Cakey Brownies

Cakey Brownies - made September 14, 2010 from Fat Witch Brownies by Patricia Helding

My friend Terri warned me ahead of time that "something" was coming in the mail for my birthday but it would arrive late since it wasn't going to be released until mid-September. Terri and I share a love of reading the same types of books and authors so I figured it would be something for reading. But lo and behold, when the package arrived from amazon, it was a brownie recipe book of Fat Witch brownies. If you've never had a Fat Witch brownie, they're rich, sinfully delicious and packed with chocolate and butter goodness. You can order them online from http://www.fatwitch.com/ which is how I first tried them but I also visited Fat Witch Bakery when I was in New York and indulged in person as well :).

So you can imagine I was pretty excited to receive the cookbook, especially since I didn't even know it existed. I was anxious to try the original recipe for Fat Witch brownies but when I got home, I discovered I didn't have any chocolate chips. Ack. Normally it'd be unheard of for me not to have semisweet chocolate chips on hand but I'd been using up my baking ingredients in preparation for my upcoming move and hadn't been replenishing my stores. That was foolish. So I had to compromise and try this recipe for Cakey Brownies since I did have all those ingredients on hand and I wanted to bake something from the book.

I've already gone on in previous blog posts that I don't care for cakey brownies. I like my brownies dense and fudgy. I'd like to be able to say I liked this recipe. Unfortunately, I can say they're just "okay". It's probably my prejudice against cakey brownies but I didn't think these were that great. The chocolate tastes wasn't very pronounced and I didn't like the cakey texture. Not a good first recipe out of the book. Fortunately there are many more recipes in the book so keep reading for further updates.

6 tablespoons (¾ stick) unsalted butter
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
¼ cup whole milk at room temperature
1 cup unbleached flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt

1. Grease a 9-inch x 9-inch baking pan with butter. Dust with flour and tap out the excess. Preheat the oven to 350˚F.
2. Melt the butter and chocolate in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring frequently. Set aside to cool.
3. Cream the sugar and eggs together. Add the vanilla and milk and mix well. Add the cooled chocolate mixture and mix until well blended.
4. Measure the flour, baking powder and salt and then sift together directly into the chocolate mixture. Mix the batter gently until well combined and no trace of the dry ingredients remains.
5. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared baking pan and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean or with only crumbs, not batter, on it.
6. Remove from the oven and cool on a rack for 1 hour. Cut just before serving.

Makes 12 to 16 brownies

Gigi's Fabulous Caramel Cake

Gigi's Fabulous Caramel Cake - made September 12, 2010 from Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott

I almost didn't want to make this blog post because this recipe turned into a half-failure and I hate when that happens. But failure and confession is good for the soul and I decided I needed to 'fess up. Not everything I make turns out but I learn from it for next time and that's all I can ask. For one thing, the cake itself lives up to its name and it really is fabulous. If you want a good vanilla cake, make this cake. Only don't make it with this frosting because that's the failure part. I'm not quite sure what I did wrong or whether it's the recipe or really me. I followed the instructions almost to the letter. The almost part is I substituted whole milk for the evaporated milk. I also only used half the frosting recipe since I was making this as a 9 x 13 cake and not as two round layer cakes. But I still don't think that accounted for the colossal failure that was my caramel frosting.

Here's the picture from the recipe book on what the finished cake and frosting are supposed to look like:

Lovely, isn't it?

Er, here's what mine turned out like:


Not quite so lovely, right??!? The frosting was thick and difficult to spread, even when warm, even after I added more milk. It was just grainy. I don't know if I overcooked it since it also turned out darker than in the book picture. But the true failure was in the taste test. While the cake itself was delicious, the frosting was like eating brown sugar out of the box. I'm not a big fan of frosting to begin with but, while I have a high sugar tolerance, even *I* do not make a habit of eating straight brown sugar and that's what this tasted like.

