Blonde Brownies

Today is Erin's birthday - Happy Birthday Erin!

When asked what kind of sweet treat she wanted her reply was: Anything without chocolate.

It makes her sick so I wasn't insulted.

When I was trying to decide what to make I did a mental grocery shopping trip through my kitchen - I have some bananas that are ready to be baked into something fantastic, I could go with cookies of some sort, possibly a cake, something with butterscotch perhaps?

I did some Googling and found this recipe. I'm so glad I did. It's quite tasty!

It doesn't look like much...

But it tastes SO good!

Ratings:

Mom - A+
Moist. Delicious. Buttery. Good. I don't know what else to say, they're just so good!

R2 - ??
(He hasn't had a chance to taste them yet. I hope there are leftovers.)

Hank - ??
(He hasn't had a chance to taste them yet. I hope there are leftovers.)

Without further ado, here is the recipe:

Blonde Brownies

Ingredients

1 pound light brown sugar (about 2 cups packed)
1 1/2 sticks butter, melted
2 eggs
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup nuts, chopped (I used cashews)

Directions

1. Melt sugar and butter together in a sauce pan. Cool.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease 9x13 pan.
3. Add eggs and vanilla
4. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together. Add to wet mixture. Mix well.
5. Stir in nuts
5. Bake for 30 minutes.

Suggestions:

• You could add frosting or a glaze to make these even better. 

Oatmeal Spice Cake

Last week was Matthew's birthday. When asked what his favorites were he said:

Favorite baked goods:
1.    Cookies, most any kind, favorite being oatmeal raisin
2.    Fresh baked bread
3.    Probably go with donuts, but pie and cake worthy options

I waited until the last minute to make his birthday treat and knew I wouldn't have time to make the cookies, so I knew I would be making a cake of some sort. I found this recipe and thought it sounded good so I went for it. I'm always a little nervous when I try something new. I really need to stop that. It got rave reviews at work!

Ratings:

Mom - B
This cake was moist and delicious! The recipe had some extra prep time, all the boiling water, it was totally worth it. I think a different frosting or topping would get this up to an A. Something with coconut and nuts? I'll work on it.

No reviews from the boys this time, they didn't get a chance to taste them.

And here is the recipe...

Oatmeal Spice Cake 


Ingredients

1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (I used quick oats and it turned out just fine)
1 cup raisins (regular, golden or any combination of the two)
2 1/2 cups boiling water
1 1/2 cups sifted flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar (Brown, white or a combination of the two)
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla


Directions

Preheat oven to 375°F.

1. Boil 1 1/2 cups water, then add the oatmeal. Give it a stir and then let it sit and allow it to cool.
2. Boil 1 cup water, add raisins and let them soak for 5-10 minutes. (You could ad a splash of rum here if you want.)
3. Sift the flour with the baking soda and spices into a bowl.
4. In your mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
5. Add eggs and vanilla; beat until until well mixed.
6. Add sifted flour mixture alternating with the cooled oatmeal, starting and ending with the dry ingredients.
7. Beat well.
8. Butter and flour an 8x12-inch baking pan.
9. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in center of cake comes out clean.

Cool 15 minutes before frosting, if desired. (I used cream cheese frosting.)

Variations

Use Crasins or a Crasin/Raisin Combination. Just make sure that you're using a total of 1 cup.

"Egg" Decorating My Way

This year for Easter I knew we weren't going to boil and decorate eggs. Why? The kids and I are just not fans of hard boiled eggs. I still wanted to do something fun and creative for Easter though so I decided to make Rice Krispie treats and we would cut them out and decorate them.

I made 2 batches of bars one was the standard recipe the other was a chocolate recipe. Then I made a small batch of butter cream frosting.
 

I got the cookie cutters ready and we were set to go!






