Kitchen Sink Cookies

So is “Kitchen Sink Cookies” a bad thing to name cookies? I was going for an “everything but the…” kind of feel and it just feels right.  It feels right because these cookies have everything you’ve ever wanted {and no kitchen sink}: rainbow sprinkles, pretzels, aaaand chocolate chips. You know how I feel about sprinkles - the sparkle of baking and best of all, they’re the cornerstone of these cookies.  I saw these cookies and was inspired to take my favorite cookie recipe and turn it into a vehicle for amazing toppings in my pantry. So, definitely make these cookies and definitely add all your favorite ingredients {which, I’m sure, includes sprinkles}. I want to know, what ingredients are you adding?

Also, on an unrelated note, Happy Mother’s Day to all the wonderful moms out there - especially, Happy Mother’s Day to my mommy, my favorite!

Kitchen Sink Cookies
Adapted from my Chocolate Toffee Cookies
Inspired by How Sweet Eats
Recipe yields apx. 4 1/2 dozen cookies

Ingredients
1 ½ sticks (6 oz.) unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
2 eggs at room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla
2 ¼ cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup chocolate chips
1/3 cup sprinkles {I used rainbow jimmies but you can use any kind!}
1/3 cup smashed pretzel bits

Tools:
Stand mixer with paddle attachment
Medium bowl
Cookie sheet(s) 

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350˚ F. Cream butter, sugar and brown sugar in stand mixer until light in color and fluffy. Add eggs to mixture, one at a time until completely combined.  Add in vanilla.

In the medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.  Add flour mixture into butter mixture all at once and mix until all the flour is incorporated.

Add pretzels, sprinkles, and chocolate chips into batter. Mix vigorously until combined. You can/should mix by hand, as needed.  You {obviously} want pretzels, chocolate and sprinkles in every bite!

Scoop tablespoon-sized cookie dough balls onto baking sheet, about one to one and a half inches apart. Place in oven and bake for 12 to 13 minutes, rotating half-way through. Let cool completely and enjoy!

Salted Caramel Crepe Cake

Brunch is the best meal there is. Hands down, no question, brunch hits the spot. You can eat just about anything for about 6 hours in the day and qualify it as “brunch.” Frankly, I’m disappointed that brunch is really only a weekend thing - I feel like the weekdays probably feel left out because they only get breakfast and lunch. Now, I love breakfast too but that’s for another day. So brunch…I was thrilled when the fiancé thought that a brunch birthday celebration would be wonderful! It was just the reason I needed to try out the crepe cake inspiration I’d had for weeks. Martha and Deb {inspiration from Smitten Kitchen cookbook but a lovely one here} truly made beautiful crepe cakes but they were a little too intense to add to my long list of birthday brunch things to make - so I had to simplify. Turns out that my simplifications were the icing on the cake, pun intended, and made for a perfect birthday brunch celebration! If you’re into this cake but not into salted caramel, don’t be afraid to swap out the frosting for any delicious flavor you see fit - it will almost definitely turn out perfectly! 

Salted Caramel Crepe Cake
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen Cookbook Chocolate Hazelnut Crepe Cake {For the crepes}, here {for the frosting} and recipe from Martha Stewart’s Chocolate Ganache Glaze in the Martha Stewart Living Cakes & Cupcakes Special Edition {for the ganache}.
Recipe yields one 10 inch cake, serves 8 generously

Ingredients
{Crepes}
9 tbs. butter, plus additional for greasing the pan
2 1/3 cups milk
6 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar

{Frosting}
2 sticks butter, softened at room temperature
2 1/4 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup salted caramel {recipe here or you can buy at a store}
1 tbs. heavy cream

{Ganache}
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tbs. light corn syrup
Sea salt flake for topping

Tools
2 small saucepans
Large bowl
Spatula
Immersion blender (or blender)
Medium skilled (8 to 9 inches)
Stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment
Large offset spatula
Medium-sized heat-proof bowl

Directions
{Note: Crepe batter must sit for at least two hours in fridge prior to use so plan accordingly}

In a small sauce pan you’ll make the brown butter. Completely melt the butter - once melted, reduce to medium heat. The butter begins to foam, turn “clear golden” and then begin to turn a brownish color.  Watch carefully as this happens quickly and you’ll want to stir frequently. Once the butter has browned, remove from heat and let cool. The butter may not look totally brown when you remove from the heat but it should look like this while cooling:

While the butter is cooling, combine milk, eggs, flour, salt, sugar and 6 tbs. of brown butter in large bowl (If using immersion blender) or blender. Set the remainder to the brown butter to the side. Combine all ingredients until smooth. The blender or immersion blender is helpful in making the batter completely creamy. Cover and place in fridge for at least two hours or up to two days.

