Potluck!

This weekend I went to a potluck dinner thrown by my favorite foodie, so I knew I had to impress. There was more food than I think we could have eaten in 2 weeks, so of course we ate way too much. I made a dessert, a little east-meets...brownies.
Brownie recipe is from epicurious, hands down the best brownies in the world. I put some matcha green tea frosting on top for some flavor, found at the cupcake bakeshop (http://www.cupcakeblog.com). Here are the recipes:

Best Cocoa Brownies
(http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/108346)
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (natural or Dutch-process)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cold large eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F. Spray and flour the bottom of your pans (I used mini muffin pans!)

Combine the butter, sugar, cocoa, and salt in a medium heatproof bowl and set the bowl in a wide skillet of barely simmering water. Stir from time to time until the butter is melted and the mixture is smooth and hot enough that you want to remove your finger fairly quickly after dipping it in to test. Remove the bowl from the skillet and set aside briefly until the mixture is only warm, not hot.

Stir in the vanilla with a wooden spoon. Add the eggs one at a time, stirring vigorously after each one. When the batter looks thick, shiny, and well blended, add the flour and stir until you cannot see it any longer, then beat vigorously for 40 strokes with the wooden spoon or a rubber spatula. Stir in the nuts, if using. Spread evenly in the pans

Bake until a toothpick plunged into the center emerges slightly moist with batter, 15 to 20 minutes for mini muffins, 20-25 for regular brownie pans. Let cool completely on a rack.

Matcha Green Tea Frosting
(http://cupcakeblog.com/index.php/2007/11/adzuki-bean-paste-filled-chocolate-cupcakes-with-matcha-green-tea-frosting/)

2 sticks butter
8 ounces or 1 package of Philly cream cheese
3 cups powdered sugar
~5 tablespoons matcha powder

1. Bring butter to room temperature by letting it sit out for 1 or 2 hours.
2. Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed until creamy.
3. Sift 3 cups of powdered sugar and 3 tablespoons of matcha powder into the butter/cream cheese mixture and beat to combine.
4. Taste. Add more matcha if desired (Cupcake Bakeshop used only 2 tbsp, and i found that it needed at least 5 for the flavor of the matcha to be heard over the cream cheese)

Delicious!