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Mom recipes combine to make for delicious sheet pan dinner

So sue me, my first fish recipe comes too late for Lent. But I think this tilapia and asparagus dinner is delicious any time of year.

The recipes come from my mom, and as far as I know she doesn’t necessarily make them together; they just happen to combine the same flavor base that make them work well together. They also just happen to combine some of the best flavors out there — garlic, cayenne, butter, and olive oil. That’s right, two kinds of fat. Yummy!

Tilapia and asparagus sheet pan ingredients.

Mom gave me the tilapia recipe when I was first starting out to cook. Frozen tilapia isn’t overly expensive, it keeps, and this makes for an easy meal when you’re just starting to learn to cook. The asparagus recipe is a long time favorite, as it combines the above flavors with a good deep roasting that makes them impossible to resist. If I ever have any extra asparagus lying around, which is rare, this is how I make ‘em. So, it seemed obvious to combine them into one simple and healthy-ish meal.

Just add some stove-top grain dish, and you’ve got a full meal that tastes great.

So much yummy goodness.

Here’s what I did:

Ingredients

  • 4 fillets tilapia (fresh is best but costly)
  • 1 bunch asparagus
  • 4 T. butter, divided
  • 4 T. olive oil, divided
  • 4-5 cloves garlic, minced, divided (I was lazy and used the jarred stuff but whatever works)
  • Cayenne pepper, to taste
  • Salt, optional (I used salted butter so skipped it, but you may want to add more or definitely add some if you use unsalted butter)

Directions

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Remove woody ends of asparagus, and spread out over about half the sheet pan. Top with half the olive oil, half the butter, and half the garlic. Sprinkle with cayenne if desired. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes.

Remove the sheet pan. On the other half of the sheet pan, dot half the remaining butter and half the remaining olive oil on the sheet pan. Add the tilapia fillets on top. Top with the remaining butter and olive oil, and the garlic; sprinkle generously with cayenne pepper, to taste. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until the tilapia is cooked through.

Serve over a grain, spooning on the garlic, butter, oil mix as desired, and enjoy!

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Racing the clock against brown rice

My health has been shite for the past month, and so I’ve been relying more heavily on fast and easy recipes, and also relatively healthy.

So, I was so pleased to come across a food blogger — Chelsea’s Messy Apron — who had a sheet pan recipe that met all of my qualifications. My only qualm was it didn’t leave enough leftovers for someone as ill and lazy as me, but that was more easily remedied than my chronic ailment.

It was so easy that I decided to have some fun — at least fun for me — by racing to see whether I could get the recipe ready in less time than it would take to make the brown rice I would serve with my chicken and vegetable meal.

Sheet pan balsamic chicken ingredients.

Alas, I did not, but the delays were my own. Mostly, my damn desire to double the recipe meant the chicken crowded the sheet pan and cooked more slowly. The side benefit was the veggies had a nice crisp to them.

Still, the recipe was a treat and one I’ll return to again.

The best part was the ease at which flavor was added. Balsamic vinegar and Italian dressing combined to form a marinade, coating and dipping sauce that worked wonderfully. Another benefit is that any veggie combination would work, so it works to clip up what’s in the fridge.

Next time, maybe though, I’ll spread it onto two sheet pans so I can beat the brown rice.

Quick, healthy, and most importantly, tasty. What’s not to love?

Here’s what I did:

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs. chicken breast, cut into strips, or chicken tenders
  • 1 c. Italian dressing
  • ⅔ c. balsamic vinegar
  • 2 (12 oz.) packages broccoli florets
  • ½ pint cherry tomatoes, halved
  • ½ lb. baby carrots, halved
  • ½ t. basil
  • ½ t. oregano
  • 1 t. garlic powder
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • Olive oil
  • Parsley, chopped, for garnish (optional)

Directions

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a large, sided sheet pan (or sheet pans).

Mix together the balsamic vinegar and dressing. Pour a third of the mixture into a Ziploc bag with the chicken and marinate for at least 30 minutes or up to 6 hours. Split the remaining mixture into two bowls.

Place veggies on the sheet pan, and mix in the herbs, spices, and salt and pepper, as well as 4-5 tablespoons of olive oil. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes while the chicken marinates.

