browned butter blondies

i've been gone for a while. well, longer than a while. i've missed baking and i've missed my readers and today i decided to take a few hours, un-busy myself, and make something spectacular to get myself back in to the blogging groove. that treat, ladies and gentleman, is browned butter blondies. they actually double as the best air fresheners money can buy - and these are actually edible!

it all starts with butter. five totally magical words. i chopped my butter into rough tablespoons and let them melt over medium heat, swirling every thirty seconds or so. once it all melted i grabbed a spoon and stirred constantly, fearing that i would end up with hardened caramel fused permanently to the bottom of my pan.

the end result is a bowl of pure heaven. liquidy caramel perfection that will take the every day blondie, which i normally don't care very much for, over the top.

with very little effort (seriously, no mixer needed!) after the butter-melting, you have yourself a pan of blondies ready for the oven. i added walnuts to half of mine, due to a request from the peanut gallery/baking assistants, but you can add or not add any toppings you'd like. oh, and good luck trying keep yourself from eating all this raw.

then you have to wait the thirty grueling minutes until those bad boys can come out of the oven. to pass the time i laid on the floor, supported by my new and on sale target pillows, and kept an eye on my cat. she decided the best place for a nap was directly under my tripod, which i thought would end in disaster. she's more responsible than i give her credit for.

then, the moment of truth. these blondies have a soft, melt-in-your-mouth center and a delicious and crispy edge - my personal favorite part. the walnuts added a really nice nutty flavor and crunch that complimented the browned well. we also tossed around the idea of incorporating bananas somehow, an idea that might be featured on a post in the near future.

oh, and this recipe was adapted from cooking light, so it is surprisingly not too terrible for you. i ended up halving the recipe, what i usually do when i try anything for the first time, but i would definitely recommend making an entire batch. these will go fast. 

browned butter blondies

adapted from cooking light

yields 24 servings

ingredients:

9 ounces (about 2 cups) all purpose flour

2 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

10 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 eggs

1 egg whites

directions:

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

2. weigh or measure flour, sugar, baking power, and salt in a large bowl. whisk to combine.

3. slice butter into rough tablespoons and cook in a small skillet over medium-high heat until lightly browned, stirring frequently once butter melts. pour into bowl and let cool, about ten minutes.

4. once cooled, combine eggs and butter with a whisk. 

5. pour butter mixture over flour mixture and fold together until just combined. 

6. pour batter into a greased 9x13 baking pan coated with cooking spray and smooth top with spatula.

7. bake for 30 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

8. cool completely on a wire rack before cutting.

nutritional information:

calories: 170, fat: 4.8g, protein: 1.9g, carbs: 30.5g, fiber: 0.3g, cholesterol: 13mg, sodium: 108mg

as always, thanks for reading & happy baking!

amanda

ps: my sister & i are starting a small baking company in the dc area, so there's a good chance i may be testing out new recipes here. stay tuned for more!

1:1 berry cobber

i'm officially moved, settled and trying to get my act together and start blogging again.

in hopes that you will forgive me for being away for so long i'm offering up this recipe that is a seemingly impossible combination of easy and delicious. seriously, you usually have to pick between one or the other, but this baby blows that theory right out of the water.

i've been doing my best to take advantage of all the berries that are coming into season right now by going to pick them myself. there's just something about coming home with red fingers and scraped ankles and pounds and pounds of berries. 

this recipe calls for 2 1/2 to 3 cups of berries, which is about the same amount of batter used, hence the 1:1 title. i used a combination of strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and a handful of cherries. i just realized cherries might not technically be a berry? can anyone confirm or deny this? they do end in "erry", but i'm not convinced.

basically, you stick a few tablespoons on butter in the pan while your oven is preheating and let it get warm and melty. whip up the batter, stick in the berries, cover with pecans and brown sugar and you're done! seriously, how easy is that?

warning: when you take this pan out of the oven you will be tempted to dig right in. seriously, it smells that good. when i ran my knife around the edge of the pan and caught a rogue berry i thought it would be smart to pop it in my mouth. boy, i was wrong. molten hot berry lava, as it turns out, equals major mouth burning.

but, if you have the self control to ignore it and let it cool you will have a summery, seasonal and scrumptious dessert on your hands. i quickly threw together some whipped cream to dollop on top, it's the boyfriend's favorite, but you could easily use cool whip, ice cream, or just let the cake fly solo. 

to close, thank you for bearing with me during my brief hiatus. now that i'm settled i'm really looking forward to getting back into the swing of things blog-wise. i've missed you all!

1:1 berry cobbler

adapted from eating out loud

serves 9 

ingredients

2 tablespoons butter

3/4 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 to 3 cups chopped fruit

1/4 cup pecans (optional)

1/4 cup brown sugar

1. preheat oven to 375 degrees. add butter to 8x8 baking pan and place in oven during preheat. keep an eye on it and make sure to take it out once the butter is completely melted.

