Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chunk Blondies May 14, 2008

I grew up on a Blondie recipe that my sister and I begged my mom to make all the time, it’s the one with the chocolate chips thrown on top of the batter, after the batter is spread in the pan.  (I’ll have to post on that one next time I make them.)  There are so many other Blondie recipes out there that seem like they are worth trying.  I found this recipe on The Kitchen Sink by Kristin.  This Blondie has quite a bit going on in them:  pb, coconut, chopped peanuts, chocolate.  They all added good flavor and texture to the Blondie.  I will be holding onto this recipe but it may not be my go-to for the Blondie.  Obviously, if you are not a coconut or peanut fan, your taste buds may not be so fond of this recipe.  I look forward to continue trying different Blondie recipes that I find. 

Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chunk Blondies

(Recipe from The Kitchen Sink by Kristin)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup all-natural peanut butter
1 1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup unsalted peanuts, finely chopped
1/2 cup flaked coconut

Preheat the oven to 350. Butter and flour a 9-inch square pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk or sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix the butter and peanut butter until fluffy. Add the sugar and mix until combined. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until combined. With the mixer running on low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined.

Using a spatula or wooden spoon, fold in the chocolate, peanuts and coconut. Bake the blondies in the center of the pre-heated oven for 30 minutes, or until the blondies have just begun to brown around the edges.

Allow the blondies to cool completely in the pan before cutting.

Back to reality for me! May 13, 2008

We had a really good trip to the Bahamas.  We did a lot of laying by the beach doing nothing, but also played golf, snorkeled, and ate lots of food!  It was definitely a nice and relaxing vacation and I was not looking forward to coming back!  Here is a picture of an appetizer (shrimp) we ordered.  I liked the presentation on this one.  I hope to get back posting in the next couple of days! 

Cannoli Cake May 2, 2008

I got this cake recipe from Cream Puffs in Venice.  I unfortunately didn’t have the Grand Marnier or Frangelico (and didn’t want to run out and buy them just for this recipe) to add to the filling which I’m sure would have made this cake even better, but it still turned out very good and was a nice change from the same old vanilla or chocolate cake.  This is a fairly simple cake to make and it was nice to just sprinkle a little powdered sugar over the top instead of taking time to decorate.

Just to let my blog fans know, this is my last post for at least a week as I’ll be heading out on vacation.  Before I leave I want to thank all of you who visit my blog frequently for taking interest and for all your comments and for those of you who may be checkin’ out my blog for the first time, welcome!

Cannoli Cake
(Recipe from:  Cream Puffs in Venice)

Ingredients for cake:

6 large eggs, separated
1 large egg yolk
pinch of salt
1 cup plus 1/3 cup sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. almond extract
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. cold water
finely grated zest of one orange (I omitted this also)

Ingredients for filling:

125 g. cream cheese, softened (4 oz)
225 g. ricotta cheese (7.5 oz)
2 tbsp. Nutella
1 tsp. Grand Marnier (optional)
1 tsp. Frangelico (optional)
1 cup icing sugar (pwd sugar)
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips
icing sugar for dusting (pwd sugar)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. and grease and flour a 9 or 10-inch springform pan.

Place the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer and add the pinch of salt. Beat whites until foamy. Increase mixer speed to medium and continue beating the whites while gradually adding 1 cup of the sugar. You want the whites to beat into soft peaks (don’t overbeat). Set aside.

In a clean bowl, beat the egg yolks with remaining 1/3 cup sugar, the flour, the baking powder, the vanilla and almond extracts and the cold water until smooth. Add the orange zest. The mixture might appear stiff or very thick but don’t worry.

Gently fold in the egg whites until you have a well mixed batter.

Spoon the batter into the springform pan and bake in the middle of the oven for about 35 minutes. The top of the cake will be golden and it will spring back when pressed.

Remove the cake to a wire rack and cool completely before releasing the cake from the springform pan.

To make the filling, beat the cream cheese, the ricotta, the Nutella, the Grand Marnier and Frangelico (if using), until smooth. Gradually add the icing sugar and then stir in the chocolate chips. Set aside.

Carefully divide the cake into two equal layers. Set the bottom layer on your cake tray or serving plate. Spread the filling over the cake bottom. If it’s a bit loose, refrigerate the cake bottom for about 10 minutes to firm up the filing. Top the filling with the second layer of the cake and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Just before serving, dust the cake with icing sugar.

