Mind = blown

I'll admit that this isn't the first time I've attempted this recipe, but last time was before this little blog got started and I knew I had to recreate it for the masses. I don't know if you have this problem too, but I can never decide between cookies and brownies - and usually end up having one of each. But wouldn't it be even better if the two were allowed to mingle in the same pan?
This is probably in the top two recipes I've made in terms of sheer deliciousness, and it's even better when you underbake it and the center is gooey and fabulous. I'm going to warn you right now that it's extremely difficult not to eat the entire pan in one sitting.

I haven't come up with a good name for this seductively delicious combo that could possibly do it justice, so if you have an idea please share :)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownies

1 box Ghirardelli double chocolate brownie mix (only the best!)
1/2 recipe of Good for Everything cookie dough 

Directions: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prepare brownie mix according to directions on the box (add water, oil and egg). Prepare recipe of chocolate chip cookie dough. Pour half of the brownie mix in a square baking pan (sprayed with non-stick spray), spread cookie dough in a layer on top, then cover with the rest of the brownie batter. Bake for about 45 minutes or until the top brownie layer looks done - it takes a little bit longer than the normal brownie directions because there's more volume.

If this isn't food porn, I'm not sure what is...

Classy

If brownies are the girl next door, biscotti is sophisticated and intimidating but oh so sweet when you finally get up the nerve to talk to her :) They require a little extra effort, but I love sitting down with a cup of coffee and a slice of crunchy cookie.
These began as an attempt at white chocolate macadamia biscotti, but morphed into toasted slivered almond, white chocolate and dark chocolate whole wheat... You can definitely taste the whole wheat flour, but I like a nuttier flavor anyway and it feels much less sugary. The taste combination is subtle but quite yummy!

You can use the basic recipe for all kinds of mix-ins - try dried cranberries or cherries, other nuts, spices, etc.


Chocolate Almond Biscotti
Adapted from Joy of Baking
Yields about 16 biscotti

2 eggs
2/3 C sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 3/4 C flour (whole wheat or all-purpose)

~1/2 C each of white chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips, dry roasted sliced almonds

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat sugar and eggs in a large bowl at high speed until thick, pale and fluffy (about 5 minutes). Beat in vanilla. Add dry ingredients to egg mixture and beat until combined. Add chocolate and almonds and mix to combine. Place dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and form into a rectangular log about 12 inches long and 4 inches wide. Bake for 25 minutes or until firm. Let cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Slice log diagonally into slices about 3/4 inch wide. Place slices cut side down on the baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Flip slices and bake for another 10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool.

When life gives you peanut butter...

It turns out that I bought wayy too much peanut butter and jelly for the cupcakes I made a couple of days ago, so when I was looking for something to make tonight I was drawn to this recipe for obvious reasons. I can't just let those ingredients waste away in the fridge now, can I? 
I also had some mini white chocolate chips in the cupboard and decided that it would be an interesting experiment in taste combinations to throw them in with the jam and see what happened. The result was kind of awesome. These bars are super easy and SUPER yummy, and definitely captures the essence of PB&J.
 

PB&J Bars
Adapted from Ina Garten
Yields 16 bars

1/2 C butter, softened
3/4 C sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 C natural peanut butter (smooth or chunky, I know this is a touchy subject)
1 1/2 C whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 C jam
1/2 C white chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350F. Cream together butter and sugar. Add egg, vanilla and peanut butter and mix until thoroughly combined. In a separate bowl whisk together flours, soda and salt. Gradually add dry ingredients. Nonstick spray an 8×8 baking dish and put in two thirds of the batter, distribute evenly (I used my fingers). Spread jam on top of batter, sprinkle with white chocolate chips. Dollop remaining batter on top. Bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown.

Peanuuuut, peanut butter. And JELLY!

When I was little, I didn't like peanut butter and jelly. Peanut butter OR jelly were great, but not together. I'm not sure what I was thinking, but by the time I hit my teens I had realized the sheer genius of the combination. For adults, PB&J is definitely a comfort food - something about the salty, sweet, tart memories of childhood just makes a magical moment.

There's nothing like a sandwich, but this cupcake sure makes a rather lovely substitute. I can't promise you'll make it to the finished product, however - I had to physically separate myself from the bowl of batter so I wouldn't finish it all! I also frosted the cupcakes with straight peanut butter instead of PB frosting because I was too lazy. Delicious, but I felt a little bit like that dog in the got milk commercial...
 


PB&J Cupcakes
Adapted from Martha Stewart
Yields 18 cupcakes
 

1 3/4 C all-purpose flour
3/4 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
6 oz (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/3 C sugar
2/3 C natural, creamy peanut butter
3 large eggs
1/2 C sour cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl combine all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda.  Set aside. In another bowl, combine natural peanut butter and sour cream.  These will be your wet ingredients.  Set aside.

