Author: Amy

Rolo Brownie Bites

Rolos, according to Mike, are like crack.  And I have to agree; there’s something about that smooth chocolate/caramel combination that is highly addictive. Because I’m a big fan of the Reese’s peanut butter cup cookie, which involves peanut butter cookie dough baked in a mini muffin tin and a miniature peanut butter cup pressed into its center, I was excited to try this recipe.

While they turned out to be tasty, several of these bites fell apart when I removed them from the pan, as their tops separated from their bottoms.  I suspect that uneven distribution of dough among the cups is responsible, so next time I’ll make sure to fill each cup only halfway with batter for more even baking.

The broken bites will go very well with some vanilla ice cream for dessert tonight, though, proving that most baking mistakes are easily remedied.

Ingredients

  • 5 tablespoons butter
  • 2 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate, coarsely chopped
  • 1 ounce semisweet baking chocolate, coarsely chopped
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 2/3 cup flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 24 Rolo candies, unwrapped and chilled

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray a 24-cup mini muffin tin with cooking spray.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In a medium microwave-safe bowl, microwave chocolate and butter for 1 minute, then stir.  Continue microwaving in 30-second intervals, stirring each time, until chocolate is nearly melted; remove from microwave and let the residual heat finish the melting process.

Combine sugar with melted butter and chocolate and let cool until warm.

Stir in egg and vanilla until well blended.

Stir in flour mixture until well blended.

Drop batter into muffin cups, filling halfway.

Bake for 14 minutes or until the tops are almost firm when pressed in the center.

Remove from oven and immediately press one Rolo into each brownie.

Cool on a wire rack.

 

Classic Brownies

Nothing says Valentine’s Day like chocolate, at least not to me.  And while I’m not a huge fan of Valentine’s Day, I’ll definitely take celebrating this holiday as an excuse to bake brownies.

Brownies are one of my favorite desserts, especially when served warm with vanilla ice cream.  They’re a versatile treat, easy to adapt in texture and flavor; you can bake them with nuts, marshmallows, chocolate chips, or other candies, flavor them with amaretto, raspberry, or mint, sprinkle them with powdered sugar, frost them with your favorite icing, spread peanut butter on them, or just eat them plain, right out of the pan, standing up in the kitchen in the middle of the night.  Or is that just me?

Ingredients

  • 2 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate
  • ½ cup butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ¾ cup flour

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease an 8×8 baking dish and coat the bottom of the dish with sugar; this will give the brownie bottoms a nice crunch and make it easier to pop them out of the pan.

Melt butter and unsweetened chocolate in a medium saucepan on low heat.

Using a wooden spoon, stir together sugar, eggs, and vanilla in a mixing bowl until combined.

Add melted butter and chocolate and stir until combined.

Add flour and stir until combined.

Pour into baking dish and bake for 30 minutes.

Blueberry Muffins

Last week, my mom brought me a pint of fresh blueberries.  I haven’t baked with fruit very much, but I love blueberry muffins, especially ones with a hint of lemon and a crunchy sugar topping.

Ingredients

Muffins

  • 1 ¾ cups flour
  • ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
  • ¾ teaspoon salt
  • ¾ cup milk
  • 1 egg, well-beaten
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 cup fresh blueberries
  • Zest of 1 small lemon

Sugar Topping

  • 3 tablespoons melted butter
  • About ¼ cup sugar

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Line one muffin tin with paper liners.

Wash blueberries and dry on paper towels to remove excess moisture.  Toss berries with 2 tablespoons sugar and set aside.

Sift together flour, ¼ cup sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl and make a well in the center.

In a medium mixing bowl combine milk, egg, oil, and vanilla.

Add to dry ingredients at once, stirring quickly with a fork until just moistened.

Add blueberries and lemon zest, folding in gently, taking care not to break blueberries.

Spoon batter into muffin cups and bake for 23 minutes.

While muffins are still warm, brush tops with melted butter and dip in sugar.

Caramel Oatmeal Bars (version one)

I can think of few better things to do on a snowy afternoon when Mike is working an event at the Aviary than try a new recipe.  This one, though, will need some improvements; baked according to the recipe, it’s not quite what I had hoped it would be.

