Thin and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Thin and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies - made July 10, 2011 from Got Milk? The Cookie Book by Peggy Cullen (book #137)

This is the chocolate chip cookie recipe I used to make the bottom layer for the Crispy Caramel (no) Cashew Bars below.  Normally I wouldn't even glance at a recipe that said it makes a thin chocolate chip cookie but since I needed a chocolate chip cookie dough to spread as the bar cookie layer, it seemed serendipitous to try it.  I doubled the recipe and had enough for the bottom layer of a 9 x 13 pan plus the dough for a baker's dozen of individual cookies.

There's not much I can say for these as a cookie - they did spread but not too thin as the name would have you suppose.  In fact, they baked just like a typical chocolate chip cookie.  I wouldn't say there were head and shoulders above the rest (they're not) - they're nicely ordinary.

5 ounces (1 ¼ sticks) unsalted butter, softened

¼ cup granulated sugar

½ cup packed light brown sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

1 ½  teaspoons vanilla extract

1 large egg

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 cup (6 ounces) chocolate chunks or chips

1 cup nuts (optional)

1.       Preheat oven to 375⁰F. 

2.       In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter, sugars, salt and vanilla until well combined.  Beat in the egg.  Scrape down the bowl using a rubber spatula and beat for a few more seconds.

3.       In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture on low speed and mix just until absorbed.  Combine the chocolate chunks and nuts in a small bowl and stir into the dough.

4.       Shape the dough into 1 ½” balls and drop them about 3 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets.  Bake for about 10 to 12 minutes or until the edges are golden.  Let sit for 5 minutes then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Chocolate Chip Caramel Crisp Bars

Crispy Caramel Cashew Bars - made July 8, 2011 from Cookie Dough Delights by Camilla V Saulsbury (book #136)

This is another baking book that I'm baffled I bought since I almost never bake with store-bought cookie dough and that's exactly what the recipes in this book are based on.  I must've been lured by the cover or had convinced myself it was a good opportunity to try out something I don't normally do (I can rationalize anything when it comes to buying baking books). However, this is also another baking book I'd recommend for novice bakers or busy bakers with kids who want to help in the kitchen.  The recipes are easy to follow and typically require less ingredients than making cookie doughs from scratch.

In this case, I followed almost nothing from this recipe since I still couldn't bring myself to buy store-bought cookie dough and I left off the cashews featured in the title but I do credit this recipe with giving me the idea for the flavor combinations so I'm posting it as the recipe writer intended for it to be made.  But I essentially made this one up as I went along.

In my case, contrary to the premise of the book, I made the chocolate chip cookie dough from scratch - you can use your favorite cookie recipe and just spread the dough as the bottom layer.  This is the one time where it's okay to use a recipe where the cookies are apt to spread.  In fact, it's better if you do since you don't want a cakey or stiff dough.  I also didn't use caramel apple dip and instead melted caramels with a bit of milk for the caramel.  That's more of a flavor and texture preference on my part.  Once the bottom chocolate chip cookie layer was baked and had cooled, I spread a layer of melted caramel over it and let it set before I covered it with the nutella crunch topping I'm so fond of.

This turned out to be a nice bar cookie confection - it's good with the chocolate chip cookie layer but if you wanted to make it even more decadent, you can make a chocolate brownie base instead, top it with caramel then the nutella crunch.  Serious calories but worth it.

1 18-ounce roll refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough, well chilled

2 cups milk chocolate chips, divided

1 16-ounce container (about 1 ½ cups) caramel apple dip, divided

3 cups crisp rice cereal

1 ¼ cups chopped lightly salted cashews

1.       Preheat oven to 350⁰F.  Spray a 13 x 9-inch pan with nonstick cooking spray or line with foil.

2.       Slice cookie dough into ¼-inch-thick slices.  Arrange slices in bottom of the prepared pan.  With floured fingers, press dough evenly to form crust.

3.       Bake 10-14 minutes or until light golden brown (dough will appear slightly puffed).  Remove from the oven; cool 15 minutes.

4.       In a large saucepan, combine 1 cup of the chocolate chips and 1 cup of the caramel dip.  Cook over medium heat until melted and smooth, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat.  Stir in cereal and cashews; immediately spread over cooled crust.

