Brown Butter Blondies with White Chocolate

I've been using my underdeveloped photography skills as a recent excuse for not blogging. I'll make a new recipe I just love or tweak an old recipe and be dying to share it with all of you, and then I'll look at the photographs and pause.

Sometimes it's the light that's all wrong. I often blame the only window in my apartment, far from my kitchen and on street level so the blinds are too often kept closed.

Other times, I'll have photos of the process all along the way, but I'll somehow have forgotten to photograph the finished product.

Or, like with this recipe, I'll only have a picture of the finished product (and an Instagram photo at that!). Look closely, and you can just see the blondies below that massive label.

Perhaps it's that I secretly never choose to cook recipes without photographs, so I feel guilty sharing them with you or nervous that you feel the same way and won't look any further.

Maybe I'll update this recipe with a better photograph later on, or maybe I won't. Either way, these blondies are delicious! The brown butter adds a delightful nuttiness, and the white chocolate ensures that each bit is just loaded with goodness. These bars are dense, something you can really sink your teeth into.

So make the blondies, despite the picture.

Carmelitas

I'm not quite ready for fall to be over.

It seems like the fall season had just flown by, complete with a tropical hurricane and then a dreadful winter storm where snow ACTUALLY stuck to the ground for more than a few minutes and leaves were ripped from trees. Store windows are already filling with Christmas decorations, and yes, we did play Christmas songs on Friday night.

What I want are the days like Sunday. Days where it's in the 60s and sunny. Days where you leave in the morning thinking you'll need your jacket but take it off while you're at the playground with adorable kids or going on a long stroll with a good friend.  Days where the farmers' market is still overflowing with fresh produce.

These carmelitas combine everything I love into one perfect fall dessert bar. There's a buttery, oat-filled crust that's not too hard. There's an gooey layer of caramel that's still soft in the middle of the bar. Each bite is filled with bittersweet chocolate.

I cut these small because it's hard to have just one. And I'll savor these for awhile because they help me extend that fall feeling a little longer.

S'mores Bars

It's summer. Growing up, summer meant lots of bonfires. We'd sit around the fire pit for hours, whether we were out camping with the family or in a friend's backyard.

We'd have hot dogs and hobo dinners, those classic meals wrapped in tin foil and filled with any veggies or meats we had on hand. We'd have to sit close to the fire to cook. We'd get hot and impatient. Sometimes we'd eat our food lukewarm (we were lucky it was generally pre-cooked), but nice smoky flavor from the fire still made it's way into each of our dishes.

With dinner done, we'd move on to my favorite course. Dessert.

It was almost always s'mores.

Gooey. Loaded with chocolate. Stuffed with two marshmallows (for good measure) that were golden and puffed. Layered in between graham crackers.

Delicious.

Living in the city really limits my access to authentic s'mores, cooked over the fire and enjoyed outdoors.

I miss them. I can't help it.

So I decided to bring s'mores inside, in handy bar form, so I could enjoy them more often. They're not quite the same, they've got all the same flavors as that classic outdoor s'more, and they are much, much less messy. And, I added in bittersweet chocolate. Plus a brownie layer for good measure.

Take one bite, and I promise, you'll want s'more. 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Brownie Bars

I've been winning contests since I was a kid. I'm not talking about the kind of contest where you need to have real skill and talent to win.

I'm talking about the contests where you enter your name and can randomly have your name drawn out of a hat as the winner.

I don't know what it is. Maybe since I won young, I've been more tempted to enter since then, increasing my chances over those who just walk by and think they don't have a chance.

Just a theory. 

As a kid, I won the huge Christmas stocking at the grocery store. It was taller than me. Taller than my dad, even. It was stuffed with cheap grocery store toys, and I loved it.

From the library's summer reading program, I won an awesome pair of roller skates. With whatever color wheels I wanted. :) 

I won a free library worth of books for my classroom (200 new Scholastic books), and a free library of books to give to another classroom in my school.

Most recently, it was The Cookie Dough Lover's Cookbook, published by Lindsay of Love and Olive Oil. I won it from a delightful blog giveaway she hosted.