It wasn't a total loss as I now have a great vanilla cake recipe to use but next time, I'm going to pair it with a real vanilla frosting. But the main point I wanted to make by posting this is everyone has failures, myself included. I get some emails with people telling me a recipe they tried from my blog didn't turn out like mine - sometimes it's because they inadvertently left out an ingredient (Rhuwena forgetting the sugar in the pumpkin upside down cake), sometimes it's because they did a horrific substitution (margarine instead of butter - wah), or sometimes because they overbaked it. The point is - that's okay. Try and try again until you get it right. That's what I intend to do.

Yellow Cake
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter
1 cup milk
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Gigi's Caramel Icing
One 1-pound box (about 2 2/3 cups) light brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
7 tablespoons evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. To make the cake, heat oven to 325˚F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans. Combine the butter and milk in a small saucepan, and cook over low heat until the butter melts. Stir well and let cool to room temperature.

2. Meanwhile, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl, and stir with a fork to mix well. In a large bowl, combine the eggs and sugar, and beat well at high speed, scraping down the bowl often, until light yellow, smooth and thick.

3. Stir the flour mixture into the egg mixture, mixing only until the flour disappears. Add the cooled milk mixture and the vanilla, stir well, and divide the batter between the prepared pans.

4. Bake at 325˚F for 25 to 30 minutes, until the cakes are pale golden, spring back when touched lightly in the center, and begin to pull away from the sides of the pans.

5. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes on wire racks or folded kitchen towels. Then turn out the cakes onto wire racks or plates to cool completely, top side up.

6. To make the icing, have the cake layers handy and ready for frosting, so that you can spread the warm frosting quickly once it is ready. In a heavy medium saucepan, combine the brown sugar, butter, evaporated milk, and vanilla. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Stir well and then adjust the heat so that the frosting boils and bubbles gently. Cook for 7 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool for 5 minutes.

7. Beat the warm icing with a wooden spoon until it thickens, 2 to 3 minutes. Place a cake layer, top side down, on a cake stand or serving platter. Quickly spread some icing over the top and cover it with the second cake layer, top side up. Ice the top quickly and then spread the remaining icing over the sides.

8. If the icing becomes too hard to spread, warm gently over low heat, add a spoonful or two of evaporated milk, and then scrape and stir well until the icing softens enough to spread again. Dip a table knife in very hot water to help soften and smooth out the icing once it is spread.

Ghirardelli Chocolate Festival

Ghirardelli Chocolate Festival - September 11, 2011, San Francisco, CA

2010 marked the 15th year of the Ghirardelli Chocolate Festival. It's held, appropriately enough, at Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco and spans the course of 2 weekend days. This year it was September 11-12, 12 noon - 5 pm. Every year I always plan to go and every year, for one reason or another, I always miss it. Usually because I forget when it is. This year, I got a reminder from a post from The Chocolate Life and it even included a link to discount tickets. The event itself is free but you need to buy a ticket if you want to try any of the chocolate samples. And of course you do, otherwise why bother going?

Anyway, I planned to go, was reminded about it from the Chocolate Life post then promptly forgot about it again due to the crush of work I was under. But it seems I was meant to go when my friend Kendra emailed me a few days before the festival asking if I was going and she was forwarding another email from one of the vendors attending and this too also had a link with a discount code for tickets. How could I not go after that?

My friend Jenny lives up in the city so we arranged to meet at the ferry building and walk up to Ghirardelli Square from there. I'm always on the lookout for ways to be active and burn calories, especially as I was planning on consuming 15 samples of chocolate. We couldn't have had nicer weather that day. San Francisco was absolutely gorgeous. Temps were in the 70s (maybe low 80s), it was bright and sunny with a nice breeze from the bay and the sky was a beautiful blue. It was San Francisco at its finest.


Since I'd never been to the Chocolate Festival before, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Just something with lots of chocolate. In that aspect, I wasn't disappointed. Essentially the "festival" was comprised mostly of vendors in booths, giving out chocolate samples and marking off the tickets once you'd been given a sample. There were also a few demos per day from chefs from local chocolate places as well as Ice Cream Sundae Eating contests. Unfortunately what I hadn't counted on was the sheer number of people who were there. We arrived around 1 pm and it was already crowded and growing more so as the afternoon wore on. The idea of chocolate sampling was great and we did get some good samples but there was also a lot of standing in line to get said samples.

