Macadamia Nut Chocolate Chunk Blondies

A couple of nights ago we had a little impromptu birthday dinner at my sisters house for the mr.  And what did he want to do for dinner, his very own special birthday dinner? Well what he wanted was to cook, with absolutely no help from me. So cook he did. And what did he make? He made grilled cheese sandwiches, on white bread and with bright orange cheddar cheese along with some classic canned Campell's tomato soup. I was not even allowed to make a salad (but he was being so nice when permitting me to make my own food)

But come on dude, it's your birthday dinner. I was determined to make something so I said I was going to make a dessert. Nothing fancy and no cake (he is not a big cake guy), just something fast and easy. So I went with brownies of the sweet potato chocolate chip kind.  Yeah I know what you are thinking..  why am I not sharing those brownies? I'll tell you why. They came out like shit. Like really gross, almost jello like and just not anything anyone would ever want to eat. Just shit.  OH I was pissed. I mean, the one thing I got to do I screwed up. And there was no fixing them (I tried) So bum, there were no sweet dessert brownies ( but there was ice cream.. thanks Shannon) And worst of all, wasted food. Bah, I hate wasting food! ( I would have fed them to the dog but they were chocolate.... I miss having chickens that eat anything)

Side note here. Watching a lifetime original Christmas movie at the moment (don't judge me)  and it has Harriet and Carl Winslow in it. Talk about a throw back.. and now all I can think about is Urkel and his catch phrase"did I do that?" Anyways....

After the brownie disaster I really needed to make something that didn't suck. I was going to go the brownie route again but unfortunately I used up all of my chocolate and cocoa for the shit batch before, so I went the blonde route. Blondies. close to a cookie, but not quite. A vanilla version of a chewy chocolate brownie.  Chock full of super nutty macadamia nuts and big chunks of chocolate. Nothing missing, the perfect texture and sweetness.  All and more of a better dessert then the night before. Perfection is what I call them and the mr is much happy with his birthday treat (with the added scoop of strawberry ice cream of course)

The stuff. A little bit of white whole wheat flour, some brown sugar, melted earth balance, a couple chia eggs,salt, a pinch of baking powder and some vanilla.  And the mix in that make these blondies so great, the macadamia nuts and chocolate chunks.

It's all super simple. The sugar, chia eggs, earth balance ans vanilla go into a bowl and get mix together until smooth. Then the salt gets sprinkled on along with the baking powder and lastly the flour on top.

And them mix it together unit its all incorporated... and don't over mix!

Chop the macadamia nuts and chocalate chunks in somewhat smaller pieces...

And fold them into the batter.

And grab yourself a square pan, line it with foil or parchment paper, grease it a little, then dump in the batter and evenly pat in down into the pan.

Stick into the oven to bake.

And after 35-40 minutes of the amazing smells coming from your oven, the blondies should be done. Slightly browned, lookng like a cross between a cookie and a brownie, and raw in the middle, but only just.

Let the blondies cool for a few in the baking sheet, but then remove by the foil and cut into squares.

Keep them flat or stack them high. A dessert of the most fantastic kind.

My blonde redemption.

And lastly... HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOVE!

-C

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macadamia nut chocolate chunk Blondies

makes a 9x9 pan of goodness

• -1 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup melted earth balance
• 2 tablespoons ground chia seeds plus 6 tablespoons warm water
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoon vanilla
• 3/4 cup roughly chopped macadamia nuts
• 3/4 cup of mini chocolate chunks (or chips)

Preheat oven to 350

Grab a bowl and cream together the earth balance and the sugar. Add in the chia eggs, the vanilla,salt, and baking powder and mix . Then add in the flour then mix that until just incorporated with the wet. And lastly, fold in the chopped nuts and chocolate chunks

Dump batter into a foil/ parchment paper lined and slightly greased 9 inch square baking pan and pat down with the spoon or your hand (hand is the way to go) and tick into the oven. Bake for 40 minutes or so until the top is starting to brown almost like a cookie but nice and all brownie like. Check for doneness with a toothpick in middle and if it comes out kinda clean, you can pop them out right there. (Don't over cook.. and if you like a little under baked, do it up, just take them out a few minutes earlier)

Let cool in the pan and pop them out by the liner. Cut into squares (size to be determined by you) Eat one, maybe two, and share the rest (or not).

