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.

Grandma Vi's White Chocolate Haystacks

I happen to think that white chocolate is very misunderstood and people should give it more of a chance. I will say that if you are in the mood for chocolate it probably isn't going to do the trick, but on it's own it's so sweet and delicious.

My cousin Becky came to visit (and deliver my car to me!) the other weekend and I made sure to have all the fixin's to make one of her favorite treats that our Grandma Vi used to make. I did run a little short on peanut butter so we had to add a little maple flavored almond butter, which was a nice little twist on the original. Side note: if you have never tried any of Justin's natural peanut, almond, or hazelnut butter you really should, they are simply delicious!

These are so quick to throw together and will disappear in mere moments because even though they have a crunch they just melt in your mouth. If you are still opposed to giving white chocolate a shot I suppose you could use dark chocolate, milk chocolate , or butterscotch chips instead.

Ingredients:

-12oz White Chocolate

-1 Cup Peanut Butter

-2 Cups Mini Marshmallows

-4 Cups Chow Mein Noodles (or just shy of a 12oz bag)

Directions:

1. Melt white chocolate and peanut butter over double boiler or in the microwave

2. Pour chocolate/peanut butter mixture over chow mein noodles and stir in marshmallows. Gently combine.

3. Spoon clusters onto wax paper and let cool.

Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have had this chocolate chip cookie recipe in my back pocket for over a year but have been making so many other fun desserts I just haven't gotten to them. With so many bbq's and outings lately I needed a recipe that was going to make a lot and be easy to transport. And who doesn't like chocolate chip cookies? really, tell me if you are out there....but even if you do, I probably won't believe you. I also might send you some of these cookies to change your mind. I found this article/recipe in the New York Times last year and since I LOVE the NY Times I figured I would love these cookies as well. These are honestly the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever had and if the recipe had not already been published in a newspaper I would think about keeping the secret all to myself. The article is really quite interesting so check it out!

Recipe

2 cups minus 2 tablespoons
(8 1/2 ounces) cake flour
1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
1 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate disks or fèves, at least 60 percent cacao content (see note)
Sea salt.

1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.
2. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.
3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.
4. Scoop 6 3 1/2-ounce mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day. Eat warm, with a big napkin.

I prefer to make smaller cookies and scoop the mounds of dough out with a tablespoon or very small ice cream scoop. I bake them at 350° for 10-12 minutes. It will make about 6 dozen.

Peppermint Patty Cupcakes

Another delicious recipe by who other than Martha?! I love that these are actually brownies in cupcake form and the peppermint patty center melts perfectly to give the entire cupcake a hint of mint. I also really liked that these did not call for a frosting (and it was not needed, they were plenty rich and flavorful on their own). Because there was not any frosting these were super easy to transport to the BBQ I was headed to. I purchased a large bag of peppermint patties so I thought it would be cute to make these cupcakes in a mini version. I tested this out by making 4 mini's first. I think the mini version would work with junior mints, but the small peppermint patties were still too large. The mint spewed out of the tops of the cupcakes and made a huge disaster. In fact, the tops popped right off the mini's. I'll have to try these again with junior mints, because a large cupcake is actually nearing too rich, even for me, which is next to impossible! Although if I make them as mini's I may just have to top them off with a bailey's frosting or something of the sort. I was a little disappointed that mine also didn't have the pretty cream center like the picture shows in the book, so I just went with the peppermint patty pic. Since I don't feel right about publishing a recipe that Martha does not have on her website, I'll let the St. Petersburg Times do it for me.

RECIPE!

Chewy Fudgy Brownie Perfection

I have been in search for the perfect combination of chewy and fudgy when it comes to brownies for quite some time. I found it……..and then did not blog about it for weeks, and now I am not positive if this is the recipe I used or not. I'm about 98% sure it is,but I will make them sometime soon,just to be sure.
Update: this is it!

Chewy Fudgy Brownies, YUM

Here are some representative photos of what I have been doing instead of blogging for the past month:

Taking Advantage of all the local farmer's markets

Jazz in the Park- Millenium Park

Narrowly avoiding cars while riding my bike.
Windy City Wine Festival


African Dance- taking a class that is.
Renegade Craft Fair- check it out!

Tiramisu Cupcakes

With just a little bit of bribery I was able to get Gregory and Dino to make the trip to Chicago for a visit. I gave them their super fun Threadless T-shirts upon their arrival and then we started our day. Before we even set out to explore the neighborhood we decided to make Tiramisu Cupcakes. Most of the cupcakes in Martha's book are fairly easy, but this was a tricky one that I knew I would want some help with.

Perhaps it was the overly softened butter or mascarpone cheese, but in the end these just didn't seem worth the trouble. They certainly weren't bad, but Tiramisu is one of those desserts that unless it's fantastic I don't bother with it.

We still had a great time and ended the evening with a delicious dinner at Greek Islands Restaurant in Greek town. I have been in Chicago for 5 years and had never been to Greek town, so what better first experience than with Dino?! I'm still thinking about the dolmates, I could eat them everyday!









Dino Helping :)