While the batter is in the fridge, make the frosting. Cream butter in stand mixer until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar and mix until combined.  Add in salted caramel and heavy cream and whip until light and fluffy.  Set aside {Note: if not using for a while, I would put in the fridge until one hour prior to use}.

Once the crepe batter is ready, preheat the skillet over medium to high heat. Butter pan slightly - you’ll want to do this every two to three crepes. Now, the recipe says to pour 1/4 cup of batter into the pan. This didn’t work for me, I poured the batter out of the bowl into the center of the skillet and approximated what looked like enough. Next, swirl the skillet around until the batter covers the entire pan. This was just about 1/4 cup but this technique worked best for me.

Now for the flipping - don’t be afraid! You’ll want to wait until the bottom is golden brown and the top is completely set (no liquid).  To check the bottom, you can carefully lift up with your fingers and see the color. Once ready, lift the crepe carefully on an edge with your fingers, slide a spatula under and flip quickly. Now for a recommendation from Smitten Kitchen that was like gold - don’t worry about that first crepe, no one’s first crepe is good so if it’s terrible, just toss it and keep going.  You’ll get the rhythm of crepe-making and you’ll be on your way!

Place crepes on a paper towel-lined plate and stack them until you’ve finished all the batter {20-30 crepes}.

Once all your crepes are made, lay the largest crepe on the surface you want the cake to be served on {plate, cake stand, anything pretty}. Spread a helping of frosting onto the first crepe, spreading with an offset spatula. I know, “a helping” of frosting isn’t helpful but I just eyeballed it - maybe 2 to 3 tablespoons - enough to have it evenly spread over the crepe and enough to taste in between crepe layers.  You can feel it out  Here it is visually:

Once the first crepe is frosted, layer it with another crepe, press lightly on the crepes and frost that next one. Continue until all crepes have been layered with frosting, finishing with crepe, no frosting on top.

While you make the ganache, put the cake in the fridge {if you’re not ready to make the ganache, you can leave it in the fridge overnight}. Now for the ganache - you’ll want to use it as soon as you make it so make sure you have time to coat the cake.

After the chocolate is chopped, place in a heatproof bowl. In a small sauce pan, break cream and corn syrup to a boil.  Watch carefully, as soon as it begins to boils, remove from heat and pour over chocolate in heatproof bowl. Let stand for 10 to 12 minutes.

Whisk chocolate until all combined and the chocolate has is shiny.  Pour very slowly over the top of the cake, spreading periodically with an offset spatula. Add additional ganache to sides of cake (if not enough spilled over) with spatula. Once cake is coated with enough of the ganache, smooth the top of the cake with spatula, either completely smooth or add texture if you like. Sprinkle with sea salt flakes. Place in fridge until ready to eat. Cut with large knife but don’t be afraid to just go for it!  Cake should last a day or two.  Enjoy!

Banana Bread Nutella Cookies

Are you tired of trying banana bread recipes?  Ok, good, me either. After I made strawberry shortcake cookies, I got to thinking that you could really turn anything into cookies. It took me a rather long period of time to actually make another cake/bread/non-cookie baked good into a cookie but here they are: Banana Bread Nutella Cookies. Basically, this is a combination of the traditional banana bread recipe I use here and a few key baking measurements of cookies from these red velvet cookies. The Nutella flavor of these cookies was mild and at times overpowered by the very ripe bananas - if you’re not into Nutella, it can easily be left out or if you’re dedicated to Nutella, you can add more than the recipe calls for. Either way, these cookies turned out to have the exact texture of banana bread but have the on-the-go, eat four on your way out the door, cookie-convenience. What favorite baking recipe would you want to turn into a cookie?

Banana Bread Nutella Cookies
Inspired by Bakers Royale
Adapted from Red Velvet Cookies
Recipe yields apx. 4 dozen cookies

Ingredients
3/4 cup mashed ripe banana (apx. 1 1/2 - 2 very ripe bananas)
1 stick of butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup Nutella
2 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Tools
Stand mixer with paddle attachment
Small and medium mixing bowls
Whisk
Baking sheets with silpat or parchment paper

Directions
Preheat oven to 350° F. In small mixing bowl, mash bananas with a fork and set aside. In medium mixing bowl combine flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon - set aside.