5.       In small saucepan, combine remaining 1 cup chips and ½ cup caramel dip.  Cook over medium heat until melted and smooth, stirring constantly.  Spread over cereal mixture.  Refrigerate 30 minutes or until set.  Cut into bars.

Super Fudgy Five Chocolate Brownies - with dulce de leche

Super Fudgy Five Chocolate Brownies - made July 7, 2011 from Chocolatier Magazine, February/March 2004 issue

Chocolatier is (or was) a magazine and not a baking book but it has plenty of great recipes and up until the magazine folded and got incorporated into a less fantastic publication, I had a "lifetime" subscription for over 10 years.  I've tried many recipes from it and was sorry to see the magazine go.

I need to make a bunch of brownies over the next couple of weeks, some to go into care packages I promised to send out and others to bring to friends when I meet them for lunches and dinners over the next 2-3 weeks.  So you're going to see a steady stream of care package/goodie bag type treats in the coming days.

I omitted the glaze on this one since I was mailing it in summer weather and didn't want it to arrive in a melted, non-appetizing-looking state at its end destination.  Instead, I added dollops of dulce de leche within the brownie itself.  This makes it easier to cut and package since the dulce de leche is inside the brownie and not on top.  I like taking close up shots of brownies so you can see what I mean by fudgy.  You get this look and texture as long as you don't overbake the brownies.  I think brownies are one of the easiest things to bake but I've had several friends tell me they find it hard because they have a tendency to overbake them.  Overbaking is the death knell of a good brownie.  The trick to baking fudgy brownies is to take them out when a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with moist crumbs, not raw batter.  You don't want the toothpick to come out clean from the middle.  By then it's almost certainly overbaked, especially at the edges.  Remember that chocolate sets once it cools so err on the side of underbaking rather than overbaking.

This was good but I think it would've been better if I had used the dulce de leche in a brownie that had more unsweetened chocolate and had a darker chocolate flavor.  The basis of the chocolate in this brownie is mostly from chocolate chips so it was more of a semisweet than a real dark chocolate brownie.  Still good though.

Fudgy brownies

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons

1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

2/3 cup granulated sugar

18 ounces (3 cups) semisweet chocolate chips

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped

5 large eggs, at room temperature

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons instant espresso

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup walnut halves

Bittersweet chocolate glaze

1/3 cup heavy cream

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

Decoration

1 ounce milk chocolate, coarsely chopped

1 ounce white chocolate, coarsely chopped

1.       Make brownies: Position a rack in the center of oven and preheat to 350 F.  Line a 9 x 13” pan with aluminum foil so that the foil extends 2” beyond the two long sides of pan.  Butter bottom and sides of foil-lined pan.

2.       In a medium saucepan, combine butter and sugars. Over medium heat, stir mixture with a wooden spoon for 5-7 minutes, or until butter is melted.

3.       Place chocolate chips and unsweetened chocolate in a food processor fitted with metal chopping blade. Process chocolates for 15-20 seconds, or until finely chopped.  With motor running, pour hot butter mixture through feed tube and process for 15-20 seconds, or until chocolate is completely melted, scraping down the sides of the workbowl as necessary.  Add eggs and vanilla and process for 10-15 seconds, or until combined.  Add walnut halves and pulse about 10 times to incorporate them into mixture and to chop them slightly.

4.       Scrape batter into prepared pan and smooth top with a rubber spatula.  Bake brownies for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted 2” away from center comes out slightly moist.  Do not overbake.

5.       Cool brownies completely in pan set on a wire rack.  Using 2 ends of foil as handles, lift brownies out of pan.  Invert onto a cutting board and remove aluminum foil.  Reinvert brownies so they are top-side-up.  Using a sharp knife, trim sides of brownies so that they are straight and smooth.  Place the brownies on a wire rack and set wire rack over a baking sheet.

