Old-fashioned Oatmeal Pancakes

Old-fashioned Oatmeal Pancakes - made July 12, 2012 from Brunch Cookbook by Sunset

Continuing with the breakfast posts, I tried out this recipe for no other reason than I had buttermilk to use up (a common occurrence).  This is very similar to Margaret's Oatmeal Hotcakes that I had blogged before, both in terms of appearance, texture, taste and soaking the oats in buttermilk overnight.  I did like the subtle flavor of cinnamon in these though and, when cooked properly and eaten right away, these have crisp edges and a nice oatmeal-y texture in the middle.  It's not too sweet so I prefer eating it with maple syrup rather than butter.  Be warned though that this is pretty filling.  1 pancake is plenty for breakfast.  I made a half recipe and it made 4 regular-sized pancakes.

2 cups regular rolled oats

2 cups buttermilk

2 eggs, lightly beaten

¼ cup butter, melted and cooled

½ cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon salt

1.     In a bowl, combine oats and buttermilk; stir to blend well.  Cover and refrigerate until next day.

2.     Just before cooking, add eggs and melted butter; stir just to blend.  In another bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; add to oat mixture and stir just until moistened.  If batter seems too thick, add more buttermilk, up to 3 tablespoons.

3.     Preheat a griddle or large frying pan over medium heat; grease lightly.  Spoon batter, about 1/3 cup for each cake, onto griddle; spread batter out to make 4-inch circles.  Cook until tops are bubbly and appear dry; turn and cook other side until browned. 

Dutch Baby Pancake

Dutch Baby Pancakes - made July 4, 2012 from A Flock in the City blog

Apple Pancake from the Original Pancake House

No, I didn't make the above pancake myself.  It's the Apple Pancake from the Original Pancake House and is one of their specialties which takes 15 minutes to bake and bring out.  It's worth the wait.  What I liked best about it was the texture of the pancake.  It was more like a bread pudding but without the bread.  And we know about my love for bread pudding.  Ever since I tried this at the Original Pancake House, I've wanted to make it myself, at least the pancake part since that was my favorite part of the dish.  Thanks to A Flock in the City's blog recipe for Dutch Baby Pancakes, I think I've come close.

I've re-written the recipe to make only 1 pancake and made mine in an 8-inch cast iron pan.  I also modified the directions to add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.  When I did it the other way 'round, I ended up with too many lumps because there's more wet ingredients than dry.  I didn't want to overmix it by getting all the lumps out so I ended up straining the batter before putting it into the cast iron pan.

Despite having no chemical leavening, this rose obligingly during baking, although it does deflate like a fallen souffle minutes after you take it out of the oven.  This isn't too sweet so you can sweeten it up with syrup or a dusting a powdered sugar or fruit if you wish.  It's best served warm but it wasn't too shabby at room temperature either.

 

4 tablespoons butter

1 cup of milk
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup of flour
2 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt

1. Put butter in cast iron pan; place pan in a 425-degree oven until the butter is melted and bubbly (you want it hot, but don’t burn the butter).
2. Combine milk, eggs, and vanilla. Beat well.
3. Combine the flour, sugar and salt. Add a little of the wet ingredients, mixing slowly to form a smooth paste. Gradually add the rest of the wet ingredients, mixing gently to prevent lumps.  Do not overmix.
4. Pour the batter into the hot pan.
5. Bake for 20 minutes or until well-raised and brown on top.  Serve immediately.  Serve with butter, syrup and/or powdered sugar if desired (optional).

 

Biscoff-Stuffed White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Biscoff-Stuffed White Chocolate Chip Cookies - made July 4, 2012 from The Rickett Chronicles blog

I like to look for cookie recipes that are a little different from the norm and I liked how this incorporated biscoff spread; it's like a cookie within a cookie.  Or at least a cookie filling within a cookie.  The original picture and post from The Rickett Chronicles shows the biscoff filling leaking out when the cookies baked.  I was a bit more anal about it and completely sealed the spread inside the cookie dough, partly because I didn't know if the texture of the spread would change if it was exposed to high baking heat and partly because I'm sometimes a neat freak, even in baked cookies.

Regardless, these cookies were amazing.  Without the biscoff filling, it's a fantastic white chocolate chip cookie on its own merit.  With the biscoff filling, it adds another flavorful dimension.  Because I was sealing it all up, I didn't use very much spread though.  Next time I would add more, even if it meant making bigger cookies (not a bad problem to have).  I really liked the taste and texture of these cookies and they didn't spread too much which is always something I look for in a good cookie.

