Merry Christmas - Brownies!

One of my "borrowed" kids texted me earlier today. She's recently moved back home and can't find her copy of the cookbook in her boxes of stuff. I totally relate, I moved a lot when I was in college - 6 times in one year! So, at her request, I'm posting the brownie recipe from the cookbook so it's easily accessible for her. 

This is my basic brownie recipe, there are lots of variations I do to this recipe and it's highly adaptable. So get creative with it!

Equipment You’ll Need

·        9”x13” or 7”x15” or 2 - 8”x8” pans or mini-muffin tin

·        Whisk or mixer

·        Silicone spatula or wooden spoon

·        Large and medium/small mixing bowls (2)

·        Microwavable cup large enough to accommodate the butter or small sauce pan

·        Measuring cups and spoons

·        Baking spray or extra softened butter and flour or parchment paper

  

Groceries Needed

1 ⅔ cups sugar

¾ cups butter, melted

2 tbsp milk

3 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1 ⅓ cups flour

¾ cup unsweetened cocoa or 3 oz. melted unsweetened baker’s chocolate

½ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

1 cup choc chips (minis work best)

½ tsp instant coffee or espresso

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Use a baking spray, parchment paper, or grease and flour baking pans
2. In one bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt and chocolate chips.
3. Melt butter in a microwave or a sauce pan.
4. Pour melted butter into a mixing bowl, add the sugar and milk and mix on medium (or whisk by hand) until well creamed.
5. Add in the vanilla, coffee, and eggs. Continue mixing on medium until well blended. For a crunchier top, beat the eggs before adding them in.
6. Turn off the mixer as you’ll be doing the rest by hand. Add about ½ of the dry mix to the wet ingredients and stir in by hand (I tend to fold them in at first to cut down on cocoa “blow back”. Add the remaining dry and mix and stir in by hand until fully incorporated.
7. Pour batter into pan(s) and bake for 18-25 minutes or until a fork comes out clean. A little bit under-cooked is ok. Let the brownies completely cool in the pan.

What I've been working on...

Like may bakers, I have more than one job and hobby. These aprons are going with me to the Merry Market at Pine Rest this month. Whatever doesn't sell there, will tag along to future craft sales. I find that sometimes the aprons help draw attention to the cookbook, other times it's reversed.

I'll be back to baking soon. Lemon treats are calling me during these cold months.

Banana Bread Bars with "Evil" Frosting

The frosting isn't truly evil, but everyone seems to be craving it since they first got a taste of it. I don't remember where I first ran across the idea for banana bread bars, but I used to get something very similar fairly often off of a cart in downtown LA where I used to work eons ago. The thing I remember most about those delicious treats I had with the baker who confirmed my identification of the secret ingredient: cinnamon. I'm a cinnamon addict, it ends up in most of what I bake.

When I ran across post in Facebook showing something similar I had to go take a look, but everything I was finding used greek yogurt or sour cream. I don't use those in my baking. I have nothing against greek yogurt, I simply don't have it on hand most of the time. I'm no fan of sour cream so that's only in the house if I'm making something specific that only tastes right with sour cream.

Bake to my own recipes I went comparing what I use for banana bread against the ratios in the recipes I was finding. In my rooting around the web I ran across a post describing banana bread bars with brown butter frosting. I'd never heard about brown butter frosting before and I had to learn how to make it. YouTube to the rescue! The frosting is simple enough and I tweaked the recipes I found to get the familiar taste I was looking for.

I currently do not have pictures of these to load - they are gone too fast. I will add picture soon though.

With no further ado, here's the recipes. The frosting is easier than it seems on paper, the one caveat is to make sure you have a good whisk (one covered in silicone is even better) and be prepared to get a good arm workout.