Cream butter and granulated sugar until white and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each.  Add dry ingredients to butter mixture in three additions on low speed, alternating with wet ingredients and ending with dry.  Scrape down sides of bowl as necessary.  Do not over mix.

Either line muffin tins with paper liners or spray with cooking spray.  Divide batter among muffin cups filling each 2/3 full.  Bake for about 20 minutes or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.  Let cool on wire racks.




Filling and frosting:
Once cooled, take a small paring knife or apple corer and make a small hole in the center of each cupcake. Make sure you don't poke all the way to the bottom of the cupcake - you want the filling to stay in! Using a small spoon, fill the hole with jam. 
Frost with peanut butter or peanut butter frosting (recipe below), and add a dollop of jam on the top as well if you'd like. 





Peanut Butter Frosting
6 oz cream cheese
1/3 C powdered sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 C creamy peanut butter (not natural)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 C heavy cream

Beat cream cheese and powdered sugar with a mixer on medium speed. Add salt, then peanut butter, then vanilla. Beat cream in a separate bowl until soft peaks form, and then fold into peanut butter mixture. Use immediately, or cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days. (Bring to room temperature, and beat on low speed until smooth before using.)

Joy in a Jar

Nutella is Italy's gift to the world. Not leather, blown glass, lace or architecture (heck, not even political systems) - it's chocolate and hazelnut brought together in a union I can only describe as foodgasmic. I basically lived off this stuff in Paris, and have been known to consume obscene amounts straight from the jar.

With a raw material this good, the possibilities are endless. The week of finals last quarter, my roommates and I went through about four jars of Nutella and made brownies, cookies and biscotti. You know, focusing on academic achievement. I started with the basic Good For Everything cookie base but found that adding Nutella significantly altered the consistency of the dough. Of course there was nothing wrong with the taste, but I wanted to see if I could maintain the cookie-ness that I so dearly love.




 


Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies
Use the Good For Everything recipe but make a couple of modifications.

- Use half the normal amount of butter
- For every egg, add 1/2 C of Nutella (1 C for a full recipe, 1/2 C for half)

Everything else is the same, but your world will be rocked in an entirely new way. Lives will be changed, relationships saved, world peace reached. No sweat.

Snickerdoodling

It was the lovely Megan's birthday yesterday, so in celebration I decided to try a combo of cinnamon and sugar that, to my knowledge, has not yet been attempted. Snickerdoodle cupcakes with snickerdoodle cookie dough inside, plus a vanilla buttercream frosting topped with more cinnamon. Did you just start drooling? Because I did...

You may also be thinking to yourself right now that I'm obsessed with cinnamon - true, but I also too lazy and cheap to buy more spices. I've finally exhausted the possibilities, however, so the next recipes will perhaps contain nutmeg or something similarly exotic :) 

There's really something to be said for making cake batter from scratch; I often convince myself that it would be easier to just use a boxed mix, but the times I do take the extra half hour to put together a mix myself I end up being so much happier! This is possibly the best cake batter I've ever made - something about the buttermilk and whipping it with a whisk makes it incredibly light and fluffy. Even after a couple of days when it's been sitting in a box, it's denser but still fantastic.

There are three steps to this recipe
1. Make the cookie dough and freeze it in balls
2. Make the cake batter and bake the cupcakes
3. Frost and sprinkle with cinnamon!

Not difficult, but a tad time consuming.

Snickerdoodle Cookies
Yields about 24 cookies
Originally from Allrecipes.com

For the cupcakes, add the cinnamon from the topping to the dough itself (omit the sugar) and do not bake!

3/4 C granulated sugar
1/4 C butter, softened
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg

1 1/3 C all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt

1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp cinnamon


Directions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cream sugar and butter with an electric mixer, then add egg and vanilla. Add dry ingredients gradually until dough forms. Form into balls about 1 1/2 inches in diameter and roll in cinnamon sugar topping. Place on parchment-lined cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes until set.

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes
Yields 12 cupcakes
Recipe adapted from Mermaid Sweets

For cookie dough cupcakes, fill the cupcake tin halfway with batter, press a frozen dough ball into the center, then cover the tops of the dough balls so the tins are about three-quarters full.

1 1/2 C all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 C granulated sugar
1/2 C (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 C buttermilk (or add 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice or apple cider vinegar to 1/2 C milk)

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, butter and eggs until smooth. Whisk in vanilla extract. Alternatively whisk in flour mixture and buttermilk, making three additions of flour mixture and two of milk.
Scoop batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar topping mixture on top of cupcakes. Bake in preheated oven for 20 - 25 minutes or until golden brown and tops of cupcakes spring back when lightly touched. Let cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool completely on rack. Frost when completely cool.

Snickerdoodle Frosting
Makes frosting for 12 cupcakes
From Martha Stewart

6 oz (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
8 oz powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (to taste - I put in more)

Beat butter with a mixer on medium-high speed until pale and creamy, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to medium. Add sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, beating after each addition, about 5 minutes. Add vanilla, and beat until buttercream is smooth. Use immediately, or cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days. (Bring to room temperature, and beat on low speed until smooth before using.)