1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened 
1/2 cup sugar 
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed 
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla 
2 cups all-purpose flour 
1/2 tsp baking soda 
1/2 tsp salt 
1 1/4 cups white chocolate chips 
1 cup Biscoff Spread (I used Speculoos Cookie Spread)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line a large baking sheet with a silpat liner or parchment paper.
3. In a stand or electric mixer, beat butter and sugars until well combined.
4. Add eggs and vanilla beating until well combined.
5. Place flour, baking soda and salt into a large mixing bowl. Stir to combine.
6. Slowly add to the wet ingredients along with white chips until just combined.
7. With a medium cookie scoop, scoop the dough onto the prepared baking sheet about 1 inch apart.
8. Using your thumb, press a well into each cookie for the Biscoff.
9. Using a small spoon, scoop about 1 tablespoon Biscoff into each well of the cookie.
10. Place another scoop of cookie dough on top and press edges gently. The Biscoff will not be completely enclosed and will be visible around edges.
11. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until edges are just golden brown.
12. Let cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

 

A Really Good Brownie

A Really Good Brownie - made July 4, 2012 from 125 Cookies to Bake, Nibble and Savor by Elinor Klivans

This is the actual title of the recipe in Elinor Klivans' book (which I borrowed from the library) and I think it's a deceptively modest one.  I would rename it A Really, Really Excellent Brownie instead.  Because it was.  I was a little skeptical on using shortening in it as I'm not a big fan of shortening in baked goods.  Butter gives better flavor.  But I'm glad I stuck to the recipe as directed because it worked.  As advertised in her preface to the recipe, this brownie was rich and fudgy with a nice dark chocolate flavor from the unsweetened chocolate.  Last weekend, when I went to Vegas for the World Pastry Championship, I was staying at my sister's so I made this for one of my nieces who had asked for Nutella Crunch Brownies.  I tried out this new brownie recipe and just added the nutella crunch topping to meet her request.  It worked really well as the crunchy topping was a sweet contrast to the dark chocolate richness of the brownie itself.  I preferred this one "dressed up" with the topping for that complementary taste and texture. It'd be fine plain as well but go for the extra decadence and make the topping too.  Don't overbake this or you won't get the fudgy texture.

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter

½ cup (8 tablespoons) vegetable shortening

5 ounces unsweetened chocolate

4 large eggs

¼ teaspoon salt

2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1.     Position a rack in the middle of the oven.  Preheat oven to 325°F.    Line a 9 x 9” baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.

2.     Melt the butter, shortening, and unsweetened chocolate in the top half of a double boiler set over hot, not simmering, water.  Stir until melted and smooth.  Let cool for 5 minutes.

3.     Put the eggs and salt in the large bowl of an electric mixer and mix at medium speed for about 30 seconds until the eggs just begin to look fluffy.  Add the sugar and beat for 1 minute until the mixture thickens and the color lightens.  Decrease the speed to low and mix in the melted chocolate mixture and vanilla until thoroughly combined.  Add the flour, mixing just until incorporated.  Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.

4.     Bake for about 50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs clinging to it.  Cool completely before cutting and serving.

Linked to Sweet Treats Thursday
 

Crock Pot Mac and Cheese

Crock Pot Mac and Cheese - made July 4, 2012 from Feeding My Temple blog

I adapted this recipe from Feeding My Temple's blog, mostly to adjust to the ingredients on hand in my pantry.  I didn't have enough evaporated milk called for in her recipe so I increased the amount of regular whole milk.  I also have an issue with most of the stuff I make in a crock pot ending up too liquidy or soupy so I added an extra ounce of macaroni shells just to be on the safe side.  Lastly, I had some basil parmesan meatballs to use so I chopped those up and threw them into the crock pot during the last 30 minutes of slow cooking just for added protein.

This turned out pretty well and is super easy to throw together.  I might add a bit more cheddar cheese next time and use diced ham instead of the meatballs as the meatballs competed a bit in flavor with the mac and cheese but overall, it's the perfect dish for someone who's as cooking-impaired as I am.  It didn't get soupy and made a nice creamy texture for the sauce.  It's a bit high in calories and I tend to want to consume large amounts of creamy pasta but I portioned the dish out into small portions so each meal would be in line with a reasonable intake.  Which means it made enough portions to feed me for a couple of weeks.

