Black Bottom Brownies

Black Bottom Brownies - November 11, 2009

The real baking therapy last night were these brownies - "Black Bottom Brownies" from the Sweet Melissa Baking Book. I had said yesterday was such a bad day that I needed more baking therapy than popping frozen cookie dough into the oven and these brownies were it. This is a brownie layer on the bottom and a chocolate chip cheesecake layer on top. For the most part, these turned out okay. People at work liked them (it was a 5-compliment, stop-me-in-the-hallway-to-tell-me-so brownie) but I'm my own worst critic and I think these could've been better. For one thing, they were so thick and it took so long to bake the cheesecake layer that the bottom brownie layer dried out at the corners and edges and even a bit in the middle. If you look closely at the picture, the lighter color of the very bottom of the brownies contrasts with the darker color of the brownie right underneath the cheesecake layer. The lighter the color, the drier the brownie. And we know how I feel about dry brownies. You'll also notice some of the tops of the cheesecake layer are browned golden and some are creamy white. That's because the edges and corners turned golden in the time it took for the cheesecake layer to set while the middle remained pale.

If I make these again, I would probably use less brownie batter and/or make it more liquid. You'd lose the dense texture but it might help with the moisture issue. And I would take it out sooner even though the cheesecake layer didn't look done and just let the cheesecake chill and firm. I actually baked it for 5 minutes less than the recipe suggested but that was still too long for the brownie layer. Although the recipe called for regular chocolate chips, I used the mini chocolate chips for aesthetic reasons - mini chips look prettier in a cheesecake layer.

Here's another little-known fact about me: I don't like cheesecake. Which may be another reason I'm only lukewarm on these brownies. Some people are astounded that I don't like cheesecake. We'll call them (duh) cheesecake lovers. I'm not one of them. Cheesecake lovers can wax poetic about all kinds of cheesecake while I look baffled. I can handle a little cream cheese but it needs to be mixed with something else like chocolate. A cream cheese swirl brownie? Okey-doke. This kind of layered cheesecake brownie? Okaaaaaayyyyyy. An actual cheesecake? Nah. I just don't like the taste of cream cheese that much and need it diluted by a stronger flavor like chocolate.

I still remember when I worked at eBay and my coworkers surprised me on my birthday with a cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory. It was so nice of them that of course I couldn't tell them I didn't like cheesecake. So I sucked it up and ate a piece. Fortunately they got chocolate cheesecake so it went down better than a plain cheesecake.

Black Bottom Brownies

For the brownie bottom
6 ounces best-quality unsweetened chocolate
½ pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon kosher salt
4 large eggs plus 2 large egg yolks
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon pure vanilla

For the cheesecake layer
1 pound (two 8-ounce packages) cream cheese, at room temperature
1 ½ cups sugar
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
6 large eggs
1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups (one 12-ounce package) semisweet (58%) chocolate chips

1. Position a rack in the center of your oven. Preheat the oven to 325˚F. Lightly butter a 9 x 13” pan. Line the pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil.
2. In the top of a double boiler over simmering, not boiling, water, melt the chocolate and the butter, stirring to combine. Set aside to cool to warm.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg yolks, sugar and vanilla until smooth.
4. Pour the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and combine with a whisk. Add the flour mixture to the chocolate/egg mixture and stir until just combined. Pour the brownie batter into the prepared pan, and spread evenly.
5. To make the cheesecake layer: In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the cream cheese, sugar and the salt until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs, 2 at a time, and mix well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Stir in the vanilla.
6. To complete the brownies: Pour the cheesecake mixture over the brownie layer. Sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly over the cheesecake layer.
7. Bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes or until lightly golden. Remove to a wire rack to cool. Cool completely before slicing and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. May be served cold or at room temperature.