In bowl of stand mixer, cream butter until light in color, fluffy in texture. Add sugar and mix until well combined. Add in egg and vanilla and mix until combined. Add mashed banana and Nutella into mixture, mixing until combined. 

Add in flour mixture all at once and mix until no patches of flour remain. Batter will be extremely sticky. If desired, you could most likely add 1/4 to 1/2 cup more flour to decrease stick. I would recommend scooping 1 tbs. size balls of dough and rolling into spheres as best as possible. Place each sphere onto prepared baking sheets. Place baking sheet in freezer for 10 to 15 minutes. This allows the dough to be less sticky and malleable, allowing you to roll them into perfect cookie dough balls. 

Pre-freezer sticky:

Post-freezer perfection:

Place in oven and bake for 12 to 13 minutes until cookies are lightly browned along the edges and spring back from a light touch to the top of the cookie. Let cool and enjoy!

Chocolate Cherry Scones

At the end of last year I got a baking book I had really been dying for…Bouchon Bakery. The book does the perfect job of telling a baking story, both of how recipes came to be and how this amazing French bakery was built.  This probably is probably not a surprise, but I love the book. The real beauty of the book is the true detail in each recipe and the dedication it takes to make most of the recipes. Resting of doughs, cooling of batters and every so often, some important freezing. Although it took a full night and day to make these scones (including cooling, refrigeration, etc.) it was ridiculously worth it. These scones were complete perfection. I know I’m the queen of hyperbole, but seriously. A-MAZING. They were flakey, puffy, light and had that perfect scone bite. Just amazing.  If you’ve got some time, certainly try this recipe and if you’re desperate for some French perfection, definitely check out Bouchon Bakery!

Chocolate Cherry Scones
Recipe slightly adapted from Bouchon Bakery
Recipe yields 12 scones

Ingredients
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup plus 1 and 1/4 tsp. brown sugar
1/2 to 3/4 Vanilla bean
3/4 cup plus 2 tbs. dried tart cherries (I used unsweetened)
2 1/4 cups plus 2 tbs. flour
1 and 3/8 tsp. baking powder
3/4 and 1/8 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
4.7 ounces (apx. 1 stick of butter plus 1 tbs. - 9 tbs.) cold butter, cut into long pieces
3/4 cup heavy cream (a bit more below, in addition) 
1/2 cup chocolate chips

For glaze
3/4 cup powdered sugar
2 and 1/2 reserved strained cherry syrup (made from the above ingredients)
2 tbs. heavy cream

Tools
Small sauce pan
Strainer
Stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment
Cookie sheet (s) with parchment or Silpat
Sifter
Pastry brush (or equivalent to glaze the tops of the scones)

Directions
The night before
Make the macerated cherries (softening of dried cherries and making of cherry syrup) - Combine water and brown sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Split vanilla bean and scrap seeds of about three quarters into the sauce pan.  Add the vanilla bean pod (the part that has been scraped of the seeds) into the saucepan.  Bring mixture to a simmer and stir until the sugar is dissolved.  Add in cherries and return to a simmer.

Remove the cherries from the heat and let cool. Place in a covered bowl or tupperware and let sit overnight.

Two hours prior to baking {morning of baking}
Strain cherries with a fine mesh strainer and reserve the cherry syrup/juice in a bowl. {Original recipe says to reserve 3 tbs. of syrup, however that was about the total weight of the syrup so I used all that was left}.

Place flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in stand mixer.  Mix together for just a bit, until combined in stand mixer.

Add the butter (cut into pieces like below). Mix on lowest setting until butter is coated in the flour mixture.

Turn the mixer up until the butter begins to break up and is evenly distributed throughout mixture.  Mixture will resemble coarse crumbs with larger chunks of butter.

Slowly pour the cream (3/4 cup) over the mixture and mix in stand mixer until dough begins to come together.

Add in strained cherries and chocolate chips - mix until incorporated. Cover dough in bowl and refrigerate for about two hours or until firm. {Refrigeration here is important as you want the butter in the dough to be as cold as possible before baking.}

After two hours
Preheat oven to 350˚ F. Remove dough from fridge and separate into twelve separate equal portions.  Roll each one into dough ball. 

