Brewer's Blondies and Sister Time

Mmm, tasty...

The sucky part about being in school is finals. I hate the pressure of knowing that I will be tested on what I've learned. I also hate the period of time between the last lecture and the final, because it means that any minute not spent working or sleeping should be spent studying. But why study when you can bake something totally awesome?

Let me let you in on a little secret. Maybe it's not a secret. I love that I have some mad baking skills. If I were a man, I would marry me for my super-duper chocolate cookies alone. My Swedish friend once offered to marry me because she liked my pancakes, but we knew that that would just never work out. But at the end of the day, whatever kind of day it happens to be, I can make myself something pretty damn tasty. And it makes me smile, which is all that matters, right?

So anyway, today I should have studied for finals. I kind of did. Reading the take-home exam counts, right? Hey, I started brainstorming too, so I got that far at least. And I opened my textbook to look up sexual harassment (it's employment law, and it's kind of a big deal). So I did something. Unfortunately, I find it really hard to focus when I have absolutely no baked goods or sweets in my apartment. Solution: go to the store, buy things, and then come home and bake. But....I also wanted some sister time.

I never really say it, but I think my sister is pretty rad. Perhaps some of it is that we're a lot alike. Whenever someone who knows one of us meets the other of us, they remark on how alike we are. We're both goofy, opinionated, theatrical and we like to boogie. And we both bake. A badass duo, if you will.

So I had sister Frakah come over to bake blondies with me. We tried listening to Enrique (Iglesias, who we simply refer to as Enrique), but ended up with crappy Marc Anthony (thanks, Pandora). Then we tried for George Michael but wound up with a crappy song that had me imagining myself in a long flowy dress on a yacht at sunset in the 80s. Yech. So it was time for a movie.

Frakah and I have a few fallbacks that we tend to watch together, and today it was time to watch Practical Magic, a perfectly appropriate sister-time movie. About five minutes into the movie, I realized it would be a lot funnier with midnight margaritas (in the movie, they have midnight margaritas, but I think you should be able to have midnight margaritas whenever you like). Then, we realized there were many changes we would like to make to the movie- a midnight margaritas scene every five minutes, replace makeout scenes with someone ribbon-dancing in a meadow to sappy music, and add a psychedelic element to the big midnight margaritas scene. Our new dream is to create our own feature-length reenactment of this movie, with said changes.

What does this have to do with blondies? I don't know, just that we enjoyed the fresh, warm blondies as we watched the movie. The main reason I decided on baking these blondies today is that the recipe says you get to enjoy them warm- you only have to cool them for twenty minutes before cutting into them. I served these yummy guys with some milk chocolate ice cream, which was not a bad idea at all. Not a bad evening at all.



A thick, gooey mess

 Brewer's Blondies
adapted from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking

2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp malted milk powder (I used Ovaltine)
14 tbsp unsalted butter, softened and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 3/4 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar
2 lrg eggs
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup malted milk balls (Whoppers), coarsely broken by blunt force (see note)
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9-by-13-inch baking pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, and malted milk powder together.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and brown sugar with a hand mixer on medium speed until combined. Scrape down the bowl, add the eggs and vanilla, and beat until combined.

Spreading the love...

Add the flour mixture in two batches and beat until just combined. Add the malted milk balls and chocolate chips and stir with a spatula until just combined. The mixture will be thick. Turn the mixture out into the prepared pan and use an offset spatula to spread it evenly.

Bake in the center of the oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the blondie comes out clean.

Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for 20 minutes. These blondies taste pretty frickin' fantastic warm.

Note: The recipe tells you to chop the Whoppers in a food processor, but mine was dirty, so I improvised. I put the Whoppers in a freezer baggie, sealed the baggie, and beat the hell out of the Whoppers with a big silver spoon. It felt really good. :)

Enjoy!

Other Chocolate Chip Cookies

A little overcooked

I've gotten lazy. That, or I've gotten desperate. I did not make my famous chocolate chip cookies this week. I was really craving some chocolate chip cookies, preferably warm ones. So I settled for cookies I could make with the ingredients I had on hand.

