Butterscotch Brownies

Sorry, no picture. I ate them all! It's my alternate to chocolate brownies. And they are delicious! TIPS: These are really easy, but you will ruin them if you use a larger pan. They will come out hard and dry instead of soft and chewy. To remove them, invert them onto a lightly oiled cooling rack, remove parchment paper, then flip them onto a cutting board. Cut into 2-inch squares with a pizza cutter.

Makes 16 squares

½ cup butter, room temp
1 cup dark brown sugar
2 large eggs, room temp
1 tbsp vanilla
1 tbsp molasses
1 cup flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
¾ cup pecans, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350°. Butter an 8”x8” baking pan and line bottom with parchment paper.

Beat butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla and molasses with electric mixer for about 1 minute, until creamy and smooth. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt and add to butter mixture. Fold gently with rubber scraper until flour is about half incorporated. Do NOT over mix. Stir in nuts and continue folding gently until flour is fully mixed in.

Scrap batter into prepared pan and spread top until smooth and even. Bake for 30-35 minutes, turning pan 180° half way through. When brownies are done, the center top will be firm and spring back when pressed and the sides will start to pull away from pan. Let cool completely in pan.

A Most Splendiferous Brownie

I thought the recipe I had for brownies was pretty good. My only complaint was that they would fall. They are very fudgy, but I wanted a thicker brownie. WOW!! These are incredible!!!! They are thick, chewy, fudgy, HEAVENLY!!! Unfortunately, I can't eat them. But my husband wouldn't shut up about how perfect they were! TIPS: The cooking time on these varies slightly, but makes a HUGE difference. If you leave them in for 50 minutes, they will be very moist, almost fudgy. But if you leave them in for 5-10 minutes more, they will be slightly drier, but chewier. Bake them how you like them. If you really want fudgy, I tried adding chocolate chips instead of walnuts. It may as well have been fudge. They were so rich and chocolatey. I (or my husband) preferred the walnuts as they were already very fudgy and chewy. Lots of different combinations! Enjoy the results!

Makes 16 squares

4 oz unsweetened chocolate
10 tbsp (1¼ sticks) butter, room temp
3 large eggs, room temp
2 tsp vanilla
1¾ cups sugar
½ tsp salt
1¼ cups flour
1 cup walnuts (not optional)

Preheat oven to 350°. Line an 8”x8” baking pan with foil.

In a small saucepan, melt chocolate and butter over very low heat. In a medium bowl, whisk eggs and vanilla together. Add melted chocolate mixture and whisk to combine (mixture will thicken considerably). Add remaining ingredients and mix together with a rubber spatula. The batter with be thick and greasy looking.

Scrap batter into prepared pan and press into place with rubber spatula. Bake about 50-60 minutes. Let cool at least 2 hours (if you can handle it) before removing from pan, cutting and serving. They will continue cooking and become chewier as they cool.

Mixed Fruit Crisp

A new twist on crisp! As you can see my family got to it before I could get a good picture! This is really good with the different fruits and the raisins add a good flavor and texture. TIPS: I alternated each fruit one-by-one (peel, core, slice an apple, put in pan; peel, pit, slice a peach, put in pan; peel, core, slice a pear, put in pan, etc) so that I didn't have to mix the fruit and risk it breaking and/or getting mushy. Then I just sprinkled the raisins over the fruit. It worked out nicely and tastes great!!

3 apples, peeled, cored and sliced
4 fresh peaches, peeled, pitted and sliced
3 fresh pears, peeled, cored and sliced
½ cup raisins
¼ cup water
½ cup rolled oats
¼ cup brown sugar
½ cup flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 pinch salt
¼ cup butter


Preheat oven to 375°. Combine apples, peaches, pears, raisins and water in a 9”x13” baking pan.

In small bowl, combine oats, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt. Cut in butter using a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over fruit.

Bake for 35-45 minutes or until topping starts to brown. Serve warm.

