Boozy Bailey's Brownies

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

And my gift to you on this lovely Irish day is these Boozy Bailey's Brownies!

how festive and delicious is that?!?!

I made these with my friend Michelle. We had a pre-St. Patrick's Day bake and beverage get-together a couple weekends ago.

going back to my bartending days

white russians --> green irishmen?

Happy Pre-Patty's Day!

The brownies have a hard crusty exterior and a fudgy center.  The frosting is light and creamy.

Chocolatey. Sugary. Boozy.  Need I say more to convince you to make these?

Now I'm off to drink green beverages with my mom and friends all day! I'll also be wearing a tiara and a shirt that says "Kiss me, I'm drunk". God, I love being young and Irish on March 17th!

Boozy Bailey’s Brownies (adapted from How Sweet It Is)

For the brownies

• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 2-3 squares baking chocolate
• 2 cups sugar
•  2 eggs
• 1 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 cup Bailey’s Irish Cream

For the buttercream

• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
• 6 tablespoons Bailey’s Irish cream

1.       Preheat oven to 350.

2.       Melt butter and baking sqaures in a microwave safe bowl. In the mixing bowl, cream melted butter and chocolate mixture. Add in sugar and vanilla and beat until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add in eggs, beating one at a time. Add flour and stir just until combined. Stir in Bailey’s.

3.       Pour into greased 9 x 13 baking dish (I used a 10 x 10 square cake pan).  Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until just barely done.

4.       For the frosting: In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until it is light and fluffy. Add the sugar 1/2 cup at a time. Add the Bailey's one tablespoon at a time. Beat until smooth and creamy. 

5.       Wait until the brownies are fully cooled and frost. These are the kind of brownies that have a hard top and a fudgy middle so don’t worry if the top of your brownies are pretty hard.

I want to drink the Bailey's from the bottle and eat the frosting with a shovel. Not appropriate?

See what I mean about the hard exterior and the fudgy center?

This is basically like three shots.

Pumpkin and Salted Caramel Blondies

This is my first pumpkin baking escapade!

And I finally tried substituting unsweetened applesauce for butter.  The original recipe called for two sticks of butter but I used one stick of "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!" and 1/2 of a cup of applesauce.  I have never made this recipe before so I can't comment on any taste difference. But it tasted plenty sweet and delicious to me so I think I'll continue using this trick. Between substituting applesauce for butter, using Splenda and whole wheat flower, I'll give myself a pat on the back for cutting out hundreds of calories and making this recipe more healthy!

I would bake this again just to have my kitchen smell like comforting fall spices and warm caramel.  Oh, and because they were delicious. I wrapped some up for my grandmother to bring to my grandfather and apparently they didn't make it to him so I guess that's a good sign (either that or she left them in the car, but I'm choosing to think positive).

The only downside to these treats is that the caramel makes them SO sticky.  Though this makes for a tasty treat, they were a pain to cut and came out looking a little rough.  Therefore, I wouldn't bring these to a party because they just don't look pretty.  But there's nothing wrong with some ugly deliciousness between friends and family :) After they taste these, I promise they'll forgive you!

I think these taste best warmed in the microwave for about 30 seconds with a little bit of ice cream or whipped cream (I use the fat free stuff so I can go whipped CrAzY!). Enjoy!

Pumpkin and Salted Caramel Blondies (from baked bree)

• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick room temperature butter(or margarine for baking)
• 1 1/4 cups brown sugar (I used 1 1/8 cup of brown sugar Splenda blend)
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 cup store bought caramel sauce with 1 teaspoon sea salt

1. Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
2. Cream together the butter and brown sugar until very light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla.
3. Add the pumpkin puree. Add the reserved flour mixture slowly, and stop when the batter is just combined.
4. Spray a 8×8 baking dish with cooking spray. Add half of the batter and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 12 minutes.
5. Pour over the caramel sauce.
6. Cover the caramel with the remaining batter.
7. Return the blondies to the oven and bake for another 40-50 minutes. A toothpick should come out clean. Let the blondies cool before cutting. 

Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bar

Hi, everyone!  Sorry, I was MIA for a little bit.  I went to visit Tom for the holiday weekend and we were dog sitting and I didn't have access to wireless internet.  But I'm back! And with a treat that will definitely satisfy your craving for fall flavors and sugar.

These bars have so many great tastes all in one treat.  Cheesecake, apples, streusel topping, caramel.  Needless to say, this combination of flavors is why I chose it as my first apple baking attempt of the season.

Don't be intimidated by the list of ingredients.  Most of them are spices that you probably already have and the list repeats sugar and butter for all of the layers. I used Splenda for both types of sugar and 1/3 fat cream cheese.  Next time, I'll try fat free cream cheese (it was plenty sweet so I'm sure cutting down on the calories a little more wouldn't hurt).  I also want to start experimenting with using applesauce instead of butter. Or something instead of butter.  You don't realize how much butter is in baked goods until you actually unwrap stick after stick and put it in a pan.  So I'll be trying some butter substitutions in the near future. Wish me luck.

