Churro Bars from Imperial Sugar

Churro Bars - made August 20, 2023 from Imperial Sugar 

1 cup unsalted butter

2 cups light brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1. In a medium saucepan, melt and brown butter. Remove from heat and let cool for 20 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9 x 13 baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
3. In a large bowl, stir together melted, browned butter and brown sugar. Add eggs and vanilla and stir to combine. Stir in baking powder, salt and flour, mixing to combine.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together granulated sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle half of mixture evenly over bottom of prepared pan. Pour batter into an even layer and smooth top. Sprinkle remaining mixture evenly over top.
5. Bake 25-30 minutes or until edges are lightly golden. Cool completely before cutting and serving.

Although I usually include a batch of brownies in each of my military care packages for Soldiers Angels, I sometimes mix it up with non-chocolate bars to offer a different flavor and on the off chance there are non-chocolate lovers in the unit.

Snickerdoodles are my go-to cookies so the bar form makes sense. These are technically churro bars but they also are cinnamon-sugar-based so potato/po-tah-to. Same dif.

These are slightly different from snickerdoodle bars in that you sprinkle half the cinnamon-sugar on the bottom of the pan before you spread the batter over it, thereby "sandwiching" the bars between two layers of cinnamon sugar, much like a churro is coated all over. That only partially worked as some of the bottom sprinkle stayed on the foil instead of adhering to the bars.

The batter itself was rather dense so the bars turned out dense. Not quite "fudgy" in texture but more dense than cakey. Not sure I loved these. As a snickerdoodle substitute, they're not bad. I think I just prefer them in cookie form. But these packaged and shipped nicely so they served the purpose they were meant to serve.

Fudge Brownies from The Ultimate Brownie Book

Fudge Brownies - made August 18, 2023 from The Ultimate Brownie Book by Bruce Weinstein

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces

9 ounces semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped

2 large eggs

1 large egg yolk

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 8 x 8" baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In the top half of a double boiler set over hot water, combine butter, semisweet chocolate and unsweetened chocolate. Whisk until completely melted and combined. Remove from heat.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together eggs, yolk and sugar until light and thick, about 4 minutes. Add chocolate mixture and vanilla extract and mix to combine. On low speed, add flour and salt, mixing just until combined.
4. Pour into prepared pan, smoothing into an even layer. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Let cool completely before cutting and serving. 

I've tried several brownie recipes from this book and others in my cookbook collection and this is the only one I'm blogging in recent weeks. Otherwise most of my observations would be "not as good as my go-to recipe". I'm going to say the same about this because, let's face it, so far, nothing is unseating my go-to brownie recipe.

Still, if you want to mix it up a bit, this is a little more chocolate-y and not quite as dense as my go-to recipe. It's a softer texture because it has less flour and it's more chocolate-y because, well, it has more chocolate.

Coconut Blondies from The Ultimate Brownie Book

Coconut Blondies - made August 18, 2023 from The Ultimate Brownie Book by Bruce Weinstein 

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons unsalted butter

3/4 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 large egg white

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups coconut flakes

3 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 9 x 9" baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until pale brown and thick, about 5 minutes. 
4. Beat in egg until combined then beat in egg white and vanilla, mixing until combined. Beat in coconut flakes then chocolate chips. Add dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Pour into prepared pan and smooth into an even layer.
5. Bake for 25 minutes or until top is light golden brown and a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Let cool completely before cutting and serving.

I'm trying to go back to my recipe books again, partly because I always want to use what I already have and partly because I'm going through another purge of "stuff" and want to pull out any potentially good recipes from some of my books before I donate them.

I haven't found a fudge brownie recipe that I like better than my go-to recipe even though I've tried a few from this book that I didn't blog about; they were good but they just weren't special enough. So I thought I'd mix it up with going with this coconut blondie recipe.

This was pretty good. It reminded me of the topping of a magic cookie bar without the sweetened condensed milk or nuts. The coconut makes this nicely chewy and sweet. It's a good one for coconut lovers.

