Binge Baking

I have a confession to make. I get a LOT of food magazines. In my defense, some are gifts (Cooks Illustrated), some are just sent to me (I'm looking at you, Eating Well and Cook's Country) and some I really just like to read and try the recipes (Bon Appetit, Rachel Ray Every Day and Cooking Light). Plus I really look forward to Wednesdays, when the Washington Post (our local paper) puts out its weekly Food section. AND, my neighbors and I swap our magazines, so I also get Southern Living, Better Homes and Gardens, Martha Stewart Living, Woman's Day and Women's Health. There's a lot of inspiration each month, so it's not surprising that I don't make the same meal more than once (the only things I make on a sort of regular basis are tacos -- but with different proteins -- meatloaf and chili). Sometimes I think my kids would like a little regularity, but they don't complain.

It's kind of hard to keep up with all of them, but some months I find more to try than others. Case in point was this week. This month's Bon Appetit had a feature on the "New Basics" that had a very interesting Sesame Tea Cake that I wanted to try and the paper had a feature on baking with salted butter that sounded interesting. I don't usually have a lot of time to do multiple bakes in a week, but this weekend kind of opened up when some of our activities were canceled, so I took advantage and made all the things in one weekend. YIKES! My family and neighbors were happy, because I shared some with them!

The first thing I tried was the Sesame Tea Cake from Bon Appetit. It involved finding black sesame seeds, but to my surprise, my area grocery store, Wegmans, carried them in the international foods aisle. Whew! For those who can't find them in your grocery store, you can also get them on Amazon, of course or my favorite spice shop, Penzey's.

I thought it turned out really nicely, and for those who don't like very sweet treats, this is perfect for you! Slightly sweet, but a little nutty and salty, even my kids liked it (my husband and older son ate almost half of it before we brought the rest over to our friends' house to try). It was also fairly easy to put together -- no complicated techniques or anything. With its pretty swirl pattern, it would make a nice addition to a brunch dessert platter as well!

Next up was a couple of recipes from the Washington Post Food Section. They had an article that featured recipes with salted butter. Now, I don't think I've ever used salted butter (like, at all), so I was really intrigued to try these out. Because I bought a full pound (the only amount available), I decided to try two of the recipes. First up was a recipe for financiers, a fancy-sounding name for a little almond cake. This was a little more complicated because the recipe called for browning the butter and separating eggs, but those were the hardest steps. You also have to plan a little (or not have a timeline), because the batter goes in the refrigerator for at least an hour. On the plus side, once the batter has rested, it's super simple to pop them in the oven. I used mini muffin tins, as directed by the recipe, but had a good amount of leftover batter. The consistency was similar to a madeleine batter, so I made the rest using my madeleine tin. They turned out pretty well! If you really wanted to get fancy, you could dust with a little powdered sugar before serving. These go really nicely with a cup of tea. :-) You can find the financier recipe on the Washington Post website.

After I made the financiers, I still had 2 sticks of salted butter to use up, so I made the Milk Chocolate and Raspberry Jam Blondies from the same article. Unfortunately, I didn't have any milk chocolate handy, nor did I have raspberry jam. What I DID have was semisweet chocolate chips and some jammy balsamic cherries, so I gave it a shot. I really liked them! I left part of the pan unsullied by the cherries, because we have a purist in our house, so he wouldn't have liked them like that.  In the end, everyone was happy!

Now, I think I need to figure out which of these I'm going to either freeze or bring to work, since there's no way we need to have all of these sweets in the house (even with 2 teenage boys)! Plus, there's a recipe for Fluffernutter cookies I've been wanting to try....

Nutella Makes Everything Better

As Spring is slowly showing her face, I realize indulgent comfort food is going to take a back seat to fresh spring vegetables (Hello, Asparagus!) and fruits (Yay, Strawberries!), but I wanted to post my take on Nutella Stuffed French Toast.

Normally, I made French toast by soaking it overnight, then baking it in the oven, similar to this recipe, since I've always had a hard time getting the right texture doing the stove top method (mine always seemed too soggy). However, on this occasion, I was inspired by a loaf of brioche that was on sale, which is the best type of bread to make French toast with, in my opinion. I know it's already rich, since brioche has egg in the bread itself, but it gets this wonderful crunch on the outside and melting texture on the inside that is the perfect kind of French toast!