It's amazing. I am nothing if not a cookie dough lover, and the cookbook, which features her egg-free cookie dough, shows you how to bring cookie dough into every baked good you can think of.

Since I've been on a chocolate and peanut butter kick since I was born, I had to bring peanut butter into her chocolate chip cookie dough brownie bars.

It was the right choice. As we've been over, peanut butter makes almost everything with chocolate in it even better.

And I made them in muffin tins to create individual cakes. Just to be cute.

They come together in a snap because you can whip up the cookie dough while the brownies are baking. When you top them with a scoop of ice cream, they get even more fantastic.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Crispy Bars

As an elementary school teacher, I should have known better. Whatever you put off limits or ask students not to do is immediately more desirable.

That's why there are no pictures of me slicing these bars.

I told my friend Thomas that my hands always look huge when I take pictures of myself cooking. Which of course meant he proceeded to take a series of photos designed to make my hands look as huge as possible.

He was successful.

Any hands you see in these pictures are his. Mine have been edited out.

When I was in college, friends wrote a play called "Don't Look at the Monkey" where they explored this concept. The premise: put a monkey in the center of the room, tell people not to look at it, and then have actors perform around it.

We never put it on, since it was hard to get our hands on a monkey, but we knew what would happen. People would watch the monkey, just because they were being told not to.

And because monkeys on their own are pretty entertaining. 

Luckily you don't miss much without the "me slicing the bars" photo. The bars themselves are the real stars here.

I visited Baked earlier in the day, saw these, and knew that's what I would be baking that night.

They are addictive. I have three left in my fridge right now, and it's taking all my self restraint to not eat one now. Before dinner.

There's a crispy bar on the bottom, less sweet than a Rice Krispy treat and even more delicious. Next, there's a decadent chocolate and peanut butter layer that just melts in your mouth. A layer of melted chocolate on top finishes it all off perfectly.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars

There are major perks to being an elementary school teacher that go beyond the joy I get from teaching.

Perhaps the biggest is that you have regular access to Girl Scout cookies. Take this box of Tagalongs, for example.

They've been sitting on my dresser for two weeks now.

The box is still sealed. It has to be.

I'm worried that if I open them, I'll devour them all.

Chocolate and peanut butter are my weakness, but I'm not telling all of you anything new.

It's not my fault. I think it's in my DNA.

I've been a fan of chocolate and peanut butter for as long as I can remember.

I can't even resist this chocolate peanut butter ice cream. I ate it every day on the beach in Florida a few spring breaks ago, even though it was voted the most unhealthy supermarket ice cream. My version of unhealthy is a bit different than their's. I think the ice creams with all the artificial ingredients are the unhealthy ones, and that this one is just about perfect.

But I digress.

These chocolate peanut butter oatmeal bars are the actual reason I didn't open the Tagalongs. With these around, the Tagalongs just weren't as tempting.

The base has chocolate wafer cookies and peanut butter, topped with a layer of semi-sweet chocolate and drizzled with more peanut butter and milk chocolate.

Cut them into small pieces. Immediately bring them somewhere. Far from your house.

(Leave a few at home for yourself.)

Salted Brown Butter Crispy Bars with Samoas

I didn't like rice crispy treats much as a kid, probably because they were missing chocolate. And because most of the rice crispies I had were the pre-packaged, factory-made kind.

I probably hadn't had one in years, and I certainly hadn't missed them.

I should have just left it at that. I should have known better.

Because now that I've experienced these brown butter rice crispy treats, I'm addicted. I've had four rice crispy bars in the past two days alone.

I started with brown butter, which gave the bars a nice, nutty flavor. A pinch of sea salt creates that perfect contrast between sweet and salt.

I should have stopped there.

But, there were Girl Scout Samoa cookies sitting on my dresser, just calling my name. I opened the package and started chopping.

I lined the bottom of the pan with the rice crispy mixture, and then I topped it with a generous layer of chopped Samoa cookies. That received another layer of rice crispy mixture, followed by a final layer of Samoa cookies.

They're to die for. Each bite has a bit of sugar, a bit of salt, and some coconut and chocolate thrown in for good measure.

Be warned.