Baking Therapy & Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

Everyone needs at least one coping mechanism, whether it's to deal with the stresses of the job, family issues, relationships, random occurrences or just whatever life throws at you. In case it's not obvious, one of my coping mechanisms is baking (the other two are exercise and reading, in case you're wondering). There's something comforting about the act of baking itself, regardless of what I'm making, that helps me cope and deal with life in general. I can shake off a bad day, soothe tumultuous thoughts and emotions, and just get myself re-calibrated with a baking (therapy) session. It's not even about the end product as oftentimes I don't eat what I make. I give it away and that in itself helps too because I like sharing what I make.

Today was a bad day. I had planned on baking tonight anyway because I was meeting a few coworkers for a birthday lunch (one of theirs, not mine) but this kind of day called for more than just popping the peanut butter cookie dough I'd made over the weekend and baking them. This kind of day called for baking. But let's do the peanut butter cookies first - this is the 4th recipe I've tried from the Sweet Melissa Baking Book. Actually I had baked a batch of these last night and tried one for lunch today. The rest of the dough I baked off tonight to bring in tomorrow. If you like soft, chewy, straightforward, no frills peanut butter cookies, this is a good one to try. The dough was soft when it was first made so if you don't chill or freeze them first, I suspect they would spread a lot. As it was, I froze the dough balls and they still spread but it was okay. Don't expect these to be thick and chunky - they had the typical spread of a cookie. Because I baked them from frozen dough, I couldn't/didn't make the cross hatches with a fork that's typical of peanut butter cookies but given how the cookies spread, I don't think any cross hatches would've been that pronounced anyway. Overall, a good cookie. So far the recipes from the Sweet Melissa Baking Book have been turning out.

Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies - November 11, 2009

½ cup smooth peanut butter
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cu firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt

1. Position a rack in the top and bottom thirds of your oven. Preheat the oven to 325˚F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or aluminum foil.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the peanut butter with the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Beat in the egg.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
4. Add the flour mixture to the peanut butter mixture and mix until combined. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl so that everything is combined evenly.
5. Scoop the dough by the rounded tablespoonful and roll into balls. Place the balls about 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets, and press down slightly. Using a fork dipped in flour, press down on the cookies first one way and then the other to form an “X” pattern, creating the crosshatch effect. (The cookies should now measure approximately 2 inches in diameter.) Bake for 10 minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden. Overbaking will cause these chewy cookies to become crunchy so try to avoid it.

Double Dark Chocolate Cherry Cookies

Double Dark Chocolate Cherry Cookies - November 10, 2009

In case you're blinking and wondering if your eyes are deceiving you with the picture, they're not. No, cherries didn't suddenly turn into M&Ms. The recipe calls for dried sour cherries and has "cherry"in its name but that wasn't enough to prevent me from substituting plain M&Ms instead. I don't like fruit in my cookies and when I make a dark chocolate cookie, plain M&Ms make a nice contrast to the chocolate dough. The candy coating is crisp and the milk chocolate provides some sweet against the dark chocolate.

This is another recipe from the Sweet Melissa Baking Book and I made the dough last weekend and froze the cookie dough balls to bake off tonight for a work meeting tomorrow. Although the recipe calls for a lot of chilling and shaping of the dough, when I made it, the dough turned out firm enough that all I had to do was use an ice cream scoop to form the dough balls then put them in a ziploc bag and put them in the freezer. When I baked them, they didn't spread too much and they had a good, dark chocolate taste. Choose your cocoa carefully when you make this recipe since the cocoa is essentially the only source for the rich chocolate flavor. I like to use Pernigotti cocoa from Williams Sonoma for a recipe like this. The grocery store/Hershey's brand just doesn't have enough richness or depth in the chocolate for this type of cookie.

Oh and if you are a fan of cherries, I'm sure you'd enjoy this recipe as is without the M&M substitution - it's all a matter of taste and preference.

