Mightylicious Cookies

I was gifted a box of Mightylicious cookies and I want to tell you about them. 

I always get excited about gluten free products. I don't have celiac, but I try to avoid gluten because I'm addicted to products made with wheat. I eat them, can't control myself, and get fat(ter). If I avoid gluten, I really don't crave bread, pasta, pastries, cookies, or pizza, and I can lose weight. Honestly. I think about them from time to time, but I don't need them. But if I have one piece of good bread or a cookie, I have to have a second or third or even fourth piece. So it's just best that I avoid products that have gluten in them. It works for me; it might not work for you. 

Back to getting excited about gluten free products. I heard about Mightylicious gluten free cookies when I was planning my trip to the Summer Fancy Food show last year. I wasn't able to attend the show, but the company was kind enough to send me a bag of each variety of their cookies, plus bags of brownie mix and their gluten free flour. It was a real embarrassment of riches, and I am appreciative. 

This post is only about the cookies; the brownies and flour will have their own post sometime in the future. 

The Salted Peanut Butter, Oatmeal Coconut, Oatmeal Raisin, and Brown Butter Shortbread cookies are excellent. I loved the flavor and the texture of each of them. The Salted Peanut Butter was very much like good old-fashioned homemade peanut butter cookies, made with peanut butter, sweetener, and salt. Mightylicious also adds eggs and vanilla, but no flour of any kind. They are crazy rich and were my favorite of the bunch. One cookie was a perfect snack. Both the Oatmeal Cookies also had great flavor and texture--these are somewhere between soft-baked and crispy cookies--and this raisin-hater even enjoyed the Oatmeal Raisin cookies (though I preferred the Oatmeal Coconut). The Shortbread Cookies were little miracles. Smaller in diameter but fatter than the other cookies, these tasted just like gluten-y shortbread. Maybe not as crumbly as the real thing, but damn close. Highly recommended.

Then there were the Chocolate Chip, Brown Butter Chocolate Chip, and Double Dutch Chocolate Chip cookies. They were also that texture somewhere between soft-baked and crisp cookies--they were fairly moist--but they just didn't have the depth of flavor that I'm used to with a home-baked, gluten-flour, chocolate chipper. They just seemed...sweet. However, all three of them made excellent ice cream sandwiches because they were much less-likely to crack when smushed on either side of a blob of ice cream. And they ate well as an ice cream sandwich component as well. They didn't get soggy, nor were they overly crunchy when they came out of the freezer. I preferred the Double Dutch Chocolate Chip variety for this use, but the other two worked just as well.

Would I eat these cookies again? Absolutely, particularly the peanut butter and shortbread varieties. And I would not be averse to double dutch chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches again. In fact, I could go for one right now....

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Holiday Gift Guide, 2022, Part 2

I'm thinking that I should have made this food gift guide part 1 and the appliances part 2, just so I could title this post Gift Guide Part 2: Electric Boogaloo. And if you don't get that reference, you're probably not as old and decrepit as we are.

Sigh.

Anyhoo...let us proceed, shall we? 

I discovered a while back that a good gift for the person "who has everything" is food. We all need to eat. Some of us have dietary restrictions and need special products. Others of us are snackaholics. Still others are just weirdos. I'd give my Dad a half dozen jars of jams and preserves for Christmas because he was fond of eating them straight from the jar with a spoon. I enjoy receiving food gifts because once they're consumed, I can just recycle the jar or wrapper and there's nothing left to clutter the house--unlike books (which we have stacked in piles here and there), "collectibles" (ahem, Neal's action figure collection), mountains of craft supplies, and tchotchkes like candles, photo frames, and single-function kitchen gadgets like quesadilla makers (an actual thing that we actually received from an actual friend). Want to give me a gift that will make me smile? Send me a box of See's caramels. 

Gifts for People Who Drink

I don't mean boozers, necessarily, but people who like to drink all sorts of drinks. But yes, booze, too. 

ROOT 23 makes tasty simple syrups that can be used in cocktails, of course, but also poured on ice cream or in coffee or combined with a little seltzer to create a homemade soda. I'm partial to the Yuzu Citrus flavor, but Pear Rosemary is also nice.

 

Beetology, Wonder Melon, and Wonder Lemon are tasty juices that are certainly drinkable on their own, but also make fine cocktail mixers. The cucumber version of Wonder Melon also makes a tasty gazpacho when added to a blender full of cucumbers and roasted red bell peppers seasoned with sherry vinegar and salt. You can get packs of 9 bottles at Amazon, but if you just want to try one or two, I've seen them at Giant supermarkets.

Fancy fizzy water subscriptions might be a nice gift, too. I like Aura Bora.

And yes, fine, your favorite liquor emporium might offer up a ton of gifts for family members. I could use a bottle of Amaretto d'Amore, and would love anything from Eden Ciders.

