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.

Marshmallow Bars

I made these bars as one of the four batches of cookies I made for my friends before winter break. I think my friends liked them a lot more than I did, which was good--they were definitely different. They were also the only not-as-chocolaty cookie that I made for my friends...I would have made fewer chocolate cookies but didn't have the right ingredients for anything I felt like making, haha. These were really easy!

Marshmallow Bars
Recipe from Allrecipes

1 cup shortening
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups miniature marshmallows
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped walnuts

In a mixing bowl, cream shortening and sugars. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla.

Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture. Stir in marshmallows, chips and walnuts.

Spread into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool on a wire rack. Cut into bars.

Black-Bottom Coconut Bars

Sorry for taking so long! I actually made these with a friend the week before Thanksgiving, so....a while ago. I guess I've been slacking off a little. These were really good, I think probably better the day after, but still deliciousss. They were also really easy--I definitely want to try making these again!

Black-Bottom Coconut Bars
By Martha Stewart, found here

FOR CHOCOLATE BASE:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for pan
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)

FOR COCONUT TOPPING:
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1 package sweetened shredded coconut (7 ounces), 1/2 cup reserved for sprinkling

For chocolate base: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a 9-inch square baking pan with aluminum foil, leaving a slight overhang; butter bottom and sides of foil (not overhang).

Place butter in a large microwave-safe bowl; melt in microwave. Add sugar and salt; whisk to combine. Whisk in egg, then cocoa and flour until smooth. Spread batter in prepared pan.

Bake just until sides begin to pull away from edges of pan, 10 to 15 minutes (do not overbake). Let cool slightly while preparing coconut topping. Keep oven on for topping.

For coconut topping: In a medium bowl, whisk eggs with sugar and vanilla. Gently mix in flour and coconut (except 1/2 cup reserved for sprinkling).

Drop mounds of mixture over chocolate base; spread and pat in gently and evenly with moistened fingers. Sprinkle with reserved 1/2 cup coconut.

Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in center comes out with moist crumbs attached, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool completely in pan. Lift cake from pan, peel off foil, and cut into 24 bars. Store in an airtight container 3 to 4 days.

Lemon Coconut Bars

I was really scared when making this recipe because I wasn't sure what it was supposed to look like. The color seemed a little uneven when it came out and some of them tasted a little too much like flour, but I don't know if that was all in my head, because these were a hit! I feel like I'd want to change them around a little bit but people really liked them. Very lemony--I'd like a little more coconut flavor, which seemed more prominent when they were just baked other than after being refrigerated, but overall they were good and super easy to make!

Lemon Coconut Bars
Recipe From My Baking Addiction

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
3/4 cup cold butter or margarine
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a 9 x 13 x 2 inch pan with foil or parchment paper and spray with non-stick cooking spray.

In a bowl, combine flour and confectioners’ sugar; cut in the butter until crumbly (I used my food processor and pulsed the ingredients until thoroughly combined).

Press into the bottom of a lightly greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, lemon juice and baking powder until well mixed. Pour over crust; sprinkle coconut evenly over the top.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool on a wire rack. Cut into bars.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Happy Halloween!!
Sorry I've been neglecting this blog! School & lack of ingredients happened...I have this recipe which was super easy to find the ingredients for. It was pretty good, pretty basic, everybody likes chocolate chip cookies and everybody likes bars, so it was good. Plus, I got to use not only the new pan my mom sent me (I now can bake recipes in a 9x13 pan!! instead of using 2 9-inch rounds, heh), but I also got to use the fall-themed sprinkles. I wasn't sure how they'd turn out on the bars, so I only sprinkled them on half (I didn't use the sea salt suggested in the recipe) but obviously could definitely have put sprinkles on the whole batch.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Recipe from Two Peas & Their Pod

2 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
12 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups chocolate chips
Sea salt, for sprinkling over bars-optional

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spray a 9x13-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix the melted butter and sugars together until combined. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and mix until smooth. Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix on low, just until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Pour cookie dough into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with the spatula. Sprinkle cookie bars very lightly with sea salt, if desired. Bake cookie bars for 25-30 minutes or until the top of the bars are light golden brown and the edges start to pull away from the pan. Cool bars on a wire rack to room temperature. Cut bars into squares and serve.