Our first sample was "Traditional Toffee" from the Goodytwos Toffee Company. The great thing about a place like the festival from a consumer standpoint is you can sample treats from places you'd never heard of before. From a vendor standpoint, it's a way to reach a potential market you might not normally get. Many vendors had their actual wares for sale so that if you liked the sample, you could also buy it.


We also tried the chocolate hazelnut caramel truffle bars (mere slivers actually, literally) from Sterling Confections - pretty to look at and good chocolate but it didn't quite stand out to my jaded chocolate taste buds.


My personal favorite of the day were the Milk Chocolate Macadamia Laceys from Desserts on Us. I love lace cookies (similar to Florentines) but they're a pain to make so I never make them. Desserts on Us not only had great cookies but they gave out whole cookies as their sample, not cookie bits.


Not pictured but we also tried: Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes (mini cupcakes, very mini) from Eat My Love for You, a mini hot fudge sundae (hold the whipped cream and cherry on mine) from Ghirardelli Chocolate, and Spiced Almond Caramel Corn from CC Made.

I discovered I was more of a chocolate lightweight than I thought. By the 6th or 7th sample, both Jenny and I were ready to call it quits. Turns out we can't consume that much chocolate, even though some of the samples were literally one-bite-sized. Learning for next time if I go again - share a 15-sample ticket with someone. We ended up lining up in the long line for the Ghirardelli Chocolate booth and using up the rest of our sample tickets for packaged Ghirardelli chocolate squares that we could dump in our purses.


All in all, it was a fun day but I have to admit, I'm not sure this is something I'd go to every year and I don't know if I've missed all that much by not attending any of the first 14 years of the festival. It was just too crowded and beyond lining up to get samples from the booths, there didn't seem to be that much entertaining entertainment. There were some wine and chocolate pairing happenings but I don't drink and I've never been a fan of eating contests, ice cream sundaes not withstanding. If there hadn't been so many people, I might've been interested in going to some of the chef demonstrations but honestly, it was so crowded (and I never cease to be amazed by people who can and do wield unwieldy strollers through massive crowds) that it killed any desire to linger too long. What made the day enjoyable and worthwhile was the great weather and the fact that Jenny and I can talk a mile a minute about any and everything so it was a great bonding experience and fun in that respect. So it was a good friendship day and a good chocolate day. I guess you can't ask for anything more.

Red Velvet Cake - Southern Cakes

Red Velvet Cake - made September 6, 2010 from Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott

This recipe is very similar to my friend Diane's red velvet cake recipe and came out just as well. The texture is soft and fluffy and it has a nice flavor, especially considering there's only 2 tablespoons of cocoa for the chocolate component. Use a high-quality dark cocoa, not an insipid grocery story brand. I use Pernigotti's from Williams Sonoma.

A key to good red velvet cake is not overbaking it. Actually that's key for any cake. Part of the flavor is having that moist and tender crumb. Normally I like to pair red velvet cake with a cream cheese frosting but the frosting accompanying this recipe was also identical to Diane's so I thought I'd try it since I'd skipped it when I had made her recipe. I'm not a big frosting person though so I probably can't really rate this with any kind of expertise. It was good but I only had the barest minimum on there. I added the coconut to the frosting for texture but omitted the nuts.

I like this cake and probably will make it again when I'm in the mood for red velvet. Next time, I'm switching back to the cream cheese frosting though. Just as a matter of taste preference.