The egg-milk batter that I dipped the bread in was pretty much your standard mix, but I added a little orange peel to complement the Nutella. And to up the crunchiness factor, I coated the French toast with corn flakes. I saw something similar on a cooking show (It might have been Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives where they did the same thing, but used Cap'n Crunch cereal).

This is my dipping set up:

Honestly, the trickiest part was transferring the dipped brioche from the dipping/crunch station to the frying pan (Once you dip the bread into the milk/egg mixture, the bread gets a little delicate), but after a couple of times, I got the hang of it.

And then, it was done! Served with a sprinkle of powdered sugar and some slices of Cara Cara oranges (our favorite), it was a big hit with the family! I thought it was sweet enough without syrup, but the kids put syrup on it anyway and liked it that way, too (we use pure maple syrup so it's not quite so sweet). Hope you enjoy making this!

Crunchified Nutella Stuffed French Toast

(makes 5 servings)

Ingredients:

One loaf of brioche bread (about 8-10 slices of bread)
Nutella
4 eggs
1/2 cup milk (any kind will do: skim, 1%, 2%, whole) -- I used 2% because that's what we have
1 tsp grated (or chopped -- it should be in small pieces) orange peel
approx. 1 cup corn flakes (may need more -- keep the box around...)
butter for the skillet
powdered sugar (optional)
maple syrup (optional)
fresh fruit for serving (optional)

To make:

Spread Nutella (using approx 1-2 Tbsp per slice) on 4/5 of the slices of bread. Cover with the other pieces of bread so that you have 4-5 Nutella "sandwiches." NOTE: start with 8 slices of bread -- for 4 "sandwiches," but I had enough of the milk-egg mixture to make a 5th serving. 

Combine eggs, milk and orange peel in a shallow pan (I used a 8-inch square dish). Pour the corn flakes in another shallow dish (I used a small plate with sides so that the corn flakes didn't slide out everywhere). Set up your dipping station:



Melt 1 Tbsp butter in a skillet. I used a small skillet to make just one at a time. If you have a larger skillet to make more than one at a time, you might need more butter. Temperature of the skillet should be about medium to medium high.

While the butter is melting in the skillet, dip one Nutella sandwich into the egg/milk mixture, then turn over to coat the other side. It should feel a little soggy. Pull the sandwich out, let the liquid drip off the bread for a second, then put on the corn flakes, pressing down onto the bread a little so the corn flakes will adhere. Flip the sandwich to get corn flakes on the other side.

Transfer the dipped sandwich onto the hot skillet. Cook on one side for about 3 minutes (check to make sure the corn flakes don't burn, but they will get a deep, golden brown, then flip to cook the other side.

Repeat with the other Nutella sandwiches. You might need to add butter to the skillet as you go (there should be a thin layer/sheen on the skillet to make sure nothing sticks) and I had to keep a close eye on the French toast, making temperature adjustments as I went to make sure nothing burned.

If you like, sprinkle a little powdered sugar on top and serve with fresh fruit and maple syrup on the side.

Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Bliss!

Ever since the Reese's commercial that said "Hey! You got peanut butter in my chocolate," I've been a huge fan of that flavor combination. Luckily, my oldest son loves the combo almost as much as I do, so when I showed him a picture of a peanut butter ice cream cake, he wanted nothing else but that for his birthday. 

