Brownies - and White Chocolate!

A perfect combination of two of my top favorite things: white chocolate and brownies.  Wut.  And they are very delicious.

STORYTIME!!!

I made these for a very special occasion - watching Doctor Who with my friends! :D If you are not a so-called Whovian yet, then you really oughta be.

Because this guy right here...

...is Matt Smith and he's adorable.  Bow ties are very cool.

So, Season 7 of the new series (because DW goes back a looong time, back to 1963) just premiered, well, a while ago, but I'm behind because unfortunately I don't have BBC America at my disposal.

That's right, this is a British sci-fi show.  And it's awesome.

So, these brownies hold memories for me.  Memories of dinosaurs on spaceships and hilarious little quips and the Doctor's (ex-)companions, Amy and Rory.  Ahhh, the good old days.

Now, the good nummy brownies!  Owe this recipe - mostly - to Nestle at Very Best Baking!  I did make a few changes though... ;)

White Chip Brownies
1 cup flour
1/2 cup cocoa
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup butter, melted
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 large eggs
2 cups/12-oz. package white chocolate chips, divided

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease a 9-inch square baking pan.
2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt with a fork.
3. In a large bowl, beat sugar, butter, and vanilla.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Gradually add the dry ingredients.
4. Stir in 1 cup white chocolate chips and spread into prepared pan.
5. Bake 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out slightly sticky.  Cool on a wire rack.
6. In a metal bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, melted remaining cup of white chocolate chips, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula.  Once completely melted, spread on cooled brownies, covering the entire surface.
7. Refrigerate 5 minutes and cut into squares.  Store room temperature, covered with plastic wrap.  Makes 9-16 brownies.

So, yes, I changed the white chocolate part at the end - but you know what?  My version is easier and better.  So there.

Breaking it down:
Combine dry ingredients...

Then combine sugar, melted butter, and vanilla...

Add eggs...

Stir in the dry ingredients...

To make a beautiful brownie batter!

Stir in those white chocolate chips...

Then bake and coat with white chocolate!  They are absolutely delicious - all fudgy and white chocolatey and just beautiful inside your mouth.

My mouth is watering!
-JJ

Chocolate Oreo Cake Pops

Another original cake pop recipe!

And these aren't just any Oreo pops - they're Oreo cake pops.  Which means no, it's not just crushed Oreos and cream cheese dipped in white chocolate.  It's chocolate cake with Oreo frosting dipped in white chocolate and more Oreos.

You just got awesome'd.

These are rather like those Chocolate Peppermint Cake Pops from way back when, but, you know, Oreo! :D

Enjoy!

Chocolate Oreo Cake Pops

REQUIRES SOFTENED BUTTER

REQUIRES ROOM TEMPERATURE EGGS AND MILK

REQUIRES COOLING TIME (1-2 hours/overnight)

REQUIRES CHILLING TIME (3-4 hours/overnight)

Makes 40-60 cake pops, depending on pop size

Chocolate Cake:

2 1/2 cups flour (spooned and leveled)

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 sticks butter, softened

2 cups sugar

3 eggs, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups milk, room temperature

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease and flour a 9x13-inch cake pan.
2. In a large bowl, whisk flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.
3. In another large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time, mixing until just combined and scraping down the sights of the bowl after each addition.  Add vanilla and mix well.
4. Add flour mixture a third at a time, alternating with milk in two additions: flour, milk, flour, milk, flour.
5. Spread batter evenly into prepared pan.  Bake 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
6. Let cake cool completely (overnight works best) before crumbling.

Oreo Frosting:

1 1/2 sticks butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 cups powdered sugar

1-2 teaspoons milk, if needed

3/4 cup crushed Oreos (there should still be chunks!)

1. In a large bowl, beat together softened butter and vanilla until combined.
2. Mix in powdered sugar, one cup at a time, stirring well after each addition.
3. Add milk if necessary to make the frosting more creamy.
4. Add crushed Oreos and stir gently.

