blueberry pie bars

i like my blueberries. here's yet another recipe to use for these lovely berries ...

recipe
crust and topping
3c flour
11/2c sugar
1/4tsp salt
11/2c chilled unsalted butter
zest of two lemons

filling
4 eggs
2c sugar
1c sour cream
3/4c flour
pinch of salt
2 (16oz) pkg of frozen berries or 6c fresh

preheat oven to 350. grease a 9x13 pan. combine the crust ingredients in a food processor and save 1c of it for the topping. press the rest of the mixture into your greased pan and bake for 12min or until golden brown. let cool for 10min while you make the filling. whisk the eggs in a large bowl, then add everything but the berries. last step is to gently fold in the berries before pouring over the crust. bake for 45-55min and let cool for an hour. mmmm

this recipe is yet another joy the baker one. i didn't have enough berries so i halved the recipe and used a 9x9 pan instead. it turned out well except next time i'd use a bigger pan because they were a little too thick which made it hard to bake all the way through. but besides that how can one go wrong with something called pie bars?? you really can't/ so good.

brown butter white chocolate macadamia nut cookies

lately our summer days have been non-existent. cloudy days are baking days. these scrumptious cookies caught my eye because my mom just came bag from hawaii with a huge bag of macadamia nuts.

recipe
1 stick butter
1c brown sugar
2tbs. milk
1 egg
1tsp. vanilla
13/4c flour
1/2tsp. baking soda
1/8tsp. salt
1/2c coarsely chopped macadamia nuts
1c white chocolate chunks

preheat oven to 350 degrees. grease your baking pans. start off with browning the butter. melt the butter over the stove until you see brown flakes forming on the bottom of the pan. it will take about 5-7 minutes. then remove from heat and let cool. while the butter is cooling start combining your dry ingredients in a bowl. then beat together the cooled browned butter and sugar for 2 min. add the egg. then add the milk and vanilla. then the dry ingredients. finish off by stirring in the chopped nuts and chocolate and scoop dough onto baking sheets. bake for 9-11 min until just golden brown.

this recipe came from joy the bakers blog. these were super easy to make and the browned butter factor made them that much more delicious. i baked them in two different sizes and came out with about 2 dozen cookies. baked for right around 9 min! enjoy mmm.

blueberry crumble in ramekins

summa summa summatime. that means lots of fruit, crumbles, pies, cobblers, crostatas etc. lets get started ...

recipe
filling
1 pint blueberries
1 lemon zested and juiced (or orange)
1/3c sugar
2 tbs. cornstarch

topping
1 c flour
1/4c brown sugar
1/3 sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 stick unsalted, chilled butter (diced)
1/2 tsp. salt
slivered almonds (optional)

this serves four. preheat oven to 350 degrees. line a baking sheet with parchment paper and four ramekin dishes. mix together the filling ingredients and let sit for a couple of minutes before dividing the berry mixture into the ramkins. for the topping mix together everything except the butter and nuts. then add in the chilled butter using a food processor and lastly the nuts. sprinkle the topping over each one and bake for 40-45 min until crust is golden brown/ berry juice is bubbling. serve warm, enjoy.

went a little photo crazy on these babies but they just look so good. yummers. anyways this recipe comes from the blog TheCulturalDish. found it through foodbuzz (highly recommend checking it out). went through the recipe and comments and looked pretty fricken delicious. some minor changes i had to make: used an orange instead of a lemon, had no brown sugar so substituted for more white sugar and added 2 tbs. of molasses and took them out ten min early. oh and i'd use smaller ramekins next time because 1 pint of berries doesn't go that far. but easy and a perfect summer treat!

ginger- walnut- chocolate- blondies

no more brownies, time for blondies.

recipe

1 stick unsalted butter

1 c packed light or dark brown sugar 

1 large egg

1 tsp. vanilla extract plus scrapings from 1 vanilla bean (or 2 teaspoons extract)

1 c all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/8 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. ground ginger

1/8 tsp. salt

1/3 c chopped candied ginger pieces

1/3 c dark chocolate chunks

handful toasted walnuts, coarsely chopped

preheat oven to 350 degrees. grease a 8'' pan then line with parchment, grease again and flour. first whisk together the butter and sugar. then whisk in the egg, about two min until the mixture turns pale. then add the vanilla and vanilla bean. whisk together the dry ingredients then add them to the wet batter. fold in ginger, nuts and chocolate. pour the batter into your prepared pan, top with remaining toppings and bake for 20-27 min. cool then serve. 