1 cup all-purpose flour
¾ cup best-quality unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar
¼ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 large egg
¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¾ cup best-quality semisweet (58%) chocolate chips
1/3 cup dried sour cherries


1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg, mixing well. Stir in the vanilla.
3. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in three batches, mixing just until incorporated after each addition. Stir in the chocolate chips and cherries. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
4. Refrigerate the dough for a few hours until firm.
5. Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface and divide it in half. Roll out into 2 uniform logs about 12 inches long. Refrigerate until firm enough to slide, about 1 hour. (At this point, you can wrap the logs tightly in plastic wrap and then aluminum foil and freeze for up to 1 month.)
6. Position a rack in the top and bottom thirds of your oven. Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or aluminum foil.
7. Cut the logs into 1-inch slices and place 1 ½ inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 15 minutes or until the dough looks just baked. These cookies should be tender so do not overbake.

Chocolate Walnut Brownies - but skip the walnuts

Chocolate Walnut Brownies - November 7, 2009

90% of the brownie recipes I've tried all list nuts in them yet 90% of the people I know, including myself, don't like nuts in brownies. I've yet to figure out this dichotomy but fortunately, nuts are easily optional in any brownie (or cookie) recipe and I substitute what I like instead. Sometimes it's chocolate chips, sometimes toffee bits, and often, especially around this time of year because I've stocked up on Halloween candy that went on sale after Halloween, I'll chop up Snickers and throw them in there. Yeah, technically Snickers have nuts but I can live with that because, hey, they're Snickers.

This recipe is another one from the Sweet Melissa Baking Book and I can never resist trying a brownie recipe from any new cookbook I have. I made two modifications to this recipe - first was the Snickers swap for the walnuts (can't abide walnuts anyway) and second, I made the brownies in an 8-inch pan instead of the 9-inch pan called for in the original recipe. I wanted the brownies to be thick and baking them in a smaller pan ensures that. Just watch the baking time to make sure you bake them long enough but not too long. I took these out when a toothpick inserted in a corner came out clean but one inserted in the middle still had moist crumbs (not raw batter) clinging to it. You can see from the picture that the brownie is moist and fudgy but not raw. As I've mentioned before, chocolate "sets" when it cools so there's no need to bake a brownie "until done". "Done" = dry and overbaked.

I liked this recipe as an easy-to-make brownie and it's perfect for using up leftover Halloween candy. You can easily use plain M&Ms instead of Snickers if you really don't want any kind of nuts or add chocolate chips or don't add anything and leave them simply plain. Regardless, they have a nice, fudgy, dense texture which makes for my favorite kind of brownie.

½ pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter
4 ounces best-quality unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 large eggs
1 ½ cups sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon kosher salt
2/3 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped (optional)

1. Position a rack in the center of your oven. Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Butter and flour a 9 x 9 x 2-inch square cake pan.
2. In the top of a double boiler set over simmering, not boiling, water, melt the butter and chocolate. Remove from the heat but keep warm.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whip attachment, beat together the eggs, sugar and vanilla on medium speed until pale yellow in color, about 2 minutes. Add the melted chocolate and mix to combine.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour and salt.
5. Add the flour mixture to the chocolate mixture in 3 batches, mixing on low speed until just combined. Do not overmix. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Stir in the nuts by hand.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until sides begin to pull away from the pan and center is moist but not runny, and a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove to a wire rack to cool.
7. When cool, loosen the edges of the pan with a knife and invert the brownies onto a cutting board. Cut into 12 brownies, measuring 3 inches by 2 ¼ inches, or serve straight from the pan.

Butterscotch Cashew Bars

Butterscotch Cashew Bars - November 7, 2009

If you like butterscotch, try these bar cookies. The bottom layer is a brown sugar shortbread topped with butterscotch caramel then cashews. Toast the cashews first before using and make sure you bake the shortbread enough so it gets somewhat crisp and provides a nice contrast to the butterscotch layer. It's a trifle sweet for me because of the butterscotch but still pretty good.