Assembly:

1 cup FINELY crushed Oreos

1-2 bags Target white chips

40-60 lollipop sticks

Oil

Styrofoam block with holes for pops

1. Crumble the cake into a large bowl.  Add frosting and stir gently with a wooden spoon until the mixture is fairly even.
2. Form into cake balls.  Place balls on a cookie sheet covered with wax paper and cover with plastic wrap.  Refrigerate overnight or until firm.
3. Place crushed Oreos in a wide and shallow bowl.
4. Place a metal bowl over a saucepan of water and heat; make sure the water doesn't touch the other side of the bowl.  Drop in a few white chips - when they have melted you are ready to begin.
5. Pour a small amount of oil in the bottom of the bowl and pour in some white chips.  Let melt and stir smooth.  TURN OFF THE HEAT.
6. Dip lollipop sticks into melted white chips and then press into cake balls.  Refrigerate while you dip the rest of the sticks.
7. Dip pops completely in melted white chocolate, brushing off excess with a toothpick.  Immediately roll in finely crushed Oreos and stand in styrofoam block.  Make finished cake pops one at a time - white chocolate will set up quickly.
8. Continue dipping and rolling.  If more white chocolate is needed, turn on heat, add more oil, and add more chips.  Turn off heat once it has melted and continue to dip.
9. Let pops harden completely before taking them anywhere or serving them.  They may be refrigerated, tightly covered, for up to 3 days, and frozen, tightly covered, for about 2 weeks.

So, let's break it down:
Make that beautiful chocolate cake.

Crush your Oreos!  You'll want chunks for the frosting, and finely crushed Oreos for rolling the cake pops.

Make the frosting...

Add Oreo chunks/crumbs...

And combine with your crumbled cake!

Form into balls and refrigerate.

Then just dip, roll, and let harden!  Enjoy these!

They taste great chilled, also - and I'm sure milk won't mind being drunk with its favorite cookie in cake pop form! ;)
-JJ

House Cake Pops

Talk about a housewarming gift!

Original recipes for the win! :3

And yes, I did bring these to my friend's new home.  She moved away :( but I still keep in touch with her.

Anyhoo, if you knew me, you'd know that I jump at every chance to make cake pops.  Every chance - whether it be Christmas, St. Patrick's Day, or for my own parties.

And here are the results of another chance: house cake pops.

Okay, yeah, they do look like birdhouses.  They look a lot like birdhouses - because they're on sticks.  I hadn't thought of that before I'd already dipped all of the pops.  But, whatever.  If you try making these, you could just make them house cake balls and stick them in green/floral/whatever mini cupcake wrappers.

I am quite proud of these, actually.  I do declare my cake pop making and decorating skills are improving.  I probably messed up only one of these.  And then promptly ate it.

In case you're new to the cake pop making world, then I'll post the actual yellow cake and vanilla frosting recipes I use.  They are my go-to recipes, and work wonderfully - figures, they're from Bakerella!

True, they're both included in my cupcakes post, but now, in future cake pop posts, I can just link back here! ^_^

Now, without further ado, I will present you with the original recipe - and then go into a fairly detailed breakdown:

House Cake Pops

REQUIRES SOFTENED BUTTER

REQUIRES ROOM TEMPERATURE EGGS AND MILK

REQUIRES COOLING TIME (1-2 hours/overnight)

REQUIRES CHILLING TIME (3-4 hours/overnight)

Makes 40 cake pops

Cake:

3 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

2 cups sugar

4 eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup milk, room temperature

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and grease a 9x13 inch pan.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
3. In a separate large bowl, cream softened butter and sugar.  Add eggs, one at a time, stirring well after each addition.  Add vanilla and combine.
4. Alternatively add flour mixture and milk, in this order: 1/3 flour mixture, 1/2 milk, flour, milk, flour.
5. Spread into prepared pan and bake 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Let cool completely - this often takes overnight.

Frosting:

1 1/2 sticks butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 cups powdered sugar

1-2 teaspoons milk, if needed

1. In a large bowl, beat together softened butter and vanilla until combined.
2. Mix in powdered sugar, one cup at a time, stirring well after each addition.
3. Add milk if necessary to make the frosting more creamy.

