Chewy Brownies from Bigger Bolder Baking

Chewy Brownies - made October 26, 2022 from Bigger Bolder Baking

1 cup (8 ounces, 2 sticks) butter, melted

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (177 grams) dark brown sugar

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (227) granulated sugar

4 large eggs

4 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup (142 grams) all-purpose flour

1 cup (115 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8 x 8-inch baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, mix melted butter, oil, granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla on high speed with an electric hand mixer or on medium high speed in a stand mixer.
3. Add flour, cocoa powder and salt, mixing on low speed until just combined. Fold in half of the chocolate chunks.
4. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth top. Generously top with remaining chocolate chunks.
5. Bake 45-50 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center of brownies come out with a few moist crumbs. Cool completely before cutting and serving.

You know how I've been waiting and waiting until the weather cools down before I put in a bulk order for unsweetened chocolate so it could survive the mail without arriving as a melted mess? Well, it finally cooled down enough for me to order but when I went back to my usual sources for high quality unsweetened chocolate, it was to find they've all gone markedly up in price. As in, I'm better off financially buying Bakers unsweetened chocolate from Target, 4 ounces at a time, for a few bucks than trying to buy 5 lbs of unsweetened chocolate for $100. Eek. All that waiting for nought.

Fortunately, I found this recipe from Bigger Bolder Baking that uses unsweetened cocoa powder and is amazingly like my go-to brownie recipe in terms of rich chocolate flavor and firm, dense, fudgy-but-not-fudge texture. Seriously, the pictures don't do this one justice. 

I'm thrilled I have an alternate recipe for great brownies that uses cocoa powder. I'm usually skeptical of cocoa-powder-only brownies as they tend to be more cakey or not taste as good. But this one breaks all my prejudices against cocoa brownies. Honestly, it was so good I made it twice in one week for care packages. Plus it bakes up nice and thick as well. If you don't want to break the bank on buying high quality unsweetened chocolate, this is a perfect alternative. Further plus is unsweetened cocoa powder (the good kind) isn't as expensive and is easier to source as fair trade. 

Dream Cake Bars

Dream Cake Bars - made October 24, 2022 from Golde's Homemade Cookies by Golde Hoffman Soloway

Pastry

1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted

1/4 cup butter, softened

2 tablespoons brown sugar

Topping

2 eggs

1 cup brown sugar, packed

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped (I used toasted almonds)

3/4 cup coconut, shredded

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 8 x 8 pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a medium bowl, mix flour, butter and 2 tablespoons brown sugar. Knead into light dough. Press gently into pan and bake for 10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, beat the eggs lightly with a fork. Add the remaining topping ingredients and mix thoroughly. Spread topping over partially baked pastry. Return pan to oven and bake an additional 25-30 minutes, until golden. Cool completely before cutting.

I'm still making my way through this particular baking book I've had forever and rarely used. So far the recipes have just been "okay". Not bad, not particularly excellent but literally "okay".

I had hoped this one would break the okay barrier since it has the elements I like in a bar cookie: shortbread crust, brown sugar and coconut. I substituted toasted almonds for the walnuts since I don't like walnuts so as to increase its chances of meeting the approval of my picky taste buds.

Alas, to no avail. They weren't bad but they weren't spectacular either. The brown sugar flavor was good and I like the coconut-almond combination. The shortbread crust was a bit too floury and dry rather than being shortbread like the crust on my favorite lemon bar recipe. So this still goes into the "okay" column in my book.

Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Cookies

Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Cookies - made dough October 19, 2022 from Everything Chocolate by America's Test Kitchen

1 1/4 cups (6 1/4 ounces) all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups (3 3/4 ounces) old-fashioned rolled oats

1 cup pecans, toasted and chopped

1 cup (4 ounces) dried sour cherries, chopped

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chip-size

12 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups (10 1/2 ounces) packed dark brown sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. 
2. In another bowl, stir together oats, pecans, sour cherries sand chocolate chunks.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and brown sugar on medium speed until combined, about 1 minute, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.
4. Add egg and vanilla; beat until combined. On low speed, add flour mixture and beat until just combined. Add oat mixture and beat until just incorporated.
5. Portion dough into 1/4 cup measures and roll into balls. Flatten slightly with bottom of glass. Cover and chill or freeze for several hours or overnight.
6. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and evenly space dough balls. Bake until edges have set and middles no longer look raw, 20-22 minutes. Let rest on baking sheets to 5 minutes then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

I substituted toffee bits for the dried sour cherries in these cookies. Since I was mailing them in care packages that would likely take 2-4 weeks to arrive, I didn't want to risk using fruit, even if dried, in case they turned moldy on the trip. Toffee bits are safer for longevity.