The Today Show posted the recipe that Carson Daly's wife made for him for his birthday. Here's her version:



 


After reading the recipes, though, I tweaked it a little to get even more peanut flavor in there, and a little more texture by adding some chopped peanuts.  I also thought the ganache would be too hard once it was refrigerated again, and I want the gooey, almost ice cream sundae experience, so I switched the ganache for hot fudge sauce and added some of it in the middle of the cake as well. The following is my take on Siri Daly's original:

Ingredients:

• 1 package Oreos (I used peanut butter filled Oreos, because of course!)
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted
• 2 pints chocolate peanut butter ice cream (I used Talenti brand - the only chocolate-peanut butter ice cream I could find at the store), softened
• 1 pint vanilla ice cream, softened (you can let this soften in the fridge while the chocolate ice cream layer is in the freezer)
• 1 bag Mini Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, chopped and divided (I probably used 2.5 cups total, chopped)
• 2 - 11 oz jars of hot fudge sauce
• 1.5 cups roasted, unsalted peanuts
• 1/2 cup natural peanut butter

To make the cake:

1. Butter a 10-inch springform pan (preferably one that is 3 inches deep), bottom and sides. 

2. In a food processor process Oreos until finely crushed.  With processor running, pour melted butter into the crumbs and process (you will need to stop and scrape the bowl at least once). Pulse a couple of times to get the crumb mixture to a wet sand consistency that stays together when you pinch it. Using a rubber spatula (or your hands, the bottom of a metal measuring cup works well, too), place mixture into prepared pan and evenly press over the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Place in freezer for about 10 minutes.

3. Scoop out the chocolate peanut butter ice cream into the cake pan and evenly spread. Pour about one jar of fudge sauce (you might have to warm up a little to get it to a pourable consistency). Sprinkle about half of the chopped peanut butter cups and about peanuts on top (enough to get an even layer over the fudge sauce. Freeze for one hour.  

4. Scoop out the vanilla ice cream on top of the peanut butter cups and evenly spread. Freeze for one hour.

Here's a pic just before I spread the vanilla ice cream:

Note: Steps 1 through 4 can be made a day or two in advance

5. About 15 minutes before you want to serve the cake, pull cake out of the freezer and put in the refrigerator to soften slightly.  This is what it will look like when you take it out of the freezer. Kind of boring, yes, but this is when the magic starts!

6. Just before serving, take cake out, run a thin knife between the crust and the pan side to loosen it, then pull the side of the pan away from the bottom. put the cake on serving plate. Drizzle the second jar of fudge sauce on top of the cake, letting it pour down the sides. Sprinkle with the rest of the chopped peanut butter cups and peanuts. 

7. Microwave the peanut butter in a small bowl until it is pourable. Pour over the top of the cake.  Here's what the finished product looked like: 

8. Serve. If you're having a bit of an issue cutting through, run your knife under hot water dry it, then try again. We also served with whipped cream, so you could do that, too. It's gilding the lily a little bit, but oh so good!

It was a huge hit! And ice cream cakes are so easy (you just need some patience with the softening and freezing), that this is a perfect summer treat!

Who Needs Birthday Cake?

My oldest son is now a teenager. Wow! I'm not sure what I was expecting, some sort of sudden onset of moodiness and emotions, but he's still pretty normal, so I'm counting my blessings for now.  I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that he's going to be in high school soon, doing all the high-school-y things that kids do. I'm not really ready for that...

The thing about Max is that he's never been much of a cake guy. He likes cake, kind of, but doesn't really like frosting (I know, sacrilege!). He gets my creative juices flowing, though, to figure out something fun to celebrate his birthday, but with something that's not cake.

In the past, I've made a cookie cake (cookies stacked in layers with whipped cream, sort of like an ice box cake), ice cream cake (this one I made for Elliot, but I made one for Max with chocolate cake, peanut butter ice cream, and Reese's peanut butter cups chopped and scattered on top), and had root beer floats. This year, we had three different celebrations (family, then a sleepover with friends, then a larger neighborhood families party), so my challenge was particularly difficult. Luckily, Max had an idea of what he wanted, so I just had to figure out the execution.

For our family night, we had molten lava cakes with strawberry filling. Basically, I made a generic molten lava cake but added a teaspoon of strawberry sundae topping to the middle of the cake (1/4 cup of batter in the ramekin, then teaspoon of topping, then another 1/4-1/3 cup of batter on top). I love lava cakes, because you can prepare them ahead of time (like, hours) and put the ramekins in the fridge until you are ready to bake. And people love individual dessert. :-) Served it with vanilla bean ice cream, whipped cream and more strawberry sauce on top. Although I prefer the traditional molten lava cake, Max seemed to really like it, so I'll call it a win!