2. coarsely chop fruit and set aside.

3. in a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. add milk and continue to whisk until batter has no lumps.

4. in baking pan with melted butter, pour batter in but do not stir! the butter will pool around the sides and top - this is totally okay.

5. place berries evenly over batter and sprinkle with nuts and brown sugar. bake for 45-50 minutes or until golden brown and tests done.

nutritional information:

calories: 219, fat: 7.14g, cholesterol: 7mg, sodium: 133mg, carbs: 37g, fiber: 2.18g, sugars: 25g, protein: 2.84g.

as always, thank you for reading & happy baking!

amanda

i'm still alive!

dear loving readers,

i'm still alive, i still exist, i'm thinking of you all and can't wait to get back to blogging.

sadly, the only thing i've had the time, energy or the mixer to make are those guava & cream cheese cupcakes up there. they were decent, not fantastic, and i feel like i've lost a little of my mojo. i know, i'm a little sad too. but, there's a light at the end of the ever-shortening tunnel: we move in to our gorgeous new apartment on friday!

yup, things are going to be hectic until (and, let's be honest, probably shortly after) then, but once we're settled i'll be able to bake up a storm and maybe leave baked goods outside the doors of all my neighbors. that's neighborly, right? or is it weird and creepy? either way, it's probably going to happen.

food hasn't totally left my life since my blogging hiatus. i've actually been dining al fresco a lot, which is a favorite thing that i forget about as soon as the weather dips below 70 degrees. 

(please ignore the lower half of my generously proportioned cat sticking interrupting my photo. he's loving deck-life too, mostly engaging in bird harassment.)

i also went strawberry picking last week, which was fantastic and delicious and a great way to spend some time outside. it's been surprisingly cool in DC (mixed with unbearably hot, don't get me wrong!) and i've been trying to log in some outdoor hours before the real heat wave comes in and stays.

i'm also furiously hitting refresh on the websites of local farms with sour cherries. i've never picked them before and rumor has it their season is very short, so i'm staying diligent! there must be cherry pies in my future!

okay dear readers, i've got to get back to job hunting and cover letter writing, but check back soon and expect wonderful & summery treats in your blogging-futures.

as always, thanks for reading.

amanda

ps: GWB now has a mobile site! yup, that means you can carry all my recipes around in your pocket and pull them up without wading through clunky browser nonsense. you don't have to do any work beforehand either, you'll automatically be rerouted there. how 'bout that!

baked kale chips

i'm officially moved! well, for right now any way. we don't get to move in to our new apartment until early next month, so for right now we're crashing at my mom's house. she lovingly took both us and our cats in, effectively tripling the number of residents under one roof, but we're going to do our best to make it up to her with dinners out, short vanilla lattes and amazing company.

this isn't a sweet post, but i haven't had the energy to break out my stand mixer and whip something fancy up. instead, i've decided to go healthy, vegan and savory and make some baked kale chips. i know i'm a little late to jump on this super delicious bandwagon, but i snagged a bunch at the store today and decided to whip these up for a snack. 

i filled two baking sheets with kale and it was enough snacking material for two people. it may seem like you're making a ton initially, but i promise that when it wilts down you'll be glad you over-did it.

i sprinkled my chips - and yes, they are crispy and savory enough to use that term - with some garlic powder before i popped them in the oven. the beauty of this recipe is that it's totally customizable and you can really make them whatever "flavor" you're craving. my boyfriend suggested that we grab some ranch powder from the store to spice up the next batch. if nothing else, these will be far healthier than any bag of cool ranch doritos. 

baked kale chips

yields two snack-sized servings

3-4 leaves of kale, torn

1 tablespoon olive oil

garlic powder, sea salt, or other spice to taste

1. preheat oven to 300 degrees.

2. wash and tear kale into chip-sized pieces, leaving out center heart.

3. lightly toss kale in olive oil until evenly covered - a little oil goes a long way!

4. line two baking sheets with foil (makes for easy clean-up!) and distribute kale evenly along sheet. i place mine side-by-side with a little breathing room between them. you want to give them enough space to flatten down without touching each others - this makes for extra crispiness! 

5. bake kale in oven for 20-25 minutes or until chips lift easily off sheet. if you're doing two racks, make sure to check the lower sheet earlier (it will bake quicker!) and give them top one a little more time. my lower sheet was done at around 17 minutes, while my upper needed 21 or 22. 

