All About Brownies

June 13, 2018 by Sarah Blanchard in baking, sarah

The very day that I finished this post on my at-the-time favorite brownie recipe, Noah broke the news to me: they weren't his favorite.

You simply can't imagine the depths of frustration into which his statement threw me. The quest for the best brownie recipe--one that we both agreed on--has been a bit of a preoccupation for me. After finishing that post back in October, I thought I could finally rest easy. But now I see that a part of me knew I would never find peace on this topic. Why else did I decide to include the word "current" bracketed off in the blog post title? (As in, "Sarahs [current] favorite brownie recipe.") At the very moment that I was gushing over how this recipe was "my perfect, everyday, brownie satisfaction," my subconscious was hard at work undermining my complacency.

strawberry-filled Coconut Cake with blue ombre frosting

May 27, 2018 by Sarah Blanchard in sarah, baking

Boy, have a got a cake for your memorial day weekend!

Picture moist but light, not-too-sweet layers of vanilla cake kissed with coconut essence, sandwiched around a delightfully red strawberry jam and artfully smeared (a la royal wedding) with a fluffy blue ombre vanilla buttercream. It's summer appropriate, perfectly festive, and a tad more updated than your typical cookout fare (hello, red berry flag cake!). It's got a low-key blue and white vibe with a surprise dash of red inside.

Vintage recipes: Blitz Kuchen

May 14, 2018 by Maria Almeida in maria, projects, baking

Once, a long, long time ago, I embarked on a project called Vintage Recipes. Remember? You probably don't, and that's OK because it sure looks like I didn't either. But I'm finally getting a start! I'm looking forward to finding some unexpected winners.

What's my idea for this project? First step, to interpret and flesh out the recipes. Some of them are very bare bones with obscure ingredients and directions. I figure I'll follow the recipe with only minimal, if any, adjustments; then, if it seems to hold promise, I'll gradually fine tune it into a recipe I'll save forever.

Up first: Blitz Kuchen. Lightning cake. Sounds like my kind of thing. From just a glance at the ingredients I knew not to expect anything wild and crazy, but simple and basic often produce classic, winning results (like my favorite scone and sugar cookie recipes).

Yogurt Cake with Citrus Glaze and Yogurt Drizzle

May 09, 2018 by Sarah Blanchard in baking, sarah

This recipe is YUM.

I'm trying to think of another more intelligent way to explain it.

Let me put it this way: I made two loaves one afternoon. They were gone by the morning. Let me try again: I brought a loaf to a girls night. The four of us easily ate 3/4 of it in two hours. I may or may not have finished it off when I got home. Here's another scenario: I pulled a fresh loaf out of the oven, a friend stopped by, chat chat chat, 30 minutes later she says good-bye, and half a loaf is gone.

Dewberry buckle, or the hard won reward of berry gathering

April 30, 2018 by Maria Almeida in maria, baking

In Texas there is a prickly little bush found along paths, in parks, and in fields that yields a tart little berry called a dewberry. The dewberry is a lot like a blackberry in look and taste, and they grow here and there in careless abundance. There's something pretty addicting about wild berry picking. Not only is it satisfying to work for your food - and not having to pay for it like at pick your own farms - but you're constantly spotting "just one more little patch" with a goldmine of plump, juicy berries. Dewberries don't come entirely free, though - they come at the cost of a couple dozen pricker scratches up and down the hands and arm. You could theoretically avoid getting scratched if you are very careful but if you just haaaaaaave to get those fat ones nestled deep in the bush, your arm is going to pay.

A few days ago a friend of mine invited us over to her farm to berry pick. My kids were total champs and we came out with about three pints of berries after just an hour. And that's not counting all the berries consumed along the way. I told you, it's addicting. Fresh berries! Free! So what to do with an abundance of berries? I went back an forth for a while but decided I wanted a cake that was just loaded with berries - like, buckling under their weight. :)

My Favorite Blondie Recipe

April 26, 2018 by Sophie Barrows in baking, sophie

This is hands down favorite blondie recipe. It comes from Cook's Illustrated, which is rarely a bad thing. It also has an almost absurd amount of vanilla extract. But, the experts at CI say that it makes all the difference. The result is hard to argue with, so I'll take their word for it.

iced wedding dress sugar cookies

April 18, 2018 by Sarah Blanchard in sarah, food

I had a ton of fun making iced wedding dress sugar cookies for a bridal shower over the weekend. Usually, I don't have the patience to do a classic iced cookie, with the multiple steps of outlining, flooding, and then finishing with decorative piping on top -- not to mention the time waiting for the icing to dry in between, compounded when you are using multiple different colors!. More often than not, when making iced sugar cookies, I opt for the far simpler wet-on-wet technique (which can actually yield quite stunning results). You can imagine how pleasantly surprised I was by how therapeutic these classic iced sugar cookies turned out to be for me, especially when spaced out over a couple days. I particularly loved getting lost in the piping of the dress embellishments. It proved a tremendous creative outlet.

Robin Egg cake bites

April 07, 2018 by Sarah Blanchard in sarah, baking

For Easter this year, I fell in love with the idea of doing a Robin-egg-themed dessert...something that was a beautiful speckled blue. In the course of my pre-holiday shopping, I came across these turquoise Wilton candy melts (you can find similar ones here) and I was sold on the idea: I was going to make Robin Egg cake bites! Perfect for an Easter brunch (next year!) or any Spring-themed spread, these moist chocolate cake balls are shaped into ovals, dipped in blue melting chocolate, and speckled all over.