Crumbl Cookies review #47: Hummingbird Cake and Oatmeal Milk Chocolate Chip

Crumbl Cookies review #47: Hummingbird Cake and Oatmeal Milk Chocolate Chip, visited August 19. 2023

Hummingbird Cake cookie

This week's (now last week) new flavor that I wanted to try was the Hummingbird Cake cookie. Hummingbird Cake is typically a combination of carrot, banana, pineapple and nuts. It's got a lot going on so it's not my favorite cake (I'm a purist)  but I've had good hummingbird cake before so I know it can be good. 

I'm not a fan of nuts in my cakes or cookies but since they were just a garnish on top of the frosting rather than baked into the cake itself, I was willing to put pecan prejudices aside.

I have mixed feelings about this cookie. As a carrot cake cookie with overtones of cinnamon, hey, thumbs up. As an actual hummingbird cake cookie, I couldn't find a scrap of pineapple or banana flavor. Like, not at all. Much less actual bits of pineapple or banana. It's actually hard to disguise banana as it tends to be a strong flavor but Crumbl's Hummingbird Cake cookie managed it. 

That said, it's a good carrot cake with cinnamon overtones cookie. Just not really a hummingbird cake in cookie form.

Oatmeal Milk Chocolate Chip

I also have mixed feelings about the Oatmeal Milk Chocolate Chip, my store's mystery cookie this particular week, mostly because my expectations seems to be misaligned with Crumbl's on what constitutes an oatmeal cookie.

My definition of an oatmeal cookie has - well - oatmeal in it. And typically that it contains more oats than flour. Crumbl's version appears to be their regular milk chocolate chip cookie with a handful of oats thrown in. And by handful, I mean the handful of a 3-month-old baby who can't quite grasp anything yet.

Okay, that sounds a little snarky but seriously, the first bite or two, I thought they'd given me the regular milk chocolate chip by mistake. I had to take a couple of the inside pictures and enlarge the photo to see, why yes, there IS an oat in there. Look closely, can you see it? LOL. Fortunately, though, I do like Crumbl's regular milk chocolate chip cookie so I didn't mind this cookie. It's just not really an oatmeal one.

Chewy Brown Sugar Cookies from Lifestyle of a Foodie

Chewy Brown Sugar Cookies - made dough August 18. 2023 from Lifestyle of a Foodie 

8 tablespoons butter, divided

3/4 cup brown sugar, packed

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup + 2 tablespoons flour

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup granulated sugar, for rolling

1. Melt 4 tablespoons butter in a small saucepan. Let boil, stirring constantly until brown bits have formed and mixture smells nutty. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the brown sugar, melted and cooled browned butter and remaining 4 tablespoons butter until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
4. Add in egg and vanilla, mixing until just combined.
5. Add flour, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder and salt, mixing on low speed until just combined. Do not overmix.
6. Scoop dough into small dough balls and roll in granulated sugar. Evenly space on prepared baking sheets. Bake for 9 minutes and remove from oven. Let cookies cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.

I went through a period of several weeks where I didn't feel like baking. Yes, pigs flew out of the mouth of Hell with icicles poking their butts. It's rare but those times do happen. I was in a baking slump where I just didn't feel like it. None of my pinned recipes on Pinterest were interesting and I had even less interest in the recipes in my baking books. I still sent care packages for deployed military service members during this time but ordered them from Operation Cookies, a veteran-owned small business who ships to APO and FPO addresses, rather than baking them myself.

Fortunately, the slump and baking apathy passed and I was finally able to get back to it last weekend. Also fortunately, I broke the dry spell with this really good recipe from Lifestyle of a Foodie. I've had great luck with her Crumbl copycat recipes so I figured it would be a sure bet to go with any of her recipes, Crumbl copycat or not.

Turns out it really was a sure bet as these brown sugar cookies were delicious. The texture was good as was the flavor. Since the main sweetener was, not coincidentally, brown sugar, the cookies have an almost maple flavor but it was more caramel than maple. I'm not a huge maple fan but I do love the caramelized flavor of brown sugar. This is a good, no-fuss, easy-to-make, delicious cookie.