The boys were anxious to start decorating. It was harder than I thought it would be to use the cookie cutters to cut out the 2 shapes that we picked. I'm still trying to figure out a way to make it easier next time. Thankfully the boys were patient while I got the cutouts done. Once I got the shapes all cut out, we were ready to decorate. I grabbed the box of sprinkles (there's a crazy mish/mash of decorations in there, after holiday clearance deals, you get the idea,) the bag of Easter M&M's I bought and of course, the frosting.

Here is how they turned out:

We started off doing them all the same, then we went with free form whatever...

The chocolate ones, I love how the colors pop on these.

The rest. That ugly thing on the left is the scraps. R2 had the idea that we should make a Rice Krispie sandwich, it tasted pretty good!

Ratings:

Mom - A+
Rice Krispie Bars + frosting and M&M's, how can you go wrong?

R2 - A+
SOOOOOO good! And I helped.

Hank - A+
YUM! We did a good job!

Without further ado, here is the new recipe: 

(the others can be found here.)

Coca Krispies Treats (modified from the original Kellogg's recipe)
 

Ingredients

1/2 stick of butter
1 (10 oz., about 40) pkg. marshmallows or 4 cups miniature marshmallows (Use regular or chocolate flavored - or a mix of the two)
6 cups Coca Krispies (or whatever generic brand you like)

Directions

Grease 9 x 13 cake pan with butter.

In a large saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Add the marshmallows and continue to stir until the marshmallows have completely melted. Remove from heat. Add Vanilla.

Stir in the Coca Krispies cereal coating them well with the melted marshmallow mixture.

Using a buttered or silicone spatula, press the mixture evenly into the pan.

Let the bars cool.
 

Enjoy!

Holy Crap!!!

I might be attending culinary school, starting in July!

Obviously it's something that I'm interested in, I've just never done anything about it. Last night, I toured The Art Institute of Minnesota. I loved the place! The admissions guy got me, and my situation. Or he's just very good at his job. I don't know. I've applied to the school. I have a bunch of paperwork to fill out. When I went online to start the ball rolling for financial aid, I hit a snag. I screwed up our taxes. So I need to get that straightened out but I know I can.

Pending acceptance, I will be a part time student going to school at night, starting in early July.

I'm excited and terrified at the same time!

Wish me luck!

P.S. Work has been nuts and my computer at home has needed some triage. I will get back to my normal posts (because they're so much fun!) soon I promise!

Coconut Cupcakes

I got this recipe from a cupcake book that I couldn't pass up in the grocery store checkout. There are so many recipes in this cute little book that I can't wait to try! About a month ago or so I had mentioned to Helbert, a co-worker, that I found this coconut cupcake recipe. He has been bugging me ever since to make the cupcakes. Ok so not really bugging me, more like suggesting that I do. I once told him, and anyone else in earshot, that I like to bake to relieve stress. Jokingly, he made it his mission to stress me out one day, in hopes that I would go home and bake these cupcakes. It cracked me up.

I don't cook with coconut often so this was a fun one because it wasn't the same old thing.

After they were baked and cooled, I got ready to decorate them:

Frosting at the ready

Toasted coconut cooled

Cupcakes all set!

Here is how they turned out:

I left some without the toasted coconut.

Ratings:

Mom - A-
The flavor of these was spot on, and I'm a sucker for almond extract anything. The only reason for the minus is that, to me they were a little dry and the once crunchy toasted coconut, got soft as they sat over night.

R2 - F
I guess I don't like coconut. They look cool though Mom.

Hank - C
He was my little helper with these from start to finish.
He devoured the frosting and after a couple of bites of the cake, he tossed it. Have I created a almost 4 year old cupcake snob?

Without further ado, here is the recipe:

Coconut Cupcakes

Cake Ingredients

1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2 cups sugar
5 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk (I used regular milk)
1 1/4 cups flaked coconut

Frosting Ingredients:

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar

Garnish Ingredients:

1 cup flaked coconut

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. Beat in extracts.
5. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt,
6. Add to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk, beating well after each addition.
7. Fold in coconut.
8. Fill paper-lined muffin cups 2/3 full.
9. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
10. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.