These did not make pretty, uniform cookies as you can see. They strike that "homemade" look given how misshapen some of them are. The dough was a little soft when I portioned into dough balls and I wasn't going for the perfect cookie look so I hadn't bothered  to make them perfectly round smooth dough balls, something that's hard to do with oats in the dough anyway.

But don't let appearances fool you as these were really quite good. Not too sweet, a good amount of chewiness and, for those of you who don't like cinnamon which is often used to spice oatmeal cookies, this recipe doesn't have any so all you get is buttery, brown sugary goodness and caramelized oatmeal and chocolate flavor.

I omitted the pecans in the recipe since I don't believe in nuts in most cookies but you could also add them for a little more crunch and flavor. Otherwise, this is a good, straightforward oatmeal cookie. They do spread a bit though so don't look for thick or soft cookies from this one.

Stamped Cookies #24 - Apple Cider Springerle Cookies

Apple Cider Springerle Cookies - made October 24, 2022 from Gingerhaus Springerle

1 cup butter, room temperature

1/2 cup brown sugar 

1/2 cup white sugar 

1 egg 

1 teaspoon vanilla 

1 teaspoon cinnamon 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

3 instant apple cider packets (0.74 ounces each) 

3 cups all-purpose flour 

1. Cream butter and sugars together. Add egg, vanilla, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder. Mix well. 
2. Add the three packets of instant apple cider mix. Mix until well combined. 
3. Add the flour and continue mixing until all ingredients are incorporated. 
4. Dust the surface of your counter and rolling pin with flour and roll out the dough to a thickness of approximately 1/2 inch. 
5. Dust the surface of your dough and your cookie mold with flour. Press the mold into the dough just far enough down to fill the mold cavity. Remove your mold and cut out the cookie. You do not need to brush off the excess flour on the top of your cookie. 
6. Place your cookies on a baking sheet that has been lined with parchment paper. 
7. Chill your cookie sheet full of molded cookies for at least 1/2 hour in the fridge. 
8. Take your cookie sheet out of the fridge and immediately place it on the center rack of a preheated 375℉ oven. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Remove the cookies when the bottoms are just beginning to turn brown. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for at least 10 minutes before removing. 

Although I've found a great recipe for cookie stamp cookies in Susan's Favorite Recipe, I still can't resist trying out new ones. This recipe is from the same Facebook group and I've seen it posted in other places as well but I'm giving credit to Gingerhaus Springerle as that's the closest source I've been able to trace it to.

I also wanted to try out my new Navy stamp from Kitchen Vixen as I had selected a deployed service member in the Navy for one of my care packages (the other one is a Marine as you can see from the other stamped cookies). Since it's now fall, apple cider cookies also seemed appropriate to send for a "taste of home".

The dough was pretty easy to work with and you can see how well the impressions stayed after baking. I don't like to make the cookies too thin with these stamps as they're harder to remove from the stamp without breaking if they're too thin. But it does mean you also have to bake them just right. If underbaked too much, the impressions sink into the more doughy cookie and you lose some detail. Bake them too long and they get too hard. I try to bake them long enough for the edges to get golden and the middles to not look so raw.

Flavor-wise. if you like apple cider, these are great cookies. I'm not a huge apple cider fan but I didn't mind the flavor. The texture is probably one of the best I've tried so far with stamped cookies. The edges were crisp and the middle was soft but not too soft. Overall, I was pretty happy with these.

Cookies and Cream Bars from Kroll's Korner

Cookies and Cream Bars - made October 20, 2022 from Kroll's Korner 

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup cake flour

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 (1.55 oz) Hershsey's Cookies n Creme Bars, chopped

15 Oreos, divided, roughly chopped

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 8 x 8-inch baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together all-purpose flour, cake flour, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes.
4. Add egg, egg yolk and vanilla extract, mixing until just combined. Add dry ingredients in two additions, mixing until just combined after each addition.
5. Fold in Cookies n Creme chopped bars, 2/3 of chopped Oreos and mini chocolate chips. Spread batter into prepared pan in an even layer. Top with remaining chopped Oreos.
6. Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool completely before cutting and serving. 

Although I prefer Oreos in their original form, I often gravitate towards "cookies and cream" recipes, whether as cookies or in bar form. Bars are easy to package and ship so this seemed like a good one to try.

I've tried several good recipes from Kroll's Korner and this was no exception. I didn't have Hershey Cookies n Cream bars so I just used white chocolate chips, semisweet chocolate  chips and chopped Oreos for the cookies-n-cream flavor and they worked just fine.

The batter was thick and I only baked it for 20 minutes as the recipe directed and that was made for a perfect "fudgy" texture, not too mushy or raw and not dry. Overall, another winner from Kroll's Korner. I'm going to need to try the cookie version as well.