8 (or 9) ounces macaroni shells
2 teaspoons olive oil
5 ounces evaporated milk
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 cups sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
4 tablespoons butter, melted

1. Cook the macaroni according package directions. Drain and rinse well. 
2. Generously butter (or spray with non stick cooking spray) the sides and bottom of a 3 1/2- to 4-quart slow cooker.
3. Combine all ingredients and add cooked macaroni shells.  Cook on low for 2 1/2 - 3 hours, stirring occasionally.

Linked to Whatcha Whipped Up Wednesday
  

2012 World Pastry Championship

Although I still have 4-5 more recipes from last week to put up, I'm inserting this post now as I just got back from a mini vacation - I went to the 2012 World Pastry Championship in Las Vegas, NV.  It's been on my bucket list for over 10 years to watch the competition in person and I finally, finally was able to go.  It's held every other year and when it's not the World Pastry Championship, it's the National Pastry Championship for the US teams.  But this year was the world competition and the teams competing were from Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Netherlands, China and USA.  This is the Olympics of the pastry world.  And there certainly were some Olympian chefs there.

This wasn't in the competition but was a sample plated dessert from one of the sponsor booths

Check out the link so you can see what the competition is about - each team has 13 hours, spread over 2 days, to come up with a set of plated desserts to be judged on Day 1 then a sugar showpiece, a chocolate showpiece and petits gateaux for Day 2.  And trust me, this is no easy feat. These chefs are amazing, every single one of them.  I am no expert but during culinary school, I did enough sugar work and chocolate work to know how hard it is and the kind of skill you have to have to even make it to this competition. It takes years of experience and practice.  Some teams practiced for the 13-hour competition with as many as 30 or more 13-hour practice runs of their own for a year and a half.  Imagine that kind of dedication in addition to doing your day job.

Day 1 was mostly a lot of prep for Day 2 although they did complete the plated desserts in time for judging.  It was fascinating to watch the chefs in action.  No movements were wasted, it wasn't the flurry and drama you sometimes see on Food Network (ahem, Chopped, Cupcake Wars, etc); instead everything was streamlined efficiency.  As soon as one task was done, they began another.  They were also judged on how they worked and it was impressive to see sponge cakes being made (often the base for the plated desserts) swiftly, wrapped up, station cleaned, then pastry cream - make, wrap, put away, clean - then mousses and fillings.  Each member of the team had their own jobs to do and they were focused.

One of the plates of petits gateaux we were (very briefly) allowed to photograph

There are various teams of judges and various elements of the competition being judged.  Not just the finished products in terms of taste and appearance but also the way they did their work.  The taste judging is done "blind" with each team getting assigned a number.  The judges don't know which team's products they're judging and their backs are to the team kitchens when they sample the desserts.

Each team must produce

• 1 sugar showpiece
• 1 chocolate showpiece
• 1 sugar/chocolate amenity presentation piece for displaying bonbons on buffet table
• 14 identical plated desserts
• 3 different types of chocolate bonbons
• 3 identical entremets
• 3 identical entremets glace
• 3 different types of petits gateaux

The highlight of the competition is always the showpieces at the end.  Each team has to create one showpiece made of sugar and one of chocolate.  This year's theme was astrology and it was interesting to see how each team interpreted that for their showpieces.  There are very strict rules in terms of the type of shapes they can use and what equipment is permissible or not.  They also must transport their showpieces from their stations to the display table.  Many a heart has been broken when a showpiece shatters.  The pictures below do NOT do these showpieces any justice.  They're much more impressive in person.  Apologies that my camera didn't always take the clearest pictures.  The lighting was poor in some places and it was difficult to get a clean shot of the displays with so many people around.  You can't exactly ask a judge blocking the display table to step aside during their judging so you could take a good picture.  Bear in mind, each showpiece is made out of entirely chocolate or entirely sugar, nothing else, rendering them even more incredible.

Team Japan: chocolate showpiece on the left, sugar showpiece on the right

Team Mexico

Team South Korea

South Korea was heartbreaking because in transporting their chocolate showpiece, half of it fell off.  They could only put the other half out for judging. Then shortly after the judging began, the sugar showpiece toppled and this was all they were left with:

Team South Korea's shattered showpieces

Team Netherlands

Team China: sugar dragon and chocolate dragon

Sadly, Team China's chocolate dragon later shattered as well

Team USA had a "cock fight" between the chocolate rooster and the sugar rooster

 As a spectator, I could only get close enough to the teams on the ends to really see what they were working on.  Team Japan was on one end but they had a large contingent of supporters so it was hard to get really close.  Team USA had the most supporters because of the competition's home-country location so it was also hard to squeeze in on that end but I got lucky a couple of times and managed to get up close.  I saw that sugar rooster "come to life" before my eyes and it was nothing short of amazing.  On Day 1, I could see all the elements being put together but since I didn't know what they were building, it was hard to picture it.  But once it did all come together, literally before my eyes, it was beyond mind-boggling that what you see above is all made out of sugar.  Sugar, water and some food coloring.  Astonishing.  Hats off to all the chefs in the competition.

