Snickerdoodle Blondies

Snickerdoodle. Isn't that a fun word to say? Snickerdoodle. Snickerdoodle. Snickerdoodle. !!!!

Ok. I'm done. I made these for my friend, Kali, who is now a professional dancer and getting paid to do what she loves! How incredible! She is going to Shanghai in September to dance in a musical theater show, and I made these for her this weekend as a congratulations of sorts. Her favorite cookies are snickerdoodles, and I have been so into bars lately, that when I found snickerdoodle blondies, I knew I had to nose dive straight into the recipe!

These were, without a doubt, utterly amazing. I kid you not. I made these on Saturday evening. They were gone before I got home Sunday evening. Wowza. I'm serious, though. Make these and people with really love you.

Snickerdoodle Blondies
From Crepes of Wrath

2 2/3 cup all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup butter, at room temperature
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 13 by 9 inch baking dish.

Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Set aside.

Beat together the brown sugar and the butter. Add the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla. Stir in the flour mixture. Spread evenly into prepared pan.

Combine the granulated sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Sprinkle over dough. Bake 25 to 30 minutes. Let the cool completely before cutting.

Rice Krispies Cookies

I had some leftover Rice Krispies in my pantry from this debacle. I also got a new cookie measure scoop that needed some dire attention. Operation: Cookies. Duh.

I found a recipe for Rice Krispies Cookies on Amber's Delectable Delights. What a bombastic idea to use Rice Krispies in cookies! I have to say I was a bit skeptical...

Never fear! These cookies have such a unique crunch! Utterly delish. I really enjoyed the texture of these. I used chocolate chips because it was all I had, but next time I am definitely making them with either toffee bits or butterscotch chips. Or perhaps both?

I also have to say that I love my new measuring scoop! It was quite miraculous to find all my cookies the same size and shape (Well, relatively. No one is perfect).

Rice Krispies Cookies
From Amber's Delectable Delights

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons hot water
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups Rice Krispies
1 cup chips of your deciding, although for now and ever more I will use butterscotch and toffee =)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the egg and mix well, followed by the hot water and vanilla. Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture and mix well. Fold in the Rice Krispies followed by the chips.

Refrigerate for 30 minutes or longer.

Drop by tablespoon size balls on to a greased cookie sheet and bake for 8-12 minutes.

Raspberry Buttermilk Cake

I found this recipe for Raspberry Buttermilk Cake the other day from Gourmet.com. I got home that night just craving a little baking action. Don't ask why. I'm weird like that.

Anyways, this cake was calling my name and I just hunkered down and made him. It turned out really well! Very delicious. The only thing I didn't like was that my raspberries ended up turning slightly blue. But, oh-well! It tasted good and with some help from the roomies, was half gone when I woke up in the morning!

Raspberry Buttermilk Cake
from Gourmet.com

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk
1 cup fresh raspberries

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch round cake pan.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

Beat butter and 2/3 cup sugar together. Add the vanilla and mix well, followed by the egg. Add the flour mixture, alternating between it and the buttermilk until combined.

Spoon the batter into the cake pan and smooth evenly. Top with raspberries followed by the remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

Red Velvet Cupcakes a la Martha

Happy Birthday to Lisa! Well, not quite yet, actually. But we did celebrate it last night since Lisa will be in Seattle for the actual day. One of Lisa's friends works at Martha Stewart and is a great cook. So, she took care of all the rest of the food which left dessert for me! Per usual.

Lisa is not a sweets person. She hates chocolate and really never craves anything sugary. She does, however, like red velvet cake. Don't tell her there is cocoa powder in it! Anyways, I used a Martha recipe for these red velvet cupcakes, that turned out great! I think the ones I made first were a bit better, but who doesn't love a red velvet cupcake of one kind or another, especially one with a butt-ton of frosting on it?!

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Martha Stewart

2 1/2 cups cake flour
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon red gel-paste food color
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with paper liners.

Whisk together the cake flour, cocoa and salt.

In a separate bowl, combine the sugar and oil. Add eggs, one at a time, followed by the food coloring and vanilla.

Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture in slow batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk.

Stir the baking soda and vinegar in a small bowl and add to batter, mixing well.

Divide batter among muffin cups and bake about 20 minutes.

Cream Cheese Frosting
Martha Stewart

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
4 cups confectioners' sugar
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat butter and cream cheese together until fluffy. Add sugar and then vanilla, mixing until smooth. Spread over cupcakes and finish with red sprinkles if you so desire =)

Pucker Up!

I am performing in a fund raising Gala this weekend...which means another cast par-tay! Whoot Whoot! I brainstormed with my friend (who just got offered a job dancing in Shanghai! Congrats to Kali!) and she wanted lemon bars. I LOVE lemon bars, but I don't make them that often, for some strange reason. It's probably because chocolate seems to call to me from the beyond. =)

I found a recipe for lemon bars on a new blog I found called My Baking Addiction. The bars use Ina Garten's filling recipe and another shortbread recipe. These turned out really well. I tend to enjoy more filling than shortbread and these definitely fit that bill. There is also a nice balance between the tang of the lemon and the sweetness of the sugar. They also held up nicely after cutting and are patiently waiting in the fridge for me to bring them to the theater to be devoured! YUM!