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons cocoa
One 1-ounce bottle (2 tablespoons) red food coloring
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
1 tablespoon cider vinegar or white vinegar

1. To make the cake, heat the oven to 350˚F. Grease two 9-inch round cake pans generously, and line them with waxed paper or kitchen parchment. Grease the paper and flour the pans.
2. Prepared three separate mixtures for the batter: Combine the flour and salt in a medium bowl and use a fork to mix them together well. Stir the vanilla into the buttermilk. Combine the cocoa and the red food coloring in a small bowl, mashing and stirring them together to make a thick, smooth paste.
3. In a large bowl, beat the butter with a mixer at low speed for 1 minute, until creamy and soft. Add the guar, and then beat well for 3 to 4 minutes, stopping to scrape the bowl now and then. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each one, until the mixture is creamy, fluffy and smooth. Scrape the cocoa-food coloring paste into the batter and beat to mix it in evenly.
4. Add about a third of the flour mixture, and then about half the milk, beating the batter with a mixer at low speed, and mixing only enough to make the flour or liquid disappear into the batter. Mix in another third of the flour, the rest of the milk, and then the last of the flour in the same way.
5. In a small bowl, combine the baking soda and vinegar and stir well. Use a wooden spoon or spatula to quickly mix this last mixture into the red batter, folding it in gently by hand. Scrape the batter into the prepared pans.
6. Bake at 350˚F for 20 to 25 minutes, until the layers spring back when touched lightly in the center and are just beginning to pull away from the sides of the pans.
7. Cool the cakes in the pans on wire racks or folded kitchen towels for 15 minutes. Then turn them out on the racks or on plates, remove the paper, and turn top side up to cool completely.


Coconut- Pecan Icing

1 cup milk
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts

1. To make the icing, combine the milk and flour in a small or medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, whisking or stirring often, until the mixture thickens almost to a paste, 2 to 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and scrape it into a small bowl to cool completely.
2. Meanwhile, beat the butter with a mixer at high speed until light and fluffy. Add the sugar in thirds, beating well each time, until the mixture is creamy and fairly smooth. Add the cooled milk-and-flour mixture and beat for 1 to 2 minutes, scraping down the sides now and then, to combine everything well. Using a large spoon or your spatula, stir in the vanilla, coconut, and pecans, mixing to combine everything well into a thick, fluffy, nubby icing.
3. To complete the cake, place one layer, top side down, on a cake stand or a serving plate, and spread icing on the top. Place the second layer, right side up, on top. Frost the sides and then the top of the cake. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or more to help the icing set.


 

Snickerdoodles - BHG

Snickerdoodles - made September 3, 2010 from Better Homes & Gardens Cookie book

My cousin Christine's son, Jason, doesn't like chocolate. So when I hosted them for Monopoly night (yes, I lost - defeated by a 5-year-old and his mom, I may never be able to hold my Monopoly-playing head up again), I had to come up with a non-chocolate, no-nuts dessert (he doesn't like nuts either). Snickerdoodles was a logical choice as it's an easy cookie dough to make ahead of time and I thought Jason, like most kids, might like rolling the dough balls in the cinnamon sugar. Plus it's pretty much a vanilla cookie and he does like vanilla.

I have several snickerdoodle recipes on tap but I thought I would try a new recipe this time. It has the same basic ingredients as most snickerdoodle recipes, the key one being cream of tartar, but this one had a slight twist in that you beat half the flour in with the butter before adding the rest of the ingredients. I think that's the only cookie recipe I've tried so far that called for such a thing. Normally, in cakes and cookies, you add the flour last and don't beat it a lot once it's added so you don't develop the gluten in it and make it tough. Only in products such as bread do you work the flour a lot (or knead the dough) to deliberately develop the gluten and come up with chewy bread. In cookies, however, you usually don't and I have countless recipes warning against overmixing. But, ever obedient to a recipe, at least the first time I make it, I followed the instructions exactly.

The cookies came out pretty well. We had them once they had cooled slightly (taking a Monopoly break) and the edges were crunchy and the middles were soft. I thought these were pretty good. I sent the rest of the cookies and unbaked cookie dough home with Christine and Jason but I forgot to take a picture of the cookies for my blog so I "had" to make them again the following day. My parents don't normally like chocolate either (although my mom - and dad - have been known to enjoy Godiva truffles on occasion. Not See's though as they claim it's too sweet.) so snickerdoodles are also a good choice for them. I baked another batch, following the same recipe and same instructions. This time though, for some reason, they struck me as a little too sweet. I don't know why or how my taste buds changed in less than 24 hours or if it was because I had the cookie the next day while it was at room temperature so I could really taste the sweetness. In any case, these are still good but be prepared for the sweetness.