When chicken is ready, move veggies to the side and place the strips in the center of the sheet pan. Brush a third of the marinade onto the chicken (and vegetables), and bake for another 15 minutes or so until the chicken is cooked through.

Serve the meal with the remaining marinade/sauce and serve over rice or another grain, if desired. Enjoy!

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First time for everything

The cookbook we got for Christmas, British chef Jamie Oliver’s “5 Ingredients,” has some interesting ingredients and in the case of sheet pan-like recipes, an interesting choice of preparation dishes.

It’s kind of like that Eddie Izzard joke about the difference between American English and British English, only less funny. But it is fun to suss out the differences in British cuisine and American, and sometimes challenging.

Saffron rice ingredients. Thankfully, easy to find.

Mostly in the US it’s getting easier to find the ingredients (yay rogan josh curry!) or find substitutes (no double cream, no problem, just mix sour cream with cream). But I’ll admit I’ve been kind of stumped by his use of a “roasting tray.”

It seems quite a bit like a rimmed sheet pan, but as with this week’s recipe, it calls for cooking ingredients on the stove in the tray before baking. As far as I know my sheet pan shouldn’t be used the same and I wasn’t willing to risk ruining my main shtick to test it out.

Given this difference between British cooking and American cooking, I’m not sure it made a ton of sense to prepare this week’s meal on a sheet pan, but part of me just wanted to prove that it was possible to do it.

See, it was baked saffron rice, and I’ve never baked rice and wanted to see if it worked.

It maybe wasn’t practical but it did work and made a nice side dish for some lamb kofta. And because it wasn’t made like normal rice, it had a little more texture.

All in all, I think it was pretty worth it. And since it was only 5 ingredients (plus some pantry items), it was pretty easy. And tasty!

Baked rice, who’d have guessed?!

Here’s what I did:

Ingredients

  • 2 medium red onions, or 1 large
  • 2 pinches of saffron
  • 1 (5.3 oz.) container plain yogurt
  • 1 (2.8 oz.) tube of sun-dried tomato paste
  • 1 ⅓ to 1 ½ c. white basmati rice (it actually calls for 300 grams, and I have a scale so I measured 300 grams, but for those that don’t, the Internet gave me a cup equivalent)
  • 1 to 2 T. olive oil
  • 2 ½ c. boiling water (again, this is 600 milliliters, which should be on a measuring cup, but just in case, this is the conversion)
  • Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Chop the onions, and fry with olive oil in a large pan for about 4 minutes. Meanwhile, place half the saffron in the boiling water. In a small bowl, cover the remaining saffron with 1 T. boiling water, steep for a short while (he recommends 10 seconds, I did mine for minutes)  and then mix it with the yogurt. Set aside the yogurt mix.

Once the onions are ready, stir in the tomato paste, rice, salt and pepper, and then pour on the saffron water. Bring to a boil, and then transfer to a large rimmed sheet pan (about 15 inches by 12 inches). Bake rice in the oven for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until the rice has absorbed the water and fluffed up.

Spoon the yogurt mixture onto the rice, and enjoy!

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Beware the Ides of March

Mid-March offers so many awesome opportunities for food, what with Pi(e) Day, the Ides of March, and St. Patty’s Day. I’ve made a key lime pie (green!) with a Pi symbol topping, and I’ve made Irish soda bread. Last year, I had it super easy, making salads and soups. Sure, the classic Caesar salad isn’t named for *that* Caesar but it’s a good excuse for an even better meal.

I didn’t have any good ideas this year, and then I happened on the perfect sheet pan recipe for the Ides. I scoured and found that Epicurious had a sheet pan Caesar salad that I could make just in time (well, almost) for March 15. It obviously wasn’t the traditional dish, but it did have about all the same ingredients — chicken, anchovies, lettuce, Parmesan, lemon juice, and croutons, or something very like them.

Sheet pan Caesar salad ingredients

I know those flavors aren’t for everyone, and the anchovies are likely to scare some people off, but believe me, there’s a reason this is a classic dish. The flavors meld into something truly unique and delicious. And that was no less true when it was deconstructed and put together on a sheet pan.