For some people, one chocolate chip cookie is like any other. Not so for me. No cookie compares to my famous chocolate chip cookies. I'm not bragging here; no, instead I am just stating my preference. I have tried other cookie recipes before and was merely dissatisfied with the result.

This week I tried the Baked recipe for chocolate chip cookies. Well, okay, so I fudged it a little. That's right, you heard me, I broke my own rules and did not follow the recipe exact. The recipe in the book called for dark brown sugar, but all I had was light. The recipe called for a ton of semisweet chocolate chips, but I only had half a bag, so I also used bittersweet chocolate chips. Lastly, the recipe calls for chilling the dough in the fridge for 6 hours (say what?!), and the first batch I baked after one hour. Oh yeah, I'm a baking rebel now.

As for my first two little changes, they were no biggie. But as for the 6 hours, well I think there's something to that. The excellent thing about this recipe, however, is that you can keep the dough in the fridge for up to 5 days and bake them in small batches so you always have fresh cookies (at least for five days you will). I have been enjoying fresh cookies all weekend. I even gave up on my cookie scoops- they're broken anyway. I rolled giant balls of cookie dough using a big spoon and my hands. Worked perfectly for me!

As for how the cookies taste, the first batch was just alright. They were too greasy fresh out of the oven. But batches 2 and 3 were pretty darn good. Satisfying, I must say. Still not my famous cookies, but a worthy substitute. :)

Even cookies need love

Chocolate Chip Cookies
adapted from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 sticks unsalted butter, soft but cool
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsps vanilla extract
2 2/3 cups semisweet and bittersweet chocolate chips

In a large bowl, whisk the flour, salt and baking soda together and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugars together until smooth and creamy using a hand mixer. Scrape down the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated. The mixture ill look light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and beat for 5 seconds.

Add half of the flour mixture and mix for 15 seconds. Add the remaining flour mixture and beat until just incorporated.

Using a spatula, fold in the chocolate chips.

Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 6 hours (just do it).

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Scoop the dough into 2-tbsp sized balls (or thereabouts). Use your hand to shape them into perfect balls and place them on the prepared baking sheets, about 1 inch apart. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, rotating the pans once during the cooking time, until the edges of the cookies are golden brown and the tops just start to darken.

Remove the pan from the oven and cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Use a spatula to transfer the individual cookies to the rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

Snow Day Brownies

Snowy Perfection

Let me begin by saying I do not completely trust weather reports. I feel rather jaded by all of the false reports of inclement weather over the years. Perhaps that is just the nature of meteorology in the good ole Pacific Northwest. It goes without saying that I was feeling rather doubtful about the prediction for snow this Thursday. Imagine my pleasant surprise when I woke up Thursday morning and peeked through the blinds of my bedroom window to see powdery white stuff everywhere. It had snowed! As predicted!

Granted, I live in a bit of a weather vortex, so snow was not covering the entire metro area, but my metro area was covered in snow. And it was pretty. My dog, Lucy, seemed a little skeptical. It was her first legitimate snow, so she didn't know what to make of it. When chunks of snow came off of her fur when we got inside, she decided snow was quite tasty.

Anyway, snow meant I was not going in to work. I had a bad experience last year when my car stalled and ran me into a curb and then I was stranded at the library for an hour before being rescued, so I just do not take any risks with the weather. My life is worth more than a day's work, if you ask me. So, since I did not go into work, I stayed in and got some cleaning done, watched this week's Glee, and made brownies. I've been needing brownies for awhile, so it was good to finally satisfy my craving.

Boy, am I satisfied. These brownies are bomb. Really. They have that indescribable quality that only really good fudgy brownies have. I am of the belief that if it is not fudgy, it is not a brownie. I'm in fudgy heaven as we speak. Perfect for a cold white day like today. :)



Fudgy!



The Baked Brownie

from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp dark unsweetened cocoa powder

11 oz dark chocolate (60-72%), coarsely chopped

1 cup unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 tsp instant espresso powder

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

5 lrg eggs, at room temp

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the sides and bottom of a 9x13-inch pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, salt, and cocoa powder together.

