Cake Batter Blondies

Easy but a little too sweet for me and more cakey and soft than brownie/blondie-ish, but I wanted to make them so I got an opportunity a little over half a month ago. I brought these with me to San Francisco when visiting my boyfriend, so hopefully he liked them but I'm not sure. They're a good quick thing to bake but I think I'd keep searching for a better recipe--or at least find a way to make it denser, maybe with less milk or something.

Cake Batter Blondies
Recipe by Girl Meets Life, found on Sally's Baking Addition

1 box yellow cake mix
1/4 cup canola oil
1 egg
1/3 -1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sprinkles
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine first four ingredients in a large bowl. Add the milk slowly. You want to cake batter to be as dense & thick as possible. Mix in the sprinkles and white chocolate chips.  Pour into 8 x 8 baking pan, sprinkle a few more sprinkles on top, and bake for 28-30 minutes until edges are just turning brown. Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes so the center sets, before cutting into squares.

*The blondies will look like they are not fully done because the center will be quite gooey, but that’s what you want! After about 30 minutes of cooling, they will be easy to cut using a serrated knife.

Espresso Chocolate Chip Shortbread

I'd been wanting to make these for a while and finally got a chance to. Very easy although a little time consuming to make, and very delicious with tea or even alone! I made them for the people working on our roof--probably wasn't the ideal thing to serve them, since they probably would have been fine with big simple chocolate chip cookies, but I really wanted to make these!

Espresso Chocolate Chip Shortbread
Recipe from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours
Found on Use Real Butter

1 tbsp instant espresso powder
1 tbsp boiling water
8 oz. unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped OR 3/4 cup store-bought mini chocolate chips
confectioners’ sugar, for dusting (optional)

Dissolve espresso powder in boiling water. Set aside to cool to tepid.

Beat butter and confectioners’ sugar together on medium speed for about 3 minutes, until the mixture is very smooth. Beat in vanilla and espresso, then reduce mixer speed to low and add flour, mixing only until it disappears into the dough. Don’t work the dough much once the flour is incorporated. Fold in the chopped chocolate or chips with a sturdy rubber spatula.

Using the spatula, transfer dough to a gallon-size zip-loc bag. Put bag on a flat surface, leaving the top open, and roll the dough into a 9 x 10 1/2 inch rectangle that’s 1/4 inch thick. As you roll, turn the bag occasionally and lift the plastic from the dough so it doesn’t cause creases. When you get the right size and thickness, seal the bag, pressing out as much air as possible, and refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours, or for up to 2 days.

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Put the plastic bag on a cutting board and slit it open. Turn the firm dough out onto the board (discard the bag) and, using a ruler as a guide and a sharp knife, cut the dough into 1 1/2-inch squares. Transfer the squares to the baking sheets and carefully prick each one twice with a fork, gently pushing the tines through the cookies until they hit the sheet.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point (I didn’t do that either – I bake one sheet at a time). The shortbreads will be very pale–they shouldn’t take on much color. Transfer the cookies to a rack. If you’d like, dust the cookies with confectioners’ sugar while they are still hot. Cool the cookies to room temperature before serving.

Makes about 3 dozen.

Cinnamon Coffee Cake

If you're looking for something to make for breakfast--for guests, family, work, yourself--look no further. Please, stop looking and just try this recipe. It's really, really good, and really, really easy. I've always wanted to try making coffee cake and I finally did it! I didn't eat it with coffee--you don't have to--but it's a delicious cake and was perfectly dense and just...great. I'm not sure what coffee cake is supposed to taste like, actually, but I think it should taste like this one. My older brother liked it a lot, too--and he's a coffee lover and usually doesn't care for most of the things I make--so I'm definitely liking this recipe.

Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake
Recipe adapted by The Baker Chick from King Arthur's Flour

Streusel topping
2/3 cups granulated sugar
pinch of  salt (if you use unsalted butter)
3/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons butter, melted

Filling
1 cup brown sugar, light or dark
1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder (for color not for taste- you can leave it out if you want.)

Cake
3/4 cup butter softened
1 teaspoon salt (1 ¼ teaspoons if you use unsalted butter)
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 large eggs
3/4 cup plain Greek yogurt. (regular yogurt would also be ok.)
1 1/4 cups milk (anything from skim to whole)
3 3/4 cups All-Purpose Flour

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9" x 13" pan, or two 9" round cake pans.

Make the topping by whisking together the sugar, salt, flour, and cinnamon. Add the melted butter, stirring till well combined. Set the topping aside.

Make the filling by mixing together the brown sugar, cinnamon, and cocoa powder. Set it aside.

To make the cake: In a large bowl, beat together the butter, salt, sugars, baking powder, and vanilla until well combined and smooth.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the yogurt and milk till well combined. You don't need to whisk out all the lumps.