Even better, it took a little more than 30 minutes to bring together, which is great because I found this recipe with little time to spare for getting it together this week.

Wait, there’s still leftovers of this one. BRB.

Here’s what I did, following the recipe pretty closely:

Ingredients

  • 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • ½ c. grated Parmesan
  • ½ c. panko breadcrumbs
  • 4 T. olive oil, divided
  • 2 T. chopped parsley
  • 2 garlic cloves, chopped, divided (I used the jarred stuff and didn’t measure exactly because I like garlic)
  • 2 hearts of romaine, halved lengthwise
  • 4 anchovy fillets, packed in oil, and chopped
  • 1 lemon, quartered
  • Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Line a rimmed sheet pan with foil. Season chicken with salt and pepper on prepared sheet, set aside. In a medium bowl, combine Parmesan, panko, 2 T. olive oil, parsley, half the garlic, and salt and pepper. Pat the mixture on top of the chicken breasts until used up. Place the chicken in the oven for about 10 minutes until the panko mixture starts to brown, and meanwhile, prepare the remaining ingredients.

Drizzle romaine with remaining olive oil; sprinkle on the chopped garlic; and season with salt and pepper (I did this when the chicken came out of the oven but it does make for a less even mix, but it meant one less dish to do). Place lettuce on the sheet pan after 10 minutes and cook another 5 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and the lettuce is brown at the edges.

Divide the chicken and lettuce among 4 plates (or 2 and 2 tupperware for leftovers). Top the lettuce with the anchovies, garnish with lemon slices for squeezing over the dish, and enjoy!

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Thank god for a family of foodies

This year for Christmas we got a cooking utensil and a cookbook from my brother and his wife. They know us so well.

At first I wasn’t sure why a Jamie Oliver cookbook was the one my brother chose. But, of course, he is the type to read through a cookbook like a book, and therefore, understand cooking better. And this book is perfect for that.

It’s the British chef’s “5 Ingredients,” and as its name implies is cooking with just 5 ingredients (and OK, also 5 pantry items that you likely have lying around if you have this book, and full disclosure, we do). And because of that, it’s perfect for both its simplicity but also understanding how flavors interact and how to build from just 5 ingredients.

So far, we have only made a handful of things out of it, but every single one of them has been my new favorite dish.

This week’s recipe here is no exception.

It’s got 5 ingredients, plus two I added (one that’s optional and one that amends a hard-to-find item), and one pantry item (pepper, which I hope most people have in their pantry), and a bit of water. It took time only because it roasted potatoes, fennel and artichokes for a long time, and then had a cheesy cream sauce.

Vegetables covered in cream and oil, so you know it’s delicious

It’s pretty healthy, though I did add more of the unhealthy bits than Oliver’s original calls for. And other than the time, it takes just cutting potatoes and fennel for prep.

So, yeah, this is a good one. Here’s what I did to amend the original:

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs. yellow potatoes, quartered or eighthed depending on size (His recipe was in grams)
  • 2 bulbs fennel, sliced thinly, and including the clean stalks
  • 1 jar (14 oz) marinated artichoke hearts, quartered (including the oil!)
  • 1 sprig rosemary (optional)
  • 1 c. heavy cream (the recipe called for double cream, which I think is thicker so I mixed in sour cream too)
  • ½ c. sour cream
  • ⅔ c. grated Parmesan, divided
  • Pepper
  • 1 c. water

Directions

Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Spread the potatoes and fennel on a large, sided sheet pan (about 15 ½ x 12 inches). Add the quartered artichoke hearts and their oil. Season with rosemary and pepper. Pour over the water.

Cover the vegetable mix with olive oil and bake for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix together the heavy cream, sour cream and ½ the Parmesan cheese. When the vegetables have baked for an hour, remove the foil and dot the vegetables with the cream mixture, and sprinkle on the remaining Parmesan cheese.

Bake uncovered for another 20 minutes until the cheese has browned. Let cool slightly and enjoy!

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More, er, fun with phyllo dough

I was so excited for this week’s recipe. I freaking love spanakopita, but I’ve only ever enjoyed it store-bought because I was too afraid to mess with phyllo (or fillo) dough sheets, and I assumed they were really difficult.

