Dessert of the Week

Over the past few weeks, I've had a yearning to make a bar cookie. They've always been a little exotic to me, as my mom didn't make them (except for brownies), and I've never really made them (except, again, for brownies).

So, this morning, I went through my Betty Crocker Cooky Book to find a recipe that would make use of some of the nuts (almonds, walnuts, macadamia nuts, coconut) in my cabinet.

I thought, "A bar cookie would be nice."

And then I made ... brownies - or, rather, BLONDIES.

(left: the finished product; right: the recipe book, brownies/blondies, and a big glass of milk!)

The recipe is for Butterscotch-Coconut Brownies, but there is no chocolate here. These are some chewy, delicious cookies - my only complaint being that I wish they weren't so thin.

The nearest online representation to my recipe is this link at Epicurious.com; in place of the chopped nuts, use fine or medium shredded unsweetened coconut.

In my version, the milk is omitted, the vanilla is taken down to 1/2 t., the flour used is 3/4 c., and the dry ingredients (excluding the nuts) are sifted before they are added. The cooking instructions and temperature are the same.

Enjoy!!!

Dessert of the Week

Okay, it's been a few weeks since the first installment of the series ... but I haven't really made dessert during that time. Well, I made a delicious butter cake from my Julia Child cookbook for Valentine's Day, but I didn't want to spend the time on such a romantic night to take photos. Besides, I had two pieces of filet mignon to cook! :)

This week's dessert was ...

Glazed Chocolate-Pumpkin Bundt Cake!
(click on title for recipe)

I bookmarked this recipe ages ago while looking for a Bundt cake recipe, and happened upon it again the other day while preparing to have a friend over for lunch. It's one of those recipes that has some specialty ingredients that you don't always keep stocked in your pantry/fridge (pumpkin puree, buttermilk), but I just happened to have.

Well, except for whole wheat flour - I used regular flour. (I did have whole wheat flour for bread-baking at one time, but must've thrown it out.)

Oh, and apparently I'd run out of GRANULATED SUGAR (an unforgivable sin for a baker!) - I used 3/4 cup of honey and used 1/4 cup less buttermilk.

This cake was ... INTERESTING ... The flavor kind of grows on you. I guess I'm not that crazy about the chocolate/pumpkin combo, which I was trying for the first time here. I'd have rather had a pumpkin pie and a chocolate cake rather than meshing the two together.

But it's (supposedly) kind of a healthy cake, so there's something to be said for that. It's also dense, but without feeling heavy on your stomach.

I plan on using some of the rest of my buttermilk on my famous chocolate cake next week, which is actually a Hershey's recipe that I stumbled upon almost two decades ago (as a pre-teen) and have been making at least once a year ever since. And for someone like me, who is an unabashed polygamist when it comes to recipes, that's saying something. :)