Gifts for People Who Like Hot Stuff

My friend Laurie gave me a bottle of TRUFF hot sauce a couple years ago. She's a fan of hot sauce in general, and a fan of this stuff in particular. I like hot stuff, too. Now, I'm going to say that the black label TRUFF isn't super hot. But if you like a gentle warmth, and the flavor of truffle oil, you might enjoy it. There is a red label version that is hotter, though I haven't tried that one. 

This sauce is a littler thicker and sweeter than most hot sauces, so to me, it's like the best kind of ketchup. I like putting it on my scrambled eggs, and it's fantastic on french fries and burgers and anything else you might put ketchup on. Also, it's a perfect sauce for buffalo wings. Man, I'm drooling at the thought of that. (I haven't eaten dinner yet and I am hungry. Not the best time to write food blog posts.)

Don't discount Old Bay Hot Sauce, which might be inexpensive at ~$4 per bottle. The stuff flew off the shelves when it was introduced a couple years ago, and with good reason. It tastes like Old Bay, the beloved seafood seasoning of the Mid-Atlantic region. 

Then there's the world of chili crisp/chili crunch, which I plan to cover in an upcoming post. One of my favorites is made by a newish brand called Oomame, which makes the increasingly popular, originally Chinese, condiment with flavors from other lands, like Morocco, India, and Mexico. China too, but Mexico's the best one. Dave Chang's Momofuku restaurant/tv/cookbook empire now includes food products like soy sauce and dry noodles, but they also have multiple versions of chili crunch, including extra hot and truffle.

Mighty Sesame produces various tahini-based products, including a spicy tahini that is no joke. It makes a mighty fine spicy hummus but can also add needed oomph to avocado toast.

Gifts for People Who Avoid Gluten

Absolutely! gluten free crackers and snacks are not only gluten free, but also grain free. But rather than using almond flour, Absolutely! uses potato and tapioca starches, so their crackers are light and crispy and low in calories. Their snacks include coconut macaroons, coconut chews, stacked potato crisps (think Pringles, but gluten free), and even cauliflower crust pizzas. We are a cheese-loving household, so I'm always thrilled to find yet another brand of tasty gf crackers to go with.

Tate's Bake Shop makes the best gluten-free chocolate chip cookies. Honestly, they taste pretty close to homemade toll house cookies, without the gluten. I love them, and even before I started avoiding gluten, I preferred Tate's gf version to other commercial cookies. They have a variety pack that is calling my name.

Another favorite gluten-free snack that also comes in non-gf flavors is Sheila G's Gluten Free Brownie Brittle. So yummy! The thin cracker-like cookies remind me of the crispy sides of a pan of homemade brownies. I've tried all the flavors, thanks to the annual Summer Fancy Food Show, and to be very honest, the gluten free ones are my absolute faves. I finished off a bag of the dark chocolate sea salt flavor as I was typing this post. ::::brushes away chocolate crumbs from mousepad::::

I also love the gf crackers from Hungry Bird Eats.

General Savory Gift Items

Oryx Desert Salt is an unrefined salt from the Kalahari Desert region that has no additives or non-caking agents. It's harvested from a 55-million-ton underground salt lake and has a clean salt flavor. The glass container with ceramic grinder is refillable 10 or more times, making it more environmentally friendly than the typical supermarket salt grinders. They have pepper, too, and both have become fixtures on our dining table. 

I hope I don't have to remind you that Nuts.com has tons of fine snacky items and nuts. My favorite snack is the plaintain chips, and I'm partial to their gluten free brownie mix. Buy a basket, fill it with bags of nuts, and put a bow on it.

General Sweet Gift Items

I've been buying this particular brand of Pumpkin Panettone as a birthday gift to myself for the last couple of years. It's super moist, and the pumpkin filling only adds to the moisture. It's become our traditional Thanksgiving day breakfast. Ordinarily, I make french toast with leftover panettone, but this has far too much filling for that sort of thing. It doesn't get stale fast, so it doesn't matter if it takes a week to finish.

Who wouldn't love a 2.2 lb jar of Nutella? 

If you've never baked your own gingerbread house because you don't like gingerbread cookies, you may like making one with chocolate Oreos instead. This Oreo gingerbread house kit looks like it might be a lot of fun for the kiddos.

Also, I can't say enough good things about Yummy Bazaar, a mail order food company based in South Jersey. They have a wide variety of international foods all year 'round, but right now they are offering Italian and German holiday breads like Panettone and Stollen in many flavors. And they have all the flavors of Milka and Ritter Sport candy bars!

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Pumpkin Recipes, With and Without Spice

Click image if you're basic.

I'd have my Basic White Girl card taken away if there weren't at least a dozen pumpkin recipes on the blog. No chance of that happening, as there are eighteen recipes (so far) using pumpkin as a main ingredient. Most of the recipes are sweet, of course, but a couple are savory. Pumpkin is a vegetable, after all. I am rather surprised that I don't have a recipe for pumpkin hummus here somewhere--a situation that will be rectified very soon. I recently found a yummy-sounding one on the Interwebs but haven't had a chance to whip it up. 

