Comfort Foods and Indulgences

Oh.

No, really, oh. Oh as in “Oh my, these brownies”  and “Oh damn, these brownies.”  Oh as “Oh I can’t believe this recipe is so amazing” and “Oh there goes any bit of self control I had.”

Get the picture?

You can roll your eyes a bit when you say “Oh”.  It helps.

Even though I don’t claim to have the world’s largest sweet tooth and go for salty over sweet most days, I can’t help but claim this brownie recipe as one of the best I’ve ever tasted. Because to me, brownies seem like the perfect treat in theory. Chocolately, studded with fun things like nuts or fruit, small and compact and enough to satisfy thanks to their rich nature. But sometimes, well, you can’t help but feel let down sometimes when you bite into a brownie that’s dry, too moist or not moist enough, tastes like a mix or worse, doesn’t resemble a brownie at all.

Little Gracie had been feeling under the weather all day Wednesday. She had no interest in running and playing, choosing to curl up and sleep for most of the day. And, she was coughing.

So, yesterday, off to the vet we went. When I take Gracie for a ride in the car, I feel like a new mother packing up to take the new baby out to run errands. I have no diaper bag, though. I put some water in the special bowl I have with a tight-sealing screw-on lid. Chew toys for the crate in the back seat. The leash. Treats to replenish the small supply I keep in my cup-holder in the front seat.

For this trip, I also made room for a small basket of my favorite chocolate chip cookies. I was sure the nice doctors, office staff and techs at the veterinary clinic would enjoy a people treat of their own.

Yesterday I started out wanting to make traditional Baklava and ended up making cookies! I saw a picture in a magazine where filo dough was cut and placed in mini muffin tins then filled with a quiche mixture. My Baklava Cookies evolved from that idea, and I absolutely love them.

I started by putting pecans, bread crumbs, sugar, honey and spices in a food processor and whizzing it all up. It looked a bit dry, so I drizzled in a bit more honey and mixed it well.

Then I layered filo sheets with melted butter and cut them into small enough pieces to fit into mini muffin tins. Once I put them in the tins, I placed a teaspoon of the nut mixture in each one, added one chocolate chunk, and then folded the filo sheets over and pressed down.

I brushed each with melted butter and baked them into wonderful little balls of nuttiness.

The snow today really got me craving comfort food. I hope you all like this recipe because it is absolutely delicious. DELICIOUS. It's like, deep dish pizza, but without all of the work of the crust. It's packed with flavor. And meat. And cheesy goodness. Excuse me as I make another hole in my belt.

Anyway, I created this recipe for a contest. Johnsonville had an Italian Inspiration contest using any Johnsonville Italian Sausage product. I wanted to do something that made Johnsonville's Sweet Italian Sausage the star of the show. I know I succeeded. I can't even tell you how unbelievable this sausage-pepperoni-Canadian bacon pot pie tastes. It's also loaded with gooey cheese, which really puts it over the top. Way over. I thought my husband was going to bow down and proclaim me kitchen goddess of all times...basically he couldn't get enough of this meat lover's paradise. Okay, neither could I.

I love sweet Italian sausage, so when I made the "pizza" sauce, I mirrored the flavor of the sausage by adding fennel seeds...the sauce and the sausage played together nicely. It has such intense, incredible flavor. And then I topped the whole thing with flaky puff pastry...OMG...it just melts in your mouth.