Easter Candy

March 31, 2018 by Sophie Barrows in baking, sophie

For the past three years, my younger sister-in-law and I have been trying to make the bulk of the Easter basket candy ourselves. We have a lot of fun doing it, and the candy is all the more special. Here are the recipes we've used, if you'd like to give it a shot too!

sweet cheese babka

March 28, 2018 by Sarah Blanchard in baking, sarah

We grew up getting our babka from a local Polish Deli. It wasn't until later on that we began making it ourselves. We love a good chocolate babka, but this sweet cheese babka, with swirls of rich cream cheese filling and piles of crumble on top, will always take first place.

Salty sweet peanut butter chocolate chip pretzel date cookies

March 25, 2018 by Maria Almeida in baking, maria

I really don’t bake cookies that often but today I wanted peanut butter, pretzels, dates, and chocolate (hello pregnant!) and couldn’t think of a better platform for that combination than a warm gooey cookie. Blitzed up oats to chocolate chip cookies gives them a delightful chew, dates add a wonderful sweet contrast to the salty peanut butter and pretzels, but you can just do all chocolate chips.

If you can stop yourself from eating all the dough you’re going to love these sweet, salty, chewy cookies.

vanilla cream-filled sugar donuts

March 19, 2018 by Maria Almeida in baking, maria

Homemade donuts are an incredibly rewarding endeavor and a delicious treat that you should try at least once, and here I am to dispel any of your fears or hesitations about making them!

Guinness brownie fudge with Bailey's brown butter icing

March 15, 2018 by Sarah Blanchard in baking, sarah

There's no way around it: these brownies are ridiculously indulgent. Moist, super dense, super chocolate brownies, baked with a Guinness Stout reduction that gives them an earthy dark depth, brushed with Bailey's cream, you know, to lighten things up, and then topped with more Bailey's in a brown butter icing party. And no, that isn't a typo in the title. I meant "brownie fudge" not "fudge brownie," because these rest solidly somewhere between fudge and brownie...and probably more fudge than brownie!

Coconut crusted brown butter banana cake

March 11, 2018 by Maria Almeida in baking, maria

The coconut topping gets caramelized during baking and creates a sweet, buttery, chewy topping. The browned butter adds depth of flavor and the cake is moist and tender. It's like the dressed up sister of banana bread. Plus, it passes for dessert and is still totally acceptable for breakfast.

Hazelnut caramel Meringue cake

January 24, 2018 by Maria Almeida in baking, maria

This is my favorite aspect of making cakes: coming up with all the elements. I love looking at cake recipes in cookbooks and on blogs, but I usually end up picking and choosing from a number of different sources for my own vision or what have you. This hazelnut cake is really fantastic, which you'd expect from Cook's Country. Ganache and meringue are pretty standard recipes. The frosting, though ... I could go on and on about this frosting. It's my go-to. I find it to have the lightness of a Swiss meringue buttercream but without the fussiness of the egg whites. The cooked flour method dates way back so, really, it's a tried and true recipe.

peppermint fudge brownies

December 13, 2017 by Sarah Blanchard in baking, sarah

So, for a few months there this was my favorite brownie recipe. But over the weekend I revisited my old favorite brownie recipe and, well, it's back to being my favorite. Because it is truly amazing. I don't know what I was thinking.

Actually, I do know what I was thinking. That other recipe is so quick to make, and comes out more like a standard brownie box mix. No-fuss, simple plain-old brownie goodness. Something you wouldn't feel bad about scooping ice cream on top. Or layering in an ice cream cake.

THIS Peppermint Fudge Brownie, on the other hand, stands alone. With a deep cocoa flavor, fudge-like consistency, peppermint filling and laden with chocolate chips, it would border on obscene to serve it with anything else.

Fall Flavors & A Fantastic Kitchen Tool

November 08, 2017 by Sophie Barrows in sophie, baking

We finally had our first frost in Maryland just a couple weeks ago. Fall has been pretty delayed. For our gardening business, it was pretty great! But, for the love of cooler weather and all the joys that entails, it was a touch sad.

Banana Bread

November 08, 2017 by Maria Almeida in baking, maria

This is the recipe you turn to when you have brown mushy bananas that you need to use up. This is the recipe you turn to when you're craving a moist, delicious banana bread with great flavor. This is the recipe you turn to when you only want to have to wash ONE bowl. You've probably caught on to this by now, but in my opinion sometimes basic is best. No frills, no whistles, just flavor and texture.

pumpkin cranberry cake with brown butter frosting

November 03, 2017 by Sarah Blanchard in sarah, baking

This is a recipe I discovered in a food magazine in high school, and I've been making it every fall ever since. The cake batter is so easy to mix up (no mixing aid required). It uses one full can of pumpkin puree (no leftovers to deal with). The pumpkin flavor is not overpowering, adding a subtle earthiness and a delicious moistness to the cake. The cranberries add a bit of zing, and the Brown Butter Frosting takes this treat to the next level.

almond cranberry biscotti

October 27, 2017 by Sarah Blanchard in sarah, baking

Biscotti is just an excuse to have cookies for breakfast, and I am 100% okay with that. This recipe for biscotti has no pretenses to anything other than a sweet, crunchy bite. Heck! It even has chocolate drizzled on top. But they are also loaded with almonds and cranberries, which makes them both satisfying and nutritious. They are just tender enough to be eaten on their own without breaking any teeth, but they hold up extremely well--and perhaps are improved--when dipped in coffee, which brings them into the breakfast realm, which, like I said, is fine by me.