For frosting, in a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and extracts until smooth. Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar.
For the garnish, put the coconut into a dry non-stick pan over low heat. Move the coconut around the pan. Keep your eye on it. It can go from toasted and delicious to black in an instant. Once you have gotten it toasted to your liking (I went for a golden brown) get it out of the pan and cooling, a paper plate works just fine. Note: not all of the coconut will be toasted, some will still be un-toasted white, that's just fine.
Frost cupcakes and either sprinkle with toasted coconut or dip the frosted cupcakes into the toasted coconut.
Yield: 2-1/2 dozen.

Suggestions:

• Wait to add the toasted coconut until right before service to keep the crunch.

Bride of Frankenstein Bars

Quick note about the blog, I changed the name from "Mandi's Baking Blog" to "A spoon full of sugar..." For some reason I had Julie Andrews singing in my head one day and it seemed to fit.

Moving on, in the first blog I posted I wrote about Frankenstein Bars. Today I’m going to tell you about the Bride of Frankenstein Bars. They're slightly different than the original just like Mr. and Mrs. Frankenstein.

When I asked Nikki (my someday sister-in-law) what sweet thing she would like me to make for her birthday the text message conversation went something exactly like this:

Me: Happy birthday a day early! Id love to make ya something sweet for your day. What do you want? :)
Nikki: Thank you!! :)  u know that big giant cookie you made with m&ms and cashews?!  Is that hard to make?
Me: You're very welcome! Not at all! Do you want it with or without raisins? Did u see the finished bars? With the frosting and rice krispies? Do u want that or the cookie only?
Nikki:  No raisins...i didnt see the finished bars....i dont think.  On fb?
Me:  Ok! Yup...take a look and let me know :)
Nikki:  Oh my!!!  Yes....that looks so yummy!!  :-)
Me: Ok sounds like a plan. I'll make them for ya this week and get it to ya soon.

To say that I was excited to make this again, with a few revisions, is an understatement! I had a ton of fun making them the first time and they were very good! Also, I was excited to play around with the extra ingredients.

I was out of cashews so I stopped at the grocery store one night after work. In the baking aisle, (Am I the only one who geeks out in this aisle at the grocery store?!) near the nuts, I stumbled upon these:

That’s right, little caramel balls that could easily be mixed into anything. I snatched them up and texted Nikki from the checkout line. Yes, she liked caramel. I was good to go.

When I got home, I preheated the oven, prepared the baking pan and whipped up a half batch of the basic dough. Then I got to adding the fun stuff; M&M’s, chocolate chips, and the precious caramel balls. After I pressed it into the pan, I added the cashews and some more M&M’s:

Right before they went into the oven. (Sorry for the blurry picture.)

I let it cool overnight:

YUM!

Then I made the frosting:

Cream the butter and vanilla

 

All creamed together

Add powdered sugar, it's supposed to look dry at this point.

Add Milk

Cream until light and fluffy!

I transferred the monster cookie to a larger pan and frosted the cookie:

How can you go wrong with a frosted cookie?

I put it in the refrigerator while I made the rice krispie bars:

Slowly melt butter and marshmallows

Until they're smooth (here is where I add vanilla)

Add Rice Krispies

Stir until completely combined

I pressed them into yet another pan (I don’t mind the extra dishes but if you do, you could reuse the pan that you baked the cookies in. It’s all going to get mashed together eventually!)

Here’s a tip: warm rice krispie treats are a sticky mess. I use a lightly buttered sandwich bag to smooth them out:

After they had cooled I got the frosted cookie out and pressed the bars into the frosting. Back to the refrigerator to cool/harden.

Then they were ready to be cut up. I think these were even better than the first batch.

