Jacki’s Review of Pasta and Mocha Brownies

I made both of these recipes on Monday for dinner and we really liked both of them.  The pasta dish was quite easy to prepare especially since I splurged and bought the already peeled and deveined shrimp.  I halved the recipe but I wish I would have made a full batch for more leftovers!  I omitted the wine and used half and half instead of heavy cream.  I omitted the fresh parsley but I did add the fresh basil and loved it.  We liked the shrimp in it but you could easily substitute chicken or sausage or add a generous sprinkling of parmesan for a little protein.   A very tasty and easy recipe.  The Mocha Brownies were also delicious but I felt pretty guilty making them with all the butter, sugar and eggs. Confession time – I love mocha flavored desserts – cupcakes, ice cream, candy etc but I don’t drink coffee.  The mocha frosting just sounded so good so I went through the McDonalds drive through and bought a small cup of coffee to use in the recipe.  I made the full batch of brownies because it said to use an 8’’ square pan and I didn’t want to have to experiment with the cook time if I halved it.  It made a full 8” pan – rose all the way to the top.  I halved the icing because my husband doesn’t like his brownies frosted.  The mocha flavored icing was wonderful but you could easily substitute milk for liquid instead of the coffee.  I thought it was a good “from scratch” recipe although it doesn’t get much better than the Ghirardelli Double Chocolate Brownies from the mix.  Both good recipes for future use.

The icing needed just a bit more time chilling in the fridge before I frosted the brownie with it but I just couldn’t wait!