Snickerdoodle Blondies

Sorry it's been a while--haven't had a lot of time to bake or post, but I definitely should have had these up last weekend! I made these in a fit of semi-rage a week and a half ago, but it's all better now. These are fabulous--a little too sweet for my taste, but very well-liked among my friends! I think I'd rather stick with regular snickerdoodles (or those awesome Chai Snickerdoodles, or my mom's Eggnog Snickerdoodles), but they were really easy to make! I made them in two 9-inch circular pans since I didn't have a 9x13 pan.

Snickerdoodle Blondies
Recipe by Dozen Flours
Adapted by Lick the Bowl Good

2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup butter, at room temperature
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons white sugar (for topping)
2 teaspoons cinnamon (for topping)

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 9 x 13 inch pan.

Sift together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt and set aside. In large bowl, beat together butter, sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth.

Stir in the flour mixture until well blended, then mix in cinnamon chips if using. Spread evenly in prepared pan. Mixture will be thick and resemble cookie dough. (I used my hands to press it down and smooth the top).

Combine white sugar and cinnamon in a little bowl. Evenly sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture over the top of the batter.

Bake 25-30 minutes or until surface springs back when gently pressed. Cool slightly. While still warm, cut into bars with a sharp knife.

Dorie Greenspan's Chewy, Chunky Blondies

Finally I baked again. I'll probably bake once a week and update on the weekends from now on until I get a break from school. For this recipe I used butterscotch chips, left out the walnuts, and for the chocolate used chopped up pieces of Ghiradelli 70% cacao for 4 ounces that was the bar, and then about a fourth a cup for semi-sweet chocolate chips. I'd been wanting to make something with coconut and butterscotch for a while, so I'm glad I finally got around to doing it!

Chewy, Chunky Blondies
Recipe from Dorie Greenspan's
Baking: From My Home to Yours
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups (packed) light brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips, or 1 cup store-bought chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips or Heath Toffee Bits
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a 9×13-inch baking pan and put it on a baking sheet.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add both sugars and beat for another 3 minutes, or until well incorporated. Add the eggs one by one, beating for 1 minute after each addition, then beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing just until they disappear into the batter. Using a rubber spatula, stir in the chips, nuts and coconut. Scrape the batter into the buttered pan and use the spatula to even the top as best you can.

Bake for about 40 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of the blondies comes out clean. The blondies should pull away from the sides of the pan a little and the top should be a nice honey brown. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for about 15 minutes before turning the blondies out onto another rack. Invert onto a rack and cool the blondies to room temperature right side up.

Cut into 32 bars, each roughly 2-1/4 x 1-1/2 inches.

Hershey's Best Brownies

This is the first thing I tried to bake in my oven! For these brownies, I had to turn the oven to 400 degrees to get it to 350...but the next thing I baked got the oven to the right temperature. I wanted to double the original recipe and was afraid of getting poor results because there were SO many mixed reviews. Most people absolutely loved them and thought they were best, but there were a few who said they were terrible. I followed reviews and changed the recipe from doubling it exactly.

When I took these out of the oven, I thought they were burnt, but it turned out that they were fine. I don't really know how they turned out--I ate one fresh from the oven and it was a little hard to tell, because I just wanted to make sure it wasn't burnt--but out of all the people who ate them (there were a lot) there was one person who I could tell genuinely said they were really good. I don't think people thought they were the BEST brownies, but at least they weren't BAD.

Hershey's Best Brownies
Adapted by me from Hershey's

1 cup butter, melted
2 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup Unsweetened Cocoa
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Heat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.

Stir together melted butter, sugar and vanilla in a bowl. Lightly beat eggs in a small bowl, then mix with butter and sugar mixture. In another bowl mix flour, cocoa, baking pwder and salt. Gradually add to egg mixture, blending until just mixed. Spread batter evenly into prepared pan.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan or until a toothpick comes out clean. Be careful not to overbake. Cool completely in pan on wire rack.

