Sweet Heat

It's hot in my kitchen... and it's not me. It's the oven. And the sun. And the fact that my air conditioner has yet to be installed for the summer. Alas, I must still satisfy the people in my life that understand how much butter goes into everything I bake and still demand more.

This post will encompass all of May's adventures in baking. I feel fatter just looking at it.

My co-worker got married a couple weeks ago and asked me to make some of the Russian Tea Cakes I'd brought into work once for the reception. Since it was for a special occasion I decided to go CUH-RAZY and make a batch with chocolate! Living on the culinary edge, I know.


Yes. The balls of butter were delicious.












Suivant...

I dislike peanut butter. A lot. But other people like it and once again I aim to please. I attempted a batch of Peanut Butter Brownies and even though I thought they tasted mediocre (I am biased) they were quite the hit.

I made them and the following two creations for an event at work and therefore wanted to invest as little effort as possible. The next recipes are simple enough for me to do all in one evening. Without doing methamphetamine.

Preheat your oven to 350ºF and grease a 13x9-inch baking pan.

Then, beat 3/4 cup of melted butter in a large bowl.

Mmm. Add the 1 3/4 cups of sugar and 2 teaspoons of vanilla. Following that, in a separate small bowl, lightly beat 4 eggs and then add them to the mixture and beat until it's all blended.

Stir in 1 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt until blended. Scoop out 1 3/4 cups of the batter and put it aside.

Stir in 1/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder into the bigger bowl of batter.

Spread the chocolate batter evenly (or you know, as close as you can get it... I lost patience, as demonstrated by the scars left by my spatula.)

Then spread the peanut butter batter you had previously put aside on top.


Luscious.

Bake for 30 minutes or until the edges start to pull away from the sides of the pan. My oven is uncooperative and I can never just set a timer and walk away or things burn and then I throw them out the window. (TO THE HOMELESS.... ahem.) Completely cool them in the pan on a wire rack.

Slice them up and enjoy. As much as one can enjoy peanut butter.


I wanted to bake some cookies but then decided to make them more into a bar format, something thick and chewy and yes, high on the caloric value. So here is a recipe I thought up on the fly, which ended up being the most loved thing at the event. People like cookies.

Lacking-Clever-Name Cookie Bars

Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Line a 9-inch square pan with foil, and then grease it.

Beat 3/4 cup packed brown sugar and 1/2 cup of butter (by the way, I always and only used unsalted butter as most recipes call for salt and well your baked goods usually shouldn't taste like salt,) in a large bowl at medium speed until all blended. Beat in 1 egg and 1 teaspoon vanilla until light and fluffy and like you want to smash your face into the bowl. Mix in 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda and 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

Add 1 cup + 2 tablespoons (I just added to it was right- do what I say,) of all-purpose flour until again it is all well blended.

Mix in 2/3 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips, 2/3 cup of white chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of nuts. I used cashews because (a) they are fattening and (b) it's what I had in my cupboard. Walnuts or pecans would be good too, I'm sure.

Spread the batter into the pan and bake for 23-ish minutes (again, watch them around 20 mins in) or until the center feels firm. Don't over-bake it as then it will lose the chewy consistency. I pulled mine own when it looked nowhere near done (but it was passed 20 minutes and I don't trust my oven) and let them cool before shoving them in the fridge to set and they were purrrfect.

I skipped a step.




When you release them from the scorching heat of the oven sprinkle leftover chocolate and white chocolate chips over the top (1/3 cup of each is good.) Let them melt and then spread it over the bars so they look like a mess. Cool them completely in the pan until they are set. Cut them in whatever shape you want.


I vote for triangles.
Lastly, I went a little extravagant and wanted to finally try making the Toffee Crunch Cheesecake I'd been thinking about for weeks.

Pre-heat to 350ºF. First thing you will need to do is make the crust. There are two ways of doing this. You can have fun or be lame. I vote for fun. Lame version: buy the Oreo cookie crumb that comes in a box. (See? Boring.) Fun: buy chocolate or vanilla cookies or wafers and SMASH THE SHIT OUTTA THEM. Seriously. Until they are almost dust. I promise you will enjoy this... if you don't smash them all over the floor.

Once the crumb is ready, combine 8 ounces of it (if you bought the box kind, you suck, and the box will tell you how much to use for a crust) with 1/4 cup of melted butter and then press it into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan.

I can tell you, as I'm not scared of you, that I absolutely put more than 8 ounces of crumb at the bottom of that pan. I like a substantial crust and I could tell that what they were asking me to do was just not enough. So do what you feel is right. No pressure.


Time for the filling. Writing out recipes this way is tough. I should have told you earlier that your cream cheese needs to be room temperature. Once it is, beat 3 packages (8 ounces each) of softened cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar and 1/4 cup of packed light brown sugar in large bowl until nice and smooth. You will need 3 eggs, and you will need to add them one at a time beating them well into the mixture before adding the next one.



Gently stir in 1 3/4 cups of toffee bits
(I use the SKOR bits) and 1 1/4 teaspoons of vanilla.





Pour it into the prepared crust.


Bake for about 45 mins. Cheesecake needs to be watched as once it's over-baked cracks begin to form all over it. You should remove it once it's almost-set aka you may think you're not ready for that jelly but you would be false.

Remove it from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool. Carefully run a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the cheesecake. Cool it COMPLETELY before removing the side of the pan. (I'm serious, don't screw this up.)

Cover that baby up and refrigerate it so it sets fully. Now, considering by this point it was almost 1:00am and I had been baking for hours, I lost track of time and the cheesecake stayed in the oven just a minute too long. Luckily for failures like me, you can shove toffee bits all over the cheesecake and camouflage that bitch! Magic.



I also (happily) decided to bring cupcakes to a baby shower at the last minute. They are having another girl, hence the pink icing! Too hot to be creative so I did the basic double-chocolate cupcake and buttercream icing. Classic. And pretty.

















I should stop eating batter.

FIN.