The next night, we went a little bit over the top. I made a skillet brownie (the linked recipe is the one I used, cutting the chocolate chips in half and adding 1/2 cup peanut butter chips),  then topped it off with vanilla ice cream, homemade chocolate and peanut butter sauces, whipped cream (natch!), chopped peanuts and chopped dark chocolate. Oh my word! That was GOOD!

Finally, for the larger party (about 10 kids and 11 adults), we did a sundae bar with different ice creams, fresh fruit (strawberries, blueberries), cookies, chocolate chips, nuts, sprinkles, whipped cream and lots of different sauces. It was a lot of fun, and the kids really enjoyed it! Unfortunately, I apparently didn't take a picture of the sundae spread, although I swear I did. The sundae bar was pretty easy, since it kind of built from the previous festivities. For Max's sleepover, we did a pancake bar, where I made pancakes and we had different syrups and fruits to put on top. We had stuff left over, so pretty much everything was already prepped for the ice cream sundaes (I did cheat and used canned whipped topping, because it's easy and fun - the kids could put their own on). :-)

What are your alternatives to birthday cake? I would love to hear about your ideas!

Snow Day Bonus: Loafin' Around

Yesterday, we got almost 10 inches of snow, and this morning we had a record low recorded at the airport near our house. The kids have been in school exactly 2 days this week, and it seems as if they haven't been in school a full week since January. It's been rough.








This is what it looked like outside out house yesterday morning. It snowed for another 3 hours after this.

You would think that with this forced indoors activity, I would be wildly productive, but you would be wrong. I do have lovely, uncalloused heels (home pedicures each week) and have gotten sucked into reruns of Supernatural. I keep telling myself that I'll just watch to see if Dean actually goes to hell or if they figure out a way to get him out of his contract with the demon, Lillith. Like I said, it's been rough.

Previous years, I would have been doing a lot of baking, but in an attempt to not gain a bazillion pounds each winter, I have tried not to bake as much. That control ended yesterday when I went on a baking binge. All carbs all day, people.

I did not make anything original, but I had been saving a couple of these recipes for a while to try out. The top loaf is a Chocolate-Coconut Poundcake from Bon Appetit. As pretty as it looks, it was amazingly easy, and contains coconut oil, which makes it almost healthy (not really). The middle loaf (the recipe actually makes 2 loaves) is Whole Wheat Pumpkin Bread. The one I was really excited about was the bottom loaf, Rustic Chocolate Chip Tea Bread. I saw it in yesterday's Washington Post. It's tasty and quite easy to make, using one bowl and a liquid measuring cup. The kids loved it and were a little disappointed that my friends ate the rest of the loaf when they came over for an impromptu happy hour last night. I promised to make more soon -- it's that easy!

Hope it is warm and sunny where you are, and if it's not, pray for spring to some soon!

Cheers!

Snow Day Shenanigans

Who's a little tired of winter?  <raising my hand enthusiastically>

Here in Virginia, we got a big snow storm that cancelled classes Thursday and Friday, and with President's Day on Monday, that means the kids have been home for 5 straight days in Loudoun County. We've already had 11 snow days, and frankly, I'm done with all of it.  Fortunately for me, my kids are old enough to get their snow gear on and play outside with their friends without my direct supervision, so I had some extra time the past few days. The majority of that time has been watching the Olympics, I won't lie, but I managed to get a few more things done.

After making snowmen pancakes for breakfast (nothing fancy, folks, just three small, connected blobs of pancake batter with chocolate chips for eyes and buttons), the kids went outside and I started making this:

I had seen this recipe for chocolate swirl bread and thought is looked so good! It's from the Woman's Day January 2014 issue.  While none of the steps are really difficult, it is a little fussy.  The results were so good, though, I would definitely make it again, but doubling the recipe.  I figure, if I'm going to go through all that work, I might as well get two loaves out of it, because the first loaf will be gone in minutes!

Even though it's a yeast dough, I found it really easy to work with.  Maybe it's the eggs that are in it. When you first turn the dough out, it will look a little shaggy:

But it only takes a couple of kneads to get it nice and smooth:

See what I mean about being easy to work with? It rolls out beautifully!

