Chocolate Glazed Cake

Chocolate Glazed Cake - made August 20, 2021 from Recipe Girl

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups granulated sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup butter

4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup water

Glaze

1/2 cup butter

4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

6 tablespoons buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

16 ounces confectioners sugar, sifted free of lumps

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9 x 13 pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar and baking soda; set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together buttermilk, egg and vanilla extract; set aside.
4. In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Whisk in cocoa powder and water until smooth and combined. Bring mixture to boil. Pour over dry ingredients and whisk until smooth. Stir in the buttermilk mixture until combined. Pour into prepared pan.
5. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
6. While cake is baking, prepare glaze. Melt the butter. Whisk in remaining ingredients, adding the confectioners' sugar 1/2 cup at a time, whisking after each addition until glaze is desired consistency. Pour warm glaze over warm cake as soon as it comes out of the oven.

I haven't made a Texas sheet cake in awhile but they're always a favorite. Not just because of how easy they are to make but they almost always turn out and they make enough for a small crowd. Despite the name, I never bake them in an actual sheet pan as that would make the cake layer too thin. A 9 x 13-inch baking pan makes the perfect thickness, not too thin but also not so thick that it can't support a layer of frosting as well.

I might've underbaked this a tiny bit, not an uncommon occurrence, but it still worked out fine. The frosting was a bit sweet for me but that's probably because I'm still not much of a frosting person.

Fudgy Brownies from The Bake-Off Flunkie

Fudgy Brownies - made August 9, 2021 from The Bake-Off Flunkie 

1/4 cup butter

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

3 eggs

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 8 x 8" baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a medium bowl, melt butter and chocolate chips in microwave for 1 minute, whisk until combined. If a few lumps remain, microwave an additional 15-30 seconds. Whisk to combine until completely melted and smooth.
3. Add sugar and vanilla and whisk to combine. Add in eggs, one at a time, whisking until each is fully incorporated.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together baking powder, salt, cocoa powder and flour. Add to chocolate mixture and whisk until combined. Stir until glossy and combined but do not overmix. Pour into prepared pan.
5. Bake for 25-28 minutes or until toothpick inserted near the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Remove from oven and let cool completely before cutting and serving. 

I needed a quick and easy brownie recipe to fill up a Soldiers Angels care package I was sending out and I'm perpetually trying to clear out the recipes I've pinned on my pinterest boards so this was a good way to kill two birds with one stone.

This wasn't cakey but it wasn't as dense as my go-to recipe for fudgy brownies. Which is the one I've usually been making for package after package. I took a break from that one to try out this one but think I should go back to my favorite one. Which I still need to post - coming....someday.

Chewy Coconut Bars

Chewy Coconut Bars - made August 25, 2021 from Cookies and Cups 

1/2 cup butter

2 cups light brown sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups sweetened flaked coconut

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9 x 9" baking dish with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Continue cooking and stirring until completely melted and butter foams with the melted bits turning golden brown. Remove from heat and add brown sugar. Stir to combine. Add eggs, vanilla, salt and baking powder, stirring to combine.
3. Stir in flour until incorporated then fold in coconut. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth top in an even layer. Bake for 20-25 minutes until edges are golden brown and center is almost set. Cool completely before cutting into squares.

You're going to see a bunch of posts go up, perhaps almost daily, in the near future. I'm still working at my consultant job but I'm close to wrapping up and going back to retirement (at least I think so, my boss feels differently, lol). But as I wind down, am in fewer meetings and don't have to work as many hours, I've had more time to bake. I've ramped up the number of care packages I've been sending out to deployed military service members as a volunteer for Soldiers Angels (sending out my 9th package for the month today) and I've been able to contribute more regularly to the weekly food distribution for the houseless population in my area.

These bar cookies went into care packages on behalf of Soldiers Angels. They're a very good brown sugar blondie stuffed with coconut. In other words, they deliver on the "chewy" and the flavorful. I underbaked them slightly but more out of paranoid over-caution not to have dry blondies. They would probably have been a tiny bit better if I had baked them a few minutes longer but they were still good.

