Lovin' From the Oven

Heath Bar Blondies

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First of all, six days of work in a row? Really now? I just want to stay home and cuddle in this gloomy weather with the smell of something pumpkin baking in the oven. Before you think that I had disappeared again, I did bake apple crisp last week but it was all gone before I had decent lighting to take a picture of it. That’s what happens when you don’t have fancy lighting equipment and have to wait for the sun to rise the next morning for light (I hate taking food pictures at night while depending on the regular light bulbs as a natural light source). I definitely used the word “light” a million times in that last sentence. I apologize.

I searched through my cabinets and managed to find half a bag of Heath toffee bits.. how wonderful! I bookmarked a recipe from the blog: “3 B’s.. Baseball, Baking, and Books” and finally had the chance to try it from my list. These blondies were a hit! The middle of the pan were nice and chewy, while the edges were a bit more crisp. I can only imagine the possibilities you can do with this basic recipe.. you can sub in white chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips, raisins, nuts, coconut.. anything your heart desires! Here is the recipe with my minor tweaks. I also baked it in a glass pan so the baking time took a bit longer for me.

1 cup AP flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup melted butter
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped Heath Bars (I used 1/2 cup Heath toffee bits and 1/2 cup choco chips)

1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.) Cream together the brown sugar and melted butter. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients to the batter and mix until blended.
3.) Stir in the Heath Bars (or whatever addition you prefer) and pour into a greased 8×8 pan.
4.) Bake for 30-35 minutes.
5.) Let the blondies completely cool before cutting. Enjoy!

Chewy Chocolate M&M Cookies

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Now that my schedule isn’t so ridiculous, I have time to relax in the kitchen. The boys were all playing their video games, as usual, since Halo ODST just came out a couple of days ago (I, myself, have been addicted to BuzzQuiz cause I found it on sale at Best Buy for 15 bucks! Score!). I mean, I play video games and all, but that first person shooting stuff just isn’t for me considering how much of a spaz I am when I play those things.

I opted for something simple and universal. Who doesn’t love M&M’s? I chose this recipe because I’ve never tried baking with bread flour before and wanted to see if it really did make a chewier cookie. I got this recipe from Sugar Cooking, who adapted it from Allrecipes. You should check out her blog, she has some amazing pictures! I really think that all the greatest recipes are from allrecipes.com because they’ve been reviewed so many times.. meaning you know exactly what you’re getting yourself into! There are no surprises– people did all the testing for you.

This cookie tasted great and the boys gobbled them up, along with my coworkers! My only complaint is that they fell a bit flat for my liking. It could’ve been because of my boyfriend’s oven that I can’t seem to figure out, which seems to be the case whenever I bake at his house. I would bake these cookies again and give them a second chance, but I would probably chill the dough for an hour beforehand to prevent them from flattening and give these a go in my oven instead. 🙂 The ones that I took out earlier were perfectly chewy, and the other ones that I let bake a little longer were flat and crispy. It’s up to you what kind of cookie you want!

Recipe – Makes 20 – 30 cookies
Adapted from AllRecipes
Ingredients:

  • 2 cups bread flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup unsalted butter
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1 egg
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1.5 cups mini semisweet chocolate chips
  • 1 cup mini m&m’s

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
  2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
  3. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, egg yolk, and milk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended.
  4. Stir in the chocolate chips and m&m’s by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.
  5. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

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Eeeeeep! I just needed a little motivation to get off my butt and start baking again and you guys did just that. Thanks for all the emails/comments that I’ve been getting recently! It shows that I still had visitors even though I didn’t update for a month. 🙁

I actually had a free night for once in my life and found the time to get the oven going. There were three overly ripe bananas hanging in my kitchen, so it wasn’t hard figuring out what to make. I adapted this recipe from allrecipes.com and halved it. I can’t rave about this recipe enough! It definitely deserves the 5 stars it got on allrecipe. The bread is so moist and flavorful. The chocolate chips accent the banana perfectly. You’ve gottta give this a shot, it’s so easy to make, too! I also used smaller loaf pans, so I kept my eye on the baking time and took it out about 5 minutes earlier than what the original recipe says. Lastly, I replaced the mayo with milk because 1. mayo’s gross (no offense), 2. I didn’t even have mayo on hand, and 3. it’s healthier! The original version of the recipe can be found HERE. My changes are as follows:

  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tablespoon milk
  • 3 very ripe bananas, mashed
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease loaf pans.
  2. In a large bowl, cream together the shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in the egg, beating well. Stir in the milk and bananas. Stir together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Blend the flour mixture into the banana mixture; stir just enough to evenly combine. Fold in the chocolate chips and walnuts.
  3. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Cool loaf in the pan for 20 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

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