With Sprinkles on Top

Like any religious experience, my coworkers and I treat  our afternoon coffee break with solemnity and  devotion. Our dedication frequently takes us to the local coffee shop which boasts a number of delectables for the sampling. One Sicilian coworker, Gabriella, has a certain fondness for the ‘blondie brownie’. However, I am convinced Sasquatch makes more regular appearances than does the fabled ‘blondie brownie’. Taking pity on her, I decided to sate her blondie lust with a version of this recipe. It comes from Dorie Greenspan’s book Baking: from my home to yours, which was a great gift from a friend. She has a pretty cool blog worthy of occupying a slow afternoon so be sure to check it out (click here for the link).

Chewy, Chunky Blondies (adapted from Dorie Greenspan)
Print Recipe

2 c. flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 c. butter, softened
1 1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2  c. sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 c. chocolate chips
1 c. toffee bits (I used Heath bits)
1 c. pecans, chopped
1 c. coconut

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 325 ^oF. Spray 13″ x 9″ pan with cooking spray.
• Cream butter, sugar and salt together. Beat in eggs, vanilla and leaveners. Mix in flour until well-incorporated.
• Stir in remaining ingreadients (mixture will be thick!). Spread into prepared pan, smoothing top with rubber spatula.
• Bake 40 minutes, rotating pan ~ 15 minutes in. Remove from oven and run knife round sides to loosen. Let cool for 10 minutes in pan before transferring onto cooling rack. Cut into 32 bars.

In my opinion, cherries and almonds have very similar flavors so if you put them together, all the better. The dough I used for this cookie is nice because it comes togther in a snap, can be flavored however you want and, because it is piped, can be shaped a number of ways. Here I used a 1/2″ diameter star tip to pipe star directly onto the cookie sheet. The texture of these cookies are similar to that of those wonderful Danish butter cookies you get in those cheap tins at Christmas: that melt-in-your-mouth, buttery, sandy cookie. However, I must admit that mine came out too delicate (translation = crumbly…hoooo), likely beacuse I wasn’t very careful in measuring out my flour. In truth, many of them barely survived the move off the cookie sheet by the time I man-handled them with my spatula. I suspect I had too great a butter to flour ratio. ..Also, like any true butter cookie, leave plenty of room between cookies because they will spread a bit. This is advice I wish I’d follow more often than I actually do! Anywho, the taste is too good not to try again!

Cherry Almond Butter Cookies
Print Recipe

3/4 c. butter, softened
1/4 c. sugar
1 tsp. almond extract
1/2 tsp.  salt
2 tsp. milk
1 1/4 c. flour
~ 1 c. maraschino cherries, halved and well-drained

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 325 ^oF. Beat butter and sugar together. Blend in salt and extract. Mix in flour and milk (if necessary) to form a smooth, pipeable dough.
• Transfer dough to a piping bag fitted with a 1/2″ star tip. Pipe 1 1/2″ wide stars onto ungreased cookie sheet, leaving ~3 inches of space in between. Press a cherry half into the center of each cookie
• Bake 20 – 25 minutes (depending on how large you piped your cookies), until edges brown slightly.
• Leave cookies to set on cookie sheet, transferring to container when completely cooled.

These cookies are great for using up sub-optimal eating bananas. The consistency is a bit chewier than a muffin, not as crumbly as cakey cookies and  they stay pretty moist overall. They are what I like to refer to as excellent ‘breakfast cookies’ for the following reasons:
1) the texture is perfect with coffee
2) they are not too sweet
3) the banana and oats give the impression of healthy eating
If you really like ginger, try doubling it because the flavor baked away to a pretty weak undertone in the end.

P.S. – I am especially proud of this post because this photo is actually mine (not my ghost photographer’s work) and, at the risk of appearing overly self-congratulatory, I think it looks pretty good if I do say so myself…

Banana Ginger Cookies
Print Recipe

1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. shortening
2 Tbsp. fresh ginger, grated
2 eggs
2 bananas (preferably overripe)
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 c. flour
1 c. oats

Directions

• Preheat oven to 325 ^oF. Cream sugar, butter and shortening.  Beat in ginger, eggs, banana. Add baking powder, salt, cinnamon. Stir in flour and oats until well–mixed.
• Place golf ball sized rounds (I use a smallish ice cream scoop) of dough onto ungreased cookie sheets spaced ~2 inches apart. Bake 18-20 minutes until cookies look set and are slightly brown on the edges of the bottom.
• Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Drizzle (or glob) royal icing on if desired. I used Wilton’s meringue powder on these cookies and it set up really nicely.

Credit goes to loveandoliveoil.com for this recipe, though I did make a few modifications (I used a different recipe for the strawberry frosting, and used whole milk instead of coconut milk in the cake). They were REALLY good. Despite the poor photo, these things were pretty in person and disappeared in seconds! Here’s the recipe:

Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes
Print Recipe

1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup oil
1 cup full-fat coconut milk (I used whole milk instead)
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon lemon juice

1. Preheat the oven to 350F
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add sugar and brown sugar, mix.
3. Whisk together oil, milk, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla.
4. Mix wet and dry ingredients together until smooth.
5. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake for 20-25 minutes (or until a tester comes out clean). Cool on a wire rack.

Makes 12 cupcakes.

Strawberry Buttercream Frosting
1 cup softened butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 lb powdered sugar
1 cup fresh strawberries (puree in a food processor)

Cream the butter and vanilla until smooth. Add the sugar gradually. Add strawberries – just enough to tint and flavor the frosting.

*Adding the strawberries will add a significant amount of moisture to the buttercream frosting. If you want frosting that is more dry, try to remove excess water from the strawberries before pureeing them. Otherwise, just be careful about adding the strawberries slowly — so you can control how runny the frosting gets. The frosting I used was a little runny, but it worked fine, tasted GREAT, and firms up nicely if you refrigerate the cupcakes after frosting them (remember to store them in an air-tight container so they don’t dry out!)

It is no secret that I LOVE Paula Deen. Her southern accent may be a bit much for this northerner to take, but I do enjoy her more-butter-is-better philosophy toward cooking.

Val had pointed out Paula’s chocolate CHEESE fudge recipe. It involves Velveeta cheese. Say what? I was skeptical. How can cheese — much less, VELVEETA, the anti-cheese — be good in fudge? Well guess what? It really worked.

Yield: 24 balls

Chocolate Cheese Fudge Balls

Print

Trust me... you won't even taste the Velveeta!

Prep Time 20 minutes

Additional Time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb. Velveeta cheese, sliced
• 1 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 32 oz. powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 jar caramel topping
• 1 cup chopped pecans, walnuts, or peanuts
• 1 cup sprinkles

Instructions

1. Melt cheese and butter over medium heat – stirring constantly.

2. Remove from heat and add vanilla.

3. In a large bowl, sift together sugar and cocoa. Pour cheese mixture into the sugar mixture. Stir until mixed — will be very stiff.

4. Using your hands, form the fudge into Tablespoon-sized balls. Place the fudge balls on waxed paper and refrigerate for about an hour.

5. Once the fudge balls have stiffened (I love that I get to say "balls" and "stiffened" on this post), dip them into caramel and then into the toppings of your choice. I used sprinkles and chopped nuts.

Notes

Your yield will depend on how large you make your fudge balls.