Put the chocolate, butter, and instant espresso powder in a large bowl and set it over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate and butter are completely melted and smooth. Turn off the heat, but keep the bowl over the water and add the sugars. Whisk until completely combined, then remove the bowl from the pan. The mixture should be room temperature.

Add 3 eggs to the chocolate mixture and whisk until combined. Add the remaining eggs and whisk until combined. Add the vanilla and stir until combined. Do not overbeat the batter at this stage or your brownies will be cakey.

Sprinkle the flour mixture over the chocolate mixture. Using a spatula (not a whisk), fold the flour mixture into the chocolate until just a bit of the flour mixture is visible.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the brownies comes out with a few moist crumbs sticking to it. Let the brownies cool completely, then cut them into squares and serve.

Enjoy!

Tea and brownies!

Funk Betty Balls



Colorful Yumminess

That's right. Funk Betty Balls. Okay, so a little back story here. Way back when, at some time, my mom misheard either my sister or me saying "funfetti," as in funfetti cake, so she thought we said "funk Betty." Mind you, my mom mishears a lot of things. She also likes to make up words. Like schnoll. I'm still not sure what a schnoll is, but pretty sure it came out of a guessing game (as in, someone may have been drawing a schnoll). Anyway, it makes for a pretty good family inside joke. Or a band name.
Anyway, so this week I set out to make cake balls. I had heard about them for some time and tried some really good pumpkin ones back in the fall. I knew I wanted to make my mark by making them with funfetti cake mix and frosting. Who doesn't like funfetti? They're so colorful and magical, and look perfect for a celebration. But I'm not celebrating anything except the awesomeness that is existence.

I have to say, my Funk Betty Balls were quite a success, if by success, me eating several throughout the day counts. But my nephew scarfed one down and my coworkers seemed to appreciate them.

The Funk Betty Balls were actually pretty easy to make, no need for a recipe, really. Here's what you do:

1. Make a box cake mix according to the package, baking it in a 13x9-inch pan.



Cut into the cake



The Cake in the Bowl

2. After the cake has cooled, crumble it up in a large mixing bowl. Dump 1 tub of frosting into the cake crumbles. Mix together with a spatula, then cover and freeze for about an hour, or until scoopable.

The cake and frosting mixture. Appetizing...

3. Scoop the cake mixture into 1-tbsp sized balls. I used a small cookie scoop. Place the balls on a parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze for about an hour or until fairly cold and solid.

Balls in the freezer.

4. When it is almost time to pull the balls out of the freezer, melt some white chocolate or dark chocolate in a double boiler. If melting white chocolate, make sure to keep a very close eye on it, stirring constantly, and make sure it does not burn.

5. Pull the balls out of the freezer and, one at a time, dip into the melted chocolate. I used two forks for dipping and still found it to be very messy. Place the balls back on the parchment. Sprinkle sprinkles on top of the balls right away if using.

Pretty Little Funk Betty Balls!

6. Put the sheet of balls into the fridge to harden before transferring to a plate or some reusable containers. I keep the balls in my fridge so they don't get melty.



Enjoy!

I covered some in semisweet chocolate after running out of white chocolate.

Vegetarian Taco Pizza

Ready to eat

 Last night I hosted a girls' bunco night at my new place. My sister, her friend, and I are trying to get a monthly thing going, and this was month two. I chose for a theme Valentine's Fiesta. I'm not entirely sure why, I guess I just wanted Mexican food. I decided fairly early on that I wanted to try my hand at making a vegetarian taco pizza. I am a vegetarian, and I love tacos and pizza. What better way to combine two awesome things?!

Fresh out of the oven

I looked online for a recipe, but didn't really find anything. So I decided to wing it. Turns out, winging it can bring pretty awesome results. My plan involved Trader Joe's pizza crust, refried beans, fake taco meat, salsa, cheese, sour cream, avocado, olives, green onions, and red pepper. And whatever else I could think of. Sadly, I ended up with no green anything on my pizza. You see, I couldn't find green onions at Trader Joe's, and the avocado I bought turned out to be bad. But my pizza was awesome anyway.