I've made more variations on pumpkin cheesecake (3) than anything else. There are also muffins, cake, cupcakes, breakfast items, plus soup and risotto. One thing I noticed while searching for pumpkin recipes: the older posts have some pretty horrible photography! Going from small digital camera to iPhone camera has made a big difference in the quality of my images. Good lighting makes an impact as well. So this post is recipe-heavy and photo-light. 

Curried Pumpkin Soup This recipe is stupid-simple. 

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Chai Muffins This is clearly one of my more recent recipes, as I eat mostly gluten-free these days. Plus I'm hoping that the term will attract new followers to the blog....

mini pumpkin cheesecakes

Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes Specialty pan alert! You need two 4-inch springform pans for this recipe. I suppose one 6" pan will do, but the cheesecake will need to bake for a bit more time. Don't ask how long. It's in your hands now.

Pumpkin Bread Just to be different, I added a bit of curry powder. 

Pumpkin Butter Don't spend $5 on a jar of pre-made pumpkin butter! Make it yourself for much less.

Pumpkin Cheesecake This is for a full-sized cheesecake to serve to family and friends. 

Pumpkin Cheesecake Brownies Rather than the usual cream cheese-swirled brownie, these are topped with a thick layer of pumpkin cheesecake. 

Pumpkin Cornbread There's actually no good reason to add pumpkin to cornbread. But I did it anyway.

Pumpkin Cupcakes Rich and moist, these cupcakes taste better after a day or two.

Pumpkin Fruitcake Don't be afraid--this is more pumpkin bread with dried fruits and nuts than actual fruitcake. Real fruit, not those awful red and green plasticized cherries.

Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle is a great dish for the upcoming Winter holidays. Make it easy on yourself and use boxed gingerbread and pudding mixes.

Pumpkin Oatmeal sure is cozy on a fall morning!

Pumpkin Pancakes are too!

"pumpkin" pie made with squash

"Pumpkin" Pie There are quotes around the word "pumpkin" because this recipe calls for fresh squash. Pretty much all canned pumpkin is actually butternut squash, and it can be substituted for the other squashes in this recipe. 

Pumpkin Risotto There are no "pumpkin spice" spices in this recipe!

Pumpkin Seed Brittle only uses the seeds, not the flesh. My late Dad said it was "like heaven" in his mouth. 

Pumpkin Spice Cake This is like a blondie, only pumpkin-spicier.

Pumpkin Waffles with Apple Compote Do make the compote! 

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

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Blogging Minxeats

I haven't written about a restaurant here in quite a while, and I hope to rectify that situation. I'm going to blame Instagram for making me lazy. It's too easy to post a photo with a short caption and call it a day. Creating reels, on the other hand, can be quite taxing. And at the end of the day, I get no more likes, comments, or followers from putting in more work. Instagram has fucked with their algorithms entirely too much for my taste, and I am finding the whole experience unpleasant. Maybe I should get back to blogging more regularly, huh?

Sadly, blogging seems to have become the jurisdiction of Stepford Wives. Most blogs have a similar appearance, and possibly an ampersand in the name. They all have far too many photos for my taste, the same essential shot taken from slightly different angles, as if the blogger couldn't make up his/her/their mind about which one to use, so hell, they'll use them all. IMHO, blogs were better when they were messy and unprofessional. And real. So you won't find me posting a professionally taken headshot in full hair and makeup, looking coyly over my shoulder or holding a tray of cookies. No string of photos depicting brownies stacked in piles of three, piles of two, and singly, plus a couple images of the baking pan with both cut and uncut treats. Oh, and another one with brownies on a plate with a glass of milk on the side, in soft focus. What you will find is probably a lot of gabbing, because I am a storyteller and I like to talk, but feel free to scroll down to the recipe if you can't deal with my writing. (Apparently the number one comment about food blogs is, "just give me the damn recipe." It's not a blog then, is it? It's a recipe. You want those, then buy a cookbook. I have written a couple, which you can find here. Oh, and there's a nice selfie on that page, in case you need to know what I look like.)

Sorry, if you've read this far and expected to find a brownie recipe. There is none on this post. If you've gotten this far and still expected a recipe, clearly you didn't read any of the words preceding this paragraph. Go back and read them. And then go back and read some old posts. New ones are forthcoming, I promise. Some will even have recipes. And I will get back into restaurant reviews. Maybe even a recap, who knows? 

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Flashback Friday - Nutty Bars

This post originally appeared on Minxeats.com on February 3, 2014.

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A day off work means free time to play in the kitchen! But first, I spent a few moments thumbing through a copy of Fat Witch Brownies: Brownies, Blondies, and Bars from New York's Legendary Fat Witch Bakery before deciding on the Pecan Bars.

We had about half a pound of pecan pieces in the freezer, but I opted to use half walnuts because they're less-expensive. I also didn't feel like opening the bag of light brown sugar when there was just enough dark brown sugar left to fit the bill. And...the original recipe called for rum. Mr Minx isn't the biggest rum fan in the world, so I used bourbon instead. The results were crunchy, sticky, nutty, and quite fabulous.

Make them. Now. Unless of course you have nut allergies.

