Skillet Brownies Anyone?

No, I have not gone crazy. I realize that brownies are not typically cooked using a skillet. However, sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures. Several years ago when I was living in Ohio with my good friend Kara, our apartment that was furnished using donated goods. Everything was donated - from the couches to the silverware. Unfortunately the only pan we had for cooking was a humongous skillet. One day Kara and I were craving brownies but we didn't have a cake pan. As necessity is the mother of all invention, we decided to use the skillet. We had a really good time making those brownies. We hoped it would work and that we wouldn't burn the apartment building to the ground. The brownies actually turned out and were some of the best brownies I have ever eaten. Wow, the laughs that we had. I wish I had those pictures in a digital format so that you could enjoy them. Those were some good times. And everyone once in a while I kind of want to bust out the skillet brownies for old times sake, but the pans that I have now have aren't really cut out for that sort of thing. (While I like having nice stuff, sometimes I miss the days when I had crappy stuff and it didn't matter if it got ruined.)

This Christmas Kara was particularly excited about giving me my Christmas gift. Unfortunately our crazy schedules didn't allow for us to meet up until after the holiday break. She was so excited about her gift to me. I was REALLY curious what could be such an amazing gift. She said she found the gift months ago and wanted to give it to me then, but had restrained. When I opened the gift, this is what I found.That is right folks, I got my very own set of cast iron skillets (complete with the handy-dandy skillet hot pads), designed especially for baking brownies and cookies! I took one look at my gift and said to Kara, "Shut Up! Where did you find this?" amongst my laughter. Apparently Kara found it while wondering through BB&B one day. Seriously who thinks of this stuff? If only Kara and I had thought to sell our idea, we could have been rich!

I love this gift for several reasons:

1. It is funny. It is probably funnier to me than to everyone else.
2. It makes brownies - one of the seven wonders of the world I am quite sure.
3. The cute little hot pads makes it seem like I am eating out.
4. Because it reminds me of the great times that Kara and I had (and still have) together. She has been a great friend to me for the last 7 1/2 years (has it really been that long?) If I can be just like her when I grow up, I will have accomplished a whole lot

Thanks for the great gift Kara!

Oh yeah, if you have a craving for skillet brownies, come on over!