When I was thinking about posting this blog last night before bed (you know prime thinking time) I thought that the possibilities for this kind of bar are endless! Here are a few ideas that I came up with between last night and this morning:

Cookie crust - Frosting (or something to stick 2 things together) - Topping

Chocolate chip cookie - butter cream frosting - chocolate rice krispies
Snicker doodle cookie - cinnamon frosting - regular rice krispies
Peanut butter cookie - butter cream frosting - cereal treat topping (old family recipe that I will share sometime.)
Oatmeal cookie - cream cheese frosting – A cinnamon sugar something (something Churro like perhaps?)
Short Bread cookie -Lemon frosting - A crunchy coconut something (a macaroon perhaps or maybe just toasted coconut?)
Short Bread cookie -Strawberry filling  - Macadamia Nut bar 

I could go on and on!

I'm going to skip the reviews and recipes this time, because they're pretty much the same as they were in the first blog I posted. Here's another link.

Rhubarb Cake

Among other things, my Grandma Helen was a fantastic gardener.

When I think about her as a gardener I think of: Lilacs, Kahlrabi, and Rhubarb.

Lilacs - can you smell them?

Kahlrabi - sliced with some salt, YUM!

I have so many good memories of being at Grandma Helen's house with my brother and cousins, running around like the crazy kids that we were. I really do have an awesome family. I'm so thankful for them.

When we were kids, we would pick fresh rhubarb from Grandma's garden, wash it (if we were feeling like civilized human beings or an adult made us,) grab a bowl of sugar and start eating. The key, you see, is to cut (or bite) off the end and then dip the wet part in the sugar and repeat. Fun times. 

Rhubarb!

Last summer I was on a bit of a rhubarb kick. It had been years since I had the stuff. Stacy was selling some from her family's farm and I knew I had to have some. Once I had it, I didn't really know what to do with it!  Stacy was kind enough to give me a Rhubarb Crisp recipe (I'll share that another time) and it tasted fabulous. Then my friend Brenna posted on Facebook that she was making a Rhubarb cake. I asked and she was kind enough to share the recipe.

Here is how it turned out:

The batter

Batter with topping

Cooling

I added some powdered sugar, for the heck of it.

Ratings:

Mom - A
This cake is moist and delicious! It reminds me of summer!

R2 - D
It smells really good but I don't like the taste.

Hank - A
(He's a little bird, looking to steal a bite.)
Can I have another bite, please?

Without further ado, here is the recipe:

Rhubarb Cake

Cake Ingredients

1\2 cup butter
1 1\2 cups white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups of all purpose flour
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1\4 teaspoon of salt
1 cup buttermilk (you can substitute with regular milk here, the cake will be less tangy)
2 cups rhubarb chopped
1 tablespoon flour

Topping Ingredients

1\4 cup butter
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup packed brown sugar

Directions

1. In a large bowl, cream together butter or margarine and sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla.
2. In another bowl, sift together 2 cups of flour, soda, and salt. Add sifted ingredients alternately with buttermilk to creamed mixture.
3. Toss rhubarb with 1 tablespoon of flour, and stir into batter. Spoon batter into buttered 9x13 inch pan, and smooth the surface.
4. Blend together 1/4 cup butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar, sprinkle evenly over batter.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes. It should be golden brown.

Suggestions

• This cake can stand alone and is fantastic warm or completely cooled.
• Add some powdered sugar to the top, after it has cooled.
• To cut some of the tartness you could serve it with vanilla (or cinnamon) ice cream or some whipped topping.

Ted's Banana Bread

Taking a break from Birthday treats, I'm going to tell you about the banana bread I make for my step-dad.

A while back I stumbled across a very tasty banana chocolate chip muffin recipe, you can see it here.

One day when I was making this recipe I had somehow managed to run out of muffin papers, so I made the batter into bread instead. I sent some home with my Mom. My step-dad tasted it and liked it a lot even though he's not a huge fan of chocolate. I decided to make him a batch without the chocolate chips. He enjoyed it as well and mentioned that he liked walnuts in his banana bread. By the third batch, it was perfect. He even offered to pay me to make the bread. Once a month or so I make him a batch now.