The chocolate filling is also easy, basically just melting all the ingredients together and stirring until smooth.  If you are not familiar with the spreading tool in the picture below, it's an offset spatula.  If you are spreading anything -- cake batter, bars, icing, fillings -- you really need one of these!  It works so much better for getting everything smooth and even than using a regular flat knife or spatula.  This particular one is from Pampered Chef (the one pictured is the large one. I also have the small spreader). 

Rolling the dough is always my downfall -- I never think I get the roll tight enough.

Making the "braid." Don't worry -- it's not complicated, more of a twist than an actual braid.

Popping it in the parchment-lined pan:

Clearly, I could have done better at forming the dough...

Making the crumb topping, I went old-school, using two knives to cut the butter into crumbs.  When I make this again, I'm going to use the food processor.  So much easier and faster!

Before:

After:

You pat in the crumbs before you put the bread in the oven. Here's the finished product:

It's a beautiful bread, worthy of gift-giving, I think. And, as I mentioned before, none of the steps are hard. Don't you want to have some of this??  So, so yummy!

I Scream, You Scream...

Sorry for the long time in between posts.  It's been a busy time, with the end of school, start of swim team and a 6-day trip to California's Sonoma County thrown in there.  But I'm back, and I thought I'd give you a fun, summery treat to make:  brownie ice cream sandwiches.

These are not hard, but they do take some time, as I unfortunately found out.  The day after we came back from California, we were getting together with friends to celebrate one of our birthdays, and I had volunteered dessert.  We had nearly nothing in the fridge (or pantry), but I thought I had a box brownie mix (don't judge), at least, and eggs to make the brownie part of the sandwiches before I had to run the boys out to the dentist.  In retrospect, I really did not plan any of this well. It turns out that I didn't have brownie mix in the house, so I had to do a quick brownie from scratch (don't laugh, it's possible, and I'll show you how). It made us a couple (literally two) minutes late for the dentist, but it was okay. Then I had to stop at the grocery store to get ice cream. Why not just get a brownie mix then, you might ask (and I might call you a smart ass)? Because the brownies needed to not only bake, but also cool completely before you can spread the ice cream on them. So there.

I apologize for the picture quality of the final product.  For some reason, my camera refused to focus on the brownie.  After taking, like, 15 pictures I just gave up.  Sorry. This was the best I could do.

The bad part was that the ice cream didn't harden up in time for the birthday celebration, so we ended up not eating them.  It's okay, though, 'cause I'm planning a taco party later this week, so we can serve them as dessert then.  See? It all works out in the end...

Brownie Ice Cream Sandwiches

Brownie layer:

This is a simple, one-bowl (one-saucepan, actually) brownie. If you have all the ingredients, it should only take about 10 minutes to throw together. Honest!

3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks)
8 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3 large eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees (F). Prepare two rimmed baking sheets (10 inches by 14 inches).  DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP! Grease (I used Crisco, but you can use butter or other type of shortening) the inside of the pan, then line with parchment paper (or waxed paper if you don't have parchment). Grease the parchment paper.  Sprinkle with unsweetened cocoa, then tap the pans until they are coated with cocoa. Like this:

 TIP: if you're pressed for time, melt the butter and cocoa first, then while it cools, prepare the pans. Melt butter and cocoa in a 3 quart saucepan over low heat.  Stir until combined, then allow to cool (5 minutes or so).  Add sugar and vanilla, stir to combine thoroughly, then add one egg at a time, stirring after each egg to incorporate completely before adding another.  Add flour and salt, mix together until the flour is completely incorporated (you shouldn't see any white).  :-)

Evenly divide the batter between the two pans. I am horrible at this, so I used a measuring cup to help get the batter sort of equal.

Bake for about 25 minutes, until firm to the touch but not crispy or dark brown on the edges.  Pull pans out of the oven and let cool completely.

If you use a brownie mix, don't use the family-sized box of brownies.  Just get the kind that makes an 8x8 or 9x9 inch pan.