6.       Make the bittersweet chocolate glaze (optional): Do not make the glaze until brownies are cool.  In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, bring cream to a gentle boil.  Take pan off heat and add chocolate.  Let sit for 1-2 minutes to melt chocolate.  Using a wire whisk, stir chocolate and cream until smooth.  Strain glaze through a fine sieve into a small bowl to remove any air bubbles.  Cool glaze for 5 minutes, until slightly thickened but still pourable.  Pour glaze evenly over brownies allowing glaze to drip down sides onto baking sheet.  Spread glaze with small metal offset cake spatula, making sure that the top and sides of brownies are completely covered.

7.       Decorate brownies (optional): In top of a double boiler over hot, not simmering, water, melt milk chocolate, stirring often, until smooth.  Transfer milk chocolate to a small paper cone or small plastic bag.

8.       Repeat above step using white chocolate.

9.       Cut a 1/16” opening at tip of both paper cones or plastic bags.  Pipe thin straight parallel lines of milk chocolate at ½” intervals across top of brownies.  Pipe thin straight lines of white chocolate in between lines of milk chocolate.  At 3/8” intervals, draw the tip of a toothpick or metal skewer completely across brownies perpendicular to the piped chocolate lines, reversing direction in which you pull toothpick across brownie.  Wipe toothpick tip clean between each pull.  This will create a feathered design.  Refrigerate brownies for 15 minutes, or until glaze is set.  Cut into 15 bars.  Store brownies in an airtight container at room temperature.

Boneless Honey Barbecue Chicken

Boneless Honey Barbecue Chicken - made July 6, 2011 from I Can't Believe It's Not Fattening by Devin Alexander

This is another recipe I made a note of when I checked out this book from the library.  It was exactly the type of easy recipe that I can cook after work without it being a big production.  And, as previously mentioned, I'm adding basil to everything I cook, regardless of whether the recipe calls for it or not.  I prepped my ingredients as directed in the recipe, went down to my garden and snipped off a handful of basil leaves.  Despite my having ruthlessly cut them to give a large amount to my cousin for pesto, it looked like half the leaves had grown back overnight so it was time for another trimming.  After I cooked the dish, it looked like it could still stand some more basil so I went back outside again and cut off some more.  That ought to keep the basil at bay.....for another 24 hours.  LOL.

This pretty much tasted like the barbecue sauce I used, albeit a little sweeter because of the honey.  But it was a nice change from the usual plain chicken I eat and hey, I got to use up some basil :).

¼ cup barbecue sauce, preferably with <9 g sugar and <1 g fat per tablespoon

2 tablespoons honey

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

Salt and pepper, to taste

16 chicken tenderloins (about 1 pound), trimmed

Olive oil spray

1.       Combine the barbecue sauce and honey in a small bowl.  Set aside.

2.       Sprinkle the garlic powder, salt and pepper over the tenderloins and toss them to combine.

3.       Place a large nonstick skillet over high heat.  When hot, lightly mist the skillet with spray and add the chicken strips side by side in a single layer.

4.       Cook the strips until they are lightly browned on the outside and no longer pink inside, 2 to 3 minutes per side.  Turn the heat to low.  Pour the reserved barbecue sauce mixture over them and gently stir until they are well coated and the sauce is warm.  Remove the pan from the heat.  Let the wings sit in the pan for 5 minutes and then toss them again (the sauce will stick better after sitting).  Serve immediately.

Brown Butter Meltaways

Brown Butter Meltaways - made dough June 24, baked July 4, 2011 from The Secrets of Baking by Sherry Yard (book #135)

Don't think I've gotten over my browned butter fixation just because it's been a few recipes since I've baked with it.  I'm just biding my time.  Every browned butter recipe catches my eye and there are more I want to try out.  This cookie recipe reads almost like a recipe for Mexican Wedding Cakes but the two main exceptions are it doesn't contain nuts and it uses browned butter.  I have to confess, until I read this recipe, I hadn't thought of browning the butter and cooling it back to solid form to use like regular butter.  Brilliant!  And so simple - why didn't I think of that before?  I have more cookie recipes to try that I would love to use browned butter with and this just opened the floodgates to all of them to do a browned butter version.  See, this is why I have so many recipe books and why I cast such a wide net of possible recipes to try.  Even for a longtime baker like me, there's always something new to learn and enjoy.

