Almost-Famous Maple-Butter Blondies Recipe : Food Network Kitchens. Directions Make the blondies: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with foil, leaving an overhang on two sides; butter the foil. Pulse 1/2 cup walnuts in a food processor until almost fine (do not overprocess). Whisk the ground nuts, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Beat 10 tablespoons butter and the brown sugar with a mixer on medium speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula. Spread the batter in the prepared pan and bake until the blondies are light brown around the edges and spring back when pressed, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, make the topping: Place the maple syrup and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat and cook until the mixture bubbles and thickens, swirling the pan, about 6 minutes.
Use the foil to lift the blondies out of the pan, then cut into large bars. Photograph by Kana Okada. Dreamy Apple Pie. It’s Pie Week here on PW Cooks, and I’ll be posting a new pie recipe every day for the next five days. I’d better make friends with my Stairmaster, and fast. It’ll be difficult to reestablish the relationship. It’s been years since I acknowledged its presence. I’m starting Pie Week with this utterly decadent apple pie, made ultra rich and dreamy with the addition of cream and all sorts of sugary, naughty goodness. Hard sauce on warm apple pie could cure the world’s ills, let me tell you. As any of you know who’ve hung around this godforsaken place (or used my cookbook) for any length of time, for years I’ve used a no-fail (and so flaky you can’t believe it) pie crust that was shared with me by a woman named Sylvia. For the printable recipe for the pie crust, click here: Sylvia’s Blessed Pie Crust I’ve gotten a little lazy through the years, especially when I have a bunch of other cooking going on, and often whip up the pie crust in the food processor.
I do about thirty very quick pulses. Apple Fried Pies Made With Puff Pastry. First, thank you to everyone who voted for me to make it to Round 4 of Project Food Blog! I am so excited to be participating in this round because we are going to have one of my favorite evil treats!! The challenge: Sure, you can take a pretty picture. But your task here is to go above and beyond and use photography to create a step-by-step, instructional photo tutorial. It could be anything from how to bone a chicken to how to make your favorite recipe, but your photos need to guide the reader through the steps. Voting for this round is from October 11th to the 14th. In Texas we tend to like our food deep fried. A staple of most Texas childhoods is a good, old fashioned fried pie. My fried pies are a bit of a process, and a little over the top, since I make fresh, hand rolled puff pastry, but they are so worth the effort! Puff Pastry Yield about 2 1/2 pounds of doughAdapted from A Baker’s Tour by Nick Malgieri Begin by preparing the butter block.
While the butter chills prepare the dough. Apple and Blueberry Crisp. I’ve been making crisps since I was a child. They were one of the first things I learned to bake so they are special to me in the way a first love is special. I find that when the last of winter is behind me I start to crave fresh fruit desserts, and since this is easy and nearly fool-proof it is perfect to satisfy my cravings. It is important that the crisp have a crisp topping. I know it sounds silly to say that, but so many crisps have soggy, over blended tops that just clump up and get mushy. Or, the crisp is topped with pie crust which is, while delicious, not a true crisp.
Below is the recipe I have been using for over fifteen years. Versatile and tasty, this crisp delivers comfort in a hurry! Apple and Blueberry Crisp Serves 4 2 granny smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced thick 1 cup blueberries 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1/4 cup sugar 1 tablespoon cornstarch Pinch of salt 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 cup sugar 1/3 cup butter, cold Heat the oven to 350 F.
Blueberry Lime Fromage Blanc Tart. Ahhh, fresh blueberries! One of the best parts of spring is the arrival in the markets of fresh, plump berries. I always get the itch to make a tart or pie with fresh berries at this time of year, and while shopping I also sampled some excellent fromage blanc. I decided instantly that they would be perfect in a dessert together.
This tart is the perfect blend of mouthwatering tang from the cheese, bright citrus flavor from the lime, and earthy sweetness from the fresh blueberries. Blueberry Lime Fromage Blanc Tart Serves 8 For the crust: 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon lime zest 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, kept cold and cut into small cubes 3-4 tablespoons ice water For the blueberry swirl/topping: 1 cup blueberries 1 tablespoons cornstarch 2 tablespoons sugar 1 tablespoon water 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, lime zest, and salt. While the dough chills prepare the blueberries. Bananas Foster. Those of you who’ve read my site for any length of time likely know that I hate, abhor, loathe, and recoil at the sight of bananas. I’ve disliked them my entire life, even when I was a baby.
