Butterscotch Blondies

Hello everybody! Yesterday was a rather gloomy day outside so, I went on a baking adventure of course! My husband made me make brownies OUT OF A BOX the other day so I was trying to think of some way to redeem myself when I came across a recipe for butterscotch blondies. They are similar to brownies only not brown and not chocolate. How are they anything like brownies then you ask? Well they have a similar texture and they...well...I guess that's about it. Lol. And for once I had all the ingredients! This made for a happy Kayla.

The recipe called for:

1. 1 stick of butter
2.  2 cups of brown sugar
3. 1 cup of cream
4. 2 tsp vanilla
5. 2 tbs dark rum(We didn't have any so I used Disaronno)
6. 1 tsp salt
7. 2 cups flour
8. 1 tsp baking powder
9. 2 eggs
10. Chocolate chips(Optional)

Now the first thing you do is melt your butter over med heat. Meanwhile whisk together your flour and baking powder in a large bowl and set aside for later. By now your butter should be all melted so you add in the brown sugar and stir a little until the sugar dissolves and it becomes bubbly like molten lava. Once you have reached this point turn down your heat to med low and add in your cream. It will bubble up, this is normal, give it a few good stirs and then whisk away until it becomes smooth and slightly thickened. This can take up to ten min. Now get out your bowl of dry ingredients and pour the butterscotch syrup into the bowl. Stir/whisk until the ingredients come together and then add your eggs. (This is also where you would add your chocolate chips if using any.) Keep mixing until the mixture forms ribbons. You are now ready to pour your mixture into a greased 9 in pan and bake at 350 on the center rack for 15-18 min. Let cool, then devour!


Hope you enjoyed this post and let us know what you think about it! Happy baking!
-Kayla♥

Cream

Vanilla, rum, and salt.

Getting my Mis en place.

Beautiful brown sugar.

Melting...

Melted.

Adding Sugar.

Stirring and Dissolving.

Still stirring.

Still Dissolving.

Bubbling around the edges.

Molten Lava. :)

Adding cream while it bubbles.

Starting to come together.

Smoothing out.

Smooth and Thick.

Ready to add.

Adding.

Added the eggs. Forgot to take a pic.

Ribbons!

Pouring into prepared dish.

Ready to go in...WAIT!!!

I wanted some chocolate chips...

Best part. Licking the bowl.

Fork test since I didn't have a toothpick.

All done and beautiful! ♥

The 5 Steps on How to Make the Perfect Cookies

Cookies...oh they are so delicious, warm, and gooey; but how many times have you made a 100% successful cookie? Oh shoot, it looks kind of lumpy, gross. Oh no, it turned into a rock! Ugh, disgusting, it decided to leak out it's butter.
Have all of the above happened to you? Don't worry, we have had many disastrous cookie experiences. So, what exactly does it take to make the perfect cookie? Well, you have come to the right place. Warning: you will not be able to stop yourself from producing a minimum of 12 dozen cookies, you have been warned, now let's continue.

Step 1: Do not put too much butter in your cookies.
Now, you are probably thinking, "Whyyyyyy? Why in God's name would I want to put LESS butter in my cookies?!" Calm down. We aren't saying to reduce your butter amount, just make sure to not get overly happy in the butter intake. Butter is what makes a cookie amazing, but when you put too much in, the cookies have a tendency to become flat, thin, overly liquified crackers. They are delicious still, yes, but isn't a moist, fluffy looking cookie much more flattering? We think so.


Step 2: Do not over mix your eggs.
This may seem like a stupid thing to remember, but it is extremely important to never over whip/mix your eggs. Sure, it's fine to cream the hell out of your butter and sugar, but those aren't...eggs. Eggs are very sensitive to over mixing, and when you over mix your eggs it causes your cookies to crash, which makes them become undesirable looking blobs.
All you need to do when you are adding your eggs to your sugar and butter is: lightly fold in your eggs, one at a time, and immediately stop mixing when barely emulsified with your butter/sugar mixture. Trust me, this will help your cookies immensely!


Step 3: Sift your dry ingredients.
"Oh, sifting really doesn't do that much to help your cookie, I just dump it in, whatever. " Yeah, that is usually the response I get whenever I give someone this tip. Why do you need to sift? Well, we mentioned above how important it is to not over mix your eggs, and you always add your dry ingredients to the wet after mixing your wet, right? If you sift your dry ingredients (this can be done either with a strainer, or a whisk) and then add them to your wet, you will have to do less mixing, which will cause the eggs to not get over mixed. All in all, sifting is your friend.