Sick day = cookie day!

One late night out and I'm toast - I'm getting too old for these kind of shenanigans! Let's just say I had a long Thursday night... and spent this weekend housebound with a pounding headache and sore throat. When handed 48 hours of absolute boredom, what does one do? Bake cookies, have Peep wars and watch New Moon. Duh.

Let the battle begin...

I found Heath toffee chips, white chocolate chips and a dark chocolate bar in the cabinet (most of which I stole from home over spring break), and decided to just chop them up and throw it all in. I love cookies made with whole wheat flour, so that was a given. YUM. This may be one of the simplest and most wonderful combinations yet!


Good For Everything Cookie Dough
Makes about 4 dozen
Originally from the back of the Guittard chocolate chip bag


1 C (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened 
1 C packed brown sugar
3/4 C granulated sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

2 C flour (all-purpose or whole wheat)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 C of mix-ins (chocolate chips, heath bar, whatever your heart desires)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream butter and sugar, then add egg and vanilla and beat well. Add dry ingredients in gradually and beat to combine. Stir in mix-ins. Refrigerate dough until stiff. Roll into balls about 1 inch in diameter and place on parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until just set.

Make it a good morning! Or afternoon... or evening... or 4am snack...

I really take issue with the overly sweet and sticky cinnamon rolls that you buy at the mall or pop out of a can. I'll be the first to admit that I'm drawn to the smell of cinnamon and sugar like a moth to a flame, but the times when I actually have eaten them I've found myself feeling a tad ill.

In an attempt to right this wrong and give these classic treats a sophisticated revamp, I decided to try making cinnamon rolls from scratch. Most recipes call for yeast and therefore require a lot of time (not to mention the proper environment for rising), but I found a few that use baking soda instead. Much better for those non-pioneer housewives among us.

To spice it up a little, I decided to add espresso to the dough - 5 Tbsp, just enough to be a subtle undertone. Too bad it was completely useless, there was absolutely no espresso flavor that I could detect in the finished product! I did add brewed espresso because I didn't want to be chewing on beans, so maybe it would be better if I had added espresso powder to the filling or even the dough. Another variation I want to try is adding Nutella to the dough and/or cocoa powder to the filling instead of cinnamon. Chocolate chips could be interesting too...

I also didn't add the cream cheese frosting, mostly because I didn't have cream cheese and I also didn't want them to be super rich. My roommates insisted, however, that frosting would have made them even more excellent, so I included the recipes for both cream cheese frosting and a thinner milk glaze!

If you're interested in the bread flour the recipe calls for, it is described as "a high-gluten flour that has very small amounts of malted barley flour and vitamin C or potassium bromate added. The barley flour helps the yeast work, and the other additive increases the elasticity of the gluten and its ability to retain gas as the dough rises and bakes." I substituted all-purpose flour and didn't get quite as light a roll as I'd hoped, so I think the results would be better if you could get your hands on bread flour.

No-Yeast 
Cinnamon Rolls
Adapted from Sugarlaws


Ingredients:

Dough
1 C warm milk
2 eggs
1/3 C butter, softened
4 1/2 C bread flour
1/2 C sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder

Filling
1 C brown sugar
1 Tbsp water (eliminate if you’re opening a new package of brown sugar)
2 Tbsp cinnamon
1/4 cup butter, melted

Cream Cheese Frosting
4 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1/4 C butter, softened
1 1/2 C confectioners’ sugar
OR
Milk Glaze
3 Tbsp milk
2 C powdered sugar

Directions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine the dough ingredients together in a large mixing bowl using your hands, mixing thoroughly until the dough forms a large ball. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine brown sugar, butter, water and cinnamon. Stir to make combine completely.
Divide the dough in half and roll/press each part into an approximately 6" by 10" rectangle. Spread the cinnamon mixture to cover the dough completely. Roll each rectangle into a tight cylinder, then slice off the ends to make clean edges. Cut each into 8 slices and place in a baking pan sprayed with nonstick spray.

Bake the rolls until just start to turn golden, about 15 minutes. While rolls are baking, beat together ingredients for either glaze or cream cheese frosting. Frost/glaze before rolls cool completely. Serve warm and gooey!

The beauty of coffee.

Yes yes I know, I'm obsessed with coffee. Also addicted apparently, because I get gnarly headaches around 2pm if I haven't had some espresso in the morning. Regardless, I could never give up my habit because it gives me a chance to have a little date with myself and pretend I have no obligations, no schedule, and perhaps am in fact sitting in a cafe in Paris...

I stumbled across these photos of the work of some incredible baristas who recognize the art that is coffee - and not just in the roast! Apparently there are international competitions for free-poured latte artists. Who  knew?