I felt like twelve on one sheet were going to be too close together so I separated the dough balls, six on one cookie sheet. Place in oven and bake 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown. {Please note, original recipe says to bake for closer to 30 minutes, mine were done much sooner, exactly 15 minutes}.

While scones are baking, make the cherry glaze. Combine sifted powdered sugar, cherry syrup and heavy cream. Once scones come out of the oven, place cookie sheet on cooling rack and immediately brush glaze across the tops of the scone.  The glaze will become shiny and clear as the scones cool. Enjoy these amazing treats!

Mexican Wedding Cookies {Thumbprint Style}

For the holidays I got the amazing Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies by the amazing Alice Medrich.  Basically, this is the cookie bible - more than 300 pages of cookie recipe bliss.  Every cookie you’ve ever wanted to make, ready to go.  I decided to tack a new-to-me recipe “Mexican Wedding Cakes.”  Mine were a bit on the drier side and are more cookie style to me but it may just be my “first time” shot.  Obviously, I had to take Alice’s (yes, we’re on a first-name basis) and go thumbprint with these.  These pecan based cookies are not my favorite style but they got some lovely reviews and nothing looks cuter than a thumbprint - really, nothing.

Mexican Wedding Cookies {Thumbprint Style}
Recipe by Alice Medrich {Link above - she calls Mexican Wedding Cakes, Nutty Thumbprint Cookies}
Recipe yields apx. 3 dozen 

Ingredients
For cookies:
1 1/2 cup pecans
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 sticks butter, softened and cut into tablespoon-size pieces
2 tsp. vanilla
1 large egg yolk
Powdered sugar for dusting 

For ganache:
1 stick butter
6 ounces dark chocolate
1/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted

Tools
Food processor
Cookie sheets
Sifter
Small sauce pan
Double broiler or equivalent

Directions 
Place the nuts in the food processor and pulse until some of the nuts are chopped to crumbs and the other half are finally chopped (photo below, difficult to explain!)

Place the ready to go pecans in a bowl and set aside.  Next, put the sugar, flour, salt and pulse to mix.  Add the butter, vanilla and egg yolk.  ”Chop” on medium speed until the mixture comes together and begins to form clumps and looks like your normal cookie dough.

Add the nuts to the mixture and pulse until combined.  Remove the cookie dough from food processor and put in bowl.  Cover and refrigerate for about two hours. {Note: recipe recommends at least two hours but overnight is suggested - I had mine in the fridge for far too long and ended up letting the dough sit out for about two hours. Due to that experience, I don’t think they need to be in the fridge for too long.  You can experiment with how the dough works best for you}. Preheat oven to 325˚ F about 15 minutes before taking the dough out of the fridge/are ready to start scooping.

Scoop tablespoon-size dough balls onto prepared cookie sheets, 12 per sheet.  After scooping a dozen per cookie sheet, lightly press your thumb down into each cookie.

Place in the oven for 22 to 24 minutes (mine took exactly 22).  While still on the cookie sheet, sprinkle with sifted powdered sugar.  Let cookies cool completely on a wire rack.

Now get the ganache started.  Melt chopped dark chocolate in double broiler or bowl sitting over simmering water.  At the same time, melt the butter for the ganache completely in a small sauce pan.  Once the chocolate is melted, remove the bowl from heat and add the melted butter into the chocolate.  Whisk until combined.  Sift the powdered sugar into the chocolate.  While the chocolate ganache is still warm, scoop small spoonfuls into the indentations of the cookies.

Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcakes

Making a new recipe for the first time can be really exciting…also a little super scary.  Making carmel was on the exciting side for awhile but hit the scary side pretty quickly - did you know that caramel after it reaches it’s peak temperature almost instantaneously turns an extremely scary blackish color?  Me neither. {Word to the wise, if you don’t try to take pictures of almost-ready caramel, you probably won’t miss the peak temperature and end up with burnt caramel.}  That said, caramel on round two, was awesome - really fun and totally worth it to have homemade caramel.  If you’re not into making caramel, I still highly recommend making these - you can buy caramel at the store and these cupcakes will still blow your socks off.  Literally.  Enjoy!

Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcakes
Cupcakes from here and frosting adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod & Brown Eyed Baker 
Recipe yields a dozen cupcakes and frosting for about the same 

Ingredients:
1 1/8 cups flour
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 ¼ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
2 tsp. vanilla 
½ cup milk
3 tbs. heavy cream
½ cup butter, melted and cooled
2 tbs. sour cream

Ingredients for the frosting (salted caramel sauce & the frosting):
Salted caramel sauce:
2 cups sugar
12 tbs. unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into small pieces
1 cup heavy cream
1 tbs. sea salt flakes (and a bit extra for sprinkling on the cupcakes)

Frosting:
1 cup butter, room temperature
2.5 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 cup salted caramel sauce

Tools:
Small and medium-sized sauce pan
Stand mixer with paddle and whisk attachments
Medium bowl
Sifter
Cupcake tray and liners
Whisk
Candy thermometer 
Jar for caramel sauce
Piping bag, piping tip

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350˚ F.  Mix together egg and brown sugar until smooth.  Add in cream, milk, vanilla, and sour cream. Melt the butter for the cupcakes on the stove and let cool.  In the medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. Mix into the butter and sugar mixture in the stand mixer.  Pour in the butter and mix until fully incorporated.

Pour a 1/4 cup of the batter into each lined cupcake tin.  Bake for apx. 16 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Let cool completely before frosting.

For the salted caramel sauce, use a medium sauce pan (I used a cast iron skillet but be wary of how hot it can become).  As I mentioned, attention to caramel sauce is key - be sure to watch it constantly and be aware of where your temperature is on the thermometer.  Begin by heating the sugar in the saucepan.  When the sugar begins to melt (it will start to brown a tad), whisk the sugar constantly - it will start to clump (see below) but that is normal.  When the sugar completely liquifies/melts, stop whisking.  Wait for the sugar to reach  325˚ F- the caramel will be a rich amber color. The recipe I read said 350 but it burned very quickly.  If it comes off to early, the caramel will be much more sauce-like but still delicious. 

Right about now is when I should have stopped taken photos and taken the caramel off the stove.  I got this instead:

Unfortunately, after this, I decided to not take pictures of the caramel-making process - sorry about that.  Trust the thermometer and take it off immediately when it hits 325!

Let the caramel cool for about 10 minutes and then pour into a mason jar to cool further.

For the frosting, put the butter in the bowl of the stand mixer with whisk attachment and whisk on medium to high speed for apx. 5 minutes until butter looks light and fluffy.  Add in sifted powdered sugar.  Add in salted caramel sauce.  Scrape down the bowl to ensure everything is fully incorporated.  Frosting can be made a day in advance and kept in the refrigerator, however, allow an hour or two for the frosting to warm before using. 

The frosting will be a lovely thickness and the taste will be beyond your wildest dreams of deliciousness.

To frost cupcakes, fit piping bag with tip (I used Wilton 2D) and frost from the outside in.  Sprinkle sea salt flakes on the cupcakes and devour enjoy!

Blog-spiration {Baking Inspiration}

I love my morning routine.  It always involves a cup of coffee, sometimes a stint at the gym {if I have time}, definitely a delicious breakfast {usually a bowl of cereal} and of course, I check my favorite blogs.  The blogs I read inspire me everyday.  Their baking prowess is honestly incredible and they are what inspire me to keep mixing away in the kitchen and blog, each and every Sunday morning.  I hope this blog roll* of sorts introduces you to some new bakers and highlights some of your favorites.  What baking blogs are you reading?

*Please note: all logos belong to each blogger and each logo is linked back to their original blog.

 
Joy is pretty incredible - her combinations and ideas are phenomenal.  She rarely posts something that I don’t desperately want to make and, even better, she blogs about baking techniques - useful for every baker!  Most recently, I am dying to make these and these from her blog.  Also, let’s not forget that this lovely lady was recently featured on The Everygirl {a personal life dream!}! 

 
To say that Jessica is brave in the kitchen is the understatement of the century.  This woman charges in the kitchen, shakes everything up and comes out with beautiful concoctions like this one.  Reading Jessica’s blog in grad school made me want to get in the kitchen and MAKE things.  I’m not quite as adventurous as Jessica in the kitchen, but a girl can try!

 
Bakerella - home of the cake pop; inventor of the cake pop!  Now, I don’t have a strong affinity for cake pops but this blog makes me almost drool every time I read it - these in particular took my breath away.  It is obvious with every post the amount of time and energy that went into the baking and the unbelievable creative design of these beautiful baked goodies.  I definitely don’t focus enough on design or decoration but Bakerella desperately makes me want to.    

