We're making Texas brownies with Mykelti, my
lovely assistant and daughter.
So excited to be here.
Pregnant with twins.
[MOCK SCREAM] OK.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
They're a no-fail brownie recipe.
You really can't mess this up.
They're not a gooey, gooey brownie,
they're a cakey brownie.
And we liked them because we have a big family.
And we need a lot of dessert.
And it makes a whole sheet pan full of brownies.
They just cook perfect every single time.
The recipe calls for buttermilk.
Instead, we have lactose-free milk and a lemon.
So you want about a tablespoon of lemon juice.
But of course, fresh lemon is going to taste better.
You just squeeze it in.
We're going to do a half a lemon because we
can measure with love.
And it's going to curdle really, really nicely.
And that's it.
We are going to melt our butter in the pan.
MYKELTI: How much butter?
CHRISTINE: We're using a cup of butter.
And it's 1 cup of water.
And we just pour it right in.
Even though it's not melted, it's fine.
It will melt.
And then the cocoa.
MYKELTI: How much cocoa?
1/4 cup.
And that just goes in as well.
And now, put those aside.
And so this needs to come to a boil.
And while this is coming to a boil,
we're going to mix together our dry ingredients.
So go ahead and grab the 2 cups of flour.
OK, 2 cups of flour.
Yep.
Put it into the bowl, I'm assuming?
Nice-- pointing away from you so you don't get messy.
I like that.
I did it so that the camera could see what I--
[LAUGHS]
2 cups of sugar.
That's a lot of sugar, huh?
MYKELTI: That is a lot of sugar.
CHRISTINE: And then whisk it together.
So this is a great recipe when you have a lot of kids,
just because it does make a lot.
But did we make it a lot?
No.
Do you know how many kids we had that were super young?
They can't have a lot of desserts.
No, no.
And sugar, because then you have pure chaos.
No.
Yeah, this was a treat.
This is an absolute treat.
OK, so let's do-- crack 2 eggs into this bowl.
Is there a special thing when cracking eggs?
Because I swear every time I crack an egg, I get (SINGING)
a little bit on my fingers.
CHRISTINE: Well, you can wipe it off.
MYKELTI: Isn't there, like, a special--
but is there, like, a special way to make
it so that doesn't happen?
I don't know. It's messy.
They're eggs.
Who would have thought about doing the eggs, too?
Why--
Who decided, let's take things from a chicken,
and let's put it into what we eat?
Who thought of separating out the eggs from the yolks
to do that, right?
Yep, there you go.
OK, so this is nice and boiling.
So we're just going to pour it into our bowl.
And go ahead and stir that together.
OK, that's good and mixed.
We're going to add our buttermilk,
which is lovely now.
Yeah, look at that.
And so it's even sticking to everything.
We're going to throw that in with our-- oh, you see that?
MYKELTI: I bet it--
I wonder if it smells like buttermilk.
Do we mix the buttermilk and the eggs?
Does it taste like buttermilk?
Ew, I don't want to taste that.
It's got lemon and milk.
That's gross.
Is it?
No, I like it.
OK, it's fine.
Yeah, go ahead and mix that up a little bit.
And then we're going to put that in here.
And we're just going to mix it till it's just nice and smooth.
It's kind of pretty, huh?
It is kind of pretty.
I've always cooked with my kids.
Even though it takes more steps, it's more messy,
I've always cooked with you guys.
It's fun because, like, now as an adult, I can cook.
Yeah.
I didn't have to take a cooking class.
I didn't have to come to you after I was married
and ask for advice.
Like, I could cook.
The only time you needed me was when you didn't understand
the recipes that I wrote down.
Well, that's because when you write recipes,
you write for you.
You don't write for English.
[LAUGHS]
My new husband said the same thing.
So for our last step, we have 1 teaspoon of cinnamon,
1 teaspoon of vanilla.
But again, I--
Measure with love.