Olive Oil Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Olive Oil Chocolate Chunk Cookies - made dough October 19, 2022 from Love and Olive Oil 

1 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (230 grams) all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

3/4 cup (175 grams) light brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup dark chocolate, coarsely chopped, reserving a handful

sea salt for topping, optional

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together olive oil, brown sugar and granulated sugar until well blended. Add egg and egg yolk and beat on high speed for 30-60 seconds until smooth. Beat in vanilla.
3. Add dry ingredients and beat on low speed until just combined. Fold in chocolate chunks, reserving a small amount.
4. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and chill overnight.
5. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
6. Portion dough into golf-ball-size dough balls and flatten slightly. Evenly space on baking sheets and bake 9-11 minutes or until edges are set and middles no longer look raw. Press reserved chocolate chunks gently over baked cookies. Let rest on baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely. Sprinkle with sea salt if desired.

In case you're a regular baker and haven't been living under a rock, you might have noticed by now how expensive butter's gotten lately. I'm in the "life is better with butter" camp so it's a little cringey when even Costco has their 4-pack for just under $15. Not too long ago, it seems, it was under $9.

Most bakers online seem to be trying the switch to Crisco or margarine. You gotta do what you gotta do but I haven't gone that far yet. But I did find this recipe that uses olive oil instead of butter and I decided to give it a try. Even though the triple digit temps of summer has passed, at least where I live, it never hurts to have a repertoire of non-butter recipes when sending care packages to the Middle East for deployed troops.

I'm happy to say this recipe turned out pretty well. Not greasy or oily and it doesn't have any weird after taste. Butter still delivers a softer cookie but this is a pretty decent substitute. I didn't have a block of chocolate to chop into chunks so I went with chocolate chips and it was still fine.

I did use a baking blend olive oil but I think this would be fine with regular extra virgin olive oil. The dough gets stiff so it's best to portion into dough balls first then chill. As you can see, it didn't spread much so form the dough into thick discs rather than round dough balls if you want a more uniform cookie.

Best Blondies from Rock Recipes

Best Blondies - made October 5, 2022 from Rock Recipes

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, melted and cooled to lukewarm

1 3/4 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar

3 large eggs

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line a 9 x 9-inch baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine melted butter, dark brown sugar, eggs and vanilla extract. Mix on lowest speed for 10 minutes or until brown sugar is completely incorporated into mixture.
4. Fold in dry ingredients until no flour streaks remain. Pour into an even layer in prepared pan. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Let cool completely before cutting and serving.

I usually put caveats around anything labeled "best" since, as I've said before, everyone's idea of the best of anything will differ from person to person. But I have to tell you, this is the best (to me) blondie I've ever made or tasted. True dat. Texture was soft like a fudge brownie and the brown sugar-caramel-butterscotch flavor was amazing. Amazing, I tell you. The only thing I didn't do was mix everything for 10 minutes. I did beat the brown sugar and melted butter together for 7 minutes then added the rest of the ingredients for the remaining 3 minutes. Reason is, if you beat anything with eggs in it for that long (10 minutes). it'll create a meringue-like texture for the topping which will flake and get that crackly crust. Some people like that in their brownies. Me, not so much. But the point of mixing for so long is to make sure the brown sugar melts into the batter so I did beat just the brown sugar and butter for awhile to ensure that. Did I mention this was amazing?? 

Banana Toffee Snack Cake from Just About Baked

Banana Toffee Snack Cake - made October 1, 2022, modified from Just About Baked

1/2 cup canola oil

3/4 cup dark brown sugar

1 cup sour cream

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

scant 1 cup mashed overripe banana

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup toffee bits

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8 x 8-inch baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together oil and dark brown sugar until well combined and no sugar lumps remain. Add sour cream, eggs, vanilla and mashed bananas, mixing until combined.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. 
4. Add to wet ingredients and mix to combine. Add half of the toffee bits to the batter and pour into an even layer in prepared pan. Smooth top and sprinkle with remaining toffee bits.
5. Bake 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs, 30-35 minutes.

I rarely make cakes these days, mostly because they don't ship as well as cookies and brownies, even if vacuum sealed and my family and I can't finish off a whole cake, even an 8-inch one. But, since I was doing an in-person volunteer event for Soldiers Angels at the Women Marines Convention in town, I decided to whip up this easy snack cake to bring in to share with the attendees who stopped by the Soldiers Angels table.

When I say this is an easy cake, I really mean it's easy to put together. I modified it to make it even easier as I didn't have oat flour and didn't want to trouble pulverizing rolled oats in my food processor to make oat flour so I went with all-purpose flour. I also didn't have yogurt as the original recipe called for so I used sour cream which I did happen to have, albeit it I had bought it for another recipe.

I loved the texture of this cake. The pictures say it all, this was firm but also fluffy and had a nice cakey texture. Surprisingly, it wasn't that sweet (hence your typical Asian parent will like it just fine - ask me how I know). If anything, I think I would increase the mashed banana to a full cup and add more toffee bits to make it a little sweeter but that's me.