I wouldn't consider this a care package bar cookie simply because the butterscotch caramel layer would make it too sticky to stack on top of each other. Let it cool for at least 45-60 minutes before you cut it so the butterscotch layer has time to set and won't stick to your knife. I took this out of the oven and did a 45-minute workout before I cut it so I know it's okay to cut at least 45 minutes out of the pan.

One tip - I always line my baking pans with aluminim foil (regardless of what the recipe says) with enough overhang at the sides that I can simply lift the baked good right out of the pan and put it on a cutting board. This makes cutting much easier and saves your pan so you're not cutting directly in the pan itself. Not to mention it makes cleaning your baking pans much easier since, for the most part, they're protected by the foil.

This recipe is from the Sweet Melissa Baking book, a gift I got for my birthday this past summer. I had some time on my hands this afternoon so I made these bars, a batch of brownies, a peanut butter cookie dough and a chocolate cookie dough. I have the cookie doughs in the freezer and will be baking those off later this week. The brownies are baked but I'll also be putting them in the freezer for use this week.

Butterscotch Cashew Bars

½ pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 ¼ teaspoons kosher salt
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
11 ounces butterscotch chips
¾ cup light corn syrup
1 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon water
2 cups roasted salted whole cashews

1. Position a rack in the center of your oven. Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Spray a 9 x 13-inch pan with nonstick vegetable cooking spray. Line with parchment paper or aluminum foil with overhang so you can lift the finished bar out of the pan.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and salt on medium speed, 1 to ½ minutes. Decrease the speed to low, add the flour, and mix until just combined.
3. Press the dough lightly and evenly onto the bottom of the prepared pan and poke holes all over with a fork. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the crust turns a golden color. Remove to a wire rack to cool.
4. Meanwhile, in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan over low heat, stir together the butterscotch chips, corn syrup, and water and heat, stirring until the mixture comes to a simmer and the chips are melted. Remove from the heat and pour the mixture evenly over the prebaked crust.
5. Sprinkle the cashews over the butterscotch caramel and return the pan to the oven for 5 minutes. Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
6. Use a sharp knife to loosen the edges and, with the excess paper, lift the bars out of the pan.

Warm Soft Chocolate Cake

Warm Soft Chocolate Cake - November 5, 2009

I've had two baking failures this week which is a pox on my baking soul. So I decided to try something that looked reasonably fail-safe. Even the title of this recipe is soothing - it has all the right words in it. Warm. Soft. Chocolate. Cake. I have this recipe typed up but I don't know where I got it from because I didn't note it down like I usually do. But it's a version of lava cake and judging by the ingredients and directions, I was reasonably confident it would turn out. And it did.

A few things to note about this recipe. Whipping the eggs until "light and thick" signifies this'll have a light, airy texture so don't expect anything dense. Despite how little flour is in here, this won't have the texture of flourless chocolate cake. Think of how souffles are made - the crap is beaten out of the egg whites to incorporate a lot of air into them that forces the cake to rise high. The downside is what comes up must come down so this cake does shrink after you take it out of the oven and it starts to cool. Also, this recipe uses semisweet chocolate - once again, use the highest quality chocolate you can afford. There are only 5 ingredients in this recipe so if you use inferior chocolate, it'll be very evident. The amount of flour is so small it almost isn't worthwhile to dirty a teaspoon to measure it out.

Overall, this is a pretty good, basic recipe for lava cake. I baked them in the molten chocolate cake pan I mentioned in an earlier post that has the removeable bottoms. But this would probably bake just as well or better in ramekins so you don't have to bother with taking them out, inverting, re-inverting, etc. The cake is fragile since it's mostly beaten air so try not to handle it too much. Despite the amount of eggs in the batter which increase in volume the more you beat them, it's not eggy and it doesn't have a souffle texture. Like the title says, it's warm and soft. I did bake it for 7 minutes like the recipe calls for - the sides were baked and the middles were still jiggly. This wasn't overwhelmingly chocolatey which was nice. It's definitely good to have as a small portion. You want to leave room for the ice cream.