European Style White Bread

So here is another non-dessert recipe, but it's so good!! I got this from a cooking group I attend. It's super simple and will be gone in minutes! TIPS: I use my hands to oil the dough instead of a brush. The dough will only lightly brown because of the oil coating, so tap the loaf and listen for a "hollow" sound.

1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tbsp active dry yeast
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp salt
3 1/2 - 4 cups flour
Olive oil
Mrs Dash seasoning

Combine water, yeast and sugar in a bowl. Let stand (proof) for 10 minutes. Add salt. Mix flour one cup at a time until dough is soft and silky. Form dough into a long loaf on a cookie sheet. Brush olive oil all over (on the bottom as well) dough and sprinkle generously with Mrs. Dash. Let rise 30-45 minutes or until doubled. Bake in preheated 400 degree oven for 20-25 minutes. Cool on pan for about 5 minutes then remove to cooling rack.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Bread

I know it's been a while since I posted, but I just had a baby and baking hasn't been on my list of top priorities. Sorry. Anyway, I'm getting back into a good routine so there should be more deliciousness to come more often!

This bread is really good! It's not too chocolatey; just enough to make it tastier!!

2 cups flour
½ cup sugar
½ tsp baking powder
1 ½ tsp baking soda
2 tbsp baking cocoa
½ tsp salt
1 egg
1 1/3 cups milk
1/3 cup oil (or applesauce)
¾ cup chocolate chips
¾ cup walnuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease three 5¾"x3" loaf pans. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa and salt in medium bowl. Mix egg, milk and oil in small bowl. Add to flour mixture; mix just until moistened. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Put one cup batter in each pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans for 5 minutes; remove from pans. Cool on wire rack. Enjoy the goodness!

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

So easy!! This was supposed to be brownies, but it turned out more like cake. I'm going to do a little experimenting and try to get brownies next time. The zucchini makes this so moist and you can't even tell it's in there. My husband had no idea. I took them to a BBQ and no one knew but said they were delicious! So don't tell anyone it's in there and you can have a more healthy cake!

2 cups zucchini, grated and drained
½ cup applesauce
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 ¼ cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 ½ tsp baking soda
5 tbsp cocoa

Preheat oven to 350°. Mix zucchini, applesauce and vanilla. Sift in remaining ingredients and stir until combined. Pour into a greased 9"x13" baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Cool completely, frost, and cut into squares!

Coconut Caramel Bars

Holy cow these are delicious! They are so easy to make and taste so good they will be gone before the end of the day. I didn't have pecans when I made them, but I'm sure they would be delicious with them as well. If you aren't a chocolate fan, try butterscotch or white chocolate chips instead.

I have also discovered the BEST way to cut brownies, sheet cakes, bars, etc. In this recipe I lined my pan with parchment paper. When the bars where mostly cooled, I lifted them out and put it on my counter. Then I used my pizza cutter to cut the very edges off. Then I cut them into 2" squares. The pizza cutter doesn't drag through the bars like a knife does so you end up with much nicer looking pieces. I did the same with my frosted brownies and they looked store bought! So get yourself a nice sharp pizza cutter and have perfect looking desserts!

1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup butter
2 cups pecans, coarsely chopped
1 cup flaked coconut
1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
2 tsp vanilla
20 caramels
2 tbsp milk
1 cup chocolate chips

Crust
Preheat oven to 350°. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour and sugar. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs. Press crumb mixture into an un-greased 9"x13" baking pan. Bake for 15 minutes. Sprinkle pecans and coconut over hot crust.

Filling
Combine sweetened condensed milk and vanilla; pour over pecans and coconut. Bake for 25-30 minutes more or until filling is set. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

In a small saucepan, combine caramels and milk. Cook and stir over medium-low heat just until caramels melt. Drizzle caramel over filling. Sprinkle with chocolate chips. Cool completely and cut into bars.