Be sure to let these chill in the fridge for a couple hours before you cut them.  I didn't because they came out of the oven just as Tom was leaving and I wanted to send him home with some.  He said they were great but I basically felt like I was a lunch lady, slopping cafeteria lunch food into plastic wrap for him to take home.  Tasted great, looked like garbage.  Once I let them cool and cut them, they were much easier to work with and the layers looked more distinct.

You can eat them cold or pop them in the microwave for 30 seconds and serve them with a little bit of ice cream.  I'm not really a vanilla fan (booooooring) so I've been going with maple walnut (a flavor of ice cream I have recently discovered that I like) and pumpkin pie ice cream (need I say more?).

Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars

·         Crust:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

·         Cheesecake Filling:

3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoons, divided

3 large eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

·         Apples:

3 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

·         Streusel topping,

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup quick cooking oats

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1/2 cup caramel topping

1.                  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2.                  In a medium bowl, combine flour and brown sugar. Cut in butter with a pastry blender (or 2 forks) until mixture is crumbly. Press evenly into a 9x13 baking pan lined with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Bake 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

3.                  In a large bowl, beat cream cheese with 3/4 cup sugar in an electric mixer at medium speed until smooth. Then add eggs, 1 at a time, and vanilla. Stir to combine. Pour over warm crust.

4.                  In a small bowl, stir together chopped apples, remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Spoon evenly over cream cheese mixture.

5.                   In a small bowl, combine all ingredients for streusel topping. I like to really combine it by using my clean hands to thoroughly combine the butter into the mixture.

6.                  Sprinkle evenly with Streusel topping. Bake 40-45 minutes, or until filling is set. Drizzle with caramel topping and let cool. Serve cold and enjoy!

Banana Walnut Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

I promised you my dessert recipe from my Sunday cooking marathon so here it is! This is my first attempt at baking anything from scratch. Ever. I'm quite proud of myself because I didn't think I could bake. In the past, when I tried to bake pre-made cookies and I burned the bottom every single time. Which didn't really concern me because I just stopped baking them and settled with eating the cookie dough. Times have changed and I am officially breaking into the world of baking!

I absolutely love bananas but I'm sort of picky about them.  I buy them when they are green so they will stay good for a couple days.  But I won't eat them if they have any green on them so I don't eat them for the first few days.  Then, after a couple days, they turn the perfect shade of yellow so I can enjoy them for breakfast with cereal, oatmeal, or just spoonfuls of peanut butter for about two days.  Then they turn brown and get that mushy overripe taste, which makes me think of baby food.

This is exactly what happened to me on Sunday.  As previously mentioned, I never waste food.  So I decided to look for a recipe that would use my bananas. The most common option would probably be banana bread or muffins.  Well, I haven't acquired a muffin tin or a bread pan yet so those were out of the question.  That's when I stumbled upon this gem.

These bars are awesome.  That's all I can say. Without the frosting, they aren't super sweet.  The bar portion sort of tastes like banana bread but thinner (obviously). With the frosting, they are out of this world.  But I'm biased because I could eat cream cheese frosting on anything. The recipe makes a little too much frosting so I froze the leftovers, which I will probably eat with graham crackers, fruit, or possibly just a spoon. I'm not even embarrassed to say that I used my finger and licked the bowl completely clean like a five year old. Seriously, I left absolutely no remnants.  I have a problem. But it's okay, I got my daily workout in by creaming and mixing everything by hand because I don't have an electric mixer yet.  That's an acceptable justification, right?

A couple notes: Don't be worried about the consistency of the frosting. It's going to be a little runny and thicker rather than whipped like the stuff you buy at the store. I cut this into 24 little bars. Mainly so I only eat little pieces rather than sitting down and eating the whole tray with a fork in one sitting. If you were bringing them to a party or potluck or something you might want to cut them into slightly larger pieces (maybe 15) but not too big because the frosting does make these very rich. I tried to healthify these a little by using Splenda but if you don't have/like Splenda, feel free to just substitute regular granulated sugar.

Frosted Banana Bars

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup of Splenda or white sugar
• 2 eggs or 1/2 cup of egg beaters
• 1 cup fat free plain yogurt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas
• 1 tbsp cinnamon (in with bananas)
• 1 cup of walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9 x 13 inch pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the yogurt and vanilla. Combine the flour and baking soda; stir into the batter. Finally, mix in the mashed banana, cinnamon, and walnuts. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.
3. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow bars to cool completely before frosting with the cream cheese frosting. Sprinkle with walnuts for garnish.

For the cream cheese frosting:

• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened (I used light)
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.

1. Cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar. Store in the refrigerator after use.  

As with the lasagna, I could not allow myself to eat a whole 9 x 13 of this in a week so I cut up all the bars, wrapped them in plastic wrap, put them in a freezer bag (labeled with the contents and date) and put them in the freezer in case of emergency cravings or bad days that can only be cured via sugar. I only left out two corner pieces for immediate consumption.  Willpower!