½ cup butter
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 egg
½ teaspoon vanilla
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. In a large mixing bowl beat the butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed about 30 seconds or till softened. Add about half of the flour to the butter. Then add the 1 cup sugar, egg, vanilla, baking soda and cream of tartar. Beat till thoroughly combined, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally. Beat in the remaining flour. Cover and chill about 1 hour or till dough is easy to handle.
2. In a shallow dish, combine the 2 tablespoons sugar and cinnamon. Shape the dough into 1-inch balls. Roll the balls in the sugar-cinnamon to coat. Place balls 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake in a 375˚F oven for 10 to 11 minutes or till edges are lightly browned. Remove cookies; cool on wire racks. Makes about 36 (only if you make them really small. They made 15-16 normal-sized cookies to me).

Brown Sugar Pound Cake

Brown Sugar Pound Cake - made August 29, 2010 from Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott

This is a good twist on a traditional butter pound cake. The sweetener is predominantly brown sugar so it has a nice butterscotch/caramel flavor. It also has that perfect pound cake texture for those of you who like hearty cakes. It would make a great picnic cake or, if you wanted to dress it up a bit, you could glaze it with a caramel glaze. Although there's also something to be said for leaving it plain and being able to warm it up later if you wanted. But you might want to slice the cake a bit thin if you don't want to overdo. I like pound cakes but if you eat too much, they have a tendency to sit like a lump in your stomach once you've consumed them. Must be all that butter....

3 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk
1 ½ cups (3 sticks) butter, softened
One 1-pound box (about 2 ¾ cups) dark or light brown sugar
½ cup sugar
5 eggs

1. Heat the oven to 325˚F. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan, or two 9 x 5-inch loaf pans.
2. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl and stir with a fork to mix well. Stir the vanilla into the milk and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, beat the butter with a mixer at high speed until light and fluffy. Add the brown sugar in three batches, and then add all of the white sugar, beating well after each addition.
4. Add the eggs, one by one, beating well after each addition. Add half the flour, and then half the milk, beating at low speed only until the flour or milk disappears into the batter. Add in the rest of the flour, and then the remaining milk, in the same way.
5. Quickly scrape the batter into the prepared pan, and baked at 325˚F for 1 hour and 10 minutes (55 to 60 minutes for loaf pans), or until the cake is nicely browned at the edges, springs back when touched lightly at the center, and a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
6. Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack or a folded kitchen towel for 20 to 30 minutes. Loosen the cake from the pan with a table knife and turn it out onto a wire rack or a plate to cool completely, top side up.

Mountain Meadow Chocolate Fudge Cake

Mountain Meadow Chocolate Fudge Cake - made August 17, 2010 from Sticky, Messy, Chewy, Gooey

You can rarely go wrong with a chocolate cake from a recipe book with this name. You bake the cake for a relatively short time at a high temperature, frost it while it's warm and let the frosting melt into the cake. It lives up to its name in being gooey. It's important not to overbake this cake since it's baked at 400 degrees. I was hovering around my oven and a toothpick inserted in the center that came out with the slightest bit of batter one minute was done and coming out almost clean in the next minute. Take it out in that next minute.

The main thing to watch for with the frosting is because you make it while the cake is baking and it's likely warm when you use it and put over the hot cake, the butter will have a tendency to separate out a bit. No worries - just blot it carefully to take off the shine or any little "pools" of butter in the frosting. If you don't, when the cake and frosting cool, you'll see the butter solidify on top. That's not very appetizing. Then again, once people taste this cake, they may not care. It was a rough day at work and I'll be the first to say this is excellent comfort food. And yeah, try this while it's warm.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup boiling water
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2 cups sugar
½ cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

For the fudge-pecan icing
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
3 to 4 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 ½ cups chopped pecans, toasted

1. Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 400˚F. Brush a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with melted butter or spray with a nonstick cooking spray.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together into a large bowl and set aside.
3. Combine the butter, boiling water, and chocolate in a saucepan. Place the saucepan over medium-low heat, and whisk gently until the butter and chocolate are melted and the mixture is smooth. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the sugar. Quickly whisk in the buttermilk and then the eggs and vanilla. Using an electric mixer set at medium speed, beat the chocolate mixture into the dry ingredients just until combined and a smooth batter forms, about 1 minute.
4. Pour the batter immediately into the prepared pan. Bake until the cake starts to pull away from the sides of the pan and a wooden skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, make the icing: combine the chocolate, butter, buttermilk in a saucepan and cook, stirring over medium heat, until the chocolate is melted. Remove from the heat and whisk in the vanilla, salt and 3 cups of the sifted confectioners sugar. If you would like the icing sweeter and thicker, whisk in the remaining confectioners sugar to taste. Stir in the pecans.
6. Transfer the cake to a wire rack and pour the warm icing over the cake while it, too, is still warm in the pan. Let cool completely, then cut into squares and serve.

Hershey's Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cake

Hershey's Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cake - made August 13, 2010 from a newspaper clipping in the Sunday coupon section

This is one of those recipes I've had for so long that I don't remember where exactly I got it from. But it looks like I clipped it from the coupon section of the Sunday paper so I suspect it was part of an ad for a Hershey's product, likely Hershey's cocoa since that's one of the ingredients in the recipe. It's really easy to make as it's just stir, pour and bake. Since it's made with water, it's not particularly rich. I made it with Hershey's cocoa in honor of the title but I don't find Hershey's cocoa that rich-tasting in baking so the cake itself didn't seem very rich. It was good but not take-the-top-of-your-head-off chocolatey. The texture was fine.

I didn't add all the milk in the frosting as it seemed like it was at a good consistency when there was still a little milk left in the measuring cup. However that turned out to be a bit of a mistake unless you like your frosting the consistency of fudge because once the frosting had cooled, it was more like a block of fudge on top of a cake. Nothing wrong with that but if you like traditionally creamy frosting, add all the milk. I had the taste test piece at room temperature but later on, in thinking I didn't want a block of fudge as the frosting, I heated up another piece about 15-20 seconds in the microwave. I didn't want to melt the frosting, just soften it a bit. Holy chocolate orgasm, Batman - turns out that makes this cake absolutely fantastic. The bottom layer of the frosting closest to the cake melts a bit, the top stays intact and the cake is warm. Deelish. Try it.

¾ cup butter or margarine
1 2/3 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup cocoa
1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda
¼ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups water

1. Heat oven to 350˚F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans or one 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan.
2. In large mixer bowl, combine butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Beat on high speed 3 minutes.
3. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt; add alternately with water to butter mixture. Blend just until combined.
4. Pour into prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes, or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans. Cool completely; frost with chocolate frosting.

8 to 10 servings

Hershey’s Chocolate Frosting

2 cups (12-ounce package) Hershey’s semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups powdered sugar
2/3 cup evaporated milk

1. In a small microwave-safe bowl, place chocolate chips. Microwave on high (100%) 1 ½ minutes; stir.
2. Microwave on High additional 30 seconds or until melted and smooth when stirred. Chips may also be melted in pan over warm water.
3. Gradually add powdered sugar and evaporated milk, beating until smooth. About 2 ½ cups frosting.

Kara's Blondie Brownies

Kara's Blondie Brownies - made August 8, 2010 from Tate's Bake Shop

I love this brownie because it’s a simple yet brilliant combination at the same time. The bottom layer is a chocolate chip cookie layer and the top layer is a chocolate brownie layer. Nothing could be simpler. It takes a little more time to put together but it’s not complicated. Make the first batch like you’re making chocolate chip cookie dough, spread it evenly on the bottom then make the brownie batter and spread on top of the chocolate chip cookie layer. It works better to have the chocolate chip cookie layer on the bottom because it’s heavier and more like a dough whereas the brownie layer is more fluid/liquid and truly a batter. If you did it the other way around, the brownie batter is so soft that you wouldn’t be able to spread the (stiffer) chocolate chip cookie dough on top of it without it sinking and mixing in with the brownie.