Nut Bars adapted from Fat Witch Brownies

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
7 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/4 cup coarsely chopped nuts (pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon bourbon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 3/4 cups coarsely chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 350°F and grease and flour a 9" x 9" baking pan.

In the bowl of a mixer, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and brown sugar. Add the 7 tablespoons of butter, a few small pieces at a time, and combine until mixture is sandy. Stir in the nuts. Gently press the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan and bake for 15 minutes.

While crust is baking, melt the 4 tablespoons of butter and allow to cool. Combine brown sugar, corn syrup, vanilla, bourbon, and salt in a bowl. Stir in the cooled butter. Add the egg and mix well.

Pour the filling over the baked crust. Evenly sprinkle the nuts on top. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the filling no longer wobbles when you shake the pan gently.

Allow to cool completely before cutting, about 2 hours.

Makes 12 - 16 bars.

* Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

Posted on Minxeats.com.

New Cookbooks from Harper Collins

Lose Weight by Eating 
Audrey Johns

Blogger Audrey Johns has come up with what sounds like a novel concept but is really just common sense: cut out the crap. She found that by eating clean, real, non-processed food and cutting out that evil diet soda, she lost weight. Her book, Lose Weight by Eating, tells her story and provides 130 recipes for favorites like fudge brownies and fried chicken. Those brownies are real brownies, with butter, eggs, sugar, white flour--all the things you expect to find in brownies. No black beans, artificial sweeteners, or other weirdness. In other words, no feelings of despair or deprivation will come from using this book, despite everything coming in at 500 calories or less per serving.

There's nothing fancy or overwhelming in Lose Weight by Eating, no weird science or funky ingredients. Anyone interested in cooking nutritious and tasty food, even someone without a lot of cooking experience, should be able to work from this straightforward book. There's even a weekly menu plan listing all of the dishes (breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks) that are especially good for new cooks. (Other menu plans list dishes that are kid-friendly, vegetarian, or quick to prepare.)

Overall, a good basic cookbook that makes sense, even if you're not trying to lose weight.

The Quick Six Fix: 100 No-Fuss, Full-Flavor Recipes - Six Ingredients, Six Minutes Prep, Six Minutes Cleanup

It's ok if you've never heard of Stuart O'Keeffe--before I got this book, I hadn't either. This Irish-born chef was featured on the Food Network's Private Chefs of Beverly Hills and even had his own show, Stuart's Kitchen, that was broadcast in Ireland and New Zealand. He was a brand ambassador and chef for Tupperware, too. But putting "celebrity chef" in front of his name doesn't make it so, nor does it have any actual bearing on the contents of this book.

The conceit of The Quick Six Fix is that all recipes include six ingredients, take only six minutes to prep, and six minutes to clean up. I wouldn't get a stopwatch out to check if that's all correct; everyone works at his own pace so it might take 10 minutes to prep and 15 minutes to clean up if you're a slowpoke. The numbers don't matter. The point is--these recipes are fast to put together, particularly if you've already stocked your pantry with the list of "must haves" he includes in the first section (Marylanders take note: Old Bay Seasoning is on the list!). However, the pantry staples are not included in the "6 ingredients" mentioned on the cover. In fact, some recipes have far more than six ingredients (and one of the dessert recipes includes nothing from the pantry). So that first in the trio of sixes that make up the "quick six fix" is more accurately described as "six ingredients that you need to put on your grocery list because you probably won't have them in the pantry already." (I guess that was a little long to put on the cover.)

Now that I've blown that whole 666 thing out of the water, let's examine the book without the conceit.

O'Keeffe's book has some rules to follow that will help users stick to creating a meal that is relatively quick to prep and tidy up. For one thing, one should read the recipes thoroughly before beginning--some he recommends reading three times. That way, there are no surprises and one can manage time more efficiently. It also familiarizes the user with the ingredient list so they can shop in advance for the things they need (whether it's one of the 6, or a pantry ingredient they don't already have on hand). Another useful rule is one he calls the "reverse traffic light theory." Basically, if there's a break in the action (say, waiting for something to come to a boil), the cook should take that time to clean up any messes they have created to that point (like washing knives and cutting board). I have always called it "clean as you go," and it is something that everyone who works in a kitchen, from professional chefs on down, should practice. Why leave everything for after dinner when you're too logy from those three glasses of wine to do anything but lie down and belch? All prep clean-up should be done before you sit down to eat, so you only have plates and the pots you cooked in to clean up after you eat. (This is a big pet peeve of mine, so pardon the lecture. It's definitely something O'Keeffe has right.)

The recipes themselves are pretty basic. Without laundry lists of ingredients, they have to be. But they all sound pretty tasty. Cider-braised chicken, which involves chicken thighs and a lot of cider vinegar to produce something that is "the perfect blend of tart, savory, and sour," seems like it would be great, and looks really easy. There are only three non-pantry ingredients in this recipe, but if you're like me, you have packs of chicken thighs in the freezer already, cutting the shopping list items down to two. There's also a recipe for Sticky Ribs, which uses hoisin, garlic, soy, brown sugar, and rice wine vinegar from the pantry, plus baby backs, ginger, and five spice powder from the grocery store. (I'm sure the dish would still be pretty delicious without the ginger or five spice). There are also recipes for breakfast and lunch items, pasta and soup, burgers, sauces, veg, and desserts.

