We're happy to have The Naptime Chef, Kelsey Banfield guest blogging with us. She is the founder and editor of TheNaptimeChef.com, and producer of The Naptime Chef Cooking Show, found online. She firmly believes that parents don't have to give up cooking and eating great food just because they have kids. In her house meals are made during naptime, or when her daughter is at school, and they never compromise on quality or taste. Her first book, The Naptime Chef: Fitting Great Food into Family Life is being released on March 13, 2012 by Running Press. So take it away Kelsey...

There is no better naptime cooking device than the slow-cooker. While the kids are taking afternoon naps assemble the ingredients, place them all in the pot, switch it on and walk away. This is my routine while my daughter is napping, or the afternoons she is at school, at least three times a week in the winter. I can’t even begin to describe how easy, and fun, this makes it to serve a delicious dinner in the evening.

Of course, there are plenty of times I don’t use the slow-cooker for naptime cooking, and I’ll tell you all about those recipes in the future. But today I’m going to share my next favorite thing to naptime slow-cooking. Experimental naptime slow-cooking. You see, I can hardly ever leave an established recipe alone. I love to twist and tweak ingredients here and there for the fun of it. It is amazing how many new favorites come from an unusual ingredient substitution, or, in this case, addition.

It seemed only fitting to start off my first post on the terrific Martha Stewart Family Room blog with an adaptation of an actual Martha Stewart slow-cooking recipe. The other week I still had plenty of slow-cooked lasagna leftover for dinner so I decided to try my hand at baking in the slow-cooker. Brownies seemed to be the obvious place to start since they are our most favorite of all desserts, and I got right down to business making up my own recipe using this one as a template.

While it seems like it would be easy enough to wait the thirty minutes for these to bake in the oven, it was actually quite convenient to have them slowly bake all afternoon. I placed the batter in the slow-cooker pot and left the house to pick up my daughter and school and do some errands. After three hours of slow-baking they were cooled off just in time for dessert and we were beyond enamored with our experiment. The brownies were dense and fudgy with a delicious mocha taste and pockets of warm chocolate from the melted chocolate chips. As far as experiments go, this new method of baking in the slow-cooker is a new favorite. I can’t wait to share what we try next.

Triple Chocolate Espresso Slow-Cooker Brownies

Adapted from Martha Stewart

Cooking spray

1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tablespoon instant espresso powder

¾ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 stick unsalted butter, cubed

8 ounces dark chocolate, roughly chopped

1 cup granulated sugar

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup semisweet chocolate

1. Lightly coat a 5-quart slow-cooker insert with cooking spray. Line the bottom with parchment paper allowing it to come a few inches up the side, and lightly coat with spray. In a small bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking powder and salt and set aside.

2. In a large heatproof bowl place the butter and dark chocolate and place in the microwave. Heat in 30-second intervals until the chocolate and butter are melted. Then stir them together until the chocolate is smooth and glossy. Mix in the sugar, followed by the beaten eggs. Finally, fold in the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

3. Pour the batter into the slow-cooker and cook it on low heat for 3 ½ hours. Then uncover the bowl and cook it for about 20 to 30 more minutes. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then pull up the parchment paper to remove the brownies to a wire rack to cool completely. Cut and serve.

For more Naptime Slow-Cooking and to read about the Slow-Cooker Challenge please visit The Naptime Chef. All week long I am co-hosting a Slow-Cooker Challenge with Big Girls, Small Kitchen and Small Kitchen College. We’ll be hosting a live Twitter chat, Facebook event and you have several chances to win a new slow-cooker and slow-cooking tools from OXO Good Grips.