Blueberry Boy Bait

I had some frozen blueberries that I wanted to use, so I searched and found this recipe from http://www.smittenkitchen.com/. The cake was very tasty! Quick and easy to whip up as well. I didn't want to make as much as the recipe called for, so I half'd the ingredients in an 8x8 pan and baked for about 30 minutes.

Serves 12, generously
2 cups plus 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon table salt

16 tablespoons unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

3 large eggs

1 cup whole milk (I used skim, that's all we had)

1/2 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen (if frozen, do not defrost first as it tends to muddle in the batter)

Topping

1/2 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen (do not defrost)

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
For the cake: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 13 by 9-inch baking pan.

Whisk two cups flour, baking powder, and salt together in medium bowl. With electric mixer, beat butter and sugars on medium-high speed until fluffy, about two minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until just incorporated and scraping down bowl. Reduce speed to medium and beat in one-third of flour mixture until incorporated; beat in half of milk. Beat in half of remaining flour mixture, then remaining milk, and finally remaining flour mixture. Toss blueberries with remaining one teaspoon flour. Using rubber spatula, gently fold in blueberries. Spread batter into prepared pan.
For the topping:Scatter blueberries over top of batter. Stir sugar and cinnamon together in small bowl and sprinkle over batter. Bake until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool in pan 20 minutes, then turn out and place on serving platter (topping side up). Serve warm or at room temperature. (Cake can be stored in airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.)

Raspberry Brown Butter Bars

I got this recipe from http://www.smittenkitchen.com/. I altered the original recipe (they used cherries instead of raspberries). I'm not a big fan of cherries. Everyone raved about these bars!

Makes 16 square bars

Crust:
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon all purpose flour

Pinch of salt

Filling:

1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs

Pinch of salt

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, diced

30 raspberries

Make crust: Preheat over to 375°F. Cut two 12-inch lengths of parchment paper and trim each to fit the 8-inch width of an 8×8-inch square baking pan. Press it into the bottom and sides of your pan in one direction, then use the second sheet to line the rest of the pan, perpendicular to the first sheet.

Using rubber spatula or fork, mix melted butter, sugar, and vanilla in medium bowl. Add flour and salt and stir until incorporated. Transfer dough to your prepared pan, and use your fingertips to press the dough evenly across the bottom of the pan. Bake the crust until golden, about 18 minutes (it will puff slightly while baking). Transfer crust to rack and cool in pan. Maintain oven temperature.

Make the filling: Cook butter in heavy small saucepan (a lighter-colored one will make it easier to see the color changing, which happens quickly) over medium heat until deep nutty brown (do not burn), stirring often and watching carefully, about six minutes. Immediately pour browned butter into glass measuring cup to cool slightly.
Whisk sugar, eggs, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Add flour and vanilla and whisk until smooth. Gradually whisk browned butter into sugar-egg mixture; whisk until well blended.
Arrange raspberries, or the berries of your choice, in bottom of cooled crust. Carefully pour browned butter mixture evenly over the fruit. Bake bars until filling is puffed and golden and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Cool bars completely in pan on rack.

Oreo Fudge Bars

Wow, these bars are sweet! I am a huge chocoholic, but not the biggest fan of fudge (it tastes too sugar-y and not chocolate-y enough for me). These bars are rich and a big sugar-y for me. However, I got raves about them. I got this recipe from Baking Blonde's Blog (http://bakingblonde.wordpress.com/). (I also forgot to take a picture of these after they were finished, but here it is before it went in the oven!)

1 16oz. package of Oreo cookies
1 stick butter, melted
1/4 tsp satl1
(14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk (I used Fat Free)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips (could use another 1/2 cup semi-sweet chips if you like - I did because I didn't have milk choc chips)
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (I didn't have these, so I used regular semi-sweet)

Preheat the oven to 325. Line a 9×13 pan with foil and lightly spray with PAM. Set aside 6 Oreo cookies for the toppings. In a small food processor (or blender) grind the rest of the cookies. Add the salt to the crumbs and stir to combine. Melt butter and gently stir together with the cookie crumb mixutre. Press firmly into the bottom of the prepared pan. Coarsely chop the remaining cookies into chunks and set aside. Over a double boiler or in the microwave, melt 3/4 cup semi-sweet and 1/2 cup milk chocoalte chips together with the condensed milk and vanilla.Stir frequently until smooth. Spread evenly over the prepared cookie crust. Sprinkle the mini chocolate chips and the Oreo cookies chunks over the top of the filling. Press down gently into the chocolate topping. Bake for 20-22 minutes oven. Allow to cool on counter for 1 hour. Chill in fridge until completely cold and set before cutting into bars.

Mike's Chocolate Cake Cookies

Ok, these are really titled "Amazing Chocolate Cake Cookies" from http://www.bakingbites.com/. However, my brother-in-law Mike likes them so much that I have decided to rename them for my blog. :) They really are amazing - very chocolatey! It's probably the amount of sugar that makes them so good (and so bad for me). I actually did sustitute some Splenda the last time I made them (only about 1/4-1/3 cup) and couldn't tell a difference.

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups white sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 cups semisweet (or chip of your choice!) chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F.Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and mix to incorporate. Add the vanilla and mix thoroughly.Mix together flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder in a separate bowl with a fork or whisk until even in color. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and stir until well combined. Stir in chocolate chips.Bake for 11 minutes at 350 F. The cookies will appear to be just barely firm with a sheen to their surfaces. Allow to cool on the sheet for a couple of minutes before removing to a cooling rack to cool completely. Store in airtight containers.

Notes: Follow the baking time EXACTLY! They come just right at 11 minutes! I tried these with peanut butter chips (in picture), which were good but doesn't quite have the same effect as the chocolate chips. Next time I am trying a mixture of milk chocolate and peanut butter chips.

Berry Oatmeal Crumble Bars

This recipe is from Baking Bites (http://bakingbites.com/2007/05/berry-oatmeal-crumble-bars/) and is actually pretty healthy! I made it since my dad & sister would be over (both diabetics...nevermind me, I still go for the chocolate!). They were not very sweet...more of a snack instead of a dessert in my option. Still tasty though!

Filling
3 cups fresh or frozen berries (I used 2 c blueberries, 1 c strawberries)
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar2 tbsp cornstarch

Crumble and Crust
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups rolled oats (quick-cooking or regular)
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened and cut into 7-9 large chunks
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt1 tsp vanilla extract

Filling: In a medium saucepan, stir together berries and lemon juice and cook medium heat until fruit is tender, about 8-15 minutes, depending on type of berries being used (strawberries take longer than other berries, usually).In a small bowl, whisk together sugar and cornstarch, then stir into fruit mixture. Continue cooking until mixture comes to a boil. Boil for 1-2 minutes, until thick. Scrape berry filling into a medium bowl and set aside.

Crust: Preheat oven to 350 and lightly grease a 9×13″ baking pan.In a food processor (or large mixing bowl), combine flour, oats, brown sugar, butter, baking soda , salt and vanilla extract. Pulse until mixture is thoroughly blended and resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside 1 1/2 cups of this mixture in a medium bowl. Pour remaining crumb mixture into the bottom of the prepared baking dish, spread evenly and pat down. Place filling in dollops over crust and carefully spread to cover entire surface. Squeeze reserved crumb mixture into large clumps with your fingers and sprinkle evenly over the top of the fruit filling.Bake until golden brown, about 30 to 35 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.
Cut into 20 bars to serve.