Lemon Bars
from My Baking Addicion

The Crust:
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
2/3 cup confectioner's sugar, plus more to decorate
1/4 cup cornstarch
3/4 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold

The Filling:
6 extra-large eggs at room temperature
3 cups granulated sugar
2 tablespoons grated lemon zest (about 4 to 6 lemons)
1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 cup flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease/spray a 9 by 13 baking pan.

Pulse flour, confectioners sugar, cornstarch and salt in a food processor. Add butter and blend about 8 to 10 seconds. Sprinkle into baking pan and press down to create crust. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, and bake for 20 minutes.

While the crust is baking, combine the eggs, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice and flour in a bowl. Pour over the warm crust and bake for an additional 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool completely (I stuck mine in the refrigerator) before dusting with confectioner's sugar and cutting.

Peanut Butter Swirl Perfection

Happy Birthday to EMILY! There have been so many birthdays as of late...and more still to come rather quickly! My friend Emily requested some Peanut Butter and Chocolate dessert for her birthday and we quickly narrowed the list I had come up with down to Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies. I found a recipe from Ina Garten on the Food Network Website for these big boys.

Oh my-lanta! I got SO many compliments on these! I was told these were the best brownies people had ever tasted. So either people were sucking up to me, highly unlikely, or these were A-MAZING! I vote for the later. A friend was over when I made them and we both agreed these were better a day later. I made a few tweaks, reflected below.

Pure. Peanut Butter. And Chocolate. Perfection. 'Nuff said.

Peanut Swirl Brownies
Ina Garten

1 pound unsalted butter
1 pound plus 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips, divided
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate
6 large eggs
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, divided
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cups smooth peanut butter
1 cup Reese's peanut butter chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 13 by 9 inch pan.

Melt together the butter, 1 pound of chocolate chips and the unsweetened chocolate in a saucepan, stirring constantly. In a large bowl, stir the eggs, vanilla and sugar together. Stir the warm chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and allow to cool to room temperature.

In a medium bowl, sift together 1 cup of flour, the baking powder and salt. Add to the cooled chocolate mixture. Toss the remaining 12 ounces of chocolate chips in a medium bowl with 1/4 cup flour and add it to the chocolate batter. Pour into the prepared pan. Spoon the peanut butter over the top and swirl it around using a knife.

Bake for about 25 minutes, remove from oven and top with Reese's chips. Return to oven and bake for another 5 minutes. Allow to cool completely before cutting (I stuck mine in the refrigerator).

Lazy Saturday Morning Breakfast

I woke up Saturday morning exhausted, thus avoiding my laundry. So, I baked. These little buggers made for a VERY delicious breakfast! In fact, I think they made a better Sunday breakfast after having sat for a day. These are pretty sweet and could probably be dessert, but if you know me at all, you know that is how I roll morning, noon and night!

Raspberry Chocolate Chip Scones
adapted from Annie Eats

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cut into pieces
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
3/4 cup frozen raspberries
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg

For egg wash:
1 large egg
1 tablespoon buttermilk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cut the butter into small pieces and blend into the flour mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips and raspberries. In a separate bowl, combine the yogurt, vanilla and egg. Add to the flour mixture until just combined.

Transfer to a lightly floured surface and kneed the dough before shaping into a 7 inch circle. Cut dough into 8 triangles and transfer to the baking sheet. Make the egg wash by combining the egg and buttermilk and brush onto the tops of the scones. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes.

Tony Time!

This past Sunday was Tony Awards Sunday...kind of like the Superbowl for theater geeks such as myself. Anyways, I went to a friends' apartment to watch the Tony's with some friends and then got to go to the Billy Elliot (who won best new musical this year) Tony after party, thanks to my friend, Annie. Check out the picture at the bottom of this post of me with a Tony Award. Yeah, I'm pretty badass.

Onward to the food! For the actual viewing party I went to, I brought chocolate truffles. Ask anyone who saw me last week and they will tell you that I was unnecessarily stressed about what to bring. I wanted it to be elegant because, duh, its a Tony party but it had to be easy to transport because I was coming from rehearsal. Needless to say, I think it was Saturday morning before I figured out what I was going to make. I found the recipe for these inside a Philadelphia cream cheese box. They turned out VERY delicious but I did have to be careful to keep them in the freezer/refrigerator so they wouldn't melt. I just doused these in chocolate, but you could also roll them in cocoa powder, or in chopped nuts after the chocolate. I think next time I will add a small drizzle of white chocolate to the tops of them. B-E-A-U-tiful!

PHILADELPHIA Simply Sensational Truffles

2 1/2 Baker's Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate, divided
1 pkg. Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened

Melt 8 chocolate squares as directed on package. Beat cream cheese with a mixer until creamy and then blend in melted chocolate. Refrigerate until firm.

Shape into 36 balls. Place on waxed paper-covered baking sheet.