Lemon Brownies

Lemon Brownies - made August 20, 2021 from Pies and Plots 

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

Zest of 1 lemon

4 large eggs

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

Glaze

2 cups confectioners' sugar

zest of 1 lemon

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, more as needed

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8 x 8" pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In the mixing bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, granulated sugar and lemon zest until combined and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until just combined. Stir in the lemon juice.
3. Beat in flour and salt until combined. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth top. Bake 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Poke holes into top of lemon brownies with a toothpick.
4. Prepare glaze: in a medium bowl, whisk together confectioners' sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice. Add additional sugar or lemon juice until desired consistency is achieved. Spread glaze over warm brownies, coating top completely. Let cool before cutting and serving.

You might see more lemon recipes coming up shortly. I needed a lemon to make lemon bars for a friend so of course, I ended up buying a whole bag of them at Costco. I'm sure that made sense to me at the time but once those two seconds passed, I realized I'd better use up the lemons while I could. I hate baking ingredients going to waste.

As always when I have a plethora of a baking ingredient, I take advantage of it by trying new-to-me recipes that use up said ingredient. In this case, lemon brownies. You could conceivably call this lemon cake but it has the nice dense texture of a brownie so I'm going with that.

These were delicious. Kind of like a lemon pound cake but better. Bonus that they were easy to make, cut and serve from an 8 x 8-inch square baking pan. Plus I think they'll ship well in cooler months so I'm filing this recipe away to make for military care packages for Soldiers Angels this fall.

In the meantime, the other batch baking I do is for a group that feeds the local houseless population every week. One of the organizers is kind enough to pick up the baked goods from my house the afternoon before she does the meal distribution so it's extremely convenient for me to bake on the weekends, store these in my freezer for a couple of days then do the hand off. 

The big benefit to me is I can only eat the taste test piece then I give the rest away before I can indulge and eat the whole pan. Because these were so good that I could have. 

Pound Cake Brownies

Pound Cake Brownies - made August 9, 2021 from Buttermilk by Sam

Pound Cake

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 large egg

3/4 cup cake flour

2 tablespoons sour cream, heavy cream or milk

Brownies

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup dutch processed cocoa

2 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8 x 8" baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Pound cake: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugar, vanilla and salt until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes.
3. Add the egg and beat for another 3 minutes. Scrape the bowl and beat for another 2 minutes.
4. Over the bowl, sift in the flour and add the sour cream. Mix on low speed to combine. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl to keep batter even-textured. Set aside.
5. Brownies: Melt butter in microwave (usually takes 1 minute). Stir in the sugar and cocoa and microwave 1 minute. Whisk briskly for 1 minute. Let cool for 3 minutes.
6. Whisk in the eggs, salt and vanilla for 1 minute until batter is smooth. Whisk in the flour until just combined; fold in chocolate.
7. Pour half the brownie batter into prepared pan. Dollop pound cake batter onto the brownie batter. Spoon the remaining brownie batter over the pound batter and gently swirl them together with a butter knife or offset spatula.
8. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Cool completely before cutting and serving.

Whenever I see a new baking idea like these pound cake brownies, I wish I was more original and creative. It seems like such a simple idea but I'd probably never think of it on my own. Swirl pound cake and brownie batters together to make a pound cake brownie? Brilliant.

The pound cake batter was more stiff than the brownie batter, which isn't surprising. But it did make swirling a bit of a challenge. I always err on the side of underswirling because I don't want to mix the two batters too much and risk too much co-mingling and not enough distinct brownie and pound cake portions.

When I first made these, I followed the instructions to place half the brownie batter on the bottom of the pan, dollop the pound cake batter over it and cover it with the remaining brownie batter then swirl. But because the pound cake batter is a bit too stiff for easy swirling, next time I'm going to place a third of the brownie batter on the bottom instead of half, dollop half the pound cake batter, dollop the second third of the brownie batter, dollop the remaining pound cake batter then cover with the last third of the brownie batter. 

That way you don't have to swirl as much and you get slightly more even distribution between the two batters.