While there are no guarantees that the recipes in this book will take a non-professional chef six minutes to prep and six minutes to clean up, someone who is looking for a book that contains recipes to fit every occasion and aren't particularly complex might get some use out of The Quick Six Fix.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!



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Best of 2015 - Part 2

We start off every year with a recount of some of the very best things we ate in the prior year. I had a slightly difficult time determining the best restaurant dishes from 2015, but home-cooking was off the charts, particularly in the first half of the year. Let's reminisce, shall we?

January

We started off the year adventurously by cooking octopus and serving it with cannelini beans and a smoked paprika vinaigrette. It was easy and delicious. I just wish I could buy larger octopi in a standard supermarket.

We had tried the always-on-the-menu butternut squash toasts at Cunningham's, and I wanted to replicate it at home. It was simple enough - the recipe is actually from Jean-Georges Vongerichten, and is found in several places on teh Innernets. I think my homemade toasts were at least as good as the restaurant's, maybe even better, because I got to use up a winter squash that had been hanging around for a little too long and was serving more as a table ornament than a food product.

February

We had never tried freekeh (a roasted green wheat product) before, but we had some in the cupboard, waiting for the right recipe. It showed itself in the form of a rice pilaf flavored with grape leaves, sorta like a deconstructed dolma; I replaced the rice with the freekeh and was quite happy with the results. Lamb meatballs and oven roasted tomatoes completed the dish, which was hearty and satisfying.

In February, I also made spaetzle for the first time, flavored with sweet potato. A potato ricer was employed to make the pasta, as was a colander, strainer, sheet pan, large bowl, and several pots and pans. After browning the spaetzle, I topped it with sauteed onions, snails, cauliflower, mushrooms, and a ton of fresh parsley. The dish exceeded my expectations, and I remarked on Facebook that this had been an ambitious undertaking. Someone commented that it wasn't so ambitious; German housewives made spaetzle all the time. Thanks for attempting to rain on my parade, smug little fuck, but I'm not German, had never made these before, and it felt like I had cooked all day to get this relatively simple-seeming dish on the table. Worth it, though. It was, as you kids today like to say, awesome.

We make ribs fairly often - they're actually pretty simple, if you use Alton Brown's technique. I usually flavor them differently each time; this Korean version from February was the tastiest ever.

March

I really loved these muffins made with whole Meyer lemons, rind and all. They were moist and lemony, and smelled really beautiful. They froze well, too.

April

Gnocchi can be made from potatoes or from ricotta cheese. These delicious gluten-free babies are made mostly from spinach, with a little ricotta and oat flour to keep them together.

Roasted duck legs with winter squash puree. Yes.

July

Muhammara is a dip made with walnuts and bell peppers. Trader Joe's makes a version, but you can make it at home easily enough.

August

Mr Minx usually gets chocolate cake for his birthday. This year, I added about twice as much sour cream as normally called for to get a cake that was truly moist and needed no frosting.

September

I fell in love with chamomile ice cream at the Fancy Food Show last summer, so when Republic of Tea sent a sample can of  honey chamomile tea, I had to make gelato with it. Seems odd, sure, but it was fan-freaking-tastic.

November

Made by swapping out semi-sweet chips for white chocolate ones, these white brownies are better than any standard blondie.

I wasn't quite sure how a chicken pot pie flavored with jerk spices was going to turn out, but it was a big success, from biscuit to gravy.

December

Mr Minx has quite a way with potatoes. He's made several of these enormous fried potato cakes over the years, and I have to keep myself from eating the whole thing every time. And I'm not a big potato fan. Although not a latke, this one was just in time for Hanukkah.

Lots of good eats in 2015 - will there be as many in 2016? Stay tuned....



Posted on Minxeats.com.

White Chocolate Brownies

A couple weeks ago, we determined that we needed something brownie-like to snack on. Rather than make our usual Ghirardelli brownies, we made the original recipe brownies from the Fat Witch bakery cookbook. Those brownies have more butter and sugar than chocolate or flour, and are very tender and moist rather than chewy or cakey.

After polishing off that pan, I wondered how a white chocolate version would work. For some reason, we had 2 1/2 bags of white chocolate chips in the cupboard; I must have purchased them for some reason but have no memory of it. That's what happens when you get old, folks. So we tried it. Not only did we substitute white chocolate for semi-sweet, we also lowered the amount of sugar, flour, butter, and eggs by small increments.

Mr Minx said, after eating a couple, "I think I prefer them to the chocolate version," and our friend Fran said, "these are addictive." I said, "mmmfgmbbmmm!" (Because my mouth was full.) Despite calling for one less egg than the original version, these tasted eggy, like a custard in cake form. They were very moist in the center, even when cold from the fridge (though I recommend eating them at room temperature).