And, be sure to visit Deseret News to see their post about 30 different ways to bake with Girl Scout cookies, which includes this treat!

Blondies

I teach students who dislike chocolate.

I know what you're thinking. Really? They exist?

It's hard to believe, but they do.

They're the ones who turn down chocolate cupcakes during their classmates' birthdays and frown when I pull out brownies for a special treat.

So, I went to blondies for my last "bake for my students" project. I wanted a treat everyone would enjoy, and I also wanted to try something different.

I was also out of chocolate.

Deb calls these brownies infinitely adaptable, and I imagine that they are. I threw in M&Ms (I figured the few pieces of chocolate wouldn't distract the chocolate haters too much), but I would have happily included coconut, pecans and chocolate.

Easy. Easy. Easy.

Day Twelve: Lemon Bars

As a child, I never saw the appeal of lemon bars. They were too sour and too sweet, all at that same time. Plus, they were completely devoid of chocolate. I passed them over year after year.

I rediscovered these lemon bars as an adult, much to my delight.

I love the ratio of shortbread to lemon filling in these bars. Each bite feels perfectly balanced. They're a great addition to your Christmas cookie plate. Though not necessarily cookies, they'll bring a burst of flavor to your celebration.

Check back tomorrow for a roundup of the Twelve Days of Cookies and to see any posts you might have missed!

Chocolate Chip Oreo Brownie Bars of Goodness

My students are bombarded by stories from my baking life. At least once a week, I tell them a story about a treat I made, a lesson I learned while baking, or a disaster I had in the kitchen (they particularly loved that one).

But I've never had a bigger reaction to my cooking than I did the day I brought these treats in for our Compliment Celebration. I don't think I've ever gotten more hugs (though it does mean my pictures are limited). And I was certainly glad I saved these treats for the last 10 minutes of the school day.

If you're looking at that picture and still thinking, "Katie, I'm not convinced," let me share with you some key quotes from my students that may persuade you.

• This is the best dessert I have EVER had. EVER. In my ENTIRE life. 
• Will you blog about the recipe? And send the link to my mom? 
• If you make this for me every day, I'll faint! 

This dessert couldn't be easier, and while it goes a bit against my homemade baking philosophy, I really did love the one, small brownie bar bite I had. And after eating that small piece, I was even happier that I had given the rest away. These are addictive. They're overwhelming and overindulgent in the best possible ways. 

Imagine a soft chocolate chip cookie crust, topped with double-stuffed Oreos and finished off with a warm dark chocolate brownie.  

Best of all, they come together in a snap. It's much quicker than making chocolate chip cookies because you don't have to bake tray after tray of cookies. It's just as easy as making boxed brownies. And with brownies, chocolate chip cookies and Oreos, it's three times as good. 

Baked Sunday Mornings: Grasshopper Bars

In college, we got our hands on a video titled "Cooking with Cordials." It was an old promotional video from the 1950s put out by Hiram Walker. The video matches my ideas about the 1950s perfectly. The stay-at-home wife prepares the vegetable and fruit dishes with cordials, while the businessman cooks the liquor-glazed roast. The cordial dishes they create are just over top. Imagine peas floating in bright green creme de menthe. Fruit salad stewing for hours in a cordial bath.

Try as I might to find a clip for you, an internet search turned up no results. My apologies. It's horribly entertaining, and I think my description doesn't do it justice.

So this weekend, I cooked with cordials. Hiram Walker creme de menthe, to be exact. A huge bottle of it because that was the smallest size my liquor store had. Any suggestions of what to do with the rest are greatly appreciated.

I made the Grasshopper Bars from Baked Explorations: Classic American Desserts Reinvented. The base is a thick fudge-brownie layer. It's topped with a creamy mint layer and a firm layer of chocolate ganache. I omitted the mint extract since I didn't have it, but I was glad. The bars were minty enough as is, and I think the extract would have been too much.

The bars sliced up beautiful. Baked mentions they're equally appropriate for a child's snack after school and for a beautiful plated dessert to finish a dinner party. I found they were perfect with good friends, long conversations and wine.

To view the recipe for these delicious bars and to see all the other bloggers who baked Grasshopper Bars this week, visit Baked Sunday Mornings!