Red Velvet Brownies

This is another recipe that I found on pinterest. I love that it takes the traditional red velvet cake and makes it into a brownie form. It was simple to make and you only need one bowl when making the batter. This is a plus for me because I always seem to end up using all the bowls in my kitchen when I am baking!

The recipe also calls for cream cheese frosting which is easy to make. If you dont like cream cheese frosting then you can always jazz it up by using which chocolate chips in the batter. I am going to use chocolate chips the next time I make them because of course it didnt dawn on me to use them until after they were already in the oven!

Ingredients
1 (4-oz.) bittersweet chocolate baking bar, chopped
3/4 cup butter
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 (1-oz.) bottle red liquid food coloring
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt

Frosting
1 (8-oz.) package cream cheese, softened
3  bsp butter, softened
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

- Preheat oven to 350. Grease 9x9 baking dish.
- Microwave butter and chocolate in a large microwave safe bowl until completely melter. Stir to combine.
- Add sugar and mix well.
- Add eggs one at a time and whisk until combined.
- Add flour and gently stir until combined.
- Add baking powder, vanilla, salt, and red food coloring and mix until just combined.
- Pour into baking dish and bake for roughly 45 minutes until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean/few moist crumbs. Place on wire rack and allow to cool.

-For frosting, beat the cream cheese and butter until creamy and combined. Add the vanilla and mix. Add the salt and confectioners sugar and mix until creamy and smooth. Frost over cooled brownies.

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

What is better to go with yummy fall desserts than some delicious vanilla ice cream?! I bought a kitchen-aid mixer a couple years ago and absolutely love it. One of the reasons I love it so much is that they have a really great line of attachements that you can add to it. One of those awesome attachments is an ice cream maker. There is something so satisfying about being able to make your own ice cream. The great thing about it is that it is so easy to do! So if you do have an ice cream maker of any kind, here is a great vanilla bean ice cream that will certainly become a regular in your freezer!

Ingredients
3 cups heavy cream (you can also do 2 cups heavy cream, 1 cup whole milk)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 vanilla bean seed
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt

- Slice vanilla bean and scrape vanilla bean seeds into pot filled with 1 cup of cream, sugar and salt. I did not use an actually vanilla bean in this recipe, I used my vanilla bean crush extract which has seeds in it. Just wanted to note that as it is another alternative.
- Heat the mixture over medium heat until the sugar is all disolved.

- Take mixture off the heat and pour into a bowl. Add the remaining two cups of cream and a tsp of vanilla extract (i used my no seed extract for this tsp) place in refrigerator until thoroughly chilled. I usually leave mine in overnight.

- Once the mixture has been thoroughly chilled, pour into the ice cream maker and follow directions according to whichever maker you have.
- For the kitchen-aid, I turn it onto Stir and let it churn for roughly 20-25 minutes. It will look like soft serve ice cream.

- Place ice cream into freezer safe container and let it ripen and harden up. I usually churn it in the morning before work and by the evening it is all set.

Apple Crisp

Tis the season for apples, so here is yet another apple recipe. This apple crisp recipe has a little twist in that it uses nuts in the topping instead of the traditional oats. The nuts help give the topping the crisp that an apple crisp often lacks.

Ingredients
Topping:
6 tbsp flour
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
5 tbsp cold unsalted butter
3/4 cup coarsely chopped nuts ( almonds, pecans or walnuts)

Filling:
6 mediums apples (3 McIntosh, 3 Granny Smith)
1/2 tsp grated lemon zest and 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup granulated sugar

-Place flour, sugars, spices and salt in a food procesoor and process briefly to combine.

-Add butter and pulse about 10 times. Mixture will looks like sand with clumps of butter.
-Add nuts, pulse about 4/5 times. Be sure not too overmix.

-Rerigerate the topping for at least 15 minutes while preparing the filling.

-Preheat oven to 375, adjust rack to lower-middle position.
- Peel and cut the apples into 1 inch chunks.
-Toss the apples with zest, juice, and sugar in a bowl.
-Scrape the mixture in a 8 in square baking pan or a 9 in deep-dish pie plate.
-Distribute the chilled topping evenly over the fruit.

-Bake for 40 mins.
-Increase oven temp to 400 degrees and continue baking about 5 more minutes until fruit is bubbling and topping is golden brown.
-Serve warm, best with vanilla ice cream!

Vanilla

There are a few ingredients that I feel are super important to splurge on and buy high quality. One of those ingredients is vanilla. Spending a little more on the vanilla will take desserts from good to great. I realize that in these tough economic times, its not always possible to buy high quality for every single ingredient. I compromise and buy certain things generic and usually that helps me balance out the cost. For example, i often buy generic brand flour and sugars.

I thought I would share my two favorite vanillas that are a staple in my pantry. The first vanilla is my standard go-to vanilla. Its the Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Extract. You can usually find it at specialty cookware/baking stores. I usually buy mine at Williams Sonoma or King Arthur Flour. The 8 oz. bottle pictured below lasts for quite some time and comes in around $20. There are usually three types of vanilla: mexican, tahitian, and madagascar bourbon. I prefer the madagascar bourbon for its traditional and sweet flavor but its all personal preference.