Raspberry Cheesecake Bars

So yesterday, I moved into my new (first!) apartment back at college. Exciting! Right now it's a mess, but now instead of sharing a kitchen with a whole dorm floor, I just share it with one other person. Hooray! Hopefully the oven works...I feel like I need to get so much stuff for this new apartment but I have to relax and just get what's necessary. It's actually been so exciting and stressful for me that I haven't been getting much sleep in over a week...last night I got less than an hour, but that might have been since it's overwhelmingly hot on the top floor of the building with one tiny fan (since all the standing fans at Target were sold out, argh). I have a lot of old recipes from the summer to post, but might mix them with some of the things I make in my new kitchen when I have the time!

These were really easy, and pretty fun to make. I made them for my mom's work a couple weeks ago. They were quick to make, a much easier bar than most of the bar recipes I try out, plus, they were just as delicious. I used a few more raspberries than the recipe called for, but just enough so that it looked like they were spread out enough.

I think these would definitely be best the day they are made, as their cheesecake texture is a little soggy. But they were still fine!

Raspberry Cheesecake Bars
Recipe from Cooking Light

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract, divided
3 large eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light sour cream
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 (8-ounce) package 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
Cooking spray
1 1/2 cups fresh raspberries

Preheat oven to 350°.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and salt, stirring with a whisk.

Combine butter, brown sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and eggs in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Add flour mixture to butter mixture; stir just until moist.

Place 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, granulated sugar, and next 4 ingredients (through cream cheese) in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until fluffy.

Line a 13 x 9-inch baking pan with foil that extends 1 inch beyond sides; coat foil with cooking spray. Spread half of batter into pan. Pour cream cheese mixture over batter in pan, and spread evenly over batter. Sprinkle with raspberries. Drop remaining batter by tablespoonfuls over raspberries. Swirl batter, cream cheese mixture, and raspberries together with a knife.

Bake at 350° for 35 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely on wire rack. Remove from pan by lifting foil. Remove foil; cut into 30 bar cookies.

Congo Bars

I've been making a lot of bars lately. I made these for my younger brother, who left for a couple of days to visit a college--his first time away from home alone. I really didn't want to eat one because I wasn't feeling very good, but the instant reactions from my family (first my brother, who freaked out because it was so good, then my dad who agreed, then my mom who finally tried it and was all "THIS IS SO GOOD THIS IS THE BEST EVER" which is really good coming from her) I had to try and I agree, they are very good! I had no problem with this recipe and it was very easy. I left out the walnuts and let them cool for about 20-30 minutes before cutting them. Warm, they were delicious. I bet they'd still be AMAZING at room temperature, too, which I wanted to try but had to resist.

I'm definitely going to be making these when I get back to college. I'm pretty sure that two of my favorite people would absolutely love these!

Not sure who keeps up with my blog--but does anyone have anything they want me to try baking? Or any ideas? I have an endless amount of recipes that I want to try, but I guess I'd like some input on what you might want to see. I am definitely trying to take advantage of being at home and having all of my mom's baking utensils, and supplies are only a 5 minute car drive away instead of a 15 minute or more bus ride.

Congo Bars
Recipe from bakerella

2 3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter, softened
1 lb. light brown sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
11.5 ounce package milk chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

By mixer:

Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.
Combine butter and sugar using a mixer until blended.
Add eggs, one at a time to sugar mixture, mixing on low in between each addition.
Add vanilla and mix.
Add flour and mix until combined.
Stir in chips and then pecans.

By hand:

Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Set aside.
Stir brown sugar into softened (not melted) butter in another large bowl until butter disappears. You can use the back of your spoon to help incorporate the two together.
Add eggs one at a time to butter mixture and stir well after each egg.
Add vanilla, chocolate chips and nuts. Mix well.
Add dry flour mixture and stir until well combined.

Coat a 13 X 9 pan with non-stick spray and spread batter evenly into dish.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until top is golden brown. Make sure you don’t over bake.