This cookie does take some planning ahead since you have to brown the butter, let it cool to room temperature, re-chill it to solid form, then you can make the cookie dough with it. The main thing to watch out for in doing the melting, browning, chilling and then beating is not to use your butter when it's too soft.  Make sure you do chill it solid, not just barely solid or a little soft.  Because it'll soften further when you beat it in your mixer and you don't want it too soft when you start adding the powdered sugar or your dough will be greasy.  You want the butter to be a creamy consistency after you beat it, not halfway towards melting again.

Add the powdered sugar and flour gradually.  At first the mixture will look like a bunch of loose crumbs but as you mix it, it'll come together as a dough.  I normally don't like to beat dough a lot once the flour is added since that'll develop the gluten and in cookies, that makes for a tougher texture.  In this case, once you add all of the flour, if your mixture still looks like loose crumbs, increase your mixer speed slightly and let it beat until the dough forms (no more than a minute).  When you roll the dough into balls, make them small.  Browned butter makes it rich and you don't want large cookies.  Once the dough was mixed, I made them into little dough balls, chilled them in the refrigerator for several hours to let the flavors develop (I'm trying that out after Joanne Chang's Chocolate Chunk Cookie recipe from Flour) then put them in the freezer to bake off later when I need them.

I actually timed these cookies (sort of) and took them out around 12 minutes since the directions warned that if they were overbaked, they'd be dry and crispy rather than melt-in-your-mouth.  Turns out the warning was right.  Even at 12 minutes, in my oven, that was too long for these cookies.  I tried baking a second pan and took them out after 8 minutes.  Better.  I had the taste test cookie (rolled in powdered sugar) while it was still slightly warm.  It did have that melt-y texture but I thought these were a bit too sweet, probably because I tasted the powdered sugar more than I tasted the browned butter.  Actually, I thought the powdered sugar overwhelmed the browned butter taste that I was expecting.  Also, honestly, I missed having toasted pecans in this type of cookie.  I like Mexican Wedding Cakes and think I should stick to the traditional version - with nuts since nuts, preferably pecans, add the texture and taste that make this type of cookie so appealing.  That's the flagrant exception to my no-nuts-in-cookies preference.

½ pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter

1 ½ cups plus 2 tablespoons powdered sugar, plus up to 1 cup for dusting, as needed

¼ teaspoon salt

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, sifted

1.     A few hours before you wish to make the cookies, make the brown butter.  Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Cook until the solids separate and brown to a dark golden color, 7 to 10 minutes.  Remove from the heat and let cool at room temperature, then chill it in the refrigerator until it is solid.

2.     Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the brown butter on medium speed until cream colored, about 2 minutes.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle.  Add the 1 ½ cups plus 2 tablespoons powdered sugar and the salt.  Cream on medium speed until it is smooth and lump free, about 1 minute.  Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle.

3.     On low speed, add the flour.  Beat until just incorporated.  Do not overbeat.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle.  Remove the dough from the mixer, wrap it in plastic film, and chill for at least 30 minutes.  At this point, the dough will keep nicely, tightly wrapped, in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 1 month.  (Thaw frozen dough at room temperature for about 30 minutes, or until you can pinch off pieces.)

4.     Preheat the oven to 350˚F.  Adjust the rack to the lower third of the oven.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. 

5.     Flour your hands.  Pinch off pieces of dough and roll them into 1-inch balls.  Place the balls 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheets.  Continue to flour your hands as needed to prevent the dough from sticking.

6.     Bake one sheet at a time for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the cookies look dry and feel firm, turning the sheet front to back halfway through the baking.  Do not overbake, or your cookies will be too dry and crisp. (Check after 8 minutes and see if they're baked enough.)

7.     As soon as you remove the cookies from the oven, cover them completely with powdered sugar.  The best way to do this is to place the powdered sugar in a strainer and tap it over the cookies on the baking sheet.  Let the cookies cool completely before removing them from the sheets and serving.  Store the meltaways in an airtight container for up to 3 days at room temperature.  The cookies can also be frozen for up to 2 weeks.