½ cup unsalted butter, plus additional butter to grease molds
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, preferably Valrhona
2 large eggs
2 egg yolks
¼ cup sugar
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting buttered molds

1. In the top of a double boiler set over simmering water, heat the butter and chocolate together until the chocolate is almost completely melted. While that’s heating, beat together the eggs, yolks, and sugar with a whisk or electric beater until light and thick.
2. Beat together the melted chocolate and butter, it should be quite warm. Pour in the egg mixture, then quickly beat in the flour, just until combined.
3. Butter and lightly flour four 4-ounce molds, custard cups or ramekins. Tap out the excess flour, then butter and flour them once again. Divide the batter among the molds. (At this point you can refrigerate the desserts until you are ready to eat, up to several hours. Bring cakes back to room temperature before baking.)
4. Preheat the oven to 450ºF. Bake the molds on a baking tray for 6 to 7 minutes, the center will still be quite soft but the sides will be set.
5. Invert each mold onto a plate and let sit for about 10 seconds. Unmold by lifting up one corner of the mold; the cake will fall out onto the plate. Serve immediately with a scoop of caramel or vanilla ice cream.

Makes 4 individual cakes

ETA: I found the original copy I had of this recipe and it notes that it was adapted from Jean-Georges, Cooking at Home with a Four-Star Chef by Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Mark Bittman

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookie?

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookie - November 4, 2009

If you like Nestle Tollhouse Cookies, you'll probably like these. If, however, you're a chocolate chip cookie aficionado like me, to us single people, this isn't Mr. Right. It could, however, be Mr. Right Now. The edges are crisp, the middles are chewy and although it spread more than I would've liked, it still remained thicker than the average cookie. The main thing I didn't like about it is it just seemed a trifle too sweet. For someone with my legendary sweet tooth, that should tell you something. Yes, even I have a sugar limit in my taste buds.

Despite last night's debacle with the (Not-So-)Thick, Chewy Oatmeal Cookies from the Dessert Bible, I was willing to give Christopher Kimball and the Cook's Illustrated folks another chance. Meh. The cookie's not bad but I don't think I would go so far as calling it "the best" chocolate chip cookie. The chocolate chip cookie recipe from In the Sweet Kitchen by Regan Daley is much better than this one. Still, if you like crisp edges and chewy middles, give this one a whirl. Most people would probably think it's fine. But I seem to be extraordinarily picky with both cookies and men.

¼ cup Crisco
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened but still firm
1 cup packed light brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg white
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
10 ounces chocolate chips (chunks are preferred over chips)

1. Heat oven to 375˚F. Beat the Crisco and butter in a medium bowl with a wooden spoon until pretty smooth but with a few harder pieces (about 1 minute). Add the sugars and stir until well blended. Add the egg, egg white, and vanilla and beat until smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to the batter and mix together until smooth. Add the chips and fold in.
2. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper. For large cookies, place heaping tablespoons of dough on the paper with 1 ½ inches between the outer edges of the balls of dough. Shape the dough quickly with your hand so that each spoonful is compact and not too spread out.
3. Bake for about 12 minutes, or until tops are lightly browned. Rotate pan front to back halfway through baking; do not overcook.
4. Slide parchment paper onto wire racks to cool. Repeat as needed with fresh sheets of parchment paper.

ETA: I tried this cookie again when it was cool and I changed my mind. It's not the Mr. Right Now of chocolate chip cookie recipes or even Mr. Maybe. It's just too sweet for my tastes. This recipe and I are breaking up.

Thick Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

Thick, Chewy Oatmeal Cookies - November 3, 2009

The name of this recipe caught my eye first and lured me into trying it out. First, it's from the Dessert Bible by Christopher Kimball, one of the folks behind Cook's Illustrated and Baking Illustrated so you think he's got to know what he's doing, right? Second, it had one of the key components I look for in a good oatmeal cookie recipe, namely that it calls for more oatmeal than flour. There are some cookies masquerading as oatmeal cookies but hardly have any oatmeal in it. They lie.