Crumbl Cookies review #46: French Toast, Milk Chocolate Chip, Salted Caramel Cheesecake, Apple Crumb Cake

Crumbl Cookies review #46: French Toast, Milk Chocolate Chip, Salted Caramel Cheesecake, Apple Crumb Cake - visited August 4, 2023 

French Toast, Milk Chocolate Chip, Salted Caramel Cheesecake, Apple Crumb Cake

Whenever there are at least 3 cookies I want to try at Crumbl, I get a 4-pack. It's cheaper per cookie than getting 3 single boxes and the milk chocolate chip is an easy add since, unlike the more rabid fans of semisweet chocolate, *I* like the milk chocolate chip cookie.

French Toast

I originally wasn't going to get the French Toast since I'd heard mixed reviews about it being too cakey and dry, words that kill the cookie lover's soul. And I've had dry cookies from Crumbl before. Might as well rip up a $5 bill since that's what I wasted when I get a dry cookie. But my now-local store consistently does great cookies so I thought it'd be worth the chance.

And it was. I unexpectedly liked this cookie. Yes, it was more fluffy and cakey than the normally chewy cookie I prefer and I'm not a big fan of breakfast-type cookies in that I'd rather have the actual breakfast item (e.g. French toast, waffle, pancake, etc). But this was good. The store already drizzled the syrup over it beforehand and it added the right touch of sweetness without overwhelming the cookie with syrup (Crumbl waffle, I'm looking at you). My only issue is the edges were just slightly dry (and syrup-less) but other than that, the flavor was good and I liked the (cakey) texture.

Salted Caramel Cheesecake

I had already tried the Salted Caramel Cheesecake the last time it came around so I technically didn't "need" to get it again. But last time the caramel was just a drizzle over the cookie and this time it was an actual pool of caramel. I like Crumbl's caramel and I liked the cookie base of this one so while I'm not a cheesecake fan, it seemed a small price to pay to get the cookie base and caramel pool. And it was delicious. I didn't even mind the cheesecake layer since it wasn't that thick. The salted caramel was perfection as was the cookie base. I hope they keep this version going forward.

Apple Crumb Cake

The Apple Crumb Cake was the one I wanted to try this particular week as it was a new flavor and I like apples. 

Although, to be honest, I'm not a huge fan of apple topping on Crumbl cookies. I tend to only eat a piece of a cookie when I first buy it and then I cut up the rest and package them for my freezer to be doled out in moderation later. Apple toppings don't always survive the freezing and thawing process that well. But even that aside, the apple topping on my cookie looked and tasted like dehydrated and rehydrated apple pieces. Not the end of the world as the cookie base was good. My local store almost always does such a good job on the cookies that I'll give them a pass on dehydrated apples. Plus, it's "just a cookie" and I can't get that worked up about it. At least not this time, ha.

Biscoff Blondies from Bake & Bacon

Biscoff Blondies - made August 4, 2023 from Bake & Bacon

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons biscoff spread

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

8 Biscoff cookies

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8 x 8-inch pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together melted butter and cookie butter until combined. Add brown sugar, egg, egg yolk and vanilla, mixing until completely combined.
3. Stir in the flour, baking powder and salt, mixing until just combined. Pour into an even layer in prepared pan. Gently press Biscoff cookies over the top.
4. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with a few crumbs. Remove from oven and cool completely before cutting and serving.

I had high hopes for this blondie but I didn't love it as much as I thought I would. The flavor was fine and it was easy to make.

It was the texture I didn't love. I don't think I overbaked it as I took it out around the 25-minute mark as that's when the toothpick came out clean.

And you can see by the pictures that it doesn't look dry. It actually had a "fudgy" texture but it wasn't as moist as I had hoped. It did have a drier mouthfeel without being dry, if that makes sense.

It was still good and I typically like cookie butter anything. If you make these, I recommend dolloping cookie butter within the blondie before you pour all the batter in. That'll not only amp up the cookie butter flavor but provide pockets of more moisture inside.