So, I was relieved to find a Food Network recipe from Ina Garten that seemed like it would be fun and easy and had a pretty short prep time. Emphasis on seemed, because working with phyllo dough is a pain in the rear, to put it kindly.

Spanakopita ingredients

My first problem was that the spinach I had thawed in the fridge overnight was still not actually thawed. That meant I was already a bit rankled by the time I had to work with literally all 40 sheets of thin, fragile phyllo dough.

Here’s a brief synopsis of my thoughts while buttering and adding breadcrumbs atop each sheet. Well, almost each sheet, because I sometimes forgot the breadcrumbs, and OK, some sheets did stick together enough that I didn’t even try to separate them.

Thoughts:

  • Sheets 1-15: Oh god, oh god, oh god, and I’m less than one-quarter of the way through
  • Sheets 15-25: I got this, this isn’t so bad, oops I forgot breadcrumbs, oh well, I got this
  • Sheets 25-35: OK, this is getting old, getting the hang of it but starting to rush through, at least I’m over halfway
  • Sheets 35-40: F* it, whatever it takes to finish this up

Thankfully, the filling part, aside from the spinach snafu, was incredibly easy to piece together. And after what felt like hours but was probably actually less than one hour (I tried not to focus on the time), it was ready to go in the oven.

And, again, thankfully, the baking only took 12 minutes. After a brief cool down, and slicing, it was ready to eat, and I’ll be honest, it was heavenly. It was worth it, but also I’ll probably buy it more often than I take the effort make this delicious treat.

They really were so delicious, despite the pains of making them.

Here’s what I did, altering the recipe slightly:

Ingredients

  • ½ c. olive oil, plus more for coating the sheet pan
  • 1 bunch scallion, white and light green parts chopped
  • 2 (10 oz) boxes frozen chopped spinach, defrosted
  • 2 T. fresh dill (I used way more, but I love dill)
  • 3 large eggs
  • 8 oz. feta cheese, crumbled
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • 40 sheets (1 box) of phyllo dough, defrosted overnight in the fridge
  • 2 sticks butter, melted (I actually needed 2.5 so either brush lightly or, like me, admit you love butter more than is healthy)
  • ½ c. plain whole wheat breadcrumbs

Directions

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

(Here’s something I wish I’d done so adding it here for future use: Lay out the phyllo dough with a damp cloth underneath and on top on your work surface or a separate sheet pan. The ones that had been in the cloth longer worked more smoothly, and the original recipe just called for a damp cloth on top while you worked with the dough. I feel like the extra time while you prep the rest of the meal would help.)

Meanwhile, saute the scallions in the olive oil for about five minutes until soft. Set aside while you squeeze most of the water out of the spinach and then toss the drained spinach into a large bowl. Add the scallions, dill, eggs, feta, and salt and pepper, and stir until the eggs are beaten and the cheese is well mixed in.

Melt the butter in a small bowl, and place the breadcrumbs in a nearby small bowl.

Keeping the phyllo dough covered while you work, take one sheet of dough and brush it with butter. Top with a couple of pinches of bread crumbs. Repeat until you’ve used 10 sheets.

Then, place ¼ of the spinach mix along the long end of the dough sheets, like a fat and long sausage. Roll the spinach up in the dough to create a long baguette-like shape that’s about 1 to 2 inches thick.

Repeat until all the dough and all the spinach mix is used up so you have four baguette-like shapes. Place those filled dough pieces on a greased sheet pan that has edges.

Score the tops of the phyllo dough, and coat with butter one more time. (Yum!)

Bake for 12 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown. Remove from oven, let cool slightly, cut along your scored edges, and enjoy little spanakopitas.

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Be lazy *and* impress your friends with this easy snack

Some years ago at a dinner party, a friend broke out these incredibly delicious treats that looked so fancy. Then, she told me what was in them, and I have been hooked ever since.

You see, these delicious, gorgeous snacks had just three ingredients — fillo dough shells, cream cheese and jalapeno jam.

Ingredients for this unnamed treat

It was so easy. I couldn’t resist stealing the recipe and using it to impress other friends.