The batter is very runny, due to the amount of butter and eggs, so any add-ins will sink to the bottom of the batter. For that reason, it's probably best to leave them out; I only include them in the recipe because I used cranberries and pistachios when I baked the bars. You can clearly see the dried cranberries at the bottom of the bars in the photo above. An addition that I think would be completely dynamite is finely grated (Microplaned) citrus zest. Which is what I'm going to try next time.

White Chocolate Brownies (adapted from Fat Witch Brownies)

12 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup high-quality white chocolate chips
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup flour
Pinch salt
About half a cup of your favorite nuts and/or dried fruit (cranberries, cherries, pistachios, pecans, etc.)

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Fit an 8" x 8" square baking pan with a piece of parchment large enough to cover the bottom and long enough to extend a couple inches above the lip of the pan. Fold the excess paper over the top of the pan and secure with a couple of large paperclips so it won't flop down over the batter (which will be very liquidy, so don't skip this step). If you don't have parchment on hand, you can grease and flour the pan; the cookies will just be a little harder to remove later.

Place butter and white chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat for 30 seconds, remove bowl from oven, and stir. If the butter isn't completely melted, put it back in for another 15 seconds. Repeat if necessary, but keep in mind that white chocolate will burn fairly easily. Stir vigorously to make sure the white chocolate is as melted as possible. The butter will separate; don't worry about it. Set aside for a few long minutes to cool.

Cream the sugar, eggs, and vanilla until thick and pale. Mix in the cooled white chocolate. Add the flour and salt and mix well until completely combined. Stir in fruit and or nuts.

Spread batter into prepared pan and bake for between 40-45 minutes until a toothpick comes out with only a few moist crumbs on it.

Cool completely before cutting into squares.



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Chipotle Cherry Brownies

Regular Minxeats readers have to know that I am obsessed with brownies. Obsessed. (Well, not really, but that's one of those words you young'uns use all the time, regardless of its actual meaning. I'm trying to be hip with the lingo.) I've tried many brownie recipes over the years, and posted a good many of them here, including one abomination made with Splenda and black beans. (Go ahead, read that post. It's one of my favorites. Read the comments, too, while you're at it.) My all-time favorite brownie recipe is the one found on cans of Ghirardelli Sweet Ground Chocolate and Cocoa. The large sugar-and-fat to flour ratio makes for brownies that are gooey and messy, as opposed to cakey. (I suppose cakey brownies have their place, but why not just eat cake?) Mmm. So good.

I must confess that when I saw The Messy Baker: More Than 75 Delicious Recipes from a Real Kitchen in my Amazon recommendations, I put it on my wish list solely because of the cover photo. Of brownies. Deep Dark Cherry Chipotle Brownies, no less. (Yes, that's the link to the recipe on her blog. No need for you to buy her book, too, unless you want all of the other goodies inside.) Nobody purchased the book for me last Christmas, so I took it off the wish list and put it in my shopping cart. In January. But I didn't pull the trigger to buy it until August. Of course, the first recipe I tried from the book was for those brownies.

At first taste, when they were just a bit warm, I wasn't sure of the texture. They're very fudgy and dense. Which is fine, better than cakey, but not as gooey as I like. So I refrigerated them, and that made all the difference in the world. Cold from the fridge, they are like candy. Chocolate candy crack. They are spicy, but not too (and I added the full teaspoon of ground chipotle) and fruity from the cherries, which does help cut back the heat. I also added some walnuts, to add a bit of crunch, plus I like walnuts in my brownies. They are really, really good. Really good.

I think I found my second-favorite brownie. Try them. If you don't like spicy, then skip the chipotle, substitute ancho instead, or leave the pepper out entirely. And eat them cold, straight from the fridge, with a glass of milk (or a bourbon, if you're me). You won't regret it.



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Sheila G's Brownie Brittle

Have you ever found yourself nibbling on the crispy bits of brownie clinging to the pan after you've served up a fresh batch from the oven? Sheila G has. In fact, this is her favorite part of the brownie, so she decided to make a line of snacks specifically created to taste like those crunchy morsels there never seems to be enough of.

Brownie Brittle, as she calls it, comes in four flavors: Chocolate Chip, Mint Chocolate Chip, Toffee Crunch, and Salted Caramel. They're cracker thin and roughly square shaped, but tend to break apart into smaller pieces in the bag, much like real brittle. Despite their diminutive snack size, Brownie Brittle is intensely chocolate flavored so you won't need to eat too many to feel satisfied.

The Chocolate Chip flavor is the most reminiscent of a traditional brownie, but the crispy texture might also give you nostalgic memories of eating Coco Pebbles while watching cartoons on TV. The Toffee Crunch is also quite good with just enough toffee to give you the flavor without getting unwanted bits of gooey sugar stuck in your teeth. Salted Caramel is a hot flavor right now, so it's no surprise that Sheila G has a version of it. I just wish it had a tad more salt to drive home the contrast with the caramel.

