and placed them on the counter to cool. We finished our dinner and I frosted the brownies just before starting family home evening with the boys. Our lesson was on continuing to learn throughout our lives. Each of us picked five things we want to learn throughout the year and wrote them down on pieces of paper as we enjoyed the gooey brownies.

Gary didn't have to write his down, but I bet one of his goals is to keep learning how to work in the kitchen.