Magic Blondies

I have found a new favorite recipe! Not just because it tastes great, but it is the perfect recipe to use up all the half bags of chocolate chips, craisins, coconut, nuts, or anything else you may have in your cabinets from a baking extravaganza around the holidays. These were so easy and delicious I actually made them two nights in a row. My roomies were quite dissappointed when I didn't bring any leftovers home from the ones I brought to the office so we made another batch that night. This recipe, of course, comes from Martha Stewart. I made them in a mini-muffin pan and it was the perfect size for the plethora of flavors.

Ingredients:
-2/3 cup sweetened flaked coconut
-2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
-2/3 cup chopped pecans (about 2 1/2 ounces)
-2/3 cup dried cherries or cranberries
-1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
-1 teaspoon baking powder
-3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
-9 tablespoons (1 1/8 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
-1 cup packed light-brown sugar
-2 large eggs
-1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°. Line a standard 24-cup mini muffin tin with paper liners; set aside. Stir together coconut, chocolate, pecans, and craisins in a medium bowl; set aside.

2.Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.

3.Put butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla; mix until combined. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture, and mix, scraping down sides of bowl, until well combined. Mix in 1 cup coconut mixture.

4.Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each about three-quarters full. Sprinkle remaining coconut mixture over tops. Bake blondies until a cake tester inserted into center comes out with a few crumbs but is not wet, about 15 minutes. Blondies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 2 days.

Triple Chocolate Turtle Fudge

This recipe is near and dear to my heart because it is the first candy I ever made by myself while I was in college. It was such a success and definitely sparked my interest in getting creative in the kitchen.


Recipe adapted from Pillsbury.com:


Ingredients:
-4.5 Cups Sugar
-1/2 Cup Butter (1 stick)
-1 12oz can evaporated milk
-12 oz sweet baking chocolate, chopped
-2 oz unsweetened baking chocolate, chopped
-2 teaspoons vanilla extract
-1 cup chopped pecans
-1 14oz package caramels
-2 Tablespoons heavy whipping cream

1. Line a 9"x13" baking pan with foil, spray with non-stick spray. In a double boiler over medium heat combine sugar, butter, and evaporated milk. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Bring to a full boil, stirring constantly. Without stirring, boil over medium heat until thermometer reads 234°. Remove from heat.
2. Add marshmallows, chocolate chips, sweet chocolate, and unsweetened chocolate. Stir until all chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.
3. Stir in the vanilla and 1/2 Cup pecans. Quickly spread mixture into the pan.
4. In a double boiler melt caramels and heavy whipping cream. Stir frequently until completely melted and combined. Drizzle over fudge and sprinkle remaining pecans on top.
5. Cool overnight. Lift foil from pan and cut into 1" squares.

Caramel Apple Cream Brownies

Fall is in the air and as much as I want to make some pumpkin goodies I still had some apples to use up from my apple picking adventure with Maria, so I decided to put all the delicious pumpkin recipes I found on Picky Palate and make these AWESOME fall brownies. With the apples and cream cheese in these brownies they are very moist and perfect for the bakers edge, because the one drawback I have found with this pan is that the cooking times are a little tricky and some of the brownies I have made have been slightly dry. These were the perfect treat to bring to CJ and Shelly and their adorable new baby Addison.

I made a few modifications to the Picky Palate Recipe:

1 Box Trader Joe's Truffle Brownie Mix (this is for an 8x8 pan or the baker's edge)

8 oz softened cream cheese
1/4 Cup granulated sugar
4 Tablespoons butter
3 small-medium baking apples, peeled and thinly sliced ( I used honey crisp and empire)
4 Tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 Cup chopped pecans (or other nut of choice)
14oz Sweetened condensed milk- for caramel sauce (or purchase caramel sauce and warm in microwave)

1. Preheat oven to 350° Prepare brownie mix according to package directions. Pour into a 8x8 inch pan that’s been sprayed with non stick spray

2. Place softened cream cheese and sugar into a mixing bowl, mix until smooth. Place dollops of cheese over brownie batter. Use a butter knife to carefully swirl without dragging against the bottom of dish.
3. Place butter into a large skillet over medium heat to melt. Add apples, brown sugar, cinnamon and chopped pecans. Cook and stir for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and pour evenly over brownies.

4. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until center of brownies are cooked through. Remove and let cool completely before cutting into squares.

5. While the brownies are baking place sweetened condensed milk in double boiler. Cook over medium heat for 60-90 minutes, stirring occasionally until milk thickens and turns a caramel color. Just before serving, drizzle caramel sauce over brownies

I'm Dutch.......

So when I had some apples I needed to use up I decided to make Dutch Apple Bread. It is a simple apple bread with a delicious brown sugar/cinnamon topping like a Dutch apple pie. This turned out so great that I have actually made it twice since the initial trial. As I said, the first time I made it I just needed to use up some apples and ended up eating the whole thing myself during the coarse of a week for breakfast everyday. It was like having cake for breakfast, fantastic! The other two times I shared and brought it to gatherings where it was a real crowd pleaser and gone before my eyes. I apologize for my hiatus from blogging, especially since it's the end of apple picking season, but I suggest you try this if you happen to find yourself with some extra apples lying around.

Recipe adapted from Allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 cup chopped, peeled apple
1/3 cup chopped pecans

TOPPING:
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2-1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons butter

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat Oven to 350°

2.In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar.

3.Beat in eggs and vanilla.

4.Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; stir into the creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk. Fold in apples and nuts.

5.Pour into a greased 9-in. x 5-in. x 3-in. loaf pan. For topping, combine the first four ingredients; cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over batter. Bake at 350 for 55-60 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack.

Cinnamon Rolls

I'm not exactly sure how the tradition started, but ever since Katy, Carrie, and I graduated from college, pretty much whenever we visit each other we have cinnamon rolls for breakfast. I whole heartedly love Pillsbury grands cinnamon rolls, but now that I have this fancy dancy blog I thought I would try my hand at making some from scratch. Katy bought be a 'Simple Old Fashioned Baking' book for my birthday that had just what I needed. So not only did we have cinnamon rolls for breakfast during Katy's last visit, but she got to reap the benefits of her gift. I did modify some of the recipe, by using brown sugar in addition to granulated sugar and whipping up a quick cream cheese glaze. Next time I would use even more brown sugar and invest in a rolling pin to make the process a little easier. They also didn't get quite as golden as I had hoped, but they did taste scrumptious. Maybe I just need to bake them in a different pan, metal perhaps. Any suggestions for that?

Recipe:

Dough:

2 C Flour

4 t Baking powder

1/4 C Butter, chilled

3/4 C Milk

Filling:

2 T Sugar

2 T Brown Sugar

1/2 t cinnamon

1/4 C chopped pecans

Cream Cheese Glaze:

4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 375°. Sift flour, baking powder & 1/2 t salt in bowl.

2. Rub butter in with fingertips.

3. Add milk slowly & mix

4. Roll out on lightly floured surface to 1/2" thickness.

5. Spread with sugar/cinnamon mixture. Roll like jelly roll & cut 3/4"slices.

6. Bake 10-15 minutes.

7. In a small bowl cream together cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until smooth. Add in powdered sugar and beat until smooth.

8. Spread cream cheese glaze on top after removing from the oven. Enjoy!

Carrot Cupcakes >{ / / / >

This will most likely be the first of many posts about cupcakes now that I am the proud owner of the Martha Stewart Cupcake Book.

I was so happy that the carrot cupcakes were so early on in the book because they were perfect to bring in for my boss' b-day! Once I got past the first step of finely grating 1lb of carrots these cupcakes came together pretty quickly. The cream cheese frosting was simple as well. However, it made about double the amount that I needed, and you better believe that I go pretty heavy on the frosting. Next time I will halve the recipe. I certainly enjoyed a few heaping spoonfuls over the course of a few days, but I can't be trusted around mass quantities of frosting. The above link has lesser quantities of the ingredients for the frosting so it may be okay. I decided to substitute the golden raisins for toasted pecans, which I think added a great flavor and texture. I also got fancy with the frosting and used a pastry bag to pipe it on, it's all about the details!