Vegetarian Taco Pizza

created by me

1 prepared pkg of pizza dough (I use Trader Joe's)
1 pkg fake seasoned taco meat
1 can refried beans
1/4-1/2 cup salsa

1 pkg shredded Mexican cheese

1/2 red pepper
1/4 cup sliced black olives
1/4 cup sour cream

Cook the taco meat according to the directions on the box. Heat the refried beans in a small saucepan. Prepare the pizza dough according to the package directions.

Ready for the oven

When the dough is ready, roll/stretch it out and put it on a lightly greased baking sheet. It should spread all the way out to the edges. Next, spread the salsa over the crust, making it as thin or as thick as you like. Then, spread all of the refried beans over the top of the pizza. Next, spoon all of the taco meat over the beans. Then, sprinkle as much or as little cheese as you like over the whole pizza (I like lots of cheese), and then sprinkle the diced red peppers and sliced olives over the top. Sprinkle with a little more cheese.

My pizza cooked in a preheated oven at 450 degrees F. It took longer than the directions on the pizza dough package- a total of about 20 minutes, maybe a few more. The crust should be brown on the under side. Take the pizza out of the oven and serve straight from the pan, or transfer to a cutting board and serve from there. Before slicing, pour the sour cream in a baggie and cut a hole in one corner. Squeeze the sour cream evenly over the top of the pizza to your liking. Slice and serve.

On the plate, with love

Enjoy!

Broyé de Poitou and a terrible presentation

Tasty

Well, folks, as you may or may not know, I am currently taking some paralegal classes part time. I am in my second term and it has been brutal. It hasn't helped that since the beginning of winter quarter I have moved and for three weeks did not get much sleep, but it is also harsh because I have a ton of class work for both of my classes, on top of working full time and belly dancing. So when at the beginning of the term I found out that my employment law class required we give an international presentation and that food was encouraged, I knew right away what I had to do. I knew I would give a presentation on French labor law (having worked in France myself), and I knew I would bring in a Broyé de Poitou.

If you recall, for Christmas I received the really awesome book Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan. My grandmother was the proud giver of said present, and as soon as I opened it I started flipping through the pages and admiring the lovely pictures and recipes. When I came to the dessert section and found a broyé, I nearly cried. You see, when I studied abroad in Poitiers, France, one of the first local delicacies I remember trying is a broyé (along with a Pineau de Charentes and a torteau fromagier, which can also be found in the book). It is a delectable giant butter cookie that you are supposed to be able to break with your fist, but I tried and tried and had to just break it by hand. It is the perfect baked good for sharing with a group. Naturally, it would be a great thing to present to my class.




Unbroken

And I did present it to my class. But the rest of my presentation was not so good. You see, I have this little thing called anxiety and when I get in front of a group of people, despite liking talking in front of people, I get really really nervous and my body starts to shake and my voice comes out a little louder than usual. It's a real train wreck. I have to plant my weight evenly on both feet or else my one leg will begin to shake uncontrollably. Then I become terribly frustrated and embarrassed because my physiological reaction to being in front of people is far worse than how I feel about being in front of people (which I enjoy, normally). So, when I gave my French labor law presentation, I kind of forgot half of what I wanted to say and my notes were useless because I can't focus enough to read when I'm in front of a crowd. But at least the broyé was good!

Salted Butter Break-Ups (Broyé de Poitou)
adapted from Around My French Table

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
3/4-1 tsp sea salt
9 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into 18 pieces
3-5 tbsp cold water
1 egg yolk, for the glaze

     Put the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor and pulse to combine. Drop in the pieces of butter and pulse until the mixture looks like coarse meal- you'll have both big and small chunks. With the machine running, start adding cold water gradually: add just enough water to produce a dough that almost forms a ball. When you reach into the bowl to feel the dough it should be very malleable.
     Scrape the dough onto a work surface, form it into a disc, and pat it down to flatten it a bit. Wrap the dough in plastic and chill it for about 1 hour.