from joy the baker's blog. i didn't have any candid ginger so these are more like ginger walnut chocolate blondies. i've never made blondies before but they are just like a chocolate chip cookie bar which i've made many a times. also i didn't have any vanilla beans on hand so i just did the recommended two tsp. of vanilla instead. only baked them for 20 min but a little to gooey even for my liking, i'd say leave them in for at least 25. so easy and delicioussss num num. and no electric mixer required! all by hand. 

peach- and- blueberry- crumb pie

my fourth of july masterpiece. have done the cupcakes and flag cakes so i wanted to change it up. made this for the parents and the iversons bbq, got great reviews and makes great leftovers (guilty of some slices). 


recipe

filling:

1/4 c quick cooking tapioca pearls, such as Minute Tapioca

1 lbs frozen blueberries, thawed and drained, or 1 1/2 c freshblueberries

1 lbs frozen peaches, thawed, or 3 large fresh peaches, pittedand thinly sliced

1/2 c brown sugar

2 tbs. fresh lemon juice

2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 tbs. ground cinnamon

Zest of 1 large lemon

One 9-inch unroll-and-bake refrigerated pie crust

1 egg white, lightly beaten

topping:

1/2 c slivered almonds

1/2 c (1 stick) butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces, chilled

1/2 c quick cook oats

1/2 c almond flour

1/2c brown sugar

preheat oven to 350 and butter pie dish. for the filling grind the tapioca in a food processor then mix it in with the rest of the filling ingredients. unroll the pie crust, place in dish and brush with the egg white. for the topping place all the ingredients in the processor and pulse until it forms chunks. pour the filling in the dish then add the topping. bake for 55 min; 30 min then cover edges with foil for the rest of the time. cool for 30 min then serve!

this recipe also comes from giada. i used fresh fruit and instead of dealing with the tapioca balls i used a tablespoon of cornstarch. think it did the job as a thickener. and we didn't have almond flour so regular all-purpose flour it is. turned out delicious even after all these changes. definitely will make again .. the toppings amazing plus you don't have to deal with making pie dough!

oatmeal, cranberry and chocolate chunk cookies

cooookies. i was craving some milk n cookies. kicking off july with yet another crummy day for washington, waiting for our lovely summer to come! my mom made these last fall and swears by them and we had the cranberries in stock so i thought i'd give them a try.


recipe
1 c all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. fine sea salt
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 c light brown sugar
1/2 c sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 c old fashioned oats
1 c dried cranberries
1 (4-ounce) 60 percent cacao bittersweet chocolate bar (recommended: Ghirardelli), chopped into 1/4-inch chunks


preheat oven to 350 degrees. grease two cookie sheets. beat the butter and sugars together. then add the egg and vanilla. pour the dry the mixed dry ingredients into the batter then add the oats, chocolate and cranberries. scoop onto the greased sheet pans and bake for 13-15 minutes. enjoy!

nummers. this recipe comes from giada. i love her dessert recipes, they usually are pretty straight forward. this recipe made about 2 dozen; not too much batter to work with but delicious. i think the cinnamon is what makes these so good. they held their shape well and bake for just 13 minutes like she said. really good& easy to make cookies, will definitely use this recipe again. mmmm. 

s'mores brownies

brownies. chocolate goodness that I keep finding amazing recipes for; people have been getting pretty creative with these babies. saw this recipe and thought how appropriate to make as a kick off for summer.

recipe
11/2 c flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 c unsalted butter
6 oz unsweetened chocolate
5 eggs
11/4 c dark brown sugar
1 c sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
1 c graham cracker, roughly crushed
12 big marshmallows

preheat oven to 350 degrees. grease/ butter a 9 by 13 pan. melt the butter and chocolate in a saucepan. then beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla in another bowl. add the warm chocolate mixture then the rest of the dry ingredients. fold in the crackers and pour the. batter into your greased pan. dot with the mallows and bake for 30-40 min! cool and serve.

this recipe came from one of my favorite bloggers to follow; joy the baker! they turned out perfect, gooey and delicious. I only baked them for the minimum 30 and the mallows were nice and golden brown. mmm yummy!

tri-berry muffins

and i'm backkkk. i found this recipe from one of the many barefoot contessa cookbooks we own. thought i'd give this recipe a whirl and take advantage of all the berries we have in our kitchen. and bonus!. the recipe calls for no whole milk, buttermilk etc. any creams that i would have had to go to the store for. boom it's fate i try these ...