Assembly:

10 full graham cracker sheets

1 Hershey's milk chocolate bar

1-2 bags Target white chips

40 lollipop sticks

Oil

Styrofoam block with holes for pops

1. If there are any brown edges to your cake, cut them off.  Then crumble the remaining yellow cake into a large bowl.  Add frosting and stir gently with a wooden spoon until the mixture is fairly even.
2. Form into 40 cake cubes, method demonstrated here.  Use remaining mixture to create 40 triangular prisms, pictured below.  Place triangular prisms on cubes, pressing slightly.  Place house cubes on a cookie sheet covered with wax paper and cover with plastic wrap.  Refrigerate overnight or until firm.
3. Break graham cracker sheets into four sections, and break each section in half.
4. Take 10 sections of a Hershey bar and cut into four pieces.
5. Place a metal bowl over a saucepan of water and heat; make sure the water doesn't touch the other side of the bowl.  Drop in a few white chips - when they have melted you are ready to begin.
6. Pour a small amount of oil in the bottom of the bowl and pour in some white chips.  Let melt and stir smooth.  TURN OFF THE HEAT.
7. Dip lollipop sticks into melted white chips and then into the bottoms of the house cubes.  Refrigerate while you dip the rest of the sticks.
8. Dip pops completely in melted white chocolate, brushing off excess with a toothpick.  Immediately stand in styrofoam block and add 2 graham cracker pieces to the roof and 1 Hershey's piece as a door.  Make finished cake pops one at a time - white chocolate will set up quickly.
9. Continue dipping and decorating.  If more white chocolate is needed, turn on heat, add more oil, and add more chips.  Turn off heat once it has melted and continue to dip.
10. Let pops harden completely before taking them anywhere or serving them.  They may be refrigerated, tightly covered, for up to 3 days, and frozen, tightly covered, for about 2 weeks.

Breaking it down:

So your house cubes will look like this.  You need the little prism-thingies so that the graham cracker roofs can go on easily.  They're pretty easy to form, but it did take me a few tries to get it right.  Just try to make them look like this:

And here are your graham cracker roofs.  IMPORTANT TIP: With your fingernail, try indenting where you want to break the graham cracker fourths in half.  They'll break much easier and you won't have to scrap (or eat xD) as many graham crackers that way.  You want 80 of these by the time you're done.

Now, on to the Hershey's bar.  Just cut the sections with a table knife.

In half...

And then in fourths - long ways.  So NOT like [][][][].  Those doors are too skinny then!  In half vertical, and then in half horizontal.

And make 40 of those.

Then dip your pops.  If you need help dipping, see my dice cake pops post.

Don't they look adorable when they're done!?

And if you want to make a display - I used styrofoam, green tissue paper, and black duct tape.  The other decorations are foam shapes glued on or toothpicked.

Have fun making these!

-JJ

White Chocolate Walnut Blondies with Maple Butter Sauce

Happy September!

Oh, yes, you know what this means.  It's time for another fangirl session.

But this time it's about the Bourne Legacy.

Now, some people absolutely detest anything to do with Bourne that isn't Matt Damon.  And I love Matt Damon, I really do.  The first three Bourne films were awesome.  I was insane about them.

And then there's Jeremy Renner.

You might recognize him from the Hurt Locker, Mission Impossible 4, or, my favorite, the Avengers.  Like over here.

Unfortunately, as cool as Blackhawk sounds, it isn't a thing.  It's Clintasha, guys.  And it's awesome.

But that'll come later.  This is the Bourne Legacy rant here.

First of all, it has pretty much nothing to do with Bourne.  But you have to have seen all three Bourne movies beforehand, because Legacy runs pretty much parallel to Ultimatum.  (If you don't know what I'm talking about, either scroll down to the food part or watch the movies right now.  I recommend the second option! :D)

We follow a guy called Aaron Cross, who is awesome and strong and unbelievably sweet.  It's really strange.  He's getting hunted by the CIA, is nearly killed on a regular basis, and is doing his own killing quite efficiently.  It's almost scary; he's really good at breaking necks.  And yet, the first thing he does after knocking out/killing two cops is ask if his lady friend is okay.