Carrot Cranberry Walnut Cinnamon Buns With Clementine Glaze

The other day I had me a humongo stack of paper work that needed my immediate attention, like a really big stack, full of bills, notices, and time sensitive material. So I decided that the best way to go get through all the papers was to stop and make cinnamon buns, cause that was what I really really needed to do (so not really)

I admit that I do thisoften. Not that I completelyignore or neglect adult tasks (sometimes adult-ing sucks) but I am a expert at the art of procrastination. But I am strategic about it. Like these buns. I made sure that what I was baking was yeasted so I had a time frame to work by. I make dough, let it rise for an hour and in that hour I have to do work. Then I roll out dough,fill it, let rise again, and in that time, more work. Buns go Into the oven, and whilethey are baking, still working. See, it totally makes complete since and can even be kind of fun (and messy. Papers and sticky dough and sugar everywhere!) I recommend to anyone that is having a hard time focusing on somewhat tedious tasks to bake some buns while doing said task. It really makes it easier, plus, at the end of said task there are buns to eat. Win win!

Anyway, no matter the means to the buns, the end was what we are looking for. These buns, well what can I say. Everyone that ate them went nuts for them. Even my little (gigantic, 18 year old) brother who doesn't like anything, especially anything with carrots in it. (he ate 2) And the little, they got down with them too, although they picked out the bigger chunks of cranberries (they don't know better) So yeah, these buns are fantastic for all around happiness and for getting paper work done.

To the bun making!

The stuff. Flour, sugar, almond milk, salt and yeast. A couple of carrots, some cinnamon and ginger, earth balance. And finally, fresh cranberries and walnuts.

First thing that needs to happen is that the carrots need to be chopped up and stuck into a pot, ans boiled until tender.

Then those cooked carrots need to get blended up intoa nice, mostly smooth puree.

Carrot puree goes into a bowl (still warm) along with the earth balance.  Let it kinda melt. Then add in a bit ofsugar and cinnamon, andthe yeast. Mix it all up and set aside for a few minutes until the yeast is clearly activated (starting to bubble a bit)

Now add in the flour. Start with the lowest amount and add in a little bit more until you get to a good doughy, slightly sticky dough.

And for my favorite part, dump the dough onto a floured surface. Have about 1/4-1/2 cup of flour off to the side and start to knead the dough, adding a little more flour to the surface every time it gets sticky.

After about 5 minutes,, the dough should look something like this.... Not to sticky, but not dry. A little glossy and elastic-y.. All ready to rise.

Stick dough back into the bowl and rub down with at little oil. Cover with a towel and place in a warm spot to rise (about an hour)

Sometime while that dough is rising,  prepare the filling. Chop up the cranberries and walnuts into little (or big, or medium) pieces and stick into a bowl with the cinnamon, ginger, earth balance and sugar. Mix it all together and set aside.

Pretty dough, all doubled up in size

Take the dough and roll it out onto a lightly floured surface. You are looking for a rectangular shape that is about1/2inch thick.

Once rolled out, spread the filling all over the dough ( I found my hands worked the best)

And roll the dough onto it self, cut in half, then scoreand cut the two halves into equal sized pieces (I did 7 each, but could get away with 8)

Place the buns into greases 9 inch round cake pans, (or whatever pans you want to use) cover, and let sit for about another 20 minutes for the second rise.

Note... If you want,  at this stage, take one of these pans wrap it up in plastic ans stick it into the freezer for another day. (that's what I did). When you are ready to bake them, just remove from freezer ans let the dough coke to room temperature.

Look at those buns all cozy and snug. Now into the oven they go!

So while the buns are baking, grab some powderedsugar and a clementine   to make the glaze. All you need to do is add the juice to the sugar until you get a good gooey, not to thick, not to watery consistency.

And after about 35minutes in the oven, these buns are done! Grab them out of the oven.

Let the buns cool for a bit then drizzle on a bit of glaze. And let cool a little longer and add some more. (add as much or as little as you want)

And look at that, ooey, gooey goodness. The product of my severe procrastination.

Hope you folks are having a great week! Maybe we will get lucky around here and get some snow soon!!!!

-C

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Carrot Cranberry Walnut Cinnamon Bun with Clementine Glaze

Makes 14-16 buns

for the dough

• 3 1/2-4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup milk (I used almond, but any milk works)
• 2-3 carrots (need 1 cup of carrot puree)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons yeast
• 3 tablespoons earth balance
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 heaping tablespoons sugar

For the filling

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 heaping tablespoons cinnamon
• 3 tablespoons room temperature earth balance
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1 cup cranberries
• 1/2 cup walnuts

for the glaze

• a clementine
• about 2 cups of powdered sugar

First off, chop up the carrots and boil them until tender, then puree them into a pretty smooth consistency. 

