Valentine's Day and Huey

So I mayyyy have gone a little overboard last week with the baking; whipping out cupcakes, muffins, cookies and brownies but it was well worth it. I already shared the cupcakes and muffins, now let's get to the other goods.

I felt like I needed to add a little chocolate into the mix, and I'm not a fan of just plain chocolate so I had to mix it up.

I usually have butterscotch chips on hand and thought they'd be the perfect sweet touch to add to the rich chocolate and peanut butter chips in these brownies. They flew pretty quick at my boyfriend's apartment so it had to be a good combo.

This usually doesn't end well but I got into some late night baking Sunday. AKA I couldn't sleep and made a ton of cookies. Way too much... But they're cute AND delicious!

I took a sugar cookie and jazzed them up for Valentine's Day. And as my boyfriend told me, sugar cookies are underrated. I agree in that people look at a sugar cookie's bland complexion and think twice before indulging, so you gotta make them look good.

The good thing about Valentine's Day is there's always a ton of candy on sale and when I think of candy I think of what I can bake it with. I found heart-shaped chocolates that have a different filling in each one and baked them into the cookies. Anywhere from just fudge, peanut butter, caramel, crisps and even cookies and cream were in the candies and of course the heart shape made them festive and season-appropriate.

I also managed to find the right baking time so they weren't hard as a rock, it's actually pretty easy to burn a sugar cookie and making any cookie in this brownie pan can go horribly wrong and threaten to break teeth if you don't know how to bake them. Ten to twelve minutes usually does the trick, they may seem undercooked and too soft at first but when you give them time to cool they're the perfect consistency.

Before that I made the same exact ones with peanut butter. Just like too much chocolate, I'm not a fan of too much or just straight up peanut butter so the candies helped that balance out as well.

The topper to this Hallmark Holiday mood I've been in is now this classic has been stuck in my head and probably will be until the end of February. Thanks Huey!

And now I want to watch Back To The Future. Think I can make Delorean cupcakes? 

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Trying to bake into Christmas

Definitely made up for lost time on this one.  In my attempt to get into the Christmas spirit I tackled two different kinds of cookies AND brownies. Here we go..

I use to think potato chip cookies were weird. They sound weird and are hard to imagine, but once I tried them I loved them and decided to tackle 'em. With a twist, of course.

I found a recipe that includes butterscotch chips, and I must say it's a pleasant surprise.

Again, potato chip cookies, it sounds weird but they're worth a shot.

Considering I have this brownie pan that I've been using for cookies and cake, it's about time to make brownies with it. In order to keep it out of the house I went for the peanut butter route. I like peanut butter, but in moderation so this made it easier to pass along to my boyfriend who's pretty much become my taste-tester and is a fan of anything peanut butter.

These are also made with chopped peanuts and semi-sweet chocolate chips. Still debating on making a nutella icing to pour on top.

Sidenote- these gave me an excuse to use one of my favorite kitchen gages - The Ninja!

Even though I'm not the biggest fan of peanut butter, the chocolate off-sets it all and they're still really good.

Now more cookies..The best cookies are actually just simple sugar cookies. Sugar cookies are real easy to make and can seem pretty bland, but you have to have some fun with them...

Say hello to the Global Warming Snowmen. This is what happens when it's 60 degrees on December 3rd in Chicago and explains why I still can't get into Christmas.

It Must Be Monday...

You know it's Monday when...

I have more baked goods than I know what to do with... And my apartment feels like the surface of the sun with the oven on for hours.

One of my favorite things my mom would bake when I was a kid was oatmeal scotchies. Whenever she cooked, whenever she baked, I thought it was her secret recipe and was always afraid to try it myself. After all, no one can make anything like mom can.

Soooo I decided to spin it. I had to make the originals but sticking with my square theme, I made them into bars. I realized they take a lot longer to bake when they're in a brownie pan but it is so worth it. And it doesn't feel like you're eating two or three with one bar :).

Another twist- Oatmeal toffee. Replace the butterscotch chip with heath bar toffee bits and it's a whole new ballgame. Again extra baking time with a brownie pan but patience is a virtue and it's totally worth the wait.

Another twist on an old favorite - the rice krispie treat. Really simple, not really baking but it's square! And not your average rice krispie treat. How about chocolate with white chocolate chips?

Yeeeessss ma'am.


Pairings - Today's baking partner is the usual Moscato which would actually go very well with the butterscotch. Even a bit with the rice krispie treats. While Moscato is sweet and crisp and may not sound too good with chocolate, the lightness of the white chocolate balances out the cocoa and makes a great pair.

Moscato not your thing? You can go with a Pinot Noir or a mild Merlot. Still, this is probably why I like it so much, a good moscato holds up well with milk chocolate.

Now, who's going to eat all of this?



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