I stumbled across this blog a few months ago and knew right away that I was hooked.  Caroline lives in Chicago {just like yours truly} and has a true passion for food.  Whipped is so relatable because Caroline has a rockin’ day job but still stays true to her wonderful blog with scrumptious pictures and relatable recipes.  These gems were adapted from Whipped.  

These are just a few of my daily reads - I hope you enjoy and find as much inspiration, excitement and desire to bake as I do from these lovely ladies!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Crispies

While baking for this wedding, I knew I needed at least one no-bake dessert.  It was just TOO hot last week to put absolutely everything in the oven.  It was still beyond hot in the apartment but these crispy gems, from the Joy of Baking, were the perfect no-bake addition to the wedding spread.  Despite not using the oven, these treats were a little more complicated to make than I anticipated - I felt like I needed an extra set of hands because of how quickly the chocolate and crispies cool down.  Luckily mon fiancé was able to help!  Even if you don’t have a helping hand, make sure to try these crispy delights!  

P.S. Sweet Sunday Mornings is headed to Paris and Italy this week!  Stay tuned for European confections and delights!!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Crispies
Adapted from Joy of Baking {an incredible baking resource!}

Ingredients:
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup corn syrup
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cocoa powder (I used unsweetened but you can also use Dutch-processed)
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 cups mini marshmallows
1 tsp. vanilla
3 cups rice cereal
1 cup peanuts

Tools:
8x8 inch baking pan
Medium sauce pan
Rubber spatula  

Directions:
Butter the 8x8 baking pan.  Then overlay the parchment paper and butter the paper, as seen here (I would recommend using parchment paper instead of aluminum foil).  

In the medium saucepan, combine the peanut butter, corn syrup, honey, cocoa powder, and brown sugar.  Bring mixture to a boil on medium to high heat.  

Once boiling, add the marshmallows.  Stir vigorously with rubber spatula until marshmallows are completely incorporated.

Once marshmallows are incorporated, remove mixture from heat and, as quickly as possible, add vanilla, immediately followed by rice cereal.  Then add in peanuts.  At this point you’ll have a big blob of rice crispies, filled with chocolate and peanut butter.  Move the crispy mixture from the sauce pan into the buttered baking pan.

Begin to press the mixture down into the dish with the rubber spatula, creating a smooth, even surface on the top.  Allow the crispies to cool completely before removing from the pan.

Super Fudgy Pecan Brownies

I’ve been dreaming about pecans for days.  Not only are they delicious but I just knew that they would be the perfect compliment to brownies for this sunshine-filled weekend.  The best part about these brownies is you pretty much make fudge and then add eggs and flour to turn them into them brownies - that’s how you know they’ll be good.  Also, there is more chocolate than you could ever hope for.  Basically, you can’t go wrong!  Enjoy!

Super Fudgy Pecan Brownies
Adapted from The Art & Soul of Baking

Ingredients:
1 stick unsalted butter
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped (Recipe calls for chocolate bars, which is better for melting/fudge but I only had chocolate chips on hand and it worked out just fine)
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup flour
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips (in addition to the above)
1/2 cup pecans, chopped (OR place pecans in sealed plastic bag and pound bag with bowl/hammer/cup until pecans are in small, delicious bits) - plus 16 pecans for decoration

Tools:
8x8 in baking disk
Double broiler, alternatively pot of boiling water and a heat-proof bowl
Several spatulas
Whisk
Parchment paper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350˚ F.  Prepare baking dish in the same fashion as these lemon squares - butter the pan then place a piece of parchment paper on the bottom.  The generously butter/grease the parchment in the dish.  This allows for easy removal of the baked good from the pan {my favorite trick I’ve learned recently}. 

Begin to boil water for the double boiler.  In the heat-proof bowl or the top of the double broiler add the butter, semi-sweet chocolate and unsweetened chocolate.  Place the bowl on top of the pot with boiling water and turn the heat off.  With a heat-proof spatula, stir the chocolate and butter and it slowly begins to melt.  Stir occasionally until butter and chocolate are melted and combined.

Once combined, remove bowl from the pot of water and add sugar.  Whisk in sugar until combined.  Then whisk in eggs, one at a time.  Add in vanilla.  Whisk in flour and salt until mixture is completely smooth and shiny.  Add in chocolate chips and delicious pecans.  