Sandwich Assembly:

Allow 1.5 quarts of vanilla ice cream to soften.  If you have the time, you could let it soften in the fridge for a couple of hours, which would probably be preferable, but I had a deadline looming, so I didn't have time to do it the "right" way.  I let my container sit on the counter for about 20 minutes.  When the middle still wasn't soft enough, I plopped it in a large bowl and just started stirring.  That helped a little.

Once the ice cream is soft (but not too melty), spread it evenly over one of the pans of brownie. Run a knife around the edge of the other brownie pan, then turn it over on top of the ice cream-covered brownie.  Pull off the pan and the parchment paper, then cover completely with plastic wrap and return to the freezer and freeze until ice cream is firm.  This took a lot longer than I thought, so you want to allow at least 4 hours for this.

















After the ice cream has hardened, remove from freezer.  Remove plastic wrap. Run a knife that you ran under hot water along the edges of the brownies (a warm knife will cut through the frozen brownie and ice cream easier and cleaner), place a cutting board (larger than the brownie pan) on top of the brownies, then flip the whole thing over so that the pan is now on top.  Lift off the pan and the parchment paper.

If you want the sandwiches to look really nice and even, you could trim off the sides (keep those trimmings, put them in a bowl and snack on them while you're finishing up...just a suggestion.  Don't want things to go to waste).  TIP: I use a pizza cutter to slice through the brownies. Cut bars into desired size (I got about 16). Wrap in squares of parchment paper and store in the freezer if you're not serving them right away.

Final thoughts:

You can customize these in so many ways.  I chopped up chocolate chips and toasted almonds and rolled the edges in them.  I also thought of spread raspberry sauce (you can see it in the picture) on one side of the brownie before I put it on top of the ice cream. I didn't do that this time, because a) I thought of it too late, and b) I was making these for kids and wasn't sure if they would eat them that way.  You also could use a different ice cream or cover in a ganache and freeze for a chocolate-covered brownie ice cream sandwich.  So decadent!

Frankenstein's Monster Cookies

Monster cookies with dark chocolate chips, smoked peanuts, bacon bits, and bacon meringue crumbles.  Crazy?  Not until you taste them!  So, you know from my earlier post that I had some left over bacon meringue crumbles (crumbs, whatever).  I put a lot of sweat and tears into those babies, so I wasn't about to just throw them out!  It just so happened that I had a jar of peanut butter that my kids didn't like so much (the texture wasn't smooth enough), so I was thinking monster cookies.  Also, I didn't have enough peanut butter, so I added a little bit of this chocolate almond spread I picked up at Trader Joe's.  Don't be fooled: it's not Nutella.  I don't prefer the flavor as much, so I'll be using it up in some baked goods or maybe a frosting in the coming months....but I digress.  Because the peanut butter I was using was natural, which tends to be oilier and looser than more processed peanut butters, I did add a little bit of flour, so you may quibble that this is not a true monster cookie.  But you can get over all of that, especially when you take a bite of these bad boys.

Now, if you don't have bacon meringue crumbles, by all means, just use bacon bits and call it a day. I happened to have both, so I put both in.  No sense in doing things half-assed, am I right?  Also, you can leave the nuts out if you want, or just use regular peanuts or almonds.  I happened to have some smoked peanuts (which I mixed with plain roasted almonds) that I wanted to use up as well (are you sensing a theme??), so in the dough they went!  But really and truly, these were tasty!  Chewy, with a sweet/savory/salty thing going on that was heaven!

If you've never made monster cookies before, the real key is to not overbake them.  They will look a little under done when you pull them out, and it's essential to let them sit on the baking sheet about 5 minutes before you take them off.  Honest. Then you take them off the cookie sheet and let them cool all the way on a cooling rack.

This is what it looks like when you combine the eggs and sugars.  It's very loose, but just wait, things will tighten up when you add the peanut butter:

And after you add all of the dry ingredients, the cookie dough becomes really stiff.  I had to sort of knead in the chips, nuts, and bacon bits.  This is what the finished dough looks like:

Here's a shot of the finished product while they are still cooling on the sheet pans.  You will definitely need to line the pans with a silicone mat or parchment paper.