But there was just one problem. At the time, one of those ingredients was not so easy to come by, and in fact, her jalapeno jam was homemade.  But nowadays, you can find many different store-bought brands that are quite good. I’m partial to the Tabasco brand.

Since then, I’ve used the snacks to dazzle family and friends alike.

Whenever I need to bring something to a potluck or gathering and I have no time, this is my go-to. In fact, I made them this past week specifically to take to a game day with friends when I hadn’t planned in advance enough to bring something else.

Fortunately, too, it was back in Waterloo so I had occasion to let the cream cheese soften during the drive.

Treats were made under duress so not as pretty as they could be. They still taste good, though.

Now, not that you dear readers need it for this treat, but here’s what I did:

Ingredients

  • 2 packages fillo dough shells (about 30)
  • 1 (8oz.) cream cheese package, softened
  • Pepper jelly (I use about half of a 10 oz. jar)

Directions

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Place fillo shells on a sheet pan — any size will do as long as all the shells fit. Put the cream cheese into the shells — I prefer to put the cream cheese into a gallon bag, cut of the tip of the bag and squeeze the cheese in like an icing bag but you do you. Carefully spoon the jelly on top of the cream cheese.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until the cream cheese and jam are warm. Put on a fancy-looking plate, pretend you were hard at work, and let everyone enjoy!

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Breakfast for dinner!!!

I was looking for something simple to make this week because I had been feeling under the weather and thus, behind on everything. But what made me select a breakfast recipe was an ulterior motive to test out how long to cook eggs in the oven.

I figured that if every other piece was easy this time — frozen hash browns and bacon — I could focus on the eggs. So, when I do my next egg recipe(s), I’ll be ready for it.

Ingredients for sheet pan hash brown breakfast.

While I managed to overcook the eggs slightly, they were still well within the realm of edible and acceptable. And now I know at 400 degrees, with an already warm dish, eggs cook in less than 10 minutes, probably closer to 8 minutes if you want them a little runny.

Otherwise, using a couple different recipes with very different ideas of how to use the same ingredients and also making my own twists, I made a delightful and pretty easy hash brown breakfast for dinner.

My last note is the recipes called for just laying the slices of bacon straight on the hash browns, and that worked. But next time I make this (and there will be a next time), I’ll take the time to use cooking shears and cut the bacon into bits, both so it ends up crunchier and so it’s easier to eat the final product. Oh and I tested both turkey and pork bacon and both worked well.

So much bacon! (And eggs, and hash browns.)

Without further ado, here’s what I did:

Ingredients

  • 20 oz. frozen hash browns
  • 1 green pepper, diced
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 4 T. butter, melted (plus more or oil for coating the sheet pan)
  • 1 c. shredded cheese (I used more and opted for a Mexican mix, but you do you)
  • 12 slices bacon, cut into bite-size pieces if you like
  • 6 eggs
  • 3 T. Parmesan, shredded (optional)
  • Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Use oil or butter to coat a rimmed sheet pan about 15 ½ x 12 inches in size.

Add hash browns in an even layer. Top with onions, pepper, cheese (except the Parmesan) and melted butter. Stir gently to mix. Add salt and pepper.

Place bacon on top. It will seem like a lot if you didn’t cut it, but it’ll shrink some in the oven. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until the bacon is nearly done and hash browns are starting to brown around the edges. Remove from oven and make wells (I actually just used bacon as rims to hold the eggs, which is an option if you don’t cut the bacon). Carefully break eggs, keeping them whole. Top with Parmesan if using and add a little more salt and pepper. Return to oven and bake for about 7 to 9 more minutes. Remove from oven, let cool slightly and enjoy!

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Potatoes that are ready for some football

Even though I haven’t watched the Super Bowl in years, I can’t help but crave something fatty and fun whenever it comes around. There’s probably plenty of reasons for this, but I’m sure it’s mostly that I almost always crave something fatty and fun.

So, with that in mind, and the fact that there’s still time to get ready for Sunday, I went ahead and made something fitting for your Super Bowl parties, whether your get-together is to watch it for the ads or the game or just for the goodies.

Get ready for some football with twice baked potatoes. I probably should have made potato skins, but twice baked potatoes are so much better and worth it.