Unfortunately, so did this recipe. They didn't come out thick at all. I made this dough last weekend and froze the dough balls. So I baked these straight from frozen dough which should've given them a great shot at not spreading too much. Didn't matter. The recipe says to bake them for 15 minutes and no longer even if they look underdone. Underdone is one thing but raw is another which is how they still looked at 15 minutes. I left them in for almost 20 minutes. They had pretty much spread out in the first 10 minutes anyway. You'll notice the 2 cookies look very different from each other. The one on the left was baked in my regular oven. The one on the right was baked in my little convection toaster oven. It's hard to tell in the picture but besides the more brown color of the cookie on the right (which baked faster to get to that color in the convection oven than its pale cousin on the left from the regular oven), the convection oven cookie did end up thicker as advertised in the recipe. So I guess Christopher Kimball didn't lie but only if you use a convection oven. Which not all of us have. I know I can only bake 3 cookies at a time in my convection oven because that's how small my cookie sheet is that will fit in there. But it just goes to show you that even cookies from the same batch of dough can come out very differently, depending on your oven.

So overall, I'd consider this recipe a failure. Not because of the spread but there was something about the taste I didn't like either, almost like it's got too much spice. I didn't add the ground cloves because I didn't have any but I did use the cinnamon and allspice. I'm thinking it would've been better just to stick with only the cinnamon. The allspice might be what's throwing this off, at least for my taste buds. The other modification I made was to substitute chocolate chips for the raisins. I can't abide raisins in cookies, oatmeal or otherwise. They're mushy and squishy. I'd rather have them as the grapes they should've been (although not in cookies either).

½ pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened but still firm
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ¼ cups roll (not quick-cooking) oats
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon allspice
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup raisins

1. Heat oven to 350˚F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugars by hand with a wooden spoon until pale yellow and very light. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until fluffy. Add oats and mix to combine.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients except the raisins and fold them into the oatmeal mixture using a large rubber spatula or wooden spoon. Stir in raisins.
4. Place dough in heaping tablespoons on parchment paper and bake about 15 minutes, or until edges are brown. Rotate the pan halfway through the baking time for even browning. The cookies will still feel slightly undercooked and soft when removed from the oven. Slip parchment paper off of baking sheet and place on cooling rack. Repeat with a new sheet of parchment until all the dough is baked.

Chewy Caramel Brownie Pie

Chewy Caramel Brownie Pie - first made many years ago, last made December 2008

My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. Those who know my penchant for Christmas decorating and my over-the-top ornament collection might be surprised that it isn't Christmas but nope, Thanksgiving wins hands down. It's first and foremost about gratitude, family and friends and - let's not kid ourselves - eating!

Traditional Thanksgiving desserts center around pies, usually pumpkin, mincemeat, pecan, perhaps apple or any other kind of pie. I'm sneaking this entry in since its official name has "pie" in it and it's technically supposed to be baked in a pie pan. For the astute among you, you'll figure out it's a brownie topped with caramel, chocolate chips and nuts. A rose by any other name....

Chewy Caramel Brownie Pie from Land O Lakes recipe book

Brownie
½ cup butter
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1 cup sugar
¾ cup flour
2 eggs, slightly beaten
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla

Caramel
8 ounces (30) caramels, unwrapped
3 tablespoons whipping cream
¼ cup chopped pecans, toasted
¼ cup semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F. In 2-quart saucepan, combine butter and unsweetened chocolate. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until melted (4-6 minutes). Stir in all remaining brownie ingredients. Spread batter into greased 9” pie pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until brownie is firm to touch.
2. Meanwhile in 1-quart saucepan, heat caramels and whipping cream over medium low heat, stirring occasionally until caramels are melted (5-6 minutes). Remove brownie from oven; spread melted caramel mixture over entire baked brownie. Sprinkle with pecans and chocolate chips. Continue baking for 3-5 minutes or until caramel mixture is bubbly. Let stand 30-45 minutes; cut into wedges. Serve warm with ice cream.