Once you have the carrot puree, and while its still warm, add in the earth balance and mix it in till its melted. Then add in the almond milk, sugar and yeast. Mix all together and set aside for a few minutes until the yeast is visibly activated. Add in the salt and the flour and mix together until the dough is starting to pull form the bowl. Dump dough onto a floured surface and flour your hands cause you are now going to knead the dough for about 5 minutes. Have about a 1/2 cup of extra flour near by to flour the counter as you are kneading. The dough is good once it starts to look glossy ans is no longer sticking to the counter and has a bit of elasticity to it.  Place dough into a bowl, cover with a little oil, then cover bowl with a towel. Place bowl in a warm place to let dough double in size (about an hour.

While the dough is rising, chop up the walnuts and cranberries and mix together in a bowl with the sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and the earth balance. Set aside.

Once the dough has doubled in size, dump dough back onto a lighty floured surfave and roll out into a big rectangle about 3/4 inch thick. Grab the filling and spread evenly all over the dough. Starting at the closest end to you, roll the dough up length wise, somethat tightly, until the doeugh is completely rolled. Cut in half then cut each half into 7-8 pieces that are about the same size.

Grab two 9 inch cake pans (or pans of similar size), give them a good greasing and place the buns into the pans. Cover the pans and set aside for another 20ish minutes to rise again!

Note... If you want to just bake off one batch, just stick the bun, wrapped in plastic, into the freezer at this point. When you are ready to bake them off, just remove from freezer and let the dough comet o room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 375.

Once the dough has risen again (they dont exactly double, butthey get pretty big) place the buns into the oven. Bake until the buns are nice and golden brown, about 35 minutes,

While buns are baking, make the glaze. Powdered sugar in a bowl and whisk in the juice of the clementine. if its to thin, add more sugar, and to thick, add more juice.

When the buns are done baking (you can also check with an instant read therometer that reads 190) remove from oven and let cool in pans. Drizzle the buns with the glaze, while still slightly warm. Let coolsome more and then drizzle a bit more on top. Serve right away.

Note

Sweet Potato Cranberry Muffins and the (Before) Kitchen of the new house

I still can't believe that we bought a new house,  not even a week ago.  Like whoa holy crap!

And with any fantastic and great house that the mr and I would buy, this place needs a fair amount of work (a few walls down, a small addition to the upstairs, and new kitchen and bathrooms to start) But other then the small details of that, this place is a freaking gem. I am more then excited to get to it and start removing, ripping and tearing out the crap to unearth and enhance the beautiful old house to it's glory! Oh man is it going to be a long, fun filled, couple of months ahead of us!

So the day after we closed, we had a bunch of our family and friends come over to check out the place. Me being me, I needed to test out the new kitchen before we completely gut it and like any good hostess, I just had to make sure I had some snacky , good smelling, bakes treat for all the folks coming in and out of the place. So I made muffins. My initial thought was cookies, but I really didn’t want to have to hover over the stove and plus, I had a bunch of sweet potatoes and cranberries that needed using up (sound familiar, this is the muffin for you)

And bonus, the house filled up wit the sweet smell of baking. (That was my plan) and the muffins, they were a hit!

The kitchen!!! Isn’t it  so freaking ugly cute fantastic? Check those windows out. 

So back to the muffins. I was being practical and premixed up some of the stuff  and brought it over to the house. 

The stuff. A bowl of all purpose and whole wheat flour along with some salt, baking powder and soda, cinnamon and ginger. And a bowl of wet which has a a bakes sweet potato, oil, and brown sugar. And a cup of almond millk with a bit of vinegar mixed in and a jar of mostly  chopped up fresh cranberries

Mix the crap out of the wet until the mixture is mostly smooth. I used a plan old baked sweet potato  for this but feel free to use any left over seer potato  casserole you have laying around for this, just adjust spices if there are a bunch already in the potato.

Dump the wet mixture into the (already mixed up) dry mixture and mix along with the vinegar- almond milk until everything is just combined (don't over mix the batter!).

Grab cranberries and fold them into batter. Also can totally use up any cranberry situation you might have left over (maybe not the canned jello kind})

Batter into greased muffin tins and into the preheated oven they go.