Melt remaining chocolate. Dip truffles into chocolate and then return to baking sheet. Decorate and then keep refrigerated until served.

Happy Birthday, Cupcakes and Sexy Polar Bears, Oh My!

My friend Liz's birthday party was Saturday night, so, as per usual, shenanigans ensued. For blog purposes, shenanigans consisted of some crazy-good red velvet cupcakes for my favorite posse, also known as the Sexy Polar Bears. Yeah, we're that cool! To top off the coolness, I brought these cupcakes to our favorite margarita-spot that sits outside on a plaza in Midtown. What is better than friends, cupcakes and margaritas?!

On another note, I really don't get the whole insanity surrounding red velvet cake. In essence, it is just cake with red food coloring. If I played by these rules, I could just dye cake green and call it green-silk cake, right?! No? Fine.

These turned out yummy, nonetheless. By the end of the night, with a few cupcakes left, the wait staff was all surrounding our table begging for a cupcake. This was good news for all my margarita-consuming friends! I used a red velvet cake recipe I found on Smitten Kitchen for the cake, and then topped it with a Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting and Chocolate Ganache Drizzle I found on Joy the Baker's Blog. Woah, Nellie! (Or Liz, cause it was her birthday =))

Red Velvet Cupcakes
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

3 1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 cups canola oil
2 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
6 tablespoon red food coloring
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/4 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 1/2 teaspoons white vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin pan with paper liners. Set aside.

Combine the flour, cocoa powder and salt together in a bowl.

Combine oil and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time. Slowly add the food coloring followed by the vanilla. Add the flour mixture, alternating with the buttermilk until all added and combined.

Combine the baking soda and vinegar and then add to the mixture. Pour into muffin cups, about 2/3 full. Bake for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting
From Joy the Baker

1 1/2 cups butter, softened
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
4-6 cups powdered sugar
2-4 tablespoons milk

Cream the cream cheese and butter together. Add the brown sugar, salt and vanilla and mix well. Add powdered sugar, 2 cups at a time until the frosting is the consistency you desire. Add milk to create correct consistency as well. Decorate cupcakes with frosting however you wish to!

Chocolate Ganache
From Joy the Baker

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup heavy cream

Heat chocolate chips carefully in a saucepan over medium heat until melted. Pour cream over chocolate and let stand for one minute before stirring to combine. Drizzle over cupcakes.

Delicious...so say the Sexy Polar Bears:

The Weather is Heating Up!

Which means it is ice cream time! I love ice cream so much. That really didn't get across my love for ice cream enough, but it's hard to do in words. It is just so delicious and smooth going down and comes in so many flavors! I'm getting excited just thinking about all the ice cream that is yet to be eaten this summer!

I had several bananas I had to get rid of, and as per usual, I had to make things difficult and wouldn't accept simply making banana bread. Ok, it's not like ice cream is any more difficult than banana bread, but whatever! It was a stroke of something new for me!

I kind of just threw some ingredients in a bowl, mixed it together, threw it in the ice cream maker and presto! Chango! It became ice cream. Or I guess frozen yogurt to be more exact. Yum!

Banana Chocolate Chip Frozen Yogurt

1 1/2 very ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup Greek yogurt (I used Fage 0%)
1 cup vanilla yogurt
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup sugar
dash of lemon juice

Mix everything together and freeze according to your ice cream maker's instructions.

I'm Alive! And Bringing Deliciousness to Your Computer Screen

I have been so MIA on you little bloggie! And I'm so sorry! In my defense, I closed a show, got sick and then started rehearsals for something else. I know. No excuses. I'm back, though! And look at the deliciousness I have to impart on you!

I have been craving Rice Krispy Treats lately, and I had vaguely remembered a jazzed-up Rice Krispy recipe on Joy the Baker's blog. By jazzed-up, I mean these treats had jazz hands aplenty! Indeed. I found it. And made it. And ate too much of it. And gave myself a tummy-ache. In short, these bars are rice krispy treats topped with peanut butter and then chocolate fudge. Rediculous? Duh!

PS: Spice is MIA as usual as well, but I have to say she has made some amazing things lately. S'mores cupcakes and homemade meatballs to name a few. If only I could get her to post them....

Rice Krispy Bars with Jazz Hands
from Joy the Baker

Rice Krispy Treats
3 tablespoons butter
1 10-oz package marshmallows
6 cups Rice Krispy Cereal

Melt butter in a large saucepan. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat and add cereal. Stir until combined. Press into a 13 by 9 inch baking dish sprayed with cooking spray.

Peanut Butter Fudge
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 pound powdered sugar

Microwave butter and peanut butter for 2 minutes on high. Stir and microwave again for 2 more minutes. Add vanilla and powdered sugar and stir. Pour over the rice krispies and spread evenly.

Chocolate Fudge
2 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1 2/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups miniature marshmallows
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine the milk, butter, sugar and salt in a saucepan and heat. Bring to a boil and cook for 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in marshmallows, chocolate chips and vanilla. Pour over peanut butter fudge and spread evenly. Place entire dish in fridge to cool and harden.