     When you're ready to bake, center a rack in the oven and preheat it to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment  paper.

     Remove the dough from the fridge and, if it's very hard, bash it a few times with your rolling pin to soften it. Put the dough on a lightly floured work surface and sprinkle some flour on top of the dough. Roll the dough into a round or oblong shape until about 1/4 inch thick. Transfer the dough to the lined baking sheet.

     Beat the egg yolk with a few drops of cold water and, using a pastry brush, paint the top surface of the dough with the egg glaze. Using the back of a fork, decorate the cookie in a crosshatch pattern.      Bake the cookie for 30 to 40 minutes, or until it is golden. It will be firm to the touch but have a little spring when pressed in the center. Transfer the baking sheet to rack and allow to cool to room temperature.



All broken up



Note: Do not put to much water in the dough, as it will make for too soft (but not in a good way) cookie. Break the cooled cookie apart by hand- don't even try to break it using your fist, unless you're made of steel.

Saturday Afternoon Tea with Frakah

Scones!

As you may or may not know, my sister and I are a little obsessed with afternoon tea. Not that fussy, frilly old lady tea with lots of floral patterns and doilies. Our tea is more of a come-as-you-are tea. Our tea tends to involve foods created out of whatever we have on hand. In short, our tea rocks.

Tea Time

My sister, Frakah, and I have been doing afternoon tea for several years now. It's not a regular thing (yet), but it's something we really enjoy doing when we can. I'm not even sure how it all began. Perhaps it was when my brother got married and I threw my SIL-to-be a bridal shower tea. I catered the whole thing with mini scones, mini cupcakes, and four types of mini tea sandwiches (curried chicken salad, cucumber, smoked salmon, and caprese). I discovered that preparing tea foods is a lot of fun and allows for much creativity. It is really fun to think up new tea sandwiches and fun desserts to pair with tea.

Lately, my sister and I have been tossing this idea around for our own tea house/bake shop. We both love to bake and love tea and we also have a bizarre sense of humor. Why not have a tea shop that involves all of those things? So we got together on Saturday to discuss our ideas over tea.

Charlotte

My contributions to the tea were buttermilk scones, wasabi cucumber sandwiches, and a strawberry charlotte I picked up at La Petite Provence. I found the scone recipe on foodgawker, and the sandwich I came up with myself. You see, last Monday I went to the Crystal Ballroom to see the Bellydance Superstars, and before the show my mom and I had dinner in the pub below. I ordered a delicious ahi tuna sandwich with wasabi mayo. I've known for awhile that I really love the tuna-wasabi combo, but I thought, why not use wasabi mayo in other sandwiches. Hence, wasabi cucumber tea sandwiches.

Frakah's contributions to the tea were some lemon-ginger straws, lemon curd, and some savory saucer scones. I'd forgotten how much I love lemon curd and it paired nicely with the giant scones I made. The straws were tasty, but looked nothing like the picture in the recipe.

Frakah and I enjoyed our feast, of course, and we were stuffed to the brim by the end (as we usually are). Afternoon tea is always a good time- the food is good and it's nice to have company.

Samwiches

Wasabi Cucumber Sandwich

2 slices white bread
1 tbsp cream cheese

1 tbsp mayonnaise

1/2 tsp wasabi paste
1 1/2 tsp chopped fresh mint
9 thick cucumber slices

Spread the cream cheese on one slice of bread. Combine the mayo and wasabi and mix until thoroughly combined. Spread wasabi-mayo mixture onto other slice of bread. Sprinkle chopped mint over the cream cheese. Arrange the cucumber slices, slightly overlapping, on the cream cheese slice of bread. Top with the other slice of bread. Cut into squares. Enjoy!

Frozen scones!

For the scone recipe, follow this link. Note, you are given the option to cut the disks into quarters or eights. I chose quarters and wound up with some huge-ass scones, even though they looked small when I cut them Do not be deceived! They will grow and become very puffy!