Category Archives: Baking and Sweets

Walnut Pie Bars (a play on Pecan Pie Bars)

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I am not being clever, I just happened to have a Costco-sized bag of walnuts and no place to go… and then I got invited to a dinner party and suddenly walnuts became the perfect dessert. I LOVE pecan pie, I went through a pie phase a couple years ago and I swear I made pecan pie four times in so many months, which is way too often for such a rich dessert. Now, I haven’t had the pie since but I remembered making pecan pie squares once and thought these would be the perfect substitute. Again, I used walnuts instead of pecans, so there is a bit of a difference, but not so much to make a fuss about. The bottom of the bars are a bit cakey (ie not shortbread) and the top is rich, nutty, gooey deliciousness.

Walnut Pie Bars

Ingredients

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tbsp milk
  • 2/3 cup flour mixture
  • 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 cup corn syrup
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 3 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 2 tbsp cream (or milk)
  • 2 cups roughly chopped walnuts

Directions

  1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9 x 13 inch cake pan with parchment paper (curses, I ran out of parchment paper today, greasing it works too).
  2. Whisk together the flour, sugar, and baking powder. Scoop out 2/3 cup and set aside.
  3. Add butter and egg to the remaining flour mixture, and combine until crumbly. Press evenly (if possible…) into the pan and bake for 15-20 minutes or until light golden brown.

    Baked and ready to be topped!

  4. While the base is baking, beat together the 2/3 cup of the flour mixture, brown sugar, corn syrup, vanilla, and beaten eggs. Pour over the base when it is done baking. Sprinkle the walnuts evenly (if possible…) over the top. Bake 30-35 minutes, until filling is set.

Brown Butter Sugar Cookies

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These cookies captured my imagination a couple days ago, so much so that I made them quickly! Brown butter anything is my favourite, as readers will know, and these sweet little cookies are no exception. Mine were not nearly as thin and sugar-cookie like as the ones that Let’s Dish made, but they were still delicious. I’ve mostly kept the recipe the same, because I like to try something once before jazzing it up Stacey-style (mostly by adding chocolate in some way). I’ve adjusted the ingredients to how I like to see them, and omitted the instructions for browning the butter, because you can find that here! Enjoy, and thanks to Let’s Dish again for this wonderful recipe!

Brown Butter Sugar Cookies

Recipe is from this lovely blog.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsps butter (plus 1/4 cup butter to not be browned)
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar (for rolling)
  • 1 3/4 cups packed brown sugar (plus 1/4 cup for rolling)
  • 2 cups plus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp table salt
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract

Directions

  1. Brown 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsps of butter, if you aren’t sure how, visit my unnecessary walkthrough. Pour the browned butter into a large bowl and stir the remaining 1/4 cup of butter until melted; set aside for 15 minutes.
  2. Meanwhile, adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 large  baking sheets with parchment paper, or coat them with cooking spray. In a shallow baking dish or pie plate, mix the 1/4 cup granulated sugar and 1/4 cup packed brown sugar; set aside.
  3.  Whisk the flour, baking soda, and baking powder together in a medium bowl; set aside.
  4. Add the remaining 1 3/4 cups brown sugar along with the salt to the cooled butter and mix well. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and mix until fully incorporated. Add the flour mixture and stir until just combined, about 1 minute. Give the dough a final stir with a rubber spatula to ensure that no flour pockets remain and the ingredients are evenly distributed. 
  5. Form the dough into 1 1/2 inch balls (just larger than a twoonie) and roll them in the sugar mixture to coat.  Place them on the prepared baking sheets, about 2 inches apart.

    They sparkle.

  6. Bake one sheet at a time until cookies are browned and still puffy and edges have begun to set but the centers are still soft, 8-10 minutes.  Cool for 1-2 minutes on the baking sheets and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.  Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

    Don’t forget the cookies in the oven because you are drooling over the first batch… still tasty, but tougher for sure.

Brown Sugar Scones, Two Ways

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I have been craving my mother’s brown sugar scones for awhile now and just needed to remember to ask her for the recipe and have an excuse to make them. My excuse came Monday when I started my internship at The Tyee. The Tyee staff is awesome and I am looking forward to failing miserably for them in softball this summer… oh yeah, and completing my internship project too.. that too for sure… In any case, starting with them means that I have a new crowd to bake for. Perfect! Scones it is!

These scones are buttery, lightly sweet, and just gloriously yummy. Oh, they are also terribly easy. I love mom’s original recipe, which she normally tops with fruit, but I wanted to change it up too. I made one standard batch (so tasty) and decided, as I am wont to do, to add caradmom and chocolate to the recipe to make a snazzed-up version. Heavenly. Both versions are to die for. I can barely hold back from eating everything.

