Butterscotch-Cashew Blondies

I was flipping through my Martha Stewart's Cookies book and decided to try and make Blondies. Before discovering the whole food blog world, I have never heard of a Blondie, let alone tried one. I've always been pretty curious and tonight seemed like a nice night to try something new. My mom doesn't eat Chocolate, which I was craving, so these Blondies are perfect for her! It has cashews (nuts in general for her is a plus) and butterscotch chips and the original recipe called for Toffee bits, but i didn't want to shell out $3.50 for a bag, if the recipe calls for only 1/4 cup. I think next time i want to use White Chocolate Chips and maybe Peanuts instead of Cashews. The texture was cake-like, moist and pretty good, but i felt like it was missing something. With this craving, its most likely chocolate :)



Buttescotch-Cashew Blondies
recipe from Martha Stewart's Cookies

9 TBsp unsalted butter, room temp, plus more for pan
1 2/3 AP Flour (I use unbleached)
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp coarse salt
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup butterscotch chips
1/2 cup usalted cashews, coarsely chopped (i used lightly salted cashews)
1/4 cup toffee bits (didn't have any)

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter pan and line with parchment paper.

Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.

Cream butter and brown sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; mix until combined. Add flour mixture, scraping down the sides. Mix in butterscotch, cashews and toffee.

Pour batter into pan; spread evenly with spatula. Bake 42-45 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool in pan for 15 minutes. Lift out; let it cool completely on wire rack before cutting into squares.

Gooey Caramel Bars

I'm sure most of you have seen the delicious "Brookies" Bakerella posted on her blog. When i first reviewed the ingredients, I was shocked that it called for 1 POUND OF BROWN SUGAR! I mean, holymoly. The recipe she posted had 2 ways of making it. By mixer or by hand. I did it by hand and it was a bit tiring, but completely worth it. I mixed in chocolate chips, Reese's peanut butter chips and topped it off with caramel chews. Lets back up a minute there... I had the hardest time finding caramel chews at my local Vons. Whats up with that?! I was really glad i had some forgotten caramel chews i bought during the holiday season because the caramel is what makes it extra special. Also, I didn't have a 13x9 pan, so mine turned out bigger and thicker then hers, but its okay. This is one of those must try recipes! Play around with the mix-ins and have fun!!



Gooey Caramel Bars
Recipe from Bakerella

2 3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter, softened
1 lb. light brown sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups Chocolate Chips
1/2 cup Peanut Butter Chips
10 individual wrap Caramel Chews, chopped



By Hand:

Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Set aside.
Stir brown sugar into softened (not melted) butter in another large bowl until butter disappears. You can use the back of your spoon to help incorporate the two together.
Add eggs one at a time to butter mixture and stir well after each egg.
Add vanilla, chocolate chips and peanut butter chips. Mix well.
Add dry flour mixture and stir until well combined.

Coat a 13 X 9 pan with non-stick spray and spread batter evenly into dish. Top with Caramel chews, pushing it into the batter a bit.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until top is golden brown. Make sure you don’t over bake.

Note: I did not have a 13x9 pan. Actually i'm not sure how big my pan was, but i had to bake it for about 50 minutes. The top started to get a bit brown around 30 minutes, so i slightly covered it with foil to prevent it from burning. If you do use a 13x9 pan and notice its not fully done around 30mins, leave it in a little longer but do keep an eye on it!!

Marionberry Cheesecake Bars

Did you know that when i first decided to start a food blog, it was mainly more cooking than baking? Then i moved back home (good ole sunny Southern California) and it became more baking than cooking? For the past 8 months, i've stuck to mainly baking cookies. I've ventured out making madelines a few times, cake and cupcakes a few times, blondies a few times, but I always come back to the cookies. Except this time i decided to make bars. Cheesecake bars to be exact. I was surfing my favorites on Foodgawker the other night for some kind of a motivation and my belly were eyeing up these babies from Zoomyummy. She used Raspberry, but i think you can use whatever preserve/jam your little heart desires. The shredded coconut is optional and its easy to change up to your own personal taste. My mom LOVED these!! She didn't say that because she's my mom... she really meant it. She's usually very picky about the sweetness in my goods, but this one was just right. My friend Jenny says they're better than the S'more Cookies which was rated the highest of all my other yumyums.




Marionberry Cheesecake Bars
Original recipe from Zoomyummy

Crust:
1 1/4 cup all-purpose unbleached flour
1/2 cup oraganic cane sugar
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp

Filling:
2 8oz cream cheese, softened
2/3 cups oraganic cane sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp almond extract
2 TBsp all-purpose flour
1 cup marionberry fruitspread
1 cup shredded coconut, optional

1) In a large bowl combine the chopped nuts with the flour and sugar.

2) Add butter and using your fork, combine the mixture until it looks like crumbs. Set aside 1 cup of crumb mix.

3) Press the crumb mix into the bottom of a 13x9 baking pan.

4) Bake at 350F oven for 12-15 minutes until edges are golden.

5) Combine cream cheese with sugar using your electric mixer. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Add the almond extract and make sure you scrape down the sides.

6) Add 2 TBsp flour and mix again.

7) Pour cream cheese mix over the hot crust and spread it evenly.

8) Put in back into the oven to bake for about 15 minutes. Remove.

9) Pour the preserves/jam over the hot cream cheese mix, spreading it evenly.

10) For the topping, mix the shredded coconut with the reserved crumb mix. Sprinkle evenly on top of the cream cheese/preserve layer.

11) Bake for another 20 minutes or so. Remove and cool pan on wire rack. Chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours before cutting. Store leftovers in fridge.