And I happen to believe that this is some sort of genetic aversion, as both my dad and one of my brothers share it, too. In my entire forty-two years on this earth, I’ve never eaten a whole banana. I’ve had accidental bites here and there, half of which were promptly spit out into a napkin. Speaking of my mom’s banana bread, it is the only recipe on my entire website that contains bananas. But yesterday, I decided to step outside of my comfort zone, display a small measure of open-mindedness, and add another banana dish to my website. Get this stuff and put it by the stove. Melt a stick of butter in a heavy skillet. Throw in a cup of dark brown sugar. Stir it around and cook it over medium heat until it bubbles. Pour in heavy cream. 1/2 to 3/4 cup is fine!
YUCK! And now. 1. Enjoy this, guys. Chocolate Chip Coconut Brown Butter Cookies. I’m on something of a brown butter kick at the moment. It is a really tasty kick, if I don’t mind saying. After the Chocolate Spice Cake with Brown Butter Frosting I was looking for another way to use brown butter in sweets. I decided on cookies, since they are my favorite thing to eat, and I decided to use some coconut because I had some in the pantry. Really, these cookies were created simply by looking in my pantry and picking out things I needed to use up! These cookies are crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside.
The dual textures is created partly from the brown butter and partly from the coconut. There is a lovely nuttiness to these cookies, but it is not overpowering. Chocolate Chip Coconut Brown Butter Cookies Yield 5 dozen 1 cup unsalted butter, browned and cooled 3/4 cup white sugar 3/4 cup brown sugar 2 eggs 2 teaspoons vanilla 2 1/2 cups flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 cup toasted coconut, lightly crushed 1 cup chocolate chips. Chocolate Chip Cardamom Oat Blondies. I have been something of a baby lately. As you may know, I have been on a medical scavenger hunt for almost two months now. I have already endured numerous tests, trips to the emergency room, and visits to doctors and specialists. For as long as I can remember I have hated doctors.
I may in fact have a slight ‘white coat’ phobia, despite all my doctors being lovely people who make me feel as comfortable as possible. The culmination of all these medical adventures of the last month reached a fevered pitch last week when I learned I would need even more tests to get a firm diagnosis on my pain. In a fit of very pouty and slightly tearful temper, I swore to never visit a doctor again – EVER! It is very safe to say I overreacted, and as of Tuesday (the day my funk officially ended) I booked appointments for both the unpleasant tests that I was refusing to undergo last week.
These little beauties are loaded with unique flavors and textures. Chocolate Chip Cardamom Oat Blondies Yield 18 bars. Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownies. When I have a bad, or stressful day, or when I have an especially good day, I like to treat myself. In the case of this recipe I was having a bad day. It was the last day of a rather bad week, actually and I was in need of something really evil to sooth my nerves. This recipe was inspired by a brownie that I saw in a coffee shop a few months ago. It was a walnut brownie with a walnut chocolate chip cookie baked in the center and it sort of looked like danish. As I am not a big fan of walnuts I passed, but the idea of it, the baking of cookies in brownie batter, stuck with me.
I think it is safe to say these little bars made everything all better. These bars are sort of a marbled amalgamation of chewy brownies and buttery cookies. Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownies Yield 16 bars Heat the oven to 350F. In a small bowl combine the butter, chopped chocolate, and Nutella. In a medium bowl combine the second amount of butter, sugar, egg, egg yolk, and vanilla until smooth. Enjoy! Gooey Chocolate Coconut Bars. I think I may have a little-itty-bitty problem. It is not a serious problem, but it is a little consuming. I can’t seem to stop craving chocolate and coconut. With that said, please excuse me for yet another chocolate and coconut dessert. I pinky-swear that the next few desserts will be sans coconut, and I am pretty sure pinky-swears are legally binding. What is really funny about this dessert is I was thinking of the composition of lemon bars when I came up with it. For a change of pace, and to give these bars a less intense flavor, I used natural cocoa powder rather than Dutch-processed.
Gooey Chocolate Coconut Bars Serves 8 For the base: 3/4 cup all-purpose flour 1/3 cup cocoa powder 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup sugar 4 tablespoons butter, melted 2 eggs, at room temperature 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/8 teaspoon almond extract Heat the oven to 350 F and spray an 8″x8″ square pan with non-stick cooking spray. Enjoy! Coconut toffee tarts with Nutella topping. I have this bad habit of amassing baking ingredients because I never know what recipe will catch my fancy and I need to be prepared for that impulse bout of baking.
So when I "just happen" to be at Target, I might grab an extra package of chocolate chips, another 5 lb. of flour, a bag of sugar, etc. I won't even confess my acquisitive sins when I'm at Costco (that's right, those 4-lb. packs of butter do go into my cart on almost every visit). It's not such a bad habit, at least not until it hits a critical point when my pantry is stuffed and I can no longer fit anything in my freezer because of the masses of cookie dough, individually wrapped brownies, frozen bags of almonds, macadamias and pecans, and packages of coconut.
If I'm ever cut off from the world because of a natural disaster, my sweet tooth and I would survive just fine. Skip to next paragraph Carol Ramos The Pastry Chef’s Baking Recent posts Subscribe Today to the Monitor Coconut Toffee Tarts with Chocolate Nutella Topping. Delicious Hot Chocolate. I love hot chocolate and really can’t be trusted around it. Here are a few varieties I whipped up recently. (If you’d like a late-afternoon/adult version, splash brandy or other booze into any of the varieties below.) (But you didn’t hear that from me.)
Add 2 cups of milk and 2 cups of half-and-half to a small saucepan. As you can see, this wasn’t my first batch of hot chocolate that day. As I said, can’t be trusted. Oh, and I’m sorry about the whole half-and-half thing. Warm the milk mixture over medium-low heat, then add a cup of good semi-sweet chocolate chips. Stir it around, making sure it doesn’t get too hot…and that’s it for the basic hot chocolate concoction! I love hot chocolate using chocolate chips. To make orange hot chocolate, drop 3 or 4 strips of orange rind into the milk mixture before you begin warming it. I also took a walk on the wild side and dropped in a couple of slices of orange. Then just add the chocolate chips and heat it until it melts. Mmmm. Have you seen this? Spiced Dark Chocolate Soufflé. I love things that look difficult but are in fact quite easy. Soufflé is one of those desserts that people assume is terribly difficult to make. I think it goes back to cartoons and movies where someone is making a soufflé that comes out tall and perfect only to have it collapse in spectacular fashion.
When I was in culinary school I dreaded soufflé day, knowing that they were so terribly hard to make. I quickly discovered the opposite. Yes, a souffle can collapse, but if properly constructed, and eaten quickly, you will have puffy, yummy, moist goodness every time. My go-to soufflé recipe uses a roux, but when I saw this meringue based soufflé on Cannelle et Vanille I knew I had to give it a try. Spiced Dark Chocolate Soufflé Yield 4 to 6 servingsAdapted from Cannelle et Vanille For preparing the ramekins: 3 tablespoons very soft butter 3 tablespoons sugar 2 tablespoons grated chocolate Heat the oven to 350F. In a medium bowl whip the egg whites with the salt. Serve immediately. Peppermint Ice Cream. I love making homemade ice cream. It’s one of my callings in life. For years and years, though, I used an old wooden ice cream maker that required ice and rock salt to be packed around the edges. It worked fine for me and brought many calories and fat grams into my life.
It was my friend and companion. It was loud, though. It has completely altered the course of my life. Later this morning I’ll be featuring and giving away the ice cream maker on PW Home and Garden. The Cast of Characters: Heavy cream, half-and-half, sugar, egg yolks, and mint candy of your choice: peppermint OR Andes mints. Add the half-and-half to a saucepan… And add in a cup of sugar. Add the egg yolks to a mixer (or you can just whisk it in a bowl.) And add a cup of sugar here, too. Whip it until the yolks are light yellow in color. Retrieve a small amount of the warm half-and-half/sugar mixture… And very slowly drizzle the hot mixture into the egg yolk mixture while the mixer is on medium-low speed. I’m lazy. Poifect!