Category Archives: Baking and Sweets

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Blondies

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I was going to a party at a friend’s and wanted to bring some baking. I have been hankering to try out an icing technique on cake but didn’t want to have to haul a big cake 1.5 hours on transit. Instead I decided that some blondies with brown butter and chocolate would be the tasty answer! These are a mouthful, both in name and in flavour. Let’s call them BBCCBs. They are tasty, nutty, fudgy but not too sweet. These are an awesome way to use brown butter!

The recipe is simple and is adaptable. I thought about adding some coconut and cardamom to add some more depth of flavour but wanted to try them on their own first, worth it.

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Blondies

Adapted from Martha’s.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 cups butter
  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 2 cups packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 2 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

  1.  In a saucepan over medium heat, cook the butter , swirling, until it turns golden brown. Remove from heat and let cool (this will take some time, I poured it into a bowl and let it cool in the fridge to be a bit faster, but don’t let it harden).
  2. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 13 x 9-inch pan; line with parchment paper; grease parchment. Set aside.
  3. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
  4. In a large bowl, stir brown butter and both sugars until combined. Beat in eggs until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add vanilla and beat until combined. Gradually add flour mixture, beating until thoroughly combined. Stir in chocolate chips by hand. Pour mixture into prepared pan.
  5. Bake 30-35 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.
  6. Cut, eat, swoon.

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

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These are just tasty. I used the filling from these in my Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes as the Peanut Butter Surprize. The original cookies are kind of like crinkle cookies, it’s all good and rich and delicious. Made on request for my friend Rebecca. Also inspired by my friend Gabby being able to eat sugar again, huzzah!

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Recipe from Wonderland Kitchen.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup cocoa powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup peanut butter
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 tbsp milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla

Filling

  • 3/4 cup sifted powdered sugar
  • 1/2 cup peanut butter
  • pinch salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Measure flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and whisk to combine.

In a large bowl, cream butter, sugars, and peanut butter until smooth. Add the egg, milk, and vanilla, and continue mixing until well combined. Add dry ingredients and mix just until combined.

Cover two baking sheet with parchment.

In a medium bowl or stand mixer, mix powdered sugar, peanut butter, and salt until smooth.

Roll a bunch of nickel-sized balls of the filling. Flatten each chocolate ball in the palm of your hand and top with a piece of the peanut butter filling. Fold chocolate dough as evenly as possible around the peanut butter and shape back into a ball before placing it on the baking sheet again.

My cookies are pretty big... it's a family thing.

Lightly flatten each cookie with the bottom of a glass dipped in granulated sugar. You might need to get it a little greasy first to get the sugar to stick.

Bake cookies one sheet at a time until the surface of the cookies begins to crack slightly, about 10 minutes. Allow cookies to cool for 1 minute on the baking sheet, then transfer to wire rack and cool completely.

Filling and ready cookies.

Delicious!

Chocolate-Dipped Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes

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Well these cupcakes were an incredible hit. And how could they not be! I made this strawberry cake with a few adjustments, my favourite buttercream chocolate and strawberry-style, and I dipped the tops in melted chocolate. They were awesome. The cake in particular is amazing, it is rich with strawberry flavour. I could eat the cake all day. All day long.

Chocolate-Dipped Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes

Adapted from this recipe.

Ingredients

  • 6 cups  very ripe fresh strawberries, hulled
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 1/2 cup milk, at room temperature
  • 8 large eggs, room temperature
  • 2 tbsp vanilla extract
  • 4.5 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3.5 cups sugar
  • 8 tsp baking powder (or 2 tbsp and 2 tsp)
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1.5 cups butter, softened (not melted)
  • 2 cups (or more if needed) semi-sweet chocolate chips (or dark chocolate, I didn’t have any on hand)
  • 1.5 tbsp shortening

Directions

  1. Toss sliced and hulled strawberries in a bowl with the 1 tbsp of sugar. Let the strawberries sit and generate some delicious juiciness. Puree the strawberries with a hand blender (works great, you just need to move it around).