I didn't stay for the awards dinner and I'm still waiting for the website to be updated but I believe I heard Team USA won!  Based on showpieces alone, I would've gone with either Team Japan or Team USA so I'm glad one of my top 2 favorites took the championship.

ETA: just found out Team USA won first place for the degustation award and 2nd place overall in the championship.  Team Japan won first place overall and Team Netherlands won third place.  Congratulations to all the talented chefs from all of the teams.  Every recognition was well deserved.  Here's the press release from the French Pastry School

Banana Caramel Brownies

Banana Caramel Brownies - made July 4, 2012 from 125 Cookies to Bake, Nibble and Savor by Elinor Klivans

I don't know that I would really call these brownies since they don't have chocolate in them; they should technically be called blondies.  But they do have the "fudgy" texture of a good brownie.  The batter was a bit thin which made me suspect the caramel would sink to the bottom and I was right.  The batter wasn't stiff enough to hold the weight of the caramel during baking.  I think that's partly because the salted caramel I used was heavy in the first place, even when warmed up to make it easier to swirl into the batter.  In hindsight, I should've thinned it a little with some heavy cream.  Nevertheless, this was a good banana blondie, a bit more dense ("fudgy") than a banana cake but pretty tasty.  Next time though, I would use a regular caramel instead of the salted caramel; I think that would be more complementary to the taste of the banana.

1 1/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons (1 stick) soft unsalted butter

1 1/3 cups packed light brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 ½ cups sliced and mashed bananas (about 3)

2 large eggs

¾ cup caramel (I used the Salted Caramel from Trader Joe’s)

1 cup coarsely chopped pecans (optional, I left them out)

1.     Position a rack in the middle of the oven.  Preheat oven to 325°F.    Line a 9 x 9” baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.

2.     Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together and set aside.

3.     Put the butter in the large bowl of an electric mixer and beat on low speed for 15 seconds.  Add the brown sugar and vanilla until the mixture is creamed thoroughly, about 1 minute.  Mix in the mashed bananas.  Add the eggs, blending until they are incorporated.  Slowly add the flour mixture and mix just until it is incorporated and the batter is smooth.  Stir in ¼ cup of the caramel filling until it is blended with the batter.

4.     Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.  Drizzle the remaining ½ cup caramel filling over the top.  Draw a thin metal spatula gently through the batter to swirl in the caramel, leaving swirls of caramel on top.  Sprinkle the pecans evenly, trying to drop them wherever caramel is showing through.

5.     Bake for about 50 minutes, or just until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool the brownies in the pan on a wire rack.

   

Orange Dreamsicle Cookies

Orange Dreamsicle Cookies - made dough June 23, 2012, baked June 30, 2012 from My Happy Place blog

Thank you all for the prayers and support for Zoe's family - they're much appreciated.  Similar to Zoe's outlook in her battle with cancer, we all look for the good in any situation that makes us stronger and appreciate what we have.  She was a living testament to that mindset and always thought of others.  One of the pieces of good I've received was to find out from a person who commented on my previous post about an organization called CookiesforKidsCancer.org.  I'd never heard of them before but I'm glad to have heard of them now and plan to order from them for any occasion I can think of for friends and family and to donate to them.  Thank you, Debbie D, for letting me know about them.

I'm still posting the blog posts I wrote prior to Zoe's passing so they're not going to have the same tone as what I'm feeling at the moment - bear with me.

I like oranges.  I like cookies.  So I don't know why I don't make orange cookies that often or even try recipes for them.  Let me rectify that. I saw this from one (or more) of the link parties I participate in and had to pin it.  Then I had to make it because I'm also obsessing about trying the recipes I pin.  So glad I tried this one as it was quite good.  Like a tasty, moist sugar cookie but with an orange flavor.  The white chocolate complements the orange nicely.  While I'm not a big advocate of white chocolate chips, they worked really well in this recipe.

