Butterfinger Blondies

A friend & coworker asked me to bake something for her Chorus's bake sale. (they are raising $ for a trip to Hawaii where the will be competing nationally) Of course I jumped at the excuse to try out a new recipe! (how could I say no.. )

So as I was in search of something "evil" to bake I stumbled upon "Recipe Girls" Butterfinger Blondies. The were incredibly easy to make, and VERY Decadent! They got rave reviews in my office, and to be honest.. I was so happy to have them out of my hands for fear of eating too many!

Butterfinger Blondies
from Recipe Girl

2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter, softened
2 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 regular-sized Butterfinger candy bars, crushed

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour or line a 9×13 inch baking pan.
2. In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, with electric mixer at medium speed, combine butter and brown sugar for about 3 minutes.
4. Beat in eggs and vanilla until smooth.
5. Stir in flour mixture and 2 cups of crushed butterfingers.
6. Spread in prepared pan. Sprinkle remaining crushed butterfinger bars over top of batter.
7. Bake 30- 35 minutes, or until the bars are a bit firm to the touch. Cool completely before cutting into bars.

Honeycrisp Apples

Honeycrisp apples are so delicious right now! I picked up a few at Whole Foods this week, and oh my they were tasty. If you like apples, please pick some of these up!

Santa Margherita

This is one of my favorites. Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio is fresh, crisp and wonderfully refreshing. A friend just asked me to meet up for happy hour, and I found this flashing threw my mind. Perfect for this gorgeous fall day... Too bad I already committed to a spin class this evening! Oh well, I do see a glass of Santa Margherita in my future this weekend. ;)

Dorie's Corniest Corn Muffins

My cousin Lynne recently introduced me to Dorie Greenspan's "Baking: From My Home to Yours". What a fabulous book.... So many delectable recipes I can not wait to dig into! Lynne in fact is now participating in the Tuesdays with Dorie Baking group. What a great idea & a fun excuse to bake. I may have to hop on board to one of these days... Anyways I bought the book this weekend and was ready to dig in. I chose her first recipe "Corniest Corn Muffins" and they were just lovely. I followed the recipe almost to the "T" and they were very light, fluffy and enjoyable. Below is Dorie's Recipe......

Corniest Corn Muffins Adapted from Baking From My Home To Yours

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup cornmeal
6 tablespoons sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg (optional)
1 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 tablespoons corn oil (I only had Canola oil on hand..so used that instead)
1 large egg ( I used egg Beaters)
1 large egg yolk
1 cup corn kernels (add up to 1/3 cup more if you’d like), fresh, frozen or canned (in which case they should be drained and patted dry)

Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F. Butter or spray the 12 muffin molds in a regular-size muffin tin, or fit the molds with paper muffin cups.

Working in a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg. In a large glass measuring cup with a spout or in another bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, melted butter, oil, egg and yolk. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don’t worry about being thorough – the batter will be lumpy and that’s just the way it should be. Stir in the corn kernels. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin molds.

Slide the pan into the oven and bake 15 to 18 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Pull the pan from the oven and carefully lift each muffin out of its mold and onto a rack to cool.

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

This is one of my favorite easy recipes. It takes about 15 minutes total, including bake time... and they are very tasty! I had the urge to bake (shocking I know) on Sunday night, whipped these up... had one (ok maybe a couple) and brought the rest into work on Monday. A co-worker popped by my desk mid morning and said "the devil makes you bake!". HA! Well thank you, I will take that as a compliment.

Flourless PB cookies
One cup creamy peanut butter (I use the reduced fat kind)
One cup white sugar
One teaspoon baking powder
1/4c egg beaters (or 1 egg)

Preheat the oven to 350° Line cookie sheet with wax paper. Fill small bowl with some extra sugar, set aside. Mix ingredients together. This can be tough with the PB so just use a whisk or spatula. Once the batter is smooth, use a teaspoon to scoop batter out.. roll into small ball and then roll in sugar. Place on wax paper. Bake for 10 minutes. Let the cookies cool for 5 minutes, then move to cooling wrack... and Voila! They even taste great in the cold... and are a perfect treat to make with kids.

I dream of ....

This KitchenAid mixer. The Williams Sonoma website says KitchenAid is an "American Icon". You can say that twice and mean it! I have been coveting these mixers for years, and I can't lie.. my heart does flutter a bit when I pass one in the store. I think one of these days I will have to start saving for one... Or Christmas gift perhaps? I would love you forever!