Collective sigh.

He gives Rachel Weisz's character these little smiles, and looks her in the eyes and says "thank you" and everything, and gets all sentimental and stuff.  He's so unbelievably adorable.

Just watching the movie (I've seen it twice but I'm definitely going to see it more!) makes my day.  Actually, it makes my whole week.

Anyway, there's my rant.  Which happened because I didn't have finished pictures of this because I gave the blondies away to my grandmother for her birthday.

You might recognize the name - yes, it is an Applebee's dessert, and yes, I did get the recipe from Bakerella.  Like always.

But let me tell you something - this tastes way better than the dessert at Applebee's.  So much better.

How could I possibly know that?  I tasted the dough and it rocked, and I tasted the sauce and it rocked even harder.  It blew me away because it was just so nummy.

I thought the Applebee's dish was actually sort of bad.  I mean, the blondie was okay and all, but it was a generic restaurant blondie.  And the sauce was sizzling - which is cool, kind of - but it made me want to puke.  Because it was cream cheese.

It was not maple butter sauce.  It was like maple cream cheese sauce.

Which is totally gross if you're me.

Now, maybe you're one of those people who loves sweet cream cheese and is all over Philadelphia's new products where it's chocolate-flavored and you're supposed to spread it on things for dessert.

I'm not.

Now, you should try this recipe out for yourself.  I'm pretty certain you'll find this blondie better than Applebee's.  No offense to the friendly neighborhood restaurant.

White Chocolate Walnut Blondies with Maple Butter Sauce

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup walnuts, chopped

1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1 egg, beaten

1 tablespoon vanilla

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

3/4 cup maple syrup

1 stick unsalted butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup walnuts, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease a 9-inch square pan.
2. Combine flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a large bowl.  Stir in walnuts.
3. Mix together melted butter and brown sugar.  Add egg and vanilla and combine thoroughly.
4. Add flour mixture a little at a time, stirring well after each addition.
5. Stir in white chocolate chips.
6. Spread into prepared pan and bake 20-25 minutes.  Test with toothpick to see if it's baked in the center.  Remove from oven.
7. While blondies are baking, melt butter with maple syrup in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Once butter has melted, stir in brown sugar until dissolved.  Stir in walnuts.
8. Cut blondies into either 9 or 4 squares and place on serving dish or individual plates.  Pour maple butter sauce over blondies.  Suggestion: serve with vanilla ice cream.

Breaking it down:

Combine dry ingredients and walnuts...

In a separate bowl, stir together the brown sugar and the butter...

Add vanilla and egg and mix well.  Stir in the dry ingredients a little at a time...

And then stir in those luscious white chocolate chips.

Yum!

Spread into your prepared pan and bake 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees.

Melt your butter with your maple syrup...

Add brown sugar and walnuts and heat.

Your blondies will look gorgeous.

And since I couldn't prepare each blondie separately, I poured the maple butter sauce over the top of the whole thing.  Then I cut them and gave them to my grandmother.

If you have extras, try pouring it onto a plate covered in wax paper and make candy out of it by freezing it!

Bon appétit!

-JJ

Extra-Chocolatey Chocolate Euphoria Cookie Bars

Yes.

A thousand times yes.

Once I saw this in Joanne Fluke's Devil's Food Cake Murder, I was in love.

Completely in love with this recipe.  Even the name screams CHOCOHOLIC!

Okay, in the original recipe, the frosting is just a suggestion at the end of the actual recipe.  But HEAR ME OUT before you decide that it's too much chocolate!

One, the fudge frosting makes these look more like brownies and less like little cookie bars of death by chocolate chips.

Two, chocolate chips exposed to hot air (but not long enough to melt) taste sort of sketch.

Three, the frosting holds the whole cookie bar together and makes it look thicker.

Four, if you're only making a half-pan of this (8x8), then you'll have half a can of sweetened condensed milk leftover.  And if you're like me, the temptation of plain sweetened condensed milk sitting in your refrigerator cannot be resisted, no matter how much you try.  But if you make the frosting too, then you won't have any sweetened condensed milk leftover.  This is a good thing.