Twice baked potato ingredients.

The best part is there’s no need to follow any sort recipe. Believe me, I looked around the web and they were all more or less the same. I pulled more from The Pioneer Woman site because she used scallions instead of chives and Lawry’s seasoned salt instead of just salt or a mixture of other spices.

But once I had the ingredients in hand — exactly the things you’d expect — I just went with my gut. And it worked and was easy.

The only complaint is as the name implies, the potatoes are twice baked, and that takes some time. But it is lazy time (or put to other cooking uses) and helps warm the house during this chilly February.

Look at these delightful ovals of awesomeness.

Last note, I only made four potatoes, so 8 halves, but you may want to double if you’re having a bigger get-together.

Here’s what I did:

Ingredients

  • 4 russet potatoes
  • Oil for coating
  • 4 T. butter, softened
  • ½ c. sour cream (estimated)
  • 1 bunch scallions, white and light green parts thinly sliced
  • 8 oz. bacon, cooked and crumbled
  • 1 c. shredded chipotle cheddar (I probably used a little more)
  • 3-4 T. milk or buttermilk
  • Lawry’s seasoned salt, to taste
  • Pepper, to taste
  • Paprika, for topping, optional

Directions

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat potatoes in oil and bake on sheet pan for about 1 hour, turning once halfway through.

When the potatoes are done with their first baking, use a tea towel or oven mitt to hold the hot potatoes to cut them in half and to use a spoon to carefully scrape out the insides into a large bowl. Place the half shells back on the sheet pan.

Add the butter, sour cream, scallions, bacon, about ¾ of the cheese, and the salt and pepper, into the potato bowl and mix until the butter and cheese are melted. Add the milk or buttermilk to desired consistency. Spoon the potato mixture into each of the potato skin shells until it’s used up. Top the mixture with the remaining cheese and sprinkle on paprika, if using.

Bake for about another 15 to 20 minutes, until the cheese is melted. Let cool slightly, and Go Eagles!!

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The perfect brownie

I’m going to admit right now that this blog exists because this week’s recipe exists. I am not usually one to hop on food fads — sorry, cronuts — but sheet pans have become a thing, and at first I was meh, then I saw sheet pan brownies and I have now become a convert.

See, brownies are great, except when they aren’t. You know when they aren’t? When they’re cake-y and heavy and not gooey goodness. This recipe was billed as full of the gooey good stuff, and frankly, there’s not room for it to be a cake brownie. So, I gave it a shot.

Sheet pan brownie ingredients.

And oh my god, you guys, it worked.

This brownie took 5 to 10 minutes of prep, 15 minutes in the oven, a little cooling off time, and then perfection in a square.

Thanks to the goofy Epicurious video that led me down this path. I will be forever grateful to have found the perfect brownie recipe. I straight up followed the directions on this one, because they’re as perfect as the brownie tastes.

Nom nom noms.

Here’s what I did:

Ingredients

  • 1 stick of butter
  • 1 ¼ c. sugar
  • ¾ c. unsweetened cocoa powder (I used the good stuff)
  • ¾ t. vanilla extract
  • ¼ t. salt
  • 2 large eggs, straight from the fridge
  • ½ c. all-purpose flour
  • 1 c. finely chopped walnuts, preferred (or mini chocolate chips are recommended too)

Directions

Heat oven to 325, and position a rack in the center of the oven.

Generously butter a rimmed baking sheet. (The recipe calls for 18 x 13, but I just used my standard that I think is a little different sized.)

In a small bowl, melt the remaining amount of butter. In a large bowl, mix together the sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla, and salt. Pour melted butter over the mixture and stir. Add eggs one at a time, and stir well with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula after each addition. Stir in the flour until well mixed, and then beat as well as you can by hand. (The recipe calls for 30 to 40 strokes; I didn’t measure, just kept going until it looked right and then beat a little bit longer by hand.)

Stir in nuts (or chocolate chips).

Use a spatula to spread batter into a thin, even layer, pushing the edges into the corners of the prepared baking sheet. It will look scant, but it will be fine by the time the brownies rise in the oven.

Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool completely (a long agonizing wait of an hour or so), and enjoy!