You can always add more vanilla.
And Mexican vanilla--
I'm sorry, that stuff smacks.
It's amazing.
And then it's 1 teaspoon of baking soda.
Throw it all in together.
And it's nice to have some liquids at the same time
because that will really mix up the baking soda well.
And then we'll just mix that up, too.
All right, so now, we're just going to put it in the pan.
So bring the pan over.
And we're just going to--
Pour it in.
Yeah.
And you already put pan spray on this pan?
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
If you don't have pan spray on it,
you're just-- that's not fun.
Nice.
All right, so we're just going to put this in the oven.
The goal is, is to have the frosting done the same time
the brownies come out of the oven.
Because you bring them out, and while they're hot,
we're going to pour the frosting on top of it.
And then it all cools together.
- Oh, that's smart. - Isn't that great?
You don't have to wait for it to cool.
Usually, whenever you bake anything--
You have to wait for it to cool.
CHRISTINE: Yeah. - That's nice.
CHRISTINE: You don't have to wait for it to cool.
We have a 1/2 a cup of butter and 4 cups of--
Powdered sugar.
Powdered sugar, or it's confectioners sugar.
And I don't know the difference.
But I've only called it powdered sugar.
They're the same thing.
I thought so.
1/4 cup of cocoa powder, and then a teaspoon of vanilla.
Do you need the butter to cool after it's melted,
or can you do it while it's hot?
We're just going to throw it in.
And then cocoa powder.
1/4 cup of powder?
1/4 cup. And then vanilla.
It calls for a teaspoon of vanilla, but we're--
But you're going to measure with love?
We're going to measure with love.
We're going to do a cap.
(WHISPERS) And I think we should do two caps.
I really like vanilla.
And then we're just going to stir it.
And see, this is where I'm like, I'm
pretty sure we're going to need some milk in there.
MYKELTI: Do you have the heat on?
I think-- no.
No.
That would have taken a long time.
[LAUGHS]
'Cause it was supposed to be warm.
CHRISTINE: We're going to start with 1 tablespoon-- no,
we're not.
We're just going to put in 2 tablespoons
and see how we feel. MYKELTI: Of milk?
CHRISTINE: Yeah.
You've got a 1/4 cup-- or 1/2 a cup of butter in there,
so you know it's going to be great.
So we just let it heat up more until it's runnier.
Because it needs to be runnier than that.
It's not done.
(COCKNEY ACCENT) It's a little bit thick right now, darling.
But we don't need to add more milk.
We don't. - No.
We just need to wait for it to--
I'm going to put it over here-- - Heat up?
--so we don't get impatient.
So I don't, like, just force it?
Yeah, just wait.
So if you are impatient, though, and you added-- no.
- --more milk-- - Just--
- --no? - Just don't be impatient.
Just don't be impatient?
Just wait. MYKELTI: OK.
How's that consistency?
CHRISTINE: OK-- no, it's perfect.
And then the brownies are done.
So I'm going to grab the brownies.
MYKELTI: OK.
And so they're hot right out of the oven, the center.
We don't let it cool.
It's hot. - Can I just pour it on?
Yeah, pour it on.
Beautiful.
So it's already cooling fast, as you can see.
OK.
Thank you for giving me my own plate.
I didn't really want to share a brownie with you.
I wasn't going to share.
Sharing is caring sometimes, but not with brownies.
MYKELTI: Yeah, I've got two kids inside my womb.
I need all the brownie I can get to feed them.
We didn't cheers.
That was rude.
Mm.
I'm definitely going to make this at home.
I'll make this for Avalon.
I'll make this for the twins.
When you have company over.
Oh, this would be brilliant for, like, game nights
with company. - Yes.
Because there's tons of it.
There's tons, yep.
You could even just, like, eat it right out of the pan,
like that.
No need for the plate.
I don't even know why we have plates.
[LAUGHS]
[MUSIC PLAYING]