After an unfortunate childhood incident where I ate a half gallon of mint chocolate chip ice cream by myself and got sick, I've never been a fan of that flavor combination. However, in the interest of thorough reporting, I sampled the mint chocolate chip Brownie Brittle. To my relief, the mint is fairly subtle, providing a touch of refreshing support to the rich chocolate flavor. I could actually eat a few of these without any bad flashbacks. For mint and chocolate lovers, I'm sure this would be a favorite.

Sheila G's Brownie Brittle allows you to enjoy the flavors of a brownie with far fewer calories than eating a whole brownie square. In fact, a 1-ounce serving has only 120 calories. So if you go hog wild and eat the whole 5-serving bag, well, at least you'll still have a couple of calories left in your daily allowance for some vegetables. You know, for balance.

Later this year, Brownie Brittle will be available with holiday decorations. The mint, chocolate chip, and salted caramel versions will each have a chocolaty drizzle on top, to make them a little more festive.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!



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Your Chocolate in My Peanut Butter (and vice versa)

When I was a kid, I was a big fan of Doctor Dolittle, a 1967 movie about a man who could talk to animals, starring the hunky Rex Harrison. I even had a stuffed pushmi-pullyu--allegedly a cross between two animals with unique horns (a gazelle and a unicorn, and yes I know the latter is fictional) despite not having any horns at all. It looked just like a two-headed, buttless llama. How the poor creature pooped, I do not know, but I loved my little stuffed beast anyway. I still have it, actually, 40-umpteen years later.

Why do I bring up this inconsequential trivia? Because that's how I roll. And I thought it was an apt introduction to my latest baking invention--the two headed-brownie. Or is it a two-headed blondie? It's both, really. Half of the bar cookie is a blondie, flavored with creamy peanut butter and studded with chocolate chips. The other half is a brownie with peanut butter chips. Together, the combination makes for one decadent, peanut-butter-y treat with more than a hint of chocolate.

I used a large baking pan and made standard 3/4"-high cookies, but you can certainly pack the dough into an 8"- or 9"-square pan and bake it for an extra 15 minutes or so, if you want something impressive that shows the layers more obviously. Just make sure to cut them into fairly small pieces, as these babies are rich.

Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Bar Cookies

For the blondie layer:
1 stick butter, melted
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
Pinch salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup chocolate chips

For the brownie layer:
1 stick butter, melted
1 cup sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup cocoa powder
Pinch salt
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup peanut butter chips

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease an 9 x 13 pan.

To make blondies: Whisk together the melted butter and sugar in a bowl. Stir in the egg, vanilla, and peanut butter and beat until well incorporated. Stir in the salt and flour until no streaks of flour remain. Stir in the chocolate chips.

To make brownies: Whisk together the melted butter and sugar in a bowl. Stir in the egg and vanilla and beat until well incorporated. Combine the cocoa, salt, and flour. Stir/into the butter sugar mixture until no streaks of flour remain. Stir in the peanut butter chips.

Scrape the blondie batter into the prepared baking pan and smooth the top. Dollop the brownie batter on top as evenly as possible and spread slightly with a spatula to fill the gaps. Try not to mix or marble the two batters.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs.

Allow to cool before cutting into squares.



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Spiced Sweet Potato Snack Cake

Now that the holidays have been over for a while, it's time to resume our monthly stitch 'n' bitch meetings. Every month my girls and I get together to work on knitting projects and to talk about life. All of the meetings so far have been at my house, so I have been supplying the snacks. Usually, there is one savory snack in the form of a dip of some sort, and a sweet treat. The sweet is usually a bar cookie or brownie, and I try to make sure I do something completely different every month.

I keep wanting to make a blondie that comes out with a chewy texture. Seems that the only way to do that is to make bar cookies with a Toll House cookie-type batter. Dry additions are ok, but adding wet stuff, like pumpkin or shredded carrots, changes the texture completely. But I do it anyway. I suppose it doesn't matter that the texture isn't exactly what I want--the end result of all of my various experiments has still been delicious.

I almost ended up with something close to what I was looking for last month. Lots of butter + sugar and not so much flour should make a rich, chewy, vanilla "brownie" sort of snack. But then I found that container of mashed sweet potato in the fridge, left over from something I had made earlier in the week. It was completely unseasoned, and would go to waste otherwise, so it went into the batter, too. I also tossed in the last of a bag of Heath bar chips and some pecans. For flavoring, I was lazy--hey, it was Friday night, after a looong week--so instead of measuring out individual spices, I just tossed in some instant chai mix.

The end result was pretty damn good. While not exactly chewy, the sweet potato-enriched bars were super moist, lightly spiced, with little surprises of nuts and buttery toffee bits. Great served a room temperature, but simply smashing served warm with a dollop of ice cream on top.

These might be a good way to sneak some nutritious vegetables into an item the kids will eat, too.

Spiced Sweet Potato Snack Cake

1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup dark brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup mashed sweet potato
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons instant chai tea mix
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup toffee bits
1 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
Powdered sugar, for garnish (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9" square baking pan.

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time. Stir in the vanilla and sweet potato.