I used regular-size chocolate chips when I first made these but I’ve found that mini chocolate chips work better for the chocolate chip cookie layer – they’re not quite so chunky. Definitely don’t overbake these! The toothpick inserted near the center should come out with a few moist crumbs (not raw batter) but shouldn’t come out “clean”. Clean means potentially overbaked = dry.

Blondies
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup salted butter, softened to room temperature
1 ¾ cups firmly packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Brownies
¾ cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup salted butter
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons water
2 large eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9 x 13-inch baking pan.
2. To make the blondies: In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
3. In another large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until they are light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until they are well blended. Mix in the vanilla. Stir in the flour mixture until it is well blended. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Fold in the pecans and chocolate chips. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan. Set it aside.

Note: Use a 9-inch square pan if you just want to make blondies.

4. To make the brownies: In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda and salt.
5. In a large bowl, combine the chocolate chips and vanilla.
6. In a saucepan, combine the butter, sugar and water. Bring the mixture just to a boil. Pour the hot mixture over the chips and stir them until they are melted. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the flour mixture and mix it till it is just combined.
7. Pour the mixture over the blondie mixture and spread it evenly.
8. Bake the brownies for 30 to 35 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out with a moist crumb. You don’t want to overbake these brownies. When they are cool, cut them into squares.

Yield: 24 bars

"Mrs. Fields" Chocolate Chip Cookies

"Mrs. Fields" Chocolate Chip Cookies - made August 3, 2010 from www.topsecretrecipes.com

When Mrs. Fields first opened shop many years ago, I became an instant fan. The cookies were fresh and warm, she offered my favorite milk chocolate chip cookie without nuts, they were of a thickness that I approved of (prior to this I had been baking the Nestle Tollhouse recipe and making do with flat cookies) and they smelled so good. Plus her cookie stands were located at the mall and me likey the mall.

My palate has become more sophisticated since then and Mrs. Fields’ Cookies much more commonplace. My cookie allegiance these days are more with Specialty’s or what comes out of my own oven. However, I have a sentimental soft spot for Mrs. Fields’ Cookies (although since her divorce from Mr. Fields, she’s technically not “Mrs. Fields” anymore…..but I digress) since she launched around the time I was really getting into baking. There was a time in my baking life when I obsessed with copying her cookie. I bought her autobiography and read her story on how she got started. I bought her cookbooks when they came out. But I could never really replicate her cookies, not even with her cookbook recipes or with the tips she says she uses with her cookies. I was going more for the thickness of the cookie rather than the taste and could never duplicate it, no matter which recipe I tried. Of course now I know having a convection oven helps but at the time I kept thinking if I could just find the right recipe, I could hit it. In my quest, I found this recipe from http://www.topsecretrecipes.com. I’m sure I made it at the time but have no memory of how it turned out so I made it again last week.

Hmm, no, once again, not like a Mrs. Fields’ cookie. It spread too much. But it tasted like a good standard chocolate chip cookie so if you’re looking for one, you can add this as another variation of the original Tollhouse chocolate chip cookie. I made the cookie dough and froze the dough balls then baked a batch to take into work (yes, they liked it). I still have some cookie dough in the freezer so when I want/need dessert after dinner, I throw a dough ball into a little ramekin and bake it off. To be topped with a little scoop of ice cream and eaten warm. In the ramekin, it’s not allowed to spread and tastes just fine. Oh, one last note - the recipe says to bake for only 9-10 minutes and that you might be tempted to leave it in there for longer but you should take it out as it'll continue cooking on the cookie sheet. Use your judgment. At 10 minutes, these were still raw looking so I baked them a few minutes longer before I took them out. They were still underbaked but more the way I like them.

1 cup (2 sticks) softened butter
½ cup granulated sugar
1 ½ cups packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ twelve-ounce bags semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla.
3. In another bowl, mix together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
4. Combine the wet and dry ingredients.
5. Stir in the chocolate chips.
6. With your fingers, place golf ball-sized dough portions 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
7. Bake for 9-10 minutes or just until edges are light brown.

Makes 30 cookies