Five, it's more chocolate.  And that is never wrong.

So now you have my reasons.

I have made this twice so far.  And both times it received standing ovations.  Well, not really, but I got a lot of compliments, okay?

The first time I made the whole batch, with frosting.  The second time I made a half-batch, again with frosting.  I think the frosting adds a lot, though.  It makes it seem like the whole bar is going to be smooth and then you hit the cereal and the Oreo crust and it's like CRUNCH.

What's that?  Oreo crust?  Cereal?  What's in these things?  Let me break it down for you.  In order.

Oreo crust.  Semisweet chocolate chips.  Mini marshmallows.  Sweetened condensed milk.  White chocolate chips.  Chocolate cereal.  Milk chocolate chips.  Optional but highly recommended fudge frosting.

Ohhhhh yes.

About the cereal.  (Yes, I know, shut up already we want the recipe, but you might just want to pay attention to this.)

The original recipe calls for Cocoa Puffs or Cocoa Krispies.  Now, I have grown up on Cheerios and Oatmeal Squares, and I have never had these - and for good reason.  There is NOTHING healthy in them.  Like absolutely zilch.  And while these cookie bars are the opposite of healthy, I feel a lot better if I try to stick something half-healthy in there.

Chocolate Chex, baby.  It exists, and it's good.  And it's sort of healthy.  And it has plain Rice Chex in there too - which gives the cookie bars some more contrasting color.

Also, it crunches really truly delightfully when you take a bite.  It's an experience that you don't want to miss out on.  I'm serious.  That crunching noise it makes seriously has made my day.  Really.

Oh, right, also - WARNING: You will become addicted to these bars.  You will want to make lots and lots of them.  You will become a chocoholic like meeee. *evil chuckle*

Chocolate Euphoria Cookie Bars - with Chocolate Frosting

2/3 package Oreos (approximately)

1 stick butter

3 cups semisweet chocolate chips, divided

2 cups miniature marshmallows

2 14 oz. cans sweetened condensed milk

1 cup white chocolate chips

2 cups Chocolate Chex

1 cup milk chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease 9x13 inch pan.
2. Crush Oreos and measure out 1 1/2 cups.
3. Melt stick of butter in large microwave-safe bowl.  Add crushed Oreos and combine thoroughly.
4. Spread Oreo mixture into prepared pan.  Sprinkle extra crushed Oreo over gaps if necessary.
5. Evenly sprinkle 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips over Oreo crust.
6. Evenly sprinkle miniature marshmallows over the semisweet chocolate chips.
7. Pour 1 can sweetened condensed milk over marshmallows as evenly as possible.
8. Sprinkle white chocolate chips over that as evenly as possible.
9. Sprinkle Chex over white chips as evenly as possible.
10. Sprinkle milk chocolate chips over Chex as evenly as possible.
11. Press down on layers with the back of a metal spatula.
12. Bake 20-25 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack.
13. While the bars cool, melt remaining 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips in a medium saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly.
14. Once melted, add remaining can of sweetened condensed milk to the chips and stir vigorously for about 2 minutes.
15. Remove from heat and immediately spread on fully-cooled bars.
16. Once the frosting on top has cooled, cut into bars and refrigerate covered.  Makes 24 bars.

Breaking it down:

Melt the butter...

Combine with those crushed Oreos...

And spread out a beautiful Oreo crust for yourself.

Sprinkle with those semisweet chocolate chips...

Then the marshmallows...

And then pour on that sweetened condensed milk that I've ranted about so many many times.

Sprinkle on those white chocolate chips...

And the Chocolate Chex (because if you're using another cereal you SHOULDN'T BE)...

And at last, the milk chocolate chips.

Press it down and bake it for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.  So delightful.

Whip up your frosting while all this loveliness cools...

And frost those puppies!  Delish!

And of course, while you enjoy probably 5 million milligrams of caffeine and pure chocoholic high heaven, eat it with a fork. xD

You will be in love.  I guarantee it.
-JJ