Further musings
This year, we're having Thanksgiving at my sister's and I've counted at least 15 people, possibly as many as 20 or more, who'll be there. I'm in charge of dessert. My sister wants lava cake, my mom wants apple cobbler. All well and good but you'll notice both of those desserts are meant to be made in individual-sized portions which is not practical when you're serving 15-20+ people. Not only do I have to have enough ramekins for at least both desserts (because it's Thanksgiving, you can't just offer 1 type of dessert) but they're also both meant to be made at the last-minute and timed perfectly so they can be ready to eat after the Thanksgiving meal. Have you ever eaten with more than a dozen people and had them finish eating and be ready for dessert at the same time? Me neither. Not to mention my sister has a small oven and there's no way to cycle 40+ ramekins in and out of there in any reasonable window of time.

No one in my family bakes except me so I don't think they really get the ramifications of all the nuances involved here. Sometimes I think they think I'm the MacGyver of baking and, with a spatula and a stick of butter, I can invoke miracles. Um, I can't. I have a hard enough time baking in a kitchen that's not my own, surrounded by people doing "real" cooking (i.e. I don't have run of the kitchen like I do when I'm baking at home), with an oven I'm not familiar with since I don't use it more than once or twice a year. However, one of my strengths is planning. Over the years, I've planned ahead and gifted my sister with various baking implements, ostensibly for my nieces who bake, but also for my use when I'm down there. She's got a Kitchen Aid, a zester, measuring cups and spoons, mixing bowls, baking pans, etc. I'll have to ask my nieces if she has a nut grinder or if I need to buy her that as a stocking stuffer.

Anyway, there are ways to solve these issues. First, my sister's getting her lava cake but not for Thanksgiving dessert. I'll make it another night when it's just the immediate family and I won't need to haul down 20 ramekins. Second, apple cobbler will be made in a large baking dish and served out in individual bowls with ice cream for Thanksgiving dessert - that's easy enough. Now I also have to come up with other desserts. Since Thanksgiving meal is usually pretty heavy and people stuff themselves, I don't want to make a lot of heavy desserts. I prefer to do little finger-food-type desserts and have people select from an assortment of bite-size sweets. They can have as much or as little as they want but won't feel obligated to scarf down large servings of dessert. The advantage of that approach is it's usually stuff I can make ahead of time and keep the oven free just for the cobbler. I may do one traditional pie (pecan) - we'll see. I have 3 weeks to plan for it.

Snickery Hidden Treasure Cookies

Snickery Hidden Treasure Cookies - first made May 1, 2006 from Cake Mix Cookies by Camilla V. Saulsbury

Here's another way to use up leftover Halloween candy. Although the recipe specifies Snickers, you can also use Baby Ruths, PayDays, etc. The only candy I wouldn't recommend is $100,000 bars or Rolos. The caramel centers are too hard when the cookies cool and are jarring to eat with the cookie when you have to chew and chew the caramel part. Plus I'm not sure if the caramels will leak out of the cookie, ruining the effect of the "hidden treasure".

1 18.25-ounce package yellow cake mix
2 large eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 bag mini-size chocolate-covered caramel nougat candy bar pieces (e.g. Snickers), unwrapped

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Position oven rack in middle of oven. Set aside an ungreased cookie sheet.
2. In a large bowl place half of the cake mix along with the eggs and oil. Blend with an electric mixer set on medium-high speed 1-2 minutes, until blended. Stir in the remaining cake mix until all dry ingredients are moistened.
3. Cut candy bars in half to create square-shaped pieces. Shape dough into 1 ½ inch balls. Place a candy bar half into the center of a ball of dough, shaping the dough around the candy to cover completely.
4. Place dough balls 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
5. Bake 9-11 minutes or until dough is just set. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.