Pour batter into greased 8x8 inch baking pan.  For fun decoration cut pecans in half and style across the batter before placing in the oven.  Place brownies in the oven for 35 minutes or until a knife/skewer comes out with just a few soft crumbles.  Mine took exactly 35 minutes.  Let cool before cutting.  Enjoy!  

Orange Angel Food Cake {& Honey Lavender Glaze}

Have you had angel food cake lately?  It is pretty much a fluffy delight complete with a fabulous texture.  Despite it’s perfect flavor and texture, I did not anticipate the extremely precise recipe and nerve-wracking process to make angel food cake. It was quite an experience this week.  As I learned from Joy the Baker, the cake literally cools upside down - I don’t mean the pan is just upside down but rather, the pan, with spikes (officially referred to as “cooling legs”) on the side, rests two inches up in the air, and cools for at least an hour.  Somehow, although I’m not still sure how, the cake came out, and I manage to not mangle it.  In fact, I think it looked pretty amazing, if I do say so myself!

As for the honey lavender glaze, I was a little hesitant to make it - my valiant baking assistant {a.k.a. my boyfriend} decided he would make it.  It turned out a-mazing!  It also added a little something extra, that was perfect, to the cake! 

Orange Angel Food Cake
Adapted from Joy the Baker

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup cake flour, sifted
12 egg whites
1/3 cup warm water
1 tsp. orange extract (from Alton Brown)
1 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

Tools:
10-inch tube pan with cooling legs
Stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment
Food processor or immersion blender with bowl attachment
Large size bowl 

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350˚ F.  With the food processor or immersion blender, grind all of the sugar for about 2 minutes to make it extremely fine.  Place half the sugar aside for later use.  Sift the other half of the sugar, salt and cake flour and set aside.

In the electric mixer, beat together egg whites, water, orange extract and cream of tartar.  The recipe says to beat on medium-high and slowly add in the sugar while mixing.  I chose to mix it a little slower as the goal is to mix until soft peaks form.  My egg/meringue experience is a little behind so I read that if you mix it slower, it decreases your chances of over mixing (you don’t want to over mix!).  The egg mixture will be come white, thick and you should be able to leave a trail with the whisk when it is ready.  It should also stick to the whisk without being extremely firm:

Next, remove the bowl from the mixer and use a sifter to sift in a quarter of the flour/sugar mixture.  Fold into the meringue. This was the most difficult part for me.  Joy the Baker said to not deflate the eggs when folding by scooping the meringue from the bottom over the top of the flour.  I’m almost positive that I slightly deflated the eggs as I went but as long as you’re slow and careful as you fold, it should turn out alright.  Continue to fold in the flour mixture, one quarter at a time until it is all incorporated.

Once the flour is incorporated, spoon the batter into the ungreased tube pan.  I used a giant spoon, instead of pouring, I believe it stops the eggs from deflating.  Joy the Baker said the tube pan would be full but mine was only about 3/4 of the way full.  I thought for sure this meant I had ruined the eggs but the cake rose so much in the oven that I think it would have overflown had the pan been full!  

Alton Brown says put the cake in the oven for 35 minutes and test if the cake is done by putting a wooden toothpick in the center - if it come out clean, it is done.  Joy the Baker says to do so at about 45 to 50 minutes.  Mine was done at 37.  Just make sure to test it!

Take the cake out of the oven and place upside down, on the cooling legs for at least an hour. The cake will stay completely in the pan.  After an hour, gently tap the bottom of the pan with a butter knife.  Turn the pan right side up and run a butter knife very gently along the inner and outer edges of the cake to loosen it.  At this point, if you have a two piece pan, you may be able to lift the cake out of the pan.  I had to turn it upside again and pry it out a little bit, then turn right side up again.  It was a harrowing process but totally worth it in the end!!

Honey Lavender Glaze
Adapted from Martha Stewart

Ingredients:
2/3 cup honey
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup butter
3 tbs. lavender
Squeezed half lemon

Tools:
Small saucepan

Directions:
Put all ingredients in the saucepan and heat over medium heat, stirring constantly until butter is melted and all ingredients are fully incorporated.  Strain mixture to remove lavender.  Brush lightly over cake while the glaze is still warm.  If serving immediately, you may want to pour a little more glaze on top.