Ninjabread men

You know how sometimes you see something at Target and it just leaps into your cart? Of course, maybe it's just me that happens to (yah, right!) I was shopping with my mom right after the bar exam, and my impulse control was still pretty low, and we fell in love with pretty much everything we saw at Target. But, being charitably-minded, I saw these and just knew Andy would love them:

Andy took a karate class in college (yes, really) and these ninja cookie-cutters just had to come home with me so I could make him some ninjabread men. That said, gingerbread in early August just didn't seem right, so I thought long and hard and came up with Ninja Brownies.
I did two small packages of brownies in a 11 x 14 pan (so they were thinner than most people make theirs) and baked them up. I lined the pan with foil so that I could lift them whole thing out easily when it was time to cut them apart. The hardest part was waiting until they were cool enough to cut out!

 Once they cooled, I went to work. I didn't get very many out of the pan because unlike cookie dough, you can't re-roll brownies out of the funny shaped scraps (don't worry, those brownie scraps went to a good home--ice cream toppings, mmmmmm). So, that left me with 12 little ninjas to frost to stealthy perfection.

 I had a hard time getting the red really to be red (isn't that the way it always is?) but they look pretty good, I think. the ninja stars were also really hard to pipe. Next time, I think I'll look for star sprinkles instead. All in all, I think they are just adorable! I'm giving a couple of them to a friend for his birthday party that Andy and I will go to tonight. I can't wait for the boys to see them!
As you can probably tell, I'm having a hard time adjusting to not being busy. In addition to my baking expedition, I've cleaned our whole house, and done 6 loads of laundry. Today. I'll be glad to start working, for sure! I hope this finds you well and enjoying the last of summer!