Frankenstein's Monster Cookies

4 eggs
1 1/4 granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
12 oz natural peanut butter
3 oz. Trader Joe's cocoa almond spread
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
3.5 cups oats, not instant
2/3 cup flour
2.5 tsp baking soda
1 cup chopped smoked almonds and/or peanuts
1 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup bacon bits (or 1/2 cup bacon meringue crumbs)

Beat sugars and eggs together thoroughly.  Add butter, salt, vanilla, peanut butter and cocoa spread.  Cream all together. Add flour and baking soda. Mix until combined, then stir in nuts, chocolate chips and bacon.  Dough will be stiff.

Drop by rounded tablespoons onto parchment-lined large baking sheets. Flatten each cooking down slightly. Leave 2 inches of space, because they will spread a bit. I could only fit about 10 on a large sheet pan.

Bake 10-12 minutes at 350.  The cookies should still look a little puffy and only lightly browned when you take them out. Let them cool on the pan for at least 5 minutes before taking them off the baking sheet and finishing cooling on a cooling rack. You do not want to overbake these cookies so that they'll stay chewy and delicious.

Makes a lot -- 4 dozen or so.

Fluffernutter Brownies - From Failure to Fantastic!

I had wanted to get this posted days ago, but then the flu happened in our house, and my time has not been my own.  So I apologize for not being able to be a more regular poster.  That will be my New Year's resolution...

Hopefully you're not sick of brownie recipes yet, because I have another one for you.  :-) And, fair warning, I have a couple of recipes you can make using up brownies, so stay tuned.  I had a lot of brownies to use up after that whole brownie experiment thing...

I didn't intend to make brownies, but sometimes things don't go your way and you need to take a different direction.  Such as today.  I had attempted to make peanut butter fudge, a recipe I saw in my latest Penzey's spice catalog (seriously, sign up for their mailing list, even if it's just for the recipes).  I should have known.  I am not very patient, and making candy takes patience. So, after letting it set up for 2 days in the fridge, I wasn't sure what I ended up with, but it wasn't fudge.  What I got was some really delicious, fluffy, peanut buttery goo that was too good to throw away. I actually made myself sick taste-testing the "fudge" to ensure that a) it tasted good, and b) it actually wasn't fudge.

Here's what I had. Clearly too soft to be fudge.

What was I going to do with this stuff?  One of my all time favorite flavor combinations is peanut butter and chocolate, so I thought, "Why not swirl some of this into brownies?" So that's what I did.

You need to make enough brownie batter for a 9x13 inch pan, so I doubled my favorite brownie recipe (nothing healthy about these, despite my previous attempts).  This is a recipe from the Laura Ingalls Wilder Country Cookbook and super simple. You can, however, use a box mix (I won't judge) to keep it simple, since you'll be putting in some time on the the peanut butter fudge.


Here's my go-to brownie recipe. I love it because you make it in one pan and it is incredibly simple.

Laura Ingalls Wilder Brownies

1 cup butter
12 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa (or about 1/2 cup)
2 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt

Fluffernutter Filling
(If you want the same consistency that I had, cook for 5 minutes, and don't use a candy thermometer. If you want to actually make the peanut butter fudge, then use a candy thermometer to make sure you get to the soft ball stage.)

Grease a 9x13 inch pan and preheat oven to 325 (F).

Combine butter and cocoa in a 3 qt. saucepan.  Heat over low heat, stirring, until butter is melted and cocoa is completely blended in until smooth.  Set aside to cool (about 5 minutes).

When cocoa is lukewarm, beat in sugar and vanilla. Then beat in eggs, one at a time. Add the flour and salt, beat until combined.

Pour brownie batter into prepared pan, then drop blobs of filling (I only used about half of the recipe) onto brownie batter, then use a knife to swirl the two together.  Bake for 30 to 35 minutes (when a toothpick is inserted near the center, it should come out with a few bits of crumbs clinging to it).

I hope you enjoy these!  They are delicious!  And, in the spirit of the season, I gave the brownies as thank yous for our trash and recycling guys.  I hope they like them!

I still have to figure out what to do with the other half of that failed peanut butter fudge...