Ted's Banana Bread
(excuse the dirty burner)

Ratings:

Mom - B
This one is a very easy recipe to throw together. The bread is moist and flavorful.  
I gave it a B because personally, I like the chocolate version better
 
R2 - D
I don't like bananas.

Hank - A 
Ooohhh nummy!


Without further ado, here is the recipe:

Ted's Banana Bread


Ingredients

1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/4 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 large)
3/4 cup sugar (I usually do 1/2 cup sugar and 1/4 cup sugar substitute, as Ted is diabetic)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 - 1 cup chopped walnuts, to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 3 mini loaf pans.
2. Sift first 4 ingredients into a large bowl.
3. Combine bananas, sugar, butter, milk, eggs and vanilla in a medium bowl.
4. Mix into dry ingredients until just combined. Do not over-mix!
5. Fold in walnuts.
6. Divide batter among prepared pans, fill it till 3/4 full.
7. Bake until loafs are golden brown and tester inserted into center comes out clean, for about 40 minutes.
8. Cool loafs in pans for 15 minutes before transferring to cooling rack to cool completely. Enjoy.


Variations

• Add 1/2 cup of chocolate chips.
• Bake in muffin papers, in a muffin pan for about 25 minutes

Over the top cupcakes

For the next birthday which was actually before my last post (I'm going backwards!) I made these over the top cupcakes for David.

When asked what his top 3 favorite bakes goods were he said:
"An 18 layer, each layer being no more than 1/2 an inch, milk chocolate, devils food, white, lemon, cherry, dark chocolate cake, alternating layers with a coconut frosting.
Snicker doodle cookies
Angel food cake (with sprinkles none of that plain shit) with sticky frosting"

Someone sarcastically asked for clarification: "Any specific order the layers should start?"


His reply was:
"UMMMM think I explained that"
milk chocolate
devils food
white
lemon
cherry
dark chocolate 

this should continue till you hit 18 layers...not seeing how this is hard"

As you can tell, David is not only a bit of a smart ass, he also has a flair for the dramatic!

I'll admit, I took some help from a box mix on this one. I had gotten a Christmas Funfetti cake mix on clearance, so I used it. Instead of the standard red and green sprinkles that it came with, I used some multi color ones that I had at home.

I frosted some of them with butter cream frosting, some with chocolate frosting and some with both. I was going to swirl them together but you know what they say about good intentions.

Some of them got M&M's on the top, some didn't.

Here is how they turned out.

A side shot

What it looked like in the middle

A top view

Ratings:

Mom - A
It was another fun one to make. They were super sweet and the looked fun.

R2 - A 
These are SO good!

Hank - B
He ate the M&M's and the frosting, he wasn't interested in the cake, at all.


Without further ado, here are the recipes:


The Cake

Ingredients

1 box of cake mix (you could really do it with whatever flavor you wanted)
24 Hershey Kisses (again any flavor you like would work)

Directions

Follow the instructions on the box for baking temp and time. Prepare as directed. After you have the mix in the muffin papers, push the kiss into the center. Don't worry if the cake mix doesn't cover it, it will when it bakes.  

Butter cream frosting  
(modified from the Wilton recipe)

*I made a half batch, so all you would need to do is half the ingredients below*

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (approximately 1 lb.)
• 2 tablespoons milk

Directions

In large bowl, cream butter with electric mixer. Add vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use.

For best results, keep icing bowl in refrigerator when not in use. Refrigerated in an airtight container, this icing can be stored 2 weeks. Rewhip before using.

Creamy Chocolate Frosting  

(after a lot of trial and error with chocolate frosting recipes I found this one at allrecipes.com) 

Ingredients

• 2 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 5 tablespoons evaporated milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, sift together the confectioners' sugar and cocoa, and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter until smooth, then gradually beat in sugar mixture alternately with evaporated milk. Blend in vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy. If necessary, adjust consistency with more milk or sugar.