Mom’s Brown Sugar Scones Two Ways

Ingredients (for one batch)

  • 3 cups flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup butter
  • 1 cup milk (plus more if needed)

Additions for the Chocolate Cardamom Brown Sugar Scones (CCBSS)

  • 1 tsp ground cardamom
  • 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. If you have a baking stone, that’s what my mom always uses.
  2. In a large bowl whisk the flour, baking powder, and brown sugar. (If making CCBSS, include cardamom now as well)
  3. Using a pastry cutter, or your fingers,  work in the butter until it is well combined and resembling coarse meal. (Add the chocolate chips now if making CCBSS)
  4. Add the milk and stir until a sticky dough forms, don’t over work the dough.
  5. Turn the dough out onto a flat surface and roll into a circle about 3/4 – 1 inch thick. At this point, you can either score the circle into wedges that you will cut after it is cooked or you can actually cut out wedges. I did both this time, the scored circle definitely had to cook a little longer.
  6. Place wedges or circle onto your prepared baking sheet, sprinkle with brown sugar, and bake for 15-20 minutes. My wedges cooked in about 15 minutes, the circle was about 20. The edges of your scones will be golden and they will be a slightly firm when poked.
  7. Serve with a glass of milk, coffee, love, etc.

Brown Sugar Scones pre-oven

Chocolate Cardamom Brown Sugar Scones pre-oven.

Ready for munching. And munch I did.

The whole batch... minus one that HAD to be tested.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

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I was inspired to create these cookies one afternoon when thinking back to when I worked at the Hi Country RV Park at home in the Yukon. My wonderful boss brought down a plate of similar cookies that I practically gorged on until customers started coming in. A few years back I was thinking of these delicious cookies and became determined to create my own.

 

These are fluffy and moist like cake, full of spice and chocolate. They are amazing. I remember telling my mom, and later my friend Caelin about them, both wrinkled their noses with “pumpkin AND chocolate… I don’t know” type sentiments. My mom still hasn’t had the chance to try them but Caelin was sold on first bite, stealing a second before I could tell her that I just brought enough for one for everyone (thankfully not everyone showed up to that morning’s class). These are the best straight out of the oven (in my opinion that’s how all baking should be eaten) but they are wonderful when kept in a not-totally sealed container (like muffins, they sweat) or are good even after they’ve been frozen and then thawed. Make them. Love them. Eat them until you pop, I know I will.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 3/4 cup pumpkin puree (I use canned, but if you are industrious, make your own)
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1 tsp cardamom
  • 1 tsp ground cloves
  • 2 cups  semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

  1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper (or lightly spray with non-stick spray).
  2. Beat the butter until smooth. Beat in the white and brown sugars, a little at a time, until the mixture is light and fluffy.

    Pumpkin added.

  3. Beat in the eggs 1 at a time, then mix in the vanilla and pumpkin puree.
  4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cardamom, and cloves. Slowly mix the flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture in thirds.
  5. Stir in the chips. The cookie dough is thick and gooey, gloppy even.
  6. Plop the cookie dough in heaping tablespoons onto the prepared cookie sheets and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the cookies are browned around the edges and spongy to the touch.

Plopped and ready for the heat.

7.  Cool cookies on a rack when able to remove from the pan (2-3 minutes cooling on the pan). These can sit out for a couple days without issue (they are super moist) but are best stored in a tupperware that is left open on one side.

8. Pour a glass of milk, coffee, soy milk, etc. and eat.

Extra delicious closeup.

Chewy, Fudgy Brownies with Almonds and Coconut

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As I mentioned in my last post, I went to my sister’s house for about a week. This trip, paired with my being incredibly sick (still) has lead to a bit of a dead zone on the blog here. In any case, I did some brief training with Kel, and she is getting excited about posting. We made a couple new recipes while I was there and she is looking forward to posting some of her own in the future. I, of course, made some beer bread while I was there and Kel made me an awesome breakfast of beer bread, ham, cheese, and a poached egg, that I highly recommend for anyone. I will update that post with the picture of this treat.

We also made some delicious brownies! Kel was game for making the brown butter blondies I posted earlier but I wanted to try something new and had been eyeing this recipe for sometime. We made some adjustments for ingredients and preferences and they turned out delicious. We happened to undercook them slightly which was tasty but I think they would’ve been perfect had they been given their extra few minutes. These brownies are truly fudgy, chewy, and delicious. I am going to make them again this week, if only to eat the batter.

Chewy Brownies with Almonds and Coconut

Adapted from here.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • pinch of salt
  • 1/3 cup flour
  • 1/4 cup sliced almonds
  • 1/3 shredded coconut

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line an 8 by 8 inch square pan with parchment paper (or spray).
  2. Melt the butter and chocolate in a medium, microwave-safe bowl in 30 second increments, being careful not to scorch the chocolate. Stir until well combined and smooth.
  3. Combine the eggs and the sugar, mix until light, about 3 minutes.
  4. Mix in vanilla and salt.
  5. Pour in the chocolate and butter mixture, mix well.
  6. Add the flour, almonds, and coconut. Stir until incorporated.
  7. Pour the batter in the prepared pan and bake for 40-45 minutes. Cool on a wire rack before cutting and serving.