recipe

3c flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tbsp. ground cinnamon
1 1/4c milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1c butter, melted
1c fresh or frozen bluberries
1/2c fresh or frozen raspberries
1/2c fresh or frozen diced strawberries
1 1/2c sugar.

preheat oven to 375 degrees. combine the melted butter, milk and eggs together. then add the baking powder, soda, salt, cinnamon and flour into the mixture. just mix until combined, there should be lumps! add the berries and sugar last. again fold in until well combined. fill the muffin cups almost to the top and bake for 20-25 minutes.

okay wow i realized after typing this recipe out that i made a few mistakes. first off i forgot the sugar. i was going to comment how i thought these needed some sweetness in them, hmm. well don't forget the sugar! secondly i want to emphasize the importance to fill the muffin cups to the brim. this batter doesn't rise much so if you're looking for that nice 'muffin top' fill 'em up. she gives you alot of batter to work with so use it. i thought they tasted very good even without the sugar, and i can now say i've had strawberries in my muffins mmm. enjoy!

pretzel& macadamia nut chocolate chip cookies

now ain't that a mouthful to say; my goal was to cram as much into these chocolate chip cookies as i could haha. my sister found this recipe for me to try so i decided to make them for the weekend up to the mountain before i go back to school.

recipe
2sticks of unsalted butter
21/4c bread flour
1tsp. salt
1tsp. baking soda
1/4c sugar
11/4c brown sugar
1egg
1egg yolk
2tbs. milk or cream
1tsp. vanilla
1/2c pretzels, broken in pieces
1/2c macadamia nutes, chopped
1c chocolate chips
coarse sea salt

melt the butter in a saucepan until it turns golden brown. (right when it foams alot keep a close eye on it because it can go from golden brown to burnt in a matter of seconds). set the brown butter aside and let cool for a few minutes. sift the dry ingredients in another bowl. then pour the cooled butter and both the sugars in a bowl fitted with an electric mixer. combine then add the egg and yolk. then the milk, vanilla and beat for 2-3 minutes. slowly ass the flour mixture. lastly pour in all the fixings. refrigerate for a couple hours. preheat oven to 350degrees. scoop out the batter on greased baking sheets, bake for 10-12minutes. cool&serve.

this recipe comes from a blog that modified the original recipe from Alton Brown's The Chewy Cookies. this batter was so delicious and a pretty easy recipe to make. i've been trying to figure out what chocolate chip cookie recipe i like the best and as of now i'd say these. i think the key is using an egg+ a yolk, melting the butter and refrigerating the batter for as long as you can. the cookies keep their form better when you refrigerate. i've also been on this pretzel kick; they add salt and crunch. but i have to make a confession that i just realized when typing out this recipe ... i forgot a stick of butter. BIG mistake but i'm very confused because the batter was great, they baked well and taste delicious!. hmm well next time i'll remember and see if there is any change, which i'm thinking so. oh well, they'll be even better cookies in that case.

tribute-to-katherine-hepburn brownies

i've been in a brownie kick for awhile now so once i saw these i really wanted to try them. filled with nuts and very fudgy are my kind of brownies (notice how little flour is called for). so i thought i'd try to make these for some of my friends last friday night.

recipe
1/4c flour
1/2tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4tsp. salt
1stick unsalted butter
1/2c unsweetened cocoa powder
2tsp. ground instant coffee
2eggs, room temperature
1c sugar
1tsp. vanilla
1c chopped walnuts/ pecans
4oz. bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

preheat oven to 325degrees. butter an 8x8 baking pan then line the bottom with parchment paper. whisk the cinnamon, flour and salt together and set aside the bowl. melt the butter in a saucepan then start to add the cocoa powder, then coffee. once well combined take off the heat and cool for a few minutes. whisk in the eggs. next stir in the sugar, vanilla and then add the nuts, chocolate. bake for 30minutes. cool, cut and serve. enjoy! makes nine well-sized brownies.

this came from a blog i stumbled upon a few days ago (the URL: http://www.survivingoz.com/2009/07/lisa-vs-tribute-to-katherine-hepburn.html). the picture of them on her blog sold me. and they were a hit. no doubt a gut bomb, but deliciously rich and gooey. i didn't add the coffee and added more cinnamon instead. i also took them out at 28minutes. i used pecans and would have used whole pecans to decorate them but i only had whole walnuts. i liked how the chocolate bits/ pieces added at the end of the batter didn't fully melt. a very good recipe and these will definitely be made again.