In order to find caramel oatmeal bar nirvana, I can certainly try different recipes; were I to improve upon this one, I’d make the bottom crust slightly thicker, increase the volume of the chocolate chips to one cup and perhaps switch to milk chocolate, and try pecans instead of walnuts.  I might also decrease baking time by five minutes or so to see how everything holds up.  Stay tuned for Caramel Oatmeal Bars, version two, in the coming weeks!

Ingredients

  • 1-14 oz. bag Kraft caramels
  • 7 tablespoons heavy cream
  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 cups rolled oats
  • 1 ½ cups packed brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup butter, melted
  • ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
  • ½ cup chopped walnuts

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line a 9×13 glass baking dish with foil.

Melt butter in the microwave; this can be done while you’re preparing the crust.

Combine flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt in a very large bowl.

Add melted butter and stir together until well-moistened, using your hands if necessary.

Press half of the mixture into the bottom of the baking dish and bake for 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt caramels and heavy cream in a medium saucepan on low to medium heat, stirring very frequently until smooth.

Remove crust from oven; sprinkle with chocolate chips and walnuts, then pour in the caramel, using a spatula to spread it out and into the corners.

Press the remaining crust mixture on top.

Bake for 25 minutes; cool in baking dish on a wire rack.

Wait until bars are completely cool before cutting.

Coconut Macaroons (Gluten-Free!)

Mike and I are an interfaith Jewish-Catholic couple.  Passover and Easter sometimes coincide, which presents a variety of culinary challenges; Mike can’t have anything made with flour for eight days, and throughout Lent I give up sweets and avoid meat on Fridays.  I first made these macaroons a few years ago while Mike was in the midst of his nothing-leaven-for-Passover endeavors.

This recipe is entirely gluten-free and fairly easy to make, so it’s a good option for family and friends with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity.  Check out more gluten-free recipes!

Ingredients

  • 3 egg whites, room temperature
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla (McCormick pure vanilla extract is gluten-free)
  • 3 cups shredded coconut

Preparation

Preheat oven to 325.

Line three baking sheets with waxed paper.

Beat egg whites on medium-high speed until frothy.

With the mixer on low, add vanilla and continue to beat.

With the mixer on medium, add sugar gradually, then increase speed to high and continue to beat until stiff peaks form; this can take 10 minutes or more, depending on your mixer.

Gently fold in coconut one cup at a time.

Drop by rounded tablespoons, spacing about two inches apart on the baking sheet; you should be able to fit 9 macaroons on one sheet, and the entire recipe makes 21 cookies.

Bake 18-20 minutes, until very, very light brown.

Cool completely on baking sheets.  When cookies are cool, carefully peel the waxed paper away from the baking sheets, then carefully peel the cookies from the waxed paper.

Fudge Frosting

Every time I visit Annapolis, Maryland, I have to stop at Uncle Bob’s Fudge Kitchen.  Uncle Bob’s is a classic tourist shop, crammed to the rafters with magnets, key chains, mugs, Naval Academy t-shirts, Chesapeake Bay cookbooks, and “don’t bother me, I’m crabby” paraphernalia.  In the front are large windows, where trays of fudge, candy, and caramel apples the size of softballs issue their siren’s call to all who pass.

Uncle Bob’s peanut butter fudge is my true favorite, but their chocolate fudge is excellent as well – not too sweet, with a creamy texture.  This frosting reminds me a bit of that fudge; I first used it on a devil’s food cake about eleven years ago.  Mike took the cake to his office, and his colleagues proclaimed it worthy of the blue ribbon at the county fair.  To this day, that statement is among the highest praise I’ve ever received.

The recipe below yields enough to frost two 8-inch layers or one 9×13 sheet cake.

Ingredients

  • 4 ¾ cups powdered sugar
  • ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • ½ cup butter, softened
  • 1/3 cup boiling water
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preparation

Combine powdered sugar and cocoa powder.

Add butter, boiling water, and vanilla.

Beat on low speed until ingredients are just combined, then increase speed to medium and beat for 1 minute.