More kitchen. Check out that dish washer, its pretty awesome. I am not going to keep it, but I don't want to trash it, its too freaking cool. So anyone want a dishwasher? (still work)  The fridge is new, but we are going to move it to storage and use it in one of our apartments eventually and get a new fringe.  The counters and the cabinets are getting donated and the fake brick background is staying. (HAHA) F no.. That’s coming down like today and unfortunately the super cute flower wallpaper has to come down with it. (I kinda wanted to keep it.. oh well)

 And the little window.. so my favorite part. I have never had me a nice kitchen window before. 

A side view

The othe side of kitchen, where this amazing stove lives.  The stove works, but it’s a little rough. The door is slightly coming off and broiler pan is broken, but other then that, it works fine. I have even though I might try to fix it up and keep it. (the mr is not into that) We will see, but I think we are going to get a new one. (and donate this one). 

So kitchen tour is done Back to the muffins.

 Once they are all nice and golden brown and a tester comes out clean, these babies are done! Take out of oven and remove from pan and let cool on a rack.

The perfect snack for any occasion 

Happy (hopefully relaxing) weekend!

-C

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Sweet Potato Cranberry Muffins

makes 12-14

• 1 cup sweet potato puree
• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup oil
• 1cup almond (or whatever) milk
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup fresh chopped cranberries 

Note.. use any left over sweet potato stuff or cranberry sauces that you might have left over.. just adjust seasonings to taste.

Preheat oven to 350

Start by measuring out your almond  milk and adding in the tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. Set aside. In a large bowl whisk together the flours, baking soda and powder, the salt and the cinmoan and ginger. In a separate bowl, mix together the sugar, sweet potato, and the oil until well combined. Dump the wet into the dry and mix together along with the almond milk unit just combined (don't over mix!) Dump in chopped cranberries and fold them in. 

Grease a muffin pan and scoop equal amonts of batter into the tin and place into oven. Bake until golden brown and a tester comes clean from a muffin middle. 

Remove from oven and let cool on a rack

Eat.

Apple Acorn Squash Pie with an Oat Crust

Sunday was the first, and probably the biggest Thanksgivings we are going to this week. It was my family, which consists of my mom, 8 siblings (plus a few spouses) and 9 little’s. A small little house bursting at the seems with a bunch of shit heads. There was a pumpkin pie food fight, secret Santa’s name picking that had to be redone 3 times (because we cant count) and much to much time devoted to sister selfies.  It was a blast.

 And my mom always requests everyone to bring something to diner so I of course wanted to contribute a pie. One pie, something that would appeal to as many of those crazies with dietary restrictions as possible, that was a not gross, but still not full of crap, and that people would want to eat. So I went with an apple and acorn squash pie that happen to be vegan, gluten free, and a little on the less sweet side. (Look at me trying to be all nice an accommodating)

 But guess what. My mom, well she bought 5 other freaking pies from the farm stand to supplement my pie. And yeah, when the time came for dessert my pie got a few nibbles, and I was told that it was fantastic, but they all went for the super sugary, full on butter and fat, custard pies… Dietary restrictions thrown aside. And I am ok with that because my pie got divided up between a few of the ladies and they ended up easting it for breakfast. So my pie turned out to be the day after thanksgiving breakfast pie. And that might even be better then being the night of pie cause everyone knows that left over pie eaten for breakfast is the best kind of pie!

So if you are looking for a good pie that is great the day of Thanksgiving and be good for breakfast the next day, this is the pie for you.

The stuff. Apples, an acorn squash (only going to need half), some old fashion oats, earth balance, brown sugar and a lemon. Also need a little bit of cinnamon, ginger, and salt. oh, and a bit of water.

Oats, earth balance, some sugar, a pinch of salt and a bit of cinnamon all go into a food processor to blend. While its blending, add in a tablespoon or two of water to help all the stuff come together.  Once it starts to pull away from the sides, turn off and call it ready. 

remove about 1/2 a cup of the crumb and set aside for topping and dump the rest into a pie plate. Press into the dish until it looks like a pie crust.

Stick into the oven to pre bake. 

The crust is in the oven and the apples and the squash are not going to cut themselves up so you are going to have to do it. And personal preference here, peel the stuff or don't (I wouldn't usually but I know the people eating  the pie and they are peeled people) So remove all seed and stems and slice both the apple and squash intto 1/2 inch slices. Cut the squash into pieces that are similar to the apple, 

Earth balance into the skillet first then topped with all the chopped stuff, the spices and some sugar and stick it on the stove to cook down. You want to get the pan hot with a medium high heat then turn it down to a low heat, stirring and them placing a lid on the stuff until the squash and apