Butterscotch White Chocolate Blondies

I can't believe how late I am to post today!

I started working on this post this morning but ended up having a very full day.

You see...The Hubble is home! We have been spending some quality time as a family and we have been loving it!!

At this moment, Little Butt is in bed and The Hubble is feeding and hanging out with Baby N.

The boys took some time adjusting to one another but so far, things are going pretty well. Daddy is figuring out how to handle the little guy and it's so cute.

Little Butt has been able to spend some alone time with Daddy too. They went to the store together this evening and have been having many dance parties.

I know our time is short but we are living it up as best we can!

So let me not spend too much more time here. Let me tell you about this recipe!

I made these blondies before I even had Baby N and I haven't stopped thinking about them.

I found the recipe in a Cooking Light magazine I grabbed at the store.

I thought the butterscotch blondies sounded awesome, but that they needed a little something extra.

Enter in white chocolate chips stage left.

The sweet white chocolate morsels were the perfect addition to these buttery bars.

And speaking of butter...this recipe uses brown butter!! Everything is better when you brown the butter!!

Let's get baking!

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt.

Brown up your butter, cool it down then whisk it into the egg substitute.

Pour the egg and butter mixture over the dry ingredients and mix until just moistened.

Stir in the white chocolate chips.

Pour the batter into a prepared pan and even it out until smooth. Bake it up, cool it off then cut it up.

Serve and enjoy!!

Butterscotch White Chocolate Blondies

Adapted from Cooking Light

Printer Friendly Version

Ingredients:

• 2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
• 2 1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 10 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup egg substitute

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9x13 inch pan with baking spray.
2. Combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt in large mixing bowl.
3. Heat butter in a small skillet over medium heat for about 6 minutes, stirring occasionally or until lightly browned. Pour into small bowl and set aside for about 10 minutes to cool.
4. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the egg substitute and browned butter.
5. Pour butter mixture over dry ingredients and stir until just moistened.
6. Fold in the white chocolate chips.
7. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth out with a rubber spatula.
8. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
9. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into 48 bars.
10. Serve and enjoy!!

Double Chocolate Brown Butter Brownies

Okay, okay.

You have caught me red handed.

I know I said before how I'm not really a chocolate person and you won't really see much of that here on Jolts  Jollies.

HOWEVER! I do believe there are times in life when nothing else but chocolate will satisfy.

Here's the deal...The Hubble has been gone for a couple weeks now. He's off to play Army. He's currently in Florida attending school and will deploy at the end of this year. Little Butt and I will get to see him for about 3 weeks in the coming year and a half. It sucks...but that's the life we've chosen.

That being said, I'm sure you can understand when I say that some days are harder than others.

When I realized he had been gone for a little over a week, I started getting kind of down. I was just in this funk for a few days and was trying to pull myself out of it.

So...what do I do when I'm feeling sad? I bake of course!

I had a recipe for a peach cake that I've been wanting to try. But that just didn't seem like it would fit the bill. I wanted comfort. I wanted chocolate.

I was on Pinterest (my newest obsession) and I ran across a recipe for an amazing sounding brownie! I am a sucker for brown butter so I was immediately intrigued.

I quickly pinned the recipe and moved on. But I couldn't stop thinking about those brownies. So I popped back over to read the ingredients. I had everything...except the walnuts. Dangit!

I started digging through my baking cabinet to see what I could swap out with the walnuts. Pecans? Nah. Coconut? Not this time. Butterscotch chips? I don't think so.

Eureka! I found it! More chocolate of course!!

I made these brownies and stood with the barely cool pan in front of me. I quickly cut them and ate 2 brownies on the spot. I knew then that I was in trouble.

I hurried and snapped a couple pictures, threw a few more in a container for Little Butt and me to enjoy the next day, and walked the rest of the pan over to my mom's house.

My family fought over these brownies and they were devoured within minutes of being presented.

These brownies are not for the weak hearted individual. They ain't no frou-frou cake brownie. Oh no, these are dense and incredibly rich yet addictive. You cannot eat just one!

The brown butter definitely adds another dimension to the taste. If you have never used brown butter in your brownies...I HIGHLY recommend it.

So let me now stop yammering and let's get baking!

Start by browning up your butter.

Once the butter is sufficiently brown and smells nice and nutty, remove from heat and dump in your cocoa powder, sugar, water, vanilla and salt. Be amazed at how much it bubbles...then start stirring! Let this mixture cool for about 5 minutes...

Then whisk in the eggs, one at a time.

By now the mixture should be thick and shiny, so throw in the flour. Whisk until it's nice and mixed in.

Now stir in the chocolate chips.

Spread the batter into a prepared pan and bake it up.

Let the brownies cool (as long as you possibly can) then cut 'em, serve 'em and enjoy 'em!!!

Not even Little Butt could stay away from these brownies. Make them today. Please!

PS. Don't you just love Little Butt's new hair cut?? I sure do!!!


Double Chocolate Brown Butter Brownies
Slightly adapted from Sweet Pea's Kitchen


Printer Friendly Version


Ingredients:

• 10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon unbleached all purpose flour
• 1 semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325F. Prepare and 8x8 inch square baking pan with baking spray.
2. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Continue cooking until butter stops foaming and browned bits form at bottom of pan, stirring often, about 5 minutes. 
3. Remove from heat; immediately add sugar, cocoa, water, vanilla, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Stir to blend. Let cool 5 minutes (mixture will still be hot). 
4. Add eggs to hot mixture one at a time, beating vigorously to blend after each addition. 
5. When mixture looks thick and shiny, add flour and stir until blended. Beat vigorously 60 strokes. 
6. Stir in chocolate chips.
7. Spread into prepared baking pan. 
8. Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean (with a few moist crumbs attached). 
9. Cool on a wire rack.
10. Cut into 16 even squares. 
11. Serve and enjoy!!!

Daring Bakers August 2010: Baked Alaska

Okay...so I know I'm a little late with this month. But better late than never right???

The August 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Elissa of 17 and Baking. For the first time, The Daring Bakers partnered with Sugar High Fridays for a co-event and Elissa was the gracious hostess of both. Using the theme of beurre noisette, or browned butter, Elissa chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make a pound cake to be used in either a Baked Alaska or in Ice Cream Petit Fours. The sources for Elissa’s challenge were Gourmet magazine and David Lebovitz’s “The Perfect Scoop”.

I  have to admit that every time I thought of this challenge I couldn't stop thinking of Annie. Yes, Annie...the movie.


When I told The Hubble this he looked at me like I was crazy. So I went on to explain to him the part where she goes to Daddy Warbuck's house and she realizes she's there as a guest and not a maid. So all the servants start singing and dancing and talking about what she is going to like best such as soap or bubble, satin or cotton, red or pink, etc. At the end of all of this the cook talks about what they are having for dinner and she ends it with a Baked Alaska.

The Hubble pretty much looked at me like I had two heads and told me that my level of detail with this scene is pretty intense. But what he failed to understand and appreciate is my complete and utter fascination (some may or may not call it an obsession) with this movie.

See...in my lifetime I have watched this movie so many times that I have worn out several VHS tapes to the point of breaking, forced my family to call me Annie, instilled an intense hatred of this movie in my older sister from watching it so many times, and my ultimate love for red heads has probably stemmed from this movie.

So back to the Baked Alaska. Every time I would watch that part, I always wondered what Baked Alaska was. It never occurred to me to look it up and make my own! But here I am...30 years old and fulfilling my lifelong dream of having the same dessert Annie had upon her first night's stay in the mansion!

Since this is a Daring Baker's challenge this post will be quite long. And I remembered to take pictures of everything!!! If you would like to see the other Daring Baker's gorgeous Baked Alaska and petit four (I wanted to do these too but ran out of time) creations you should head on over to the Daring Kitchen!

Thanks Elissa, for giving us a great challenge and reminding me of a childhood favorite!

So let's get started (and don't forget that the entire time you must be singing or humming "tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya, tomorrow..."

First up...we needed to make the ice cream:

I chose to do a spiced rum ice cream because I thought brown butter pound cake and spiced rum ice cream sounded great!!

To do this ice cream you will need: brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, whole milk, heavy cream and of course...spiced rum.

Start by tossing your cinnamon and brown sugar in a shallow ceramic baking dish.

Whisk it together until well combined.

Now pour in your spiced rum...

Whisk until well combined and sugar dissolves.

Add the vanilla and mix it in.

Now add the milk and cream.

At this point you can use the whisk or a hand mixer (I chose the mixer) to thoroughly mix the cream and milk in with the ingredients. Mine had a fluffy, bubbly texture. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the freezer.

After about half an hour, check the cream. If it has started to freeze around the edges, go ahead and use the whisk or hand mixer again to smooth everything out. You want to do this every half hour for about 2-3 hours.

At the end you should have a pretty smooth looking cream.

Transfer it to a plastic container, seal and place in the freezer overnight to set.

I forgot to take pictures of this part but the next day you want to set it out to soften then pour into plastic wrap lined cups to create a molded ice cream to place on top of the brown butter pound cake.

Next up, we are going to make the brown butter pound cake:

Ingredients: cake flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, vanilla, eggs and...you guessed it! Butter!

Now, I have never browned butter before so I was pretty nervous. It turned out to be easier than I thought. You just have to watch it closely so it doesn't burn.

First, place the butter in a 10 inch or larger skillet.

Allow it to melt. Make sure you have the heat set to medium. You don't want to burn it. This process takes about 10-15 minutes.

As the butter melts and heats, it gets pretty frothy...

And becomes kind of green-ish. The fats didn't seem like they were going to mix in but they do. You don't need to stir it, just swirl the pan a bit back and forth on the burner to move everything about and not burn the bottom.

Eventually, everything mixes back in and the butter starts to smell sweet and kind of nutty and delicious. I have never smelled anything that good I think!

I was texting with a friend who does this all the time. The best advice she gave me was that you know it's sufficiently browned when the particles at the bottom turn brown, like the color the crust of wheat toast gets.

When the butter is browned, place it in a shallow bowl and set it in the freezer for about 15 minutes until the fats in the butter congeal a bit.

I definitely left mine int he freezer too long and it turned super hard. If you do that...do not stir everything together because it just gets worse! Just leave it on the counter to soften a bit again. I was a bit impatient so I microwaved it for about 10 seconds. I know...I'm a bad Kitcheneer!

Now, in a mixing bowl, toss in your brown sugar.

Your granulated sugar.

And your browned butter.

And mix it all up until it becomes light and fluffy.

Add in the eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly between each addition.

Then add the vanilla.

And make sure everything is nice and thoroughly combined.

Dump the batter into a greased and floured 9x9 inch baking pan, spread it out evenly and bake.

Bake it until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan about 10 minutes then invert onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Now for the meringue:

You will need: granulated sugar, salt, cream of tarter, a vanilla bean and 8 egg whites.

Start by cutting up your vanilla bean and throwing it in a food processor with your granulated sugar.

And process the heck out of it!

Throw your egg whites, cream of tarter and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat on high until soft peaks form.

Now, in a slow stream, pour in the granulated sugar.

And beat the crap out of it until stiff peaks form. That means when you pull out the beater and turn it right side up the meringue stands up straight instead of falling over.

Now for the assembly!

Place your pound cake on a cutting board.

Take the same size cup you used to make your ice cream molds and cut out circles of the cake.

Place the unmolded ice cream on top of the cut out pound cake.

Then, working as quickly as possible because it's crazy humid in this state and the longer the meringue sits the faster it falls and melts, "frost" the pound cake and ice cream with the meringue.

After you are assembled and meringued place the forms in the freezer for an hour or up to a day. (This picture makes me laugh because they looked like little ghost men in my freezer!)

Immediately before serving, take a kitchen torch (or the broiler) and torch the tips of the meringue. This is pretty much going to become my new favorite pastime. I loved torching the meringue so much that I want to torch everything possible!

Then go ahead and cut a slice out of that bad boy (or take a whole one) and eat it...and enjoy!! And remember...tomorrow is only a day away.

Spiced Rum Ice Cream
Adapted from Food.com

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup spiced rum
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 cups cream
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Whisk together brown sugar and cinnamon in ceramic baking dish.
2. Whisk in rum until sugar dissolves, whisk in vanilla extract.
3. Add milk and cream and whisk vigorously or use hand mixer until fluffy and bubbly. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze until edges start to harden, about 30 minutes.
4. Remove from freezer and whisk vigorously or mix with a hand mixer until smooth. Cover and return to freezer.
5. Repeat every 30 minutes for 2-3 hours then transfer to freezer safe plastic container. Cover tightly and freeze overnight.

Brown Butter Pound Cake
Retrieved from The Daring Kitchen

• 19 tablespoons unsalted (sweet) butter
• 2 cups sifted cake flour (not self-rising; sift before measuring)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

1. 1. Preheat the oven to 325°F/160°C and put a rack in the center. Butter and flour a 9”x9” (23cmx23cm) square pan.
2. Place the butter in a 10” (25cm) skillet over medium heat. Brown the butter until the milk solids are a dark chocolate brown and the butter smells nutty. (Don’t take your eyes off the butter in case it burns.) Pour into a shallow bowl and chill in the freezer until just congealed, 15-30 minutes.
3. Whisk together cake flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. Beat the brown butter, light brown sugar, and granulated sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well, and then the vanilla extract.
5. Stir in the flour mixture at low speed until just combined.
6. Scrape the batter into the greased and floured 9”x9” (23cmx23cm) square pan. Smooth the top with a rubber spatula and rap the pan on the counter. Bake until golden brown on top and when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes
7. Cool in the pan 10 minutes. Run a knife along the edge and invert right-side-up onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Vanilla Bean Meringue
Adapted from The Daring Kitchen

Ingredients:

• 8 large egg whites
• ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 vanilla bean

Directions:

1. Cut vanilla bean into small pieces. Place sugar and cut vanilla bean in food processor; process until vanilla bean is mixed with sugar.
2. Beat the egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt on high speed in an electric mixer until soft peaks form.
3. Beat in the sugar gradually in a slow stream until stiff peaks form.

Baked Alaska Assembly
Retrieved from The Daring Kitchen

1. Line four 4” (10cm) diameter tea cups with plastic wrap, so that plastic wrap covers all the sides and hangs over the edge. Fill to the top with ice cream. Cover the top with the overhanging plastic wrap and freeze for several hours, or until solid.
2. Level the top of the brown butter pound cake with a serrated knife or with a cake leveler. Cut out four 4” (10cm) diameter circles from the cake. Discard the scraps or use for another purpose.
3. Make the meringue (see above.)
4. Unwrap the ice cream “cups” and invert on top of a cake round. Trim any extra cake if necessary.
5. Pipe the meringue over the ice cream and cake, or smooth it over with a spatula, so that none of the ice cream or cake is exposed. Freeze for one hour or up to a day.
6. Burn the tips of the meringue with a cooking blow torch. Or, bake the meringue-topped Baked Alaskas on a rimmed baking sheet in a 500°F/260°C oven for 5 minutes until lightly golden. Serve immediately.