Mix together the flour, chai mix, and salt. Stir into the butter/sugar mixture until well combined. Stir in the toffee bits and pecans. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until just a few moist crumbs cling to an inserted toothpick.

Cool completely in the pan before cutting into bars. Sprinkle a little powdered sugar on top to add a bit of contrast to the shades of mid-brown.



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Pumpkin Cheesecake Brownies

When fall hits, pumpkin becomes the most popular flavor. Everywhere you look there's pumpkin bread, pumpkin yogurt, pumpkin everything. Let's not forget pumpkin spice lattes, which have their own, not-so-flattering, meme.

As a typical white girl, I love pumpkin and fall (yoga pants not so much), but especially pumpkin pie and pumpkin cheesecake. Recently, I was in a cheesecake mood, but didn't want to fuss with making a whole big thing. Not that making a cheesecake is difficult, but we don't need to have one of those evil things in the fridge, calling our names. A creamy cheesecake flavored with pumpkin and spices sings a siren's song, for sure.

I like making brownies and I love eating them, so figured combining pumpkin cheesecake with a brownie could be a perfect thing. This despite my thinking that I really don't like the combination of pumpkin and chocolate. Years and years ago I made a pumpkin pie that had a layer of chocolate on the bottom. It was awful. The chocolate was too dark and competed with the spices in the pumpkin. I can still taste it, and cringe a little. Can't remember where I found that recipe, but I'm pretty sure this was pre-Internet.

This time, I did consult the Internet for a pumpkin cheesecake brownie recipe, but all of the ones I found involved swirling the cheesecake batter into the chocolate batter. That's not cheesecake-y enough for my taste. Why not simply layer the two elements? The cheesecake batter would be lighter than the brownie batter, and should float nicely on top without sinking down into it. But I wasn't sure if the combination of elements would require two bakings--bake the brownie first, add the cheese, and bake again. Overbaked or burnt brownies would be bad, so it all went into the pan at the same time, for one baking. And it worked! The brownie made a nice crust for the fluffy and light cheesecake element. It wasn't too chocolately (yes, there is such a thing), and the cheesecake wasn't too spicy. It was just right.

So, ladies, I present to you the perfect treat: pumpkin AND chocolate. You're welcome.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Brownies

For brownie layer:
3/4 stick unsalted butter
2 squares unsweetened chocolate
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons pumpkin puree
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 eggs
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

For cheesecake layer:
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons butter
1 large egg
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Line 8" or 9" baking pan with two long sheets of parchment, placed parallel to each other. Let long ends hang over the pan, to use as handles later. Spray with a bit of release spray.

Melt the butter and chocolate in a sauce pan. Stir in the sugar until well combined and remove from the heat. Add the pumpkin and cinnamon and mix well. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the flour and salt.

Pour the brownie batter into the prepared baking pan, smoothing out the top.

Combine cream cheese, sugar, and butter in a mixer until very creamy. Beat in egg, milk, pumpkin, flour, vanilla, and spices. Pour over brownie base.

Bake for 40-45 minutes, until cheesecake is puffed and no longer jiggly or wet-looking (the center may be very slightly wobbly). Allow to cool completely on a wire rack. Lift brownie from pan with parchment handles and slide onto a serving plate. Cut into bars. Store covered in the fridge.



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More is More

As they say, less is more. But sometimes more is more.

I was looking for a quick desserty-type thing to whip up on the weekend, and found a one-pan cookie cake recipe on the Joy the Baker site. She tossed bananas, walnuts, and chocolate chips into a batter that was both stirred up and baked in a cast iron skillet. Being cast iron skillet-less myself (heresy, I know), I opted to bake my cake in an 8-inch square glass baking dish. Since the recipe called for melting butter, I decided to go a little further and make brown butter. And in addition to chocolate chips, banana, and nuts, I tossed in some Heath bits, well, because they were there. The chocolate chips and toffee bits melted a bit in the hot pot, turning this cookie cake into a cookie and candy cake. Pretty tasty!

If you don't eat it all in one go (I don't recommend doing that), store it in the fridge. The candy part will harden quite a bit when cold, If you want a chewier, cakier texture, allow your serving to come to room temperature before eating.

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Almond Toffee Cookie Cake (inspired by Joy the Baker)

1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 ripe banana
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup old fashioned oats
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup dark chocolate chunks
1/2 cup coarsely chopped almonds
1/4 cup Heath bar bits

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Melt butter in a large saucepot over medium-high heat. Cook for several minutes, stirring occasionally, until the butter ceases to make sputtering noises and begins to brown and smell nutty. Remove from heat and stir in sugar until completely combined. Mash in banana, then add the egg, stirring well. Whisk in the vanilla, then add the cinnamon, flour, oats, baking soda, and salt. Stir well with a wooden spoon to incorporate all of the flour.

Fold in the chocolate, almonds, and Heath bar bits. The heat from the pot will melt the chocolate and Heath bits a bit. Pour into a greased 8x8 baking pan. Smooth top and bake for 18-20 minutes. Allow to cool before cutting into squares.

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