    Before and after. Pour the leftover puree on EVERYTHING. (Maybe not on meat)

  2. Reserve 2 cups of the puree for the cake. Use leftover puree as a filling/topping for the cupcakes or fold into the frosting, if desired (I folded the puree into some chocolate buttercream).
  3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake tins.
  4. In medium bowl, combine puree, milk, egg, vanilla and mix with fork until well blended. In a large bowl, add flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt and mix to combine. Continue beating at slow speed and add butter. Mix until combined and resembling moist crumbs.
  5. Add liquids and beat at medium speed for about 1 minute, until combined. Stop mixer to scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix for 30 more seconds. Fill the cups 2/3 of the way.
  6. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the tops are spongy to the touch (time will vary). Once cool enough, place cupcakes on a rack and allow to cool completely before icing (about 30 mins).
  7. Prepare some Dreamy Buttercream (or your favourite frosting) and mix in 2-4 tbsp of cocoa (or more if you like it that way) until chocolatey enough for you. Fold in 1/2 cup strawberry puree (this step can be skipped, it does make the frosting a little slippery but it also adds a brilliant tartness that lightening it a bit).
  8. Frost the cupcakes in a swirl. Once frosted, place the cupcakes in the fridge to set the frosting, about 15 minutes.
  9. Meanwhile, melt 2 cups of semisweet or dark chocolate with 1.5 tbsp of shortening (it thins it out for dipping and allows it to set nicely). I microwaved my chocolate and shortening for about 45 seconds and then stirred until it was completely smooth. Let the chocolate cool for a few minutes but not set.
  10. Pour the chocolate into a deep bowl or cup/mug (deep enough that the icing wont hit the bottom). Dip each cupcake straight down into the chocolate, hold upside down to drizzle off the excess, set aside. Let the cupcake set for a few hours (in the fridge or at room temperature, works either way).
  11. Devour.

Naked cupcakes. These were amazing on their own... which you can see by the half-eaten one.

Dipped!

Cupcake anatomy. Layers of deliciousness.

Chocolate-filled Cardamon and Brown Butter Tea Cookies

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Brown butter rules my life, as mentioned earlier. I am always looking for delicious recipes including this nutty treat.

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Adapted from these delicious bites: Brownie Bites

Chocolate-filled Cardamon and Brown Butter Tea Cookies

  • the resulting appx 3/4 cup from browning 1 cup of butter, cooled for 20 minutes
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamon
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • appx 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips

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Directions

  • Pre-heat oven to 350°F.
  • Combine cooled browned butter and sugar and beat at medium speed until smooth.
  • Add egg, vanilla, and cardamon, and continue beating until combined.
  • On low speed, gradually add flour until mixture is no longer crumbly and forms a dough.
  • Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Push a hole in the middle, fill with 5-6 chocolate chips and close dough. Place 1 inch apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until cookies puff and start to turn light golden brown, and small cracks form on the surface.
  • Immediately remove from cookie sheets. Cool 1 minute. Roll cookies in powdered sugar while warm and again when completely cooled. Store between sheets of waxed paper in loosely covered container.

Vegan Peanut Butter “Buttercream”

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So I made vegan cupcakes and wanted to make vegan “buttercream” so my friend could eat the whole thing. The problem here is that Earth Balance Buttery is not my friend. I love butter, and Earth Balance is not butter. It has a distinctly gross flavour. My friend loves it but I wanted it to taste good for me as well. No luck. I ended up making some “buttercream” from my leftover peanutbutter filling, veggie shortening, Earth Balance, icing sugar, and Dark Chocolate Almond milk. It was ok, Gen liked it enough but it was no buttercream.

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I only made enough to frost six cupcakes (I made real buttercream for the rest). I will increase the recipe’s amounts 1. if there is interest 2. if I make it again later in a larger batch.

Vegan Peanut Butter “Buttercream” Icing

  • 1/4 cup Earth Balance buttery
  • 1/4 cup shortening (make sure it is all veg)
  • 2 tbsp peanut butter
  • 1.5 cups of icing sugar (more to taste)
  • 2 tbsp Dark Chocolate Almond milk

Combine the ingredients, mix until well blended and add more icing sugar to taste. I added food colouring to make them purple in honour of World Epilepsy Day.