Garden Harvest

First tomato harvest plus another crop of basil from my garden

Despite my being gone for brief periods of time over the past couple of weeks, my garden managed to survive my absence, thanks in large part to a drenching rain at the tail end of my Barcelona trip which kept the plants fairly well watered during my visit last weekend to my sister's.  When I came back, I was able to do my first harvest from my largest tomato plant that had 3 tomatoes ripen simultaneously.  Plus another large crop of basil, enough to give to my cousin for a pesto dish. Three tomatoes aren't enough to make tomato sauce which is the primary reason I'm growing tomatoes in the first place but I'm putting them in the freezer until I do harvest enough.

I have a lot growing on the vine but they're still pretty small and still green.  Unfortunately I made the novice gardener's mistake of planting the then-seedlings too close together, not realizing exactly how big they would grow or how quickly.  I have all but one plant in tomato cages but even so, they're outgrowing that too.  It'll be interesting to see how they come along by the time summer ends.

Crunchy Peanut Brickle Bars

Crunchy Peanut Brickle Bars - made July 4, 2011 from Simply Delicious Desserts published by Borden Inc (book #134)

Press the crumb topping firmly into the peanut butter layer

This is another old cookbook I've had for years.  It's another one of those with recipes from a company's test kitchen, in this case, Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk, where the recipes are ones that encourage use of their products as your baking ingredients.  I think I clipped a coupon in the Sunday paper once and sent away for this cookbook.  Eagle is more expensive than Carnation or a generic brand but I do like using their sweetened condensed milk for baking and look for it on sale and use coupons to defray the cost.

Akin to the picnic cake, this is what I would consider a picnic bar cookie - simple to make for a crowd and holds up well in summer weather.  There's no chocolate to melt under a hot sun but you can certainly add chocolate chips or melt some into the sweetened condensed milk and peanut butter mixture if you're so inclined.  Smooth the bottom oatmeal layer evenly and firmly over the bottom - you want a base layer that holds together and doesn't let the next layer seep below it. When you spread the peanut butter mixture over the bottom layer, drop it in dollops all across the oatmeal base rather than pouring in a large puddle in the center.  This will make it easier to spread evenly over the base layer without dislodging any of the oatmeal underneath.  The directions say to bake it in a jelly roll pan but I made it in a 9 x 13 pan and got just the right thickness for a bar cookie.  If you're a peanut butter lover, this is pretty good.  The peanut butter flavor comes across like in a regular peanut butter cookie but it has the added crunch from the toffee and the roasted peanuts.

2 cups quick-cooking oats

1 ½ cups unsifted flour

1 cup chopped dry-roasted peanuts

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, melted

1 (14-ounce) sweetened condensed milk

½ cup peanut butter

1 (6-ounce) package almond brickle chips or milk chocolate-covered English toffee candy bars, cut into small pieces

1.       Preheat oven to 375⁰F.

2.      In large bowl, combine oats, flour, peanuts, sugar, baking soda and salt; stir in butter until crumbly.  Reserving 1 ½ cups crumb mixture, press remainder on bottom of greased 15 x 10-inch jelly roll pan.  Bake 12 minutes.

3.       Meanwhile, in small mixer bowl, beat sweetened condensed milk with peanut butter until smooth; spread evenly over prepared crust to within ¼” of the edge.  In medium bowl, combine reserved crumb mixture and brickle chips.  Sprinkle evenly over peanut butter mixture; press down firmly.

4.       Bake 20 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool.  Cut into bars.  Store loosely covered at room temperature.

Snickery Crispy Cookie "Balls"

Snickery Crispy Cookie Balls - made July 2, 2011 from No-Bake Cookies by Camilla V. Saulsbury (book #133)

This is another one of those baking books where I wonder what was I thinking when I bought it.  Not that there's anything wrong with the cookbook itself but I usually don't really like "no-bake" anything.  I'm a baker.  I like to bake.  And to me, that means - you know - baking.  As in mixing ingredients together, putting them on cookie sheets or pouring into pans and actually baking them in the oven.  Most of the no-bake stuff I've tried tends to be overly sweet and is really just mixing up ingredients together so you're eating the same thing but just mixed up together.  There's no chemical or heat process to make the ingredients greater than the sum of its parts. 