Step 4: BAKING SODA. 
I can tell you many stories of how I..God forbid...forgot the baking soda. Oh, it was a sad day indeed. No, when I had thought about making cookies I did not imagine that they would end up looking like cookie-rocks. When you forget to add either baking soda or baking powder (you don't see baking powder as often in cookies, but a fair amount still contain it), there is nothing in your dough to cause it to rise and poof up, resulting in a dense, hard, cookie ball rock. It's okay if this has happened to you, it's happened to me many times.

Step 5: Freeze your cookies before baking. If you have just finished mixing and portioning your cookies, and you immediately decide to throw them in the oven, the butter won't have enough time to cool in your dough, and the butter will spread out. Freezing your cookies helps ensure that the cookie will not spread out and become creepy alien creatures. For best results make your cookies a day ahead of time, and freeze them over night. Minimum of a couple hours in the freezer will also suffice.

Ah, well there you have it, those are the 5 secrets of ours, and I can guarantee you that you will have a successful cookie if you follow those steps! Oh don't forget, 325 F - 350 F is your oven temp! Good luck, and enjoy. :)


-Savvy♥

Bagels...They're kinda our thing. :)

So Savvy and I were able to bake in the cafe at our school this summer and get payed as well as get co-op hours for our program. Almost everyday after class we got to bake pretty much whatever we wanted as long as it would sell well in the cafe. It was a young bakers dream, unlimited top of the line ingredients, mixers and tools galore, and all the oven space you could ask for including; conventional ovens, convection ovens, a deck oven, and a wood stone oven. Sweet, right? We made an assortment of baked goods including; scones, cookies, brownies, muffins, cinnamon rolls, sticky buns, and bagels. Our two top selling items were our Huckleberry scones with a lemon glaze that, Jeralynn, our morning cook would top them with and, our bagels. Our bagels sold out almost every week. We made plain, cinnamon sugar, cheddar, jalapeno cheddar, sesame, and poppy seed. My chef instructor, who is Jewish, said that she loves a good bagel and that she was sad that Walla Walla didn't have a bagel shop and that we should open one because it was the best bagel she'd ever had. I also brought a cheddar jalapeno one home to my mother in law and she said it was hands down the best bagel she'd ever had. When I came back in the kitchen to get my bagel my husband had already downed the cinnamon sugar one and was half way through the cheddar one, my cheddar one. So it goes without saying that he liked them as well. Another big seller was the cinnamon rolls we made out of left over croissant dough. They were super flaky, buttery, and all around delish! I'm going to take some time and post some recipes we used this Summer. If you have any questions or comments we'd love to hear from you! -Kayla Joyce♥

Huckleberry Scone

Huckleberry Scone Dough

Apple cinnamon Scone Dough

Apple Cinnamon Scone

Cheesy Jalapeno bagels about to be baked

Plain Bagel Dough

Cinnamon Sugar Bagels waiting to be baked

Cheesy bagels heading to the oven

Scaling out ingredients

Stuff for Brownies

Brownies!!!

Some food humor/Chef memes

Homemade "Pop Tarts"

I finally bought this book from the Walla Walla Hastings that I've been eying for a while now. My husband and I went in to look around because they're having a going out of business sale and I spotted it on one of the racks. I ran over to it and I was explaining why I should be able to get it when I flipped to a page titled, "Homemade Toaster Tarts." My husband took the book from me and half jokingly told me I could get it but all I could make were the "Pop Tarts." I laughed and agreed just to get the book and read it with wide eyes and excitement all the way home like a child. The first thing I made from this book, however, was not the Toaster Tarts. I know, I know, shame on me. But he got his Pop tarts later on that week. The first thing I decided to make was homemade ENGLISH MUFFINS. I don't know why it never came to mind that I could make these. But this was a revelation for me and my family LOVED them. In fact, they were all gone by the following morning. A few days later I made the tarts. They were so amazing and pretty easy to make as well. I made some of them with cherry pie filling(those were grandpa's favorites), some with peach, and a few with Nutella. Oh! And one with cookie butter. If you have never heard of this amazingness you HAVE to try it. I made these again last week when my husband and I traveled to Las Vegas to visit his dad. This time I made homemade lemon curd and filled about half with that, added some blueberries to the curd with a few of them and then the rest, Nutella of course. The title to this amazing book is, "Home Baked Comfort" and it is written by Kim Laidlaw featuring recipes and stories from bakers across the country. I highly recommend this book to any level of baker out there because not only does it have recipes and stories but the author shows you how fun and easy baking can be. Which is also what I intend to do through this blog. Here is a link to the "Toaster Tarts" recipe and I hope you enjoy! http://leitesculinaria.com/80233/recipes-toaster-tarts.html