Normally when I make recipes from another blog, I only link up to their blog post so you have to go there to get the recipe because I believe in credit (and web traffic) going to where credit is due.  But then I started getting paranoid about the other blogs going down, their blog owners no longer doing a blog and something happening to that recipe on their blog.  Disastrous if it's a recipe I really like.  What if I never get access to it again??  So I am going to be including the recipes on my own blog, with my modifications if I make any - just in case.  But please do visit the original blogs that they came from; you never know what gems you might discover on your own.

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon orange zest
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
1 egg
1 cup sugar
1 3/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1 white chocolate bar, chopped (I used white chocolate chips)

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in egg, vanilla, orange zest and orange juice.
4. Stir in all dry ingredients slowly until just combined.
5. Add in white chocolate chunks/chips.
6. Drop by tablespoonful onto prepared baking sheet.
7. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned.

Note: if you're not baking right away, don't preheat the oven, scoop the dough into dough balls, chill until firm then put in freezer bags and store in the freezer until you're ready to bake.

Toffee Butter Cookies

Chocolate Toffee Butter Cookies - made dough June 8, 2012, baked at various times from Cook's Country Chocolate Desserts

I had written this blog post earlier and it seems a bit frivolous to me now.  Because it's with a heavy heart that I write that my friend Maria's daughter, Zoe, who I had made the Naked Twix bars for in my previous post, passed away last night.  Rest in peace, Zoe, and be with God and His angels - you're one of them now and always have been.

Original post: Last Christmas, my cousin Christine gave me the magazine booklet this recipe came from.  She also went one step better and actually made one of the recipes from it as part of my present - gotta love that.  So I already know these cookies are good but I had to make them for myself.  These are perfect make-ahead cookies since they're essentially slice-n-bake.  Just make the dough ahead of time, roll into logs, wrap logs in wax paper, put in freezer bags and freeze until you're ready to bake them.  You'll notice my cookies don't have the chocolate part of the title in them.  That's because I left off the last step of melting chocolate and drizzling them over the cookies.  I included the original directions below but feel free to skip the chocolate as well.  I left it off mostly because, with hotter summer temps, it's hard to keep the chocolate from melting after it's drizzled over the cookie and sets plus I actually preferred the toffee flavor without it.

This is one of those cookies where I puzzled over the baking time.  When I followed the directions and only bake them for 10-12 minutes, the edges get a little crisp but not much and the middle is soft.  Which is okay but not what I look for in a thinly sliced slice-n-bake cookie.  I prefer a bit more crunch throughout the whole cookie.  I accidentally discovered that if you bake them long enough (without burning them of course), the whole cookie crisps up and becomes exactly the crispy texture I was looking for.  I say accidentally because I was baking a batch to take to Zoe's party and after I had checked on them, I turned the oven off but left the sheet in the oven as I decided the cookies needed one more minute.  Then I went off to do something else and yup, totally forgot about the cookies until 10 minutes later.  Fortunately since the oven was already turned off, the cookies didn't burn.  But they did come out more brown than I had intended.  I let them cool and tried one later.  Success!  The extra baking time was perfect to get them crunchy without being dry.  So, depending on your texture preference, try baking them a little longer if you want the crunch.  I also think it would be better to add toasted pecans to the cookie dough itself for a bit more crunch and taste to cut the sweetness of the toffee.  However, if you leave off the pecans and bake until the cookies are crunchy, the taste and texture are similar to Biscoff cookies.  It doesn't have the spice taste of a Biscoff cookie but the brown sugar and toffee flavors are great substitutes.

2 1/3 cups (11 2/3 ounces) all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
16 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed (7 ounces) light brown sugar (I used dark brown sugar)
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup Heath Toffee Bits (without chocolate coating)
1 ½ cups (9 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2/3 cup chopped pecans, toasted and chopped fine (you can add some directly to the dough if you wish)

1. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in medium bowl. In stand mixer fitted with paddle, beat butter and brown sugar on medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg and vanilla and beat until combined, about 30 seconds. Reduce speed to low, add to flour mixture in 2 additions, and mix until incorporated. Stir in toffee bits. Divide dough in half and roll each piece into log about 9 inches long and 1 ½ inches in diameter. Flatten logs into 2 ½”-wide rectangles. Wrap rectangles in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 1 ½ hours.
2. Adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
3. Using chef’s knife, cut dough into ¼”-thick slices; transfer slices to parchment-lined sheets, spacing 1 inch apart. Bake until just browned around edges, 10 to 12 minutes, switching and rotating sheets halfway through baking. (For a more crunchy texture, bake 15-20 minutes.)  Let cookies cool completely on baking sheets. Use remaining dough to make second batch of cookies.
4. Transfer baked cookies to wire rack set in baking sheet. Heat chocolate chips in heatproof bowl set over pot of barely simmering water, stirring occasionally, until melted. Add oil to chocolate and mix until smooth. Dip part of each cookie into melted chocolate or drizzle chocolate over cookies with soup spoon. Sprinkle pecans over chocolate-coated cookies. Allow chocolate to set about 1 hour before serving cookies.