Add the flour to the butter mixture alternately with the milk/yogurt mixture, beating gently to combine.

Pour/spread half the batter (about 3 cups) into the prepared pan(s), spreading all the way to the edges. If you're using two 9" round pans, spread 1 1/3 cups batter in each pan.

Sprinkle the filling evenly atop the batter.

Gently spread the remaining batter atop the filling. Use a table knife to gently swirl the filling into the batter, as though you were making a marble cake. Don't combine filling and batter thoroughly; just swirl the filling through the batter.

Sprinkle the topping over the batter in the pan.

Bake the cake until it's a dark golden brown around the edges; medium-golden with no light patches showing on top, and a toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 55 to 60 minutes for the 9" x 13" pan, 50 to 55 minutes for the 9" round pans. When pressed gently in the middle, the cake should spring back.

Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool for 20 minutes before cutting and serving. Serve cake right from the pan.

Note: If you wanna make this ahead of time for a brunch or something just cover it tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.  Bake as directed, but you may need to add 5 mins extra or so since the batter will be cold!

Cajun Fries with Guacamole

I served these alongside the meatball subs I posted last week. They were alright but not as crispy as I thought they'd be--and I definitely made them spicy so I'm glad there was guacamole to cool them down! This was the first guacamole recipe I've tried. It was pretty good, but I think I like my mom's recipe better so will probably have to ask her for it if I'm going to make guacamole again. I want to try making Cajun fries again but I'll have to figure out how to make them crispier! It may be that I boiled them a little longer than they were supposed to be boiled for.

Cajun Fries
Recipe adapted from Sneaky Lemon
Cajun Spice Mix from AllRecipes

3-4 large potatoes
salt and pepper

Cajun Spice mix:
2 tsp salt
2 tsp garlic powder
2 1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 1/4 tsp dried oregano
1 1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Cut potatoes into sticks about 1/2cm thick and boil for 2-3 minutes.

Drain the water off the potatoes and add a knob of butter, cajun spice mix, salt and pepper to the pan with the potatoes and toss till well coated.

Pop them out onto an oven tray and bake on 375F for approx 25 minutes or until golden brown (tossing every 10 minutes).

When they are done sprinkle liberally with salt and serve.

Guacamole
Recipe from the Food Network


3 Haas avocados, halved, seeded and peeled
1 lime, juiced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 medium onion, diced
2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
1 clove garlic, minced

In a large bowl place the scooped avocado pulp and lime juice, toss to coat. Drain, and reserve the lime juice, after all of the avocados have been coated. Using a potato masher add the salt, cumin, and cayenne and mash. Then, fold in the onions, tomatoes, cilantro, and garlic. Add 1 tablespoon of the reserved lime juice. Let sit at room temperature for 1 hour and then serve.

Chicken Meatball Subs

This recipe says it'll make about 4, but I had 5 people to serve so I doubled the recipe and probably didn't have to. These could easily be frozen and used later as meatballs. Altogether it was pretty good--I decided I don't so much like meatball subs because of the calorie count, but the chicken meatballs by themselves were delicious and I'd probably make them again. I made these a while ago--probably over a month ago--so you can see I'm a little behind on posting these recipes! They cooked up very easily although it was a time consuming project. I served these subs with some cajun fries which I'll post the recipe for soon.

Chicken Meatball Sub Sandwiches
Recipe adapted from BevCooks

1 pound ground chicken
1/2 medium onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups baby spinach, finely chopped (it’s 2 cups BEFORE the chopping)
1 Tbs. tomato paste (obviously that’s not a full Tbs. up there. I ran out.)
1 egg
3/4 cup panko (or breadcrumbs)
2 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil
1 (28 oz) can San Marzano tomatoes, pureed in a food processor
6 basil leaves, roughly torn
1/4 cup parsley, roughly chopped
1 loaf bread (ie ciabatta, french rolls..), cut into 4 equal sizes and sliced lengthwise
4 slices provolone cheese
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

In a bowl, combine the chicken, onion, garlic, spinach, tomato paste, panko, egg and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Using your hands, get everything all combined. Then form little balls out of the mixture.

At this point you can stick them in the fridge, covered for as long as you need to. Or if you’re famished, let’s proceed.

Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium high. Add the meatballs and brown all over, about 8 minutes total.

Pour the pureed tomatoes over the meatballs, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 40 minutes, cooking the meatballs all the way through. The sauce will reduce just a tad as well. At the very end, toss in the torn basil and parsley. Go ahead and season with a pinch of salt and pepper too.

Flip on the broiler and slide the bread in for about a minute. Then place 4 balls with the marinara on the bottom half, followed by a slice of provolone cheese. Stick back under the broiler until the cheese melts and starts to bubble, maybe 2 minutes. Keep an eye on it!

Serve with more basil, if desired.