Brownies in a Mug in the Crockpot in Your Kitchen.

Hmm... do ya know what that is? Quite obviously it's a brownie in a mug!!!

I rediscovered the Crockpot Lady while searching online for inspiration along the lines of supper. Remember last year when every meal I made was in the crockpot? (Including "mud cake"?) Well, this is the lady that inspired me. Yay for crocks!

I tried these last year. Quite basically all you do is prepare a brownie batter from a box and pour it into mugs about halfway up. Then you place the mugs inside a crockpot and let them bake for a few hours. G-e-n-i-u-s!

My mistake: I forgot to make sure all the mugs were firmly settled on the bottom of the slow cooker. (Very important detail!) The result: they were gooey on the bottom and getting rock hard on the top by the time I discovered the problem. ( 7 hours into the cooking! It was 10:00pm. We were waiting for our brownies. And waiting. And waiting. They were finally done around 11:30!)  Moral of this story is... get a bigger crockpot!

Here's the link to Stephanie O'Dea's recipe: Brownies in a Mug

She notes that the mugs will be "TERRIBLY HOT"! I filled a pan up with warm - not cold! - water. I was nervous that the mugs might crack from the change of temperature, but *whew* they didn't. The water helped them cool off way faster than if I'd just let them alone.

Add whipped cream! It's all part of the novelty... and it makes them look - and taste - better.

No, I'm not trying to give anybody a heart attack! I'm all for health foods (I'll post some of those recipes in the near future) but every so often it's fun to be a teeny bit careless when it comes to dessert! If you're really feeling guilty - like we were - then you can save half of your mug for the next day. They tasted just fine cold with fresh whipped cream!

What doesn't taste just fine with fresh whipped cream?