The only exception is rice krispie treats.  And technically, while it's not baking, you still melt the marshmallows to get a different texture in the finished product than in the "raw" product.  Not surprisingly, the recipe I chose to try from this cookbook looks like it's just rice krispie treats with Snickers added in.  Nothing wrong with that.  A recipe like this also has the added advantage in the summertime that if you don't want to add to the heat in your house, there's no need to turn on your oven.  You only need to turn on the stove for the brief amount of time you need to melt the butter and marshmallows.

I made these while visiting my sister and my nieces and it was triple digit temperatures.  I definitely was not going to bake in that kind of heat, even though they did have air conditioning.  My energy-conserving nature balks at the idea of turning on one appliance to cool the house while turning on another that adds heat to it.  I guess this is where "no-bake" comes in handy.

You'll notice from the pictures that these are actually squares and not "balls" like the original title would have them be.  I honestly did try to do as the recipe directed and make them into balls.  One failed attempt with sticky hands later, I gave up.  Yet another thing I don't want to tackle when it's summertime-hot.  Patting the mixture into a 9 x 13 pan, smoothing the top and cutting into squares takes far less time and tastes the same.  Oh and I was right - these are just rice krispie treats with a Snickers add-in.  I was generous with the Snickers and doubled the amount the recipe calls for.  Can't have too many Snickers.  And as simple as this recipe is, it's perfect for large crowds (you can easily double or triple the batch) in case you need something to bring to a 4th of July picnic or barbecue at the last minute and does well in hot weather but not in humidity.  The Rice Krispies will soften too quickly as I discovered the last time I made these in the Philippines.  But hot, dry weather is fine.  Happy 4th of July!

 

½ cup (1 stick) butter

1 10-ounce bag miniature marshmallows

2 2.15-ounce bars chocolate-covered caramel & nougat candy bars (Snickers)

6 cups crisp rice cereal

1.   Melt butter over medium-low heat in 4-quart saucepan. Stir in marshmallows until melted.  Remove from heat; stir in candy bars and cereal until blended.

2.   Shape mixture into 1-inch balls with buttered hands. Place on waxed paper. Store in airtight containers between sheets of waxed paper.

4th of July desserts

I'm not really baking for 4th of July this year since I'm at my sister's for the holiday weekend and I'm not sure I really want to turn on the oven when it's triple digit temperatures outside.  In fact, I know I don't.

However, if you are baking for family gatherings, picnics, barbecues, etc, here are some ideas from what I've previously posted:

Red Velvet Cake - make this as a sheet cake, frost with cream cheese or vanilla frosting, and, using blueberries for the stars and raspberries for the stripes, make a flag cake.  Just be careful not to leave out in the sun as the frosting won't hold up well.  Put the blueberries and strawberries on at the last minute so the juices don't bleed onto the white frosting before you serve it.

4th of July desserts don't have to visually be red, white and blue to be holiday appropriate.  Instead, think broadly - what says "America" to you in terms of baked goods?  There are some desserts that really signify hometown American favorites such as:
Apple Pie
Chocolate Chip Cookies (invented from the Tollhouse Inn by Ruth Wakefield herself - Alton Brown's recipe is still my favorite)
Brownies (Shirley's Fudge Brownies are one of my favorites but there are too many to really link them all - just do a search on my blog and choose the one you visually like best :))

Or you can make "functionally" appropriate desserts, i.e. ones that are easy to make and there's enough for a large crowd like:
Diane's Double Chocolate Sheet Cake
Carrot Cake

Or basic crowd pleasers where you don't have to worry about whether people have nut allergies or (heaven forbid) don't like chocolate:
Best Vanilla Pound Cake
Lemon Bars

Cupcakes are always a popular dessert at group gatherings, especially ones with kids.  Some of my favorites are:
Banana Butterscotch Cupcakes
Fudge Ball Cupcakes

So let your baking imaginations run wild and see what you come up with. 

And, because I can never resist pictures of food, here's one I took at the last baseball game I went to (San Francisco Giants vs the Florida Marlins at AT&T Park) - that shrieks 4th of July to me since there's nothing more American than baseball (....cookies) :).