 

The second vanilla that I use and probably my favorite is the Sonoma Syrup Co. Vanilla Bean Crush Extract. This extract is a combination of madagascar bourbon and tahitian vanilla with vanilla bean seeds. As you can imagine with the vanilla bean seeds in the extract, it is very strong. I use this most often in recipes where the vanilla should really stand out. For example, this extract makes for an outstanding homemade vanilla bean ice cream. I purchase this from King Arthur Flour and it runs about $20 for the 8 oz. bottle. You can see in the picture below all the seeds on the side of the bottle...yummy!

 

 

 



Apple Spice Bars

I am continuing with the apple flavor with this recipe for apple spice bars. I have made these many times in the last year and its always a hit. Infact, out of the many things I make, this is my moms favorite. She is not a sweets person so when I can get a thumbs up from her then I know its a winner.

Ingredients:
2 apples, peeled and diced (a little less or close to 2 cups, i used cortland/mcintosh)
2 cup plus 2 tbsp flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp allspice
small pinch ground cloves
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract
cinnamon sugar for sprinkling

- Preheat oven to 350
- In a bowl combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves.

- In bowl of stand mixer or regular bowl with hand mixer, mix together brown sugar, white sugar, and melted butter on high until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs one at a time and mix until combined.

- Add vanilla extract and beat to combine.
- Slowly add flour mixture to wet ingredients and mix until just combined
- Fold in diced apples.
- Spread mixture evenly into a greased 8x11 pan.
- Sprinkle with some cinnamon/sugar

- Bake until cooked through, about 30 minutes.

Recipe from Beantown Baker

Apple Pie

Labor day weekend just passed and fall is officially on its way. For me, that means bring on the apple and pumpkin desserts. I went apple picking over the weekend and the first thing I wanted to whip up was an apple pie to kick off the fall dessert frenzy. This recipe comes from what i consider the bible of baking, "Baking Illustrated". It is a must have book for anyone who likes to bake.

Ingredients:
2 batches of pie dough (see post below for pie dough recipe)
7 apples, peeled and sliced (i usually mix mcintosh and granny smith, or mcintosh and cortland)
2 tbsp flour
3/4 cup + 1 tbsp sugar
1/4 + 1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp all spice
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 pinch of grated lemon zest
1 egg white, beaten

- Preheat oven to 500
- Roll out pie dough and place into pie pan, keep refrigerated until ready to fill.
- In a bowl combine 3/4 c sugar, flour, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, nutmeg, all spice, and salt.
- Peel and slice apples and put them in another bowl.
- Add lemon juice and zest to apples and toss so they are coated.

- Add dry ingredients to bowl of apples and toss to coat.
- Pour apple mixture into pie pan
- Roll out the second batch of pie dough and place on top of apple mixture.
- Cut off excess dough along pie pan
- Using a fork, press along edges of pie to seal the dough
- Using a knife, make four slits in the middle of the pie dough, this lets the heat/steam escape.
- Brush the dough lightly with the beaten egg whites
- Mix the 1 tbsp sugar + 1/8 tsp cinnamon and sprinkle all over the top of the pie.

- Place pie pan on top of a cookie sheet to protect oven if the juices boil over, reduce oven heat to 425 and place the pie in the oven.
- Bake at 425 for 25 minutes then rotate pie and reduce heat to 375. Bake for another 30 minutes until a nice golden brown.
-Let apple pie set for at least 4 hours then enjoy!!



Apple pie filling recipe from Baking Illusted. Pie Dough from Williams Sonoma.

Pie Dough

I admit that making my own pie dough from scratch use to scare me to no end. Truth be told, many pastry type doughs still do scare me. However, this recipe changed my mind and hopefully yours on homemade pie dough. It is really so easy and makes a great base for any pie.

You only need 4 simple ingredients plus water:

1 1/4 cup flour
8 tbsp cold unsalted butter (1 stick)
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp very cold water

 

- Combine flour, sugar, salt in a stand mixer, food processor, or mixing bowl.
- Cut stick of butter into 1 tbsp pieces
- Add butter to bowl of dry ingredients.

 

- If your using food processer, pulsate the butter into the flour mixture until it looks crumbly, if using a stand mixer turn on low until mixture is crumbly, if doing it by hand use a pastry cutter to mix butter and flour mixture until crumbly. You dont want to over mix it, you should see roughly pea-size clumps of butter throughout

 

- Add 3 tbsp of water and gently mix until dough can form a ball. Be careful not to overmix. You still want to see the pieces of butter within the dough, thats what makes it flaky.

 

-Put the ball of dough into a piece of saran wrap, flatten into more of a disk shape, wrap it up and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes. You can also freeze these if you are not using in the next few days.

-When ready to use, take dough out and let it thaw for a few minutes. Roll out onto a floured surface. Make sure you roll it out enough to cover the pie pan. Fill and bake according to whichever pie recipe you use.

-This recipe makes one pie dough. If using a pie recipe that requires a crust on top such as an apple pie, double the recipe! Delicious apple pie recipe coming soon.

Pie Dough recipe from Williams Sonoma