Linked  to Sweet Treats Thursday

"Naked" Twix brownie bars for a Sweet 16

Grandma Lilly's Brownies - made June 30, 2012, recipe adapted into homemade Twix bars from A Country Baking Treasury by Lisa Yockelson

Last weekend, I went to a Sweet 16 party of a remarkable young woman named Zoe.  Zoe is the daughter of Maria, one of my oldest friends from high school (ahem, that "old" refers to the age of our friendship, not my or my friend's age - just sayin').  Despite her young age, Zoe has shone the remarkable fortitude and courage of people more than twice, three and four times her age.  You see, last year, Zoe was diagnosed with stage 4 bone cancer and in the past 10 months, she has gone through more than most of us can conceive of in our lifetime.  Even more importantly, she has gone through it all with grace, courage and faith - the kind that you don't know you're capable of until you have to come up with the inner fortitude to take what's thrown at you, even when it's a one-two punch with Life's brass knuckles.

It hasn't been easy and her challenging journey isn't over yet but in true awe-inspiring fashion, she met a recent bleak medical prognosis determined to "spend the summer happy, not sad".  Part of that happiness was celebrating her Sweet 16 milestone and that we did.  When I asked Maria what I could bring to the party (because you know I'm incapable of showing up anywhere empty-handed - it's just not Filipino), I was glad to hear Zoe's favorite candy was Twix bars.  Because when I had first made homemade Twix brownie bars, I had sent a care package of them to Maria and her family and it sounded like they went over well.  So I went back to that confection to bring to the party.

Top row: Naked Twix Bars

Middle row, left: Toffee Cookies (later blog post coming shortly)

Bottom row, right: Buttery Toffee Cookies

I did mix it up a bit though and while I used the same shortbread base and same recipe for the caramel layer, I tried out this new brownie recipe.  The original recipe is enough for a 9 x 13 pan but I was only making an 8-inch pan so I cut the ingredients in half.  Taste-wise and texture-wise, I liked this brownie recipe better than the one I used earlier.  However, it made a thicker brownie than the other recipe so it made for bigger "Twix" bars.  Not that that's necessarily a bad thing but enrobing in melted chocolate was a bit more problematic as not all of the rectangular pieces wanted to behave and remain upright while being enrobed.  It didn't help that it was warm in my kitchen, almost too warm to work successfully with chocolate.  I ended up enrobing only a few pieces to chill and set in the fridge and let the others remain naked.  Not just because the chocolate was a pain to work with in warm weather but also because I was running late for church and ran out of time to enrobe them all.

The enrobed version

I ended up bringing both enrobed and "naked" versions to the party along with two kinds of butter toffee cookies. A friend captured the shot at one of the dessert tables.  But that was before Zoe's dad, Randy, snuck the plate of enrobed Twix bars to tuck away for later.  That plate was for Zoe and her immediate family so it was a good call on his part, especially when the cookie platter emptied out minutes later.  It was a great party and all I can wish for a special 16-year-old are prayers that she wins this battle and celebrates many more birthdays ahead.

One of the dessert tables

1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into chunks

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1.      Line an 8-inch pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cookie spray.  Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Make the shortbread layer and bake for 20 minutes until golden.

2.    For the brownies: melt the butter and chocolate in a heavy saucepan over very low heat; stir well and set aside to cool.

3.    Whisk the flour with the baking powder and salt. 

4.     Pour the melted chocolate-butter mixture into a large mixing bowl.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time.  Blend in the sugar and vanilla.  Stir in the sifted mixture, mixing just until the particles of flour have been absorbed. 

5.     Pour and scrape the batter over the hot shortbread crust.

6.     Bake the brownies on the middle-level rack of the oven for 25 minutes (for a very fudgy brownie, bake for 20 minutes).

7.     Cool the brownie cake in the pan on a rack until it reached room temperature, about 2 hours.  Cover with the caramel layer and let set.  Cut into small-ish, thin rectangles.  Enrobe in melted milk chocolate.

Yield: 24 brownies