I've baked a few things since I've been back in Pittsburgh, but nothing as post-worthy as these brownies. I deviated from the recipe a bit - it was my first time using this recipe and so I only made a half-batch, and I ended up substituting apple sauce for butter when I realized I had no butter in the refrigerator. (I could have run across the street to buy a pack, but alas, I'm lazy.) I also chopped up a dark chocolate bar to add to the batter because I'm a huge fan of chocolate chunks in my brownies.
My first reaction, after taking a bite from one of the edges I cut off after the brownies had cooled down, was that the brownies were way too cake-y for my taste. I let Mike have a bite and he agreed with me; disappointed, I threw away the rest of the edges, cut the rest of the pan of brownies into nine even pieces and packed it all up into an air-tight container for the night.
I have since had two actual brownies and my mind has completely changed about them. The apple sauce caught me off-guard at first because it adds a light flavor throughout the brownie, but it's almost forgotten with the satisfying dark chocolate fudgy-ness of each brownie. And of course, lets not forget about the chocolate chunks!

Also, recipes I'd like to try next:
Yin-Yang Cookies
Very Tangy Lime Bars
Banana and Honey Muffin with Nutella Swirl
Savory Breakfast Scones

Labels: brownies

It has been a few days since I last posted, but I was home visiting my family for a few days and haven't really had a chance to post until now.
My father's birthday was last week and to celebrate we made two different quiches (one with salmon and spinach, one with bacon and prosciutto) and I made him a lemon tart; the perfect lemon tart from the book Luscious Lemon Desserts, to be exact.
The book's not lying, this lemon tart really is perfect. It's so tart you can't have too much of it at once, but each bite is better than the next. My crust ended up being a little thick at the corners, but otherwise everything turned out alright. Everyone else seemed to think so as well!
The picture is actually halfway decent today because there's an abundance of natural lighting at my parent's house, and also because they have an excellent camera.

Labels: lemon, tarts

For about a week now I've had a bunch of overly ripe bananas sitting on a shelf in my kitchen that I needed to find a use for. I've been indulging in peanut butter, honey and banana sandwiches since I picked up all those ingredients over a week ago - they're my new favorite snack. But after a few days of eating the same thing at least twice a day, I felt I should try something different.
I've never been a huge fan of banana bread - it's always either too sweet, or too walnut-ty, or too... something. However, I have been wanting to use the new loaf pan I bought for weeks now, so banana bread appeared to be the most likely option, especially after I came across this recipe; the combination of banana and honey (no peanut butter though!) sounded sweet to my stomach.
I omitted the dates from my batter, and exchanged the buttermilk for its vegan counterpart (soy milk + 1/3 teaspoon vinegar), and used vegetable oil instead of canola since that is all I have on hand.
The result was a deliciously moist, not overly-sweet loaf with just a hint of walnuts and honey. Last night I ate my first slice plain (yum!), topped my second slice with some Nutella (yum! yum!), and I plan on having another slice or two for breakfast today, possibly topping one with some organic crunchy peanut butter.
If you're on the fence about banana bread, I definitely recommend trying this recipe, it will blow you away.

Labels: banana, walnuts

Last week I received a small package in the mail from a friend containing a very entertaining zine she had created. The agreement was that I would send her cookies in exchange for this lovely package. I searched through numerous recipes until I came across two that struck my fancy - Smitten Kitchen's peanut butter cookies and a recipe for espresso chocolate chip cookies that I can't seem to find at the moment.
The exciting news is that halfway through making the espresso cookies I realized I didn't have enough eggs to make both types of cookies like I had planned. No problem; I decided to invent my own cookie instead! No egg? I substituted half a banana. Not feeling the espresso? I just omitted it. Instead I threw in a teaspoon of honey, some chopped walnuts and sliced almonds, and chopped semi-sweet chocolate. The result? I call these my vegetarian banana choco-chunk cookies, and they make me so proud; this is the first recipe I've ever come up with on my own.


Here's a shot of the peanut butter cookies I made as well; I used crunchy peanut butter, which gave them an even more interesting texture, although next time I'd like to use a higher quality peanut butter for a better taste - they developed a particularly odd taste after sitting in an airtight container for a few days:


The friend I sent these out to loved them, especially the vegan cookies - I helped make her day a little better; that is exactly why I love baking! So, without further ado:

Vegetarian Banana Choco-Chunk Cookies

1/2 cup softened margarine
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon wildflower honey
1/4 teaspoon fleur de sel
half of a mashed banana
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
approximately 1 cup combined: finely chopped walnuts, sliced almonds, and chopped semi-sweet chocolate

Combine the margarine and sugar, add the mashed banana and honey. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Throw in your nuts and chopped chocolate.
Here's the fun part: take a piece of parchment paper and spoon the batter out onto the center of it, roll it up in the parchment paper until your cookie dough log is about an inch and a half in diameter, wrap it in cellophane and refrigerate for two hours.
Start preheating your oven to 350 degrees. Cut the cookie dough log into 1/2 inch thick slices and place a few inches apart on your cookie sheet (I lined my cookie sheet with parchment paper first). Bake for about ten minutes, or until they look done. Let cool, and enjoy!

Labels: almonds, banana, cookies, peanut butter, walnuts

No-Knead Bread - there are recipes all over the internet for it but this is the best one I could find; it has step-by-step instructions and pictures.
Mike and I didn't even wait for it to cool down; after all the waiting we had to do prior to baking it, we got impatient and just dug in.
The bread tastes delicious with butter or Nutella spread on it. I'm sure it would make some tasty sandwich bread too, but we don't have any sandwich meat around. Now that I have a hefty amount of bread flour, I will definitely be making more bread in the future.

Labels: yeast breads

I made another apple pie from scratch a few nights ago; this time I tried this recipe. I've been staying away from pie crust recipes that use shortening because I don't like to use it (consider this part of my own food ethics), but I gave in after reading about how it makes for a much richer crust in the end; the crust was indeed tasty, although I think I'll stick to recipes that don't use shortening in the future; it perplexes me to use it in such large quantity.
I used Golden Delicious apples this time instead of the Granny Smith apples I've used in the past; because of this I cut back on the sugar immensely, although the pie still formed a lot of liquid at the bottom... delicious sugary apple juice. I also had Mike crush up some walnuts and threw those between the apple and lattice layers.

The finished product, straight out of the oven:
(Excuse the dirty oven, it got a little out of hand but the stove top slabs are soaking in hot soapy water as I write this.)


A close up of my "I <3 pi(e)" handiwork:


Mmm... pie:

Labels: apple pie