But regardless of how you do it, this was delicious. I'm partial to the pound cake part in both texture and taste, so much so that I want to make the pound cake recipe as a stand alone pound cake. 

But it's also good swirled with the brownie and is a nice change of pace to dress up a normal brownie. 

Nutella-Stuffed Peanut Butter Blondies

Nutella-Stuffed Peanut Butter Blondies - made August 8, 2021 from Honest Cooking 

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar

2/3 cup creamy peanut butter

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup - 3/4 cup Nutella

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8 x 8" baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and brown sugar until combined and creamy with no lumps. Add peanut butter and beat until well mixed.
3. Add eggs, one at a time, and vanilla, mixing after each addition until combined.
4. Add baking powder and flour, mixing until just combined. Do not overmix.
5. Spread half the batter evenly on bottom of prepared pan. Smooth Nutella in an even layer over peanut butter bottom. Spread remaining batter on top of Nutella, covering completely and smoothing evenly. Bake 23-25 minutes or edges are golden brown and center is set. Remove from oven and let cool completely before cutting and serving.

Nutella and peanut butter. If you like that combination and want a quick and simple bar cookie that doesn't make too much, this one's for you.

The main trick is to make sure your butter is slightly softened, beat it with the brown sugar first until they're well combined then add the peanut butter. If you try beating the butter and peanut butter together first, you're more likely to end up with butter lumps because the peanut butter itself is too soft to merge well with the butter on its own. Let the brown sugar beat the butter into submission first then add the peanut butter for a smoother consistency.

Cookies and Cream Cutout Cookies

Cookies and Cream Cutout Cookies - made dough August 7, 2021 from Semisweet Designs 

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

4 ounces cream cheese

1 egg

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup crushed Oreos (about 10 whole Oreos)

3 cups all-purpose flour

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar until well combined. Add cream cheese and beat until combined. Add egg, vanilla extract and salt, mixing until combined.
2. Add flour, 1 cup at a time, and the crushed Oreos, mixing briefly after each addition until incorporated.
3. If dough is too soft for rolling, chill for at least 30 minutes.
4. When firm enough to roll, place half the dough between two sheets of parchment and roll to an even thickness. Repeat with second half of dough. Chill rolled dough (leave between parchment sheets) for at least 30-60 minutes or until firm to touch. Cut into desired shapes, cover and chill again for at least another hour.
5. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and evenly space chilled cutouts. Bake 7-9 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest on hot baking sheets for 10 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool completely.

I've decided to make a simple but hopefully welcome change to the format of my blog posts. Namely, I'm going to put a picture and the recipe first instead of doing the commentary and making people scroll to the bottom of the post to find the recipe they want to try.

I know why most bloggers do it the traditional way of pictures and write up first then the recipe. They want you to read the words they've poured over and crafted. But, let's be honest, most of us would rather just cut to the chase and see the recipe, not read a bunch of words about someone else's experience. Or is that just me? Some bloggers are savvy enough to provide a helpful link at the top of their posts to "jump to the recipe". I'm not that sophisticated so here you go, from now on, recipe will be at the top. Whether you read this far down to hear about tips and tricks as well as my assessment of how the recipe turned out, well, that's up to you. It always has been but now I'm just saving you the trouble of scrolling all the way down. #yourewelcome

So let's also cut to the chase with this recipe. It's delicious. There's a slight tang from the cream cheese to keep it from become too sweet and the texture is soft. Even more thrilling, it really does keep its shape as advertised on the original blog. Woot. You know how hard it is to find a good-tasting cutout cookie recipe that keeps its cutout shape? This one delivers.

The only thing that gives me a little pause is, with the addition of the Oreo cookie crumbs to the dough, the cookies come out a bit gray. I can handle black and white but gray is not the most appetizing color for any baked goods. (Cue Steel Magnolias, armadillo red velvet groom's cake covered in gray icing. Thanks for that, Aunt Fern.) 

Gray doesn't do it for me. Next time I make these, I'm not going to process the Oreo cookies so finely in my food processor and will try to have more small chunks and fewer fine crumbs. So they can have more of a cookies and cream appearance.