6. once baked, carefully peel chips off foil and place in bowl. eat while warm!

nutritional information:

(note: this info is for 2 cups of raw kale & 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil)

calories: 132, fat: 3.9g, cholesterol: 0.0 mg, sodium: 146 mg, potassium: 146.2 mg, carbs: 7.3 g, fiber: 2.6g, protein: 2.5g. 

thanks for reading & happy baking!

amanda

ps: please excuse my less-than-gorgeous photos. i'm hoping to get my camera unpacked and my mini-studio set up sooner rather than later. figured some photographic documentation was better than nothing!

pps: thank you to all those who have sent me lovely little messages or comments of encouragement. your words keep me excited about baking!

springtime birthday cupcakes

i mentioned in my last post that i was doing all the baking for a first birthday - here are the promised results! 

i ended up with four flavors: vanilla cake with vanilla bean buttercream, vanilla cake with strawberry buttercream, lemon cake filled with lemon curd with lemon butter cream, and lemon cake with strawberry buttercream. 

all the flavors and colors fit in perfectly with the spring-time garden theme of the party and i received a very adorable photo of the birthday girl eating cookies & cupcakes, so i'd say it was a success!

hope everyone is enjoying the warming weather!

amanda

marbled sugar cookies

as i type, right around 63% of my life is in boxes. the remaining 37% is mostly a combination of shoes and baking supplies. if i were a math person i would come up with some kind of equation or pie chart to determine the length of time something spends in a box (let's say y) as directly correlated to my need to use it on a daily basis (should this be x? z? something squared?).

can you tell i was more of an arts & humanities girl?

in an attempt to use up some of the flour and sugar i have before we move next week, i decided to make a batch of marbled cookies. my co-worker has the most adorable baby on planet earth (seriously, i'm not even a baby person!) who is turning one on saturday and i was recruited to make the desserts for the party.

the party is spring garden themed so i ended up making a batch of butterflies cookies and a batch of "a" and "n" cookies (featured above!), which conveniently spell out the baby's name. i'm honestly not sure if i would have the patience to spell out a name with more than two letters, but you could always go the initials route!

i apologize in advance for there not being any new recipes until next week when i finally get to half-unpack. i may try to coerce my very talented sister to do another guest post since her last one was so popular!

as always, thank you for reading & happy baking!


amanda 

guilt free lava cake for one

man, i always forget what a pain the moving process is. between spending twenty hours in the car last weekend (preliminary apartment hunting) and packing up everything i own (craigslist gets the rest!) i have barely had enough time to sleep, much less blog. 

to make up for my lengthly absence i come bearing lava cake. that's right, chocolate-y goodness that's a brownie on the outside and warm pudding on the inside. i don't even like pudding and i've already made this cake twice this week - it's that good. 

on top of all that, this is also a recipe for one - perfect for when the mood strikes you, but won't leave you with a baker's dozen on the kitchen counter tempting you.

this is a shockingly simple recipe for how elaborate the final product seems to be. you just need one small bowl for dry ingredients and another vessel of some kind for wet. 

i baked my cake in a 7 ounce ramekin, which is a fancy word for a small heat proof bowl. for as much as i use the ramekins i have - seriously, ice cream, microwaving anything and everything, sauce-making, snack-holding, etc. - they do not get nearly enough praise in my kitchen. if you don't have a set of these i highly recommend picking up one or fifteen. you can thank me later!

when you take your cake out of the oven you want the sides and top to be fairly set, but definitely not cooked through. i found that to take around 15 minutes in my oven, but in the name of honesty i will say the first time i made this it i left it in far too long (i got a brownie) and the second far too short (pudding soup). not that i minded eating either, but the goal is an even split between the two extremes.

though i know from personal experience how tempting it is to dig right into your lava cake while it's in a piping hot ramekin, it isn't a good idea. seriously, i think i no longer have a fingerprint on my ring finger. what you want to do is grab a larger plate or dish and invert your ramekin onto that. you will look and feel like a total professional, promise.

now, i give you permission to sit down with your very own lava cake and enjoy every last bite. and, in case you forgot, the beauty of a cake for one is that no one will be around to judge you as you lick the plate.


guilt free lava cake for one


yields 1 cake

ingredients:

2 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 heaping tablespoon dutch-processed cocoa
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
3 tablespoons skim milk
1 tablespoon non-fat yogurt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

directions:

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl.

3. mix milk, yogurt, and vanilla in separate bowl.

4. pour wet ingredients into bowl of dry ingredients and stir until combined.

5. grease a 7 ounce ramekin with cooking spray. pour batter into ramekin and bake for 12-16 minutes or until edges and top of cake are set.

6. let cake cool for 1 minute then invert onto larger plate or bowl. enjoy!


nutritional information:


calories: 171, fat: 1.24g, sodium: 185mg, carbs: 39g, fiber: 4.5g, sugars: 19g, protein: 5.72g.




thanks for reading & happy baking!


amanda