Cheesecake Pops — April’s Daring Baker’s Challenge April 27, 2008

I have folders and folders of recipes that I eventually want to make, and of those folders I have one recipe for Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Cheesecake Pops, and now I have a reason to make them, or at least something similar!  Elle from Feeding My Enthusiasms & Deborah from Taste and Tell were the lucky ones to decide on the recipe for this month.  I really enjoyed this challenge.  I made my pops into squares (I got the idea from the PB pops I mentioned above), it didn’t involve digging the hands into the cheesecake and dipped the cheesecake in Wilton Chocolate Melts (I used these also in my Chocolate Shots and loved working with them).  I dipped some of the pops in ground peanuts and some I left alone for those with braces (my little bro who ended up digging the cheesecake out of the chocolate mold with the sucker stick and then eating the mold on its own, he always comes up with creative ideas to eat his food). 

I find that if I make something and eat it the same day, the flavors don’t come out and I don’t enjoy it as much as I do if I eat it the next day or a few days later.  This could be because of working with all the ingredients and sometimes, yes I’ll admit, lickin’ up the remaining batter from the bowl or spat.  I wonder if I’m on my own with this…even cookies, cake, pretty much any baked good!  I thought about this because about a week after I made them, I took one out of the freezer, brought it to room temp and enjoyed every small bite of it, more than I did when I ate one the night I made them.  I was surprised at how smooth and creamy the cheesecake was and thought that it didn’t even need the chocolate, but the choc sure made them look pretty :)

For the recipe and to see how other Daring Baker’s cheesecake pops turned out, check out Feeding My Enthusiasms & Taste and Tell.

     

 

Mini Banana Oat Breakfast Muffins April 22, 2008

These muffins turned out good.  I added a bit less oatmeal and would probably leave another 1/8 cup out next time.  I also added some cinnamin and nutmeg for flavor.  This is a good grab-on-the-go breakfast.  Throw some in a bag and you are all set.

Mini Banana Oat Muffins

1 1/4 cups flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

3 tsp vegetable oil

1 egg, beaten

2 egg whites, beaten

2 large bananas

3/4 cup quick cooking oats (org recipe asked for 1 cup)

1 tsp cinnamin

dash of nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix the dry ingredients together.  Add the oil and eggs and mix well.  Mash bananas in a small bowl and then add them to the batter along with the oats. 

Spray a mini-muffin pan with cooking spray.  Fill tin 1/2 to 3/4 full (thanks to my brother in law I recieved a batter dispenser for Christmas which worked beatuifully for filling the muffin tin) and bake about 12 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Cool on wire rack.

Strawberry Margarita Freeze April 15, 2008

This dessert would be great on a warm summer day, but it can also be enjoyed on a colder, not quite spring-like, night at about 10 p.m., which it was last night!  My mom and I headed over to the salon in our friends house to get new hairdos and I brought a dessert just because. :)  It was a late night for me considering it was a Monday, but worth it!  My mom and I both love our new dos (I’m sure we could use some styling practice yet) and dessert was icily refreshing.  Next time I would crush the pretzels up a bit more, run them through a food processor so they it is more of a crumb, but other than that I don’t think I would have changed a thing!  I left it in the fridge last night to see if it would hold up, it did sink around the edges, but I think it will still taste good.  If you are not a strawberry fan, I’m sure this recipe would work great swapping out the strawberries with raspberries or blueberries or any other creative flavors you come up with!  Maybe even chocolate…maybe…I’d have to think through that one.

Strawberry Margarita Freeze

1 1/2 cups crushed pretzels

1/4 cup butter, melted

1 pkg cream cheese (1/3 less fat)

3/4 cup sugar (a bit less)

1 1/3 cups orange juice

1 cup crushed strawberries

1 8 oz tub cool whip, thawed (cool whip free)

Mixpretzels and butter;press firmly onto bottom of 9-inch spring-form pan.

Beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended.  Gradually add orange juice, beating well after each addition.  Stir in crushed strawberries.  Add whipped topping; stir with wire whisk until well blended.  Poor over crust.

Freeze several hours or until firm.  Remove from freezer; let stand in refrigerator about 15 minutes before cutting into slices to serve.  Store leftover dessert in freezer.  

I should have tried to shave off that little bubble to make it more attractive huh?