Buttermilk Cake

Buttermilk Cake - made June 24, 2011 from The Simple Art of Perfect Baking by Flo Braker (book #132)

I was in a hurry to use up buttermilk again before it expires.  Actually it was going to expire while I was in Barcelona so I had to bake with it before I left.  After I had the taste test slice, I wrapped up the rest of the cake and put it in the freezer to give away later.  The recipe says to bake this as two 8-inch round cakes but I just made it in a Bundt pan.  Easier to wrap up and give away in slices.  I actually went almost a full week without trying out a new recipe - imagine.  (I don't count the baking I did of cookie dough I had in the freezer to give away to friends since I'd already made those and tried them out.)  So I didn't plan very well with recipes to use this particular quart of buttermilk before it expires.  I hate wasting ingredients so I did a quick flip through of the baking books I had left in my baking challenge to come up with this simple butter cake.

It has a lighter texture than a pound cake or a typical Bundt cake since this wasn't meant to actually be a Bundt cake; I just made it one.  Regardless, it worked out pretty well.  Don't overbake it as part of the appeal is the moist cakey texture.  I liked the simplicity of this cake - the buttery flavor carries it and it's also another candidate to take along to those summer picnics but it's a bit more delicate than say, the Chocolate Swirl Cake, and falls apart a little more easily so don't cut it until the last minute before serving.  Actually, you should never cut cake until right before you serve it or else wrap each slice immediately in plastic wrap.  If you don't, the cut ends will dry out more easily. 

If you follow the original recipe to bake it into two 8-inch round cake pans, you can frost it but I liked it unfrosted because you can taste the goodness of the butter without any interference.  Because it's relatively plain, you can also dress it with summer berries and a scoop of vanilla ice cream if you're planning to serve to guests but choose flavors that complements it rather than competes with it.

2 ½ cups (250 grams) sifted cake flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

3 large eggs, at room temperature

1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla

6 ounces (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 ½ cups (300 grams) granulated sugar

1. Position a rack in the lower third of the oven, 5 to 6 inches from the bottom; preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Using a paper towel, grease the bottom and sides of two 8-inch round cake pans with solid shortening. Dust generously with all-purpose flour, shake to distribute, tap out excess, and insert 8-inch rounds of parchment or waxed paper.
3. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together; set aside.
4. Whisk eggs together in a small bowl.
5. Pour buttermilk into a liquid measuring cup, add vanilla and stir to combine.
6. Place the butter in the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer.
7. With the paddle attachment, cream the butter on medium speed until it is lighter in color, clings to the sides of the bowl, and has a satiny appearance, 30-45 seconds.
8. Maintaining the same speed, add the sugar in a steady stream. When all of the sugar is added, stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Continue to cream at the same speed for 4 to 5 minutes, or until the mixture is very light in color and fluffy in appearance.
9. With the mixer still on medium speed, pour in the eggs, very cautiously at first, tablespoon by tablespoon, as if you were adding oil when making mayonnaise. If at any time the mixture appears watery or shiny, stop the flow of eggs and increase the mixer’s speed until a smooth, silken appearance returns. Then return to medium speed and resume adding eggs.
10. Continue to cream, stopping the mixer and scraping the sides of the bowl at least once. When the mixture appears white, fluffy and increased in volume, detach the paddle and bowl from the mixer.
11. With the aid of a metal icing spatula, lift one-fourth of the flour mixture and sprinkle it over the creamed mixture. Stir it in with a rubber spatula. Then pour in one third of the vanilla-flavored milk, stirring to blend together. Repeat this procedure, alternating dry and liquid ingredients, ending with the flour. With each addition, scrape the sides of the bowl, and continue mixing until smooth.
12. Spoon equal amounts of batter into each pan. Spread evenly in each pan, creating a slightly raised ridge around the outside rim.
13. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the baked surface springs back slightly when touched lightly in the center and the sides begin to contract from the pan.
14. Pace the pans on racks and let them cool for 5 to 10 minutes. Run a small spatula around the edges and invert cakes onto a rack ,peel off the parchment liners, and reinvert right side up. Cool completely.

Storage: wrap tightly in plastic wrap and store at room temperature. Cakes can also be frozen, tightly wrapped for up to 2 weeks.