Almond Cupcakes with Fudge Frosting

I love opposite flavors in baking; if I have a chocolate cupcake, I want vanilla frosting, and if I have a vanilla, yellow, or almond cupcake, I want chocolate frosting.  This cupcake has a very rich almond flavor, but if you prefer something milder, omit the bitter almond oil and just use ½ teaspoon of almond and vanilla extracts each.  The fudge frosting has been adapted in measurement to frost 24 cupcakes; look for the full recipe in another post!

Almond Cupcakes

Ingredients

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup shortening
  • 1 ¾ cups sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoon almond extract
  • ¼ teaspoon bitter almond oil
  • 4 egg whites
  • 1 1/3 cups sour milk (see how to make this below!)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line two muffin tins with paper liners.

Make sour milk; place1 ½ tablespoons lemon juice in a glass measuring cup and add enough milk to equal 1 1/3 cups of liquid total.  Let stand for 5 minutes.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl.

Beat shortening in a mixing bowl for 30 seconds.

Add sugar and flavorings, beating until combined.

Add flour and sour milk, alternatively, until just combined.

Fill liners halfway and bake for 21-23 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool completely before frosting

Fudge Frosting

Ingredients

  • 2 1/3 cups powdered sugar
  • ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • ¼ cup butter, softened
  • 1/6 cup boiling water (just under 2 oz. in a glass measuring cup)
  • 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

Preparation

Combine powdered sugar and cocoa powder.

Add butter, boiling water, and vanilla.

Beat on low speed until ingredients are just combined, then increase speed to medium and beat for 1 minute.

Lemon Squares

I love lemons!  I love them in cooking, in baking, on tea towels, in my kitchen décor…I just love them, for their sunny yellow rinds and their fresh, tart flavor.  Lemon squares are, to me, a classic American dessert, a staple at bake sales and church picnics.  Every woman in American probably has a recipe for lemon squares somewhere in her arsenal.  I know I have several, and yet, until today, I’d never made them from scratch.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup flour
  • ½ cup butter, softened
  • ¼ cup powdered sugar
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • Zest of 1 small to medium-sized lemon
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 2 eggs
  • Powdered sugar for dusting

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, butter, and powdered sugar and mix on low speed until small, pea-sized crumbs form.

Press into bottom of an 8x8x2 baking dish.

Bake for 20 minutes; meanwhile, prepare filling.

Beat granulated sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, baking powder, salt, and eggs until pale yellow and somewhat fluffy (but not meringue-like fluffy), about 3-5 minutes.

Pour over hot crust and bake for 25 minutes, until no indentation remains when touched lightly in center.

Cool and dust with powdered sugar.

Go Giants! New York Style Cheesecake

The Super Bowl is tomorrow, and because we’re rooting for the Giants in our house, I’ve prepared a New York style cheesecake to celebrate.  I’m not sure what makes a cheesecake “New York style,” but this was fairly easy to prepare, except for the crust.  This was my first graham cracker crust, and I definitely improvised and deviated from the original recipe to get the consistency and amount I needed, but it turned out just fine.  The true test will be if it tastes good, but we won’t know until tomorrow, as cheesecake must be refrigerated overnight before serving.  We’ll add some fresh whipped cream, blueberries, and strawberries tomorrow.

Graham Cracker Crust

Ingredients

  • 18 graham crackers
  • 12 tablespoons butter
  • 2 tablespoons sugar

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Melt butter in a saucepan or microwave.

Break graham crackers into smaller pieces and place in a food processor, then process to crumbs, with no large pieces remaining.

Mix graham cracker crumbs and sugar together, then stir in butter until the mixture is evenly moistened.

Press crust mix up the sides and along the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan.  I used my hands and the bottom of a glass to get the crust as flat as possible.

Bake for 10 minutes.

Cool completely on a wire rack before adding filling.

Cheesecake Filling

Ingredients

  • 3 packages cream cheese, 8 ounces each, softened
  • ¾ cups sugar
  • 1 tablespoon flour
  • 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • ¼ cup milk

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

In a mixing bowl combine cream cheese and sugar, beating until fluffy.

Add flour and vanilla, beating until well combined.

Reduce speed to low and beat in eggs and yolk, one at a time, until well combined.

Add milk and beat until just blended.

Pour batter into prepared crust and bake for 55-60 minutes, until set but slightly jiggly in the center.

Cool completely on a wire rack, then refrigerate overnight before serving.