Equipment needed

• Medium mixing bowls (at least 2)
• Medium or large saucepan - it needs to be big enough to handle 4 cups of powered sugar
• 13"x9" baking pan
• Parchment paper
• Potato masher
• Whisk
• Wooden spoon
• Spatula (for spreading the frosting)

Groceries Needed

For the banana bread bars:

• 1.5 cups sugar (granulated)
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 3/4 cup buttermilk or whole milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 eggs, large/extra large
• 1.75 cups mashed bananas
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon

For the frosting:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 4 cups powdered sugar (sifted or fluffed with a fork)
• 1.5 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 3 tablespons milk

Directions

Banana Bread Bars

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. In one medium mixing bowl, mash the bananas, they should be somewhat "chunky"
3. Melt the butter (I use my microwave)
4. In the other medium mixing bowl, add the sugar, butter, buttermilk, vanilla, baking soda and cinnamon. Whisk or stir together using a wooden spoon. Make sure the eggs are well mixed and the yolks have broken. You can use a mixer for this step, I find it easier to use the whisk,
5. Add the flour and stir in with a wooden spoon.
6. Add the mashed bananas and fold or stir in with the spoon.
7. Line the baking pan with parchment paper, at least line the bottom of the pan. This makes cleanup and getting the bars out of the pan much easier.
8. Pour batter into baking pan, use the wooden spoon to evenly spread the batter across the pan.
9. Bake for 25-30 minutes, test with a fork to ensure dough is cooked in the middle.
10. Let cool completely before frosting. I usually make these the night before and the frosting the day of delivery or eating.

Brown Butter Frosting

1. Measure the vanilla and milk into a cup, and set aside but near your stove.
2. Measure out the powered sugar and cinnamon into another bowl and stir together to fluff it up a bit. Sift it if it is lumpy as this will help with getting the frosting smooth.
3. Heat the butter in a saucepan until it is boiling. Use medium or high heat depending on your stove. Let the butter turn light brown before removing it from the heat. It will foam, the foam will actually turn a brown/beige color when it is ready. This is easier than you think. Don't disturb the butter while it is melting and reaching a boil or it will disrupt the process and never get brown.
4. Once the butter is done and removed from heat, add the powered sugar mixture and begin whisking, it will get difficult quickly, at this point add the vanilla and milk mixture and it will get a lot easier.
5. Keep whisking until the frosting is smooth. Once it's smooth, pour onto the cooled banana bread bar. Spread the frosting across the pan, it firms up quickly.

Check Yourself!

First of December and it looks like the "cancer calendar" is taking a month off. However, cancer never takes a break, so I'm here to remind you to know your own normal.

Don't be afraid to demand tests, don't hesitate to demand tests.  If your doctor won't listen find another.

Know your normal, trust your gut, and never be afraid to be your own advocate.

For those that celebrate around this time of year Happy Holiday! Happy Channukah, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanza, and Happy or Merry whatever else I may have missed.

Cookbook Reviewed!

I'm so excited! My cookbook got reviewed by a very busy blogger with a fun blog. Normally Lisa K's blog is dedicated to cozy mysteries and their authors, but she's started doing cookbooks lately. For those of you not in the know or familiar with the Cozy Mystery genre, cookbooks are not a big stretch as most cozy mysteries include recipes as well.

She gave me a very nice review. If you are so inclined you can find the review posted on 11/29/2018 on her blog:  http://lisaksbookthoughts.blogspot.com/2018/11

If you're looking for new authors, I suggest you take a look at her blog.

Lisa K's Book Reviews

Creamy California Blend Veggie Soup

If you're unfamiliar with the term "California Blend" when referring to veggies, it's broccoli, cauliflower and carrots (the carrots are usually in a crinkle cut). Thought I should explain that first before I get into this amazingly filling and rich soup.

The base recipe can be used for any kind of creamy soup really, so if you don't have California Blend veggies on hand, you can basically throw any of your favorite frozen or fresh veggies in and come out okay.

First a peek at what it looks like when all is said and done (please forgive me, I am terribly deficient as a photographer).

This can be made in a crockpot or a regular stockpot. The one thing I've learned is when using fresh veggies, you will need to cook it longer, so the crockpot is a bit more handy. With frozen veggies, it's fast enough to just use a regular stockpot. With the way my stove is I tend to use my 5 quart non-stick pan. Fair warning: this soup requires a LOT more stirring than my other soups to keep things from burning or sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Here's the cool warning: you can make the creamy base ahead of time for a quick "fill-the-crockpot-as-I'm-running-out-the-door-late-to-work-again" meal.

Okay, all warnings out of the way, then here's your grocery list.


Groceries Needed

• 1 stick of butter  (1/4 cup)
• 1 cup diced yellow onion  (usually 1/2 of a small yellow onion does the trick)
• 2 cups diced celery  (take note of this 2-to-1 ratio when increasing this recipe)
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup all purpose unbleached flour
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 3/4 cup milk  (I actually used skim milk and it was still very rich)
• 3/4 cup half-n-half or similar cream
• 1 package frozen California Blend veggie mix (16 oz. or 24 oz.)
• 1 garlic clove OR 1 tsp. dried minced garlic

OR

• 1 head fresh broccoli
• 1 head fresh cauliflower
• 1 bunch carrots or 12 oz. bag of crinkle cut carrots

(Some creamy soup recipes add sugar, I found the carrots add enough sweet to this.}

Stockpot Instructions

A 5 quart pan of any type will work, although for easiest cleanup, a non-stick pot is recommended.

Here's how I made this soup:

1. Remove frozen veggies from the freezer to thaw a bit. If using fresh veggies, see the note below.
2. Wash and chop a head of celery. If you end up with more than 2 cups don't sweat it. I really load mine up with loads of celery; I like the way it kicks up the flavor
3. Peel and chop up 1/2 of the onion. Too much onion or it over powers the soup (experience talking here). 
4. Put the stick of butter in the pot and turn it on medium heat. The butter will need to be melted before you add the celery and onion in.
5. While the butter is melting, mince the garlic clove.
6. Once the butter is melted add in the celery, onion and garlic. Sau the combination until the veggies are tender and the onion is translucent - this usually takes about 5 minutes.
7. Add the flour, stirring it in well and cook for 1 minute.
8. Add the broth, cream and milk and stir it until it is smooth. Don't forget to stir up from the bottom of the pan so the flour doesn't stick and then burn.
9. Increase the heat until the broth is simmering. This will vary depending on your stove, for my old electric it was medium-high.
10. IF you are making just the base soup, stop here, turn off the heat, and move the pot someplace to cool off. Put the soup into storage containers and freeze.
11. Reduce the heat back to medium.
12. Add in the vegetables and simmer for 5 minutes, uncovered.
13. Serve hot, add salt and pepper to taste.

NOTE: If you are using fresh vegetables, cut them all before starting on the celery and onions. You'll want to cut the florets off of the broccoli and cauliflower, and slice up the carrots so you have round "pucks". If you can crinkle cut your carrots, even better. You'll need at least 1 cup of each cup up veggie, but adjust to fit your tastes. I tend to add more, especially with broccoli.



Crockpot Instructions


There are two ways to start the crockpot version, using some pre-made creamy soup from the freezer or starting fresh on the stove.

Here we go!

1. If starting with a fresh base, complete Steps 1-8 from the Stockpot version first and then pour into the crockpot.
2. If starting with a frozen base, place the frozen soup in the crockpot and put on medium until can be stirred.
3. Once the soup can be stirred, dump in all of the veggies.
4. Cook on whatever heat works for your timeline. I usually cook it for 8 hours, which is low heat on my crockpot. If I'm in a rush, I'll put it on high for 4 hours. Either time works fine for fresh frozen veggies.
5. Serve hot and salt and pepper to taste.

 That's it. Way easier than I ever thought it would be. Wish I'd learned this earlier, I would have made a lot more home made soups with less salt and fewer preservatives.

National Novel Writing Month

November is the start of National Novel Writing Month - a.k.a. NaNoWriMo. I'll be participating again this year, so I may be a bit late in responding to any questions you may send me.

If you're curious as to what this odd event might be, or you have the urge to do some creative writing, you can check it out here:

National Novel Writing Month

In the meantime, here's their little blurb...

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to creative writing. 

On November 1, participants begin working towards the goal of writing a 50,000-word novel by 11:59 PM on November 30.

Valuing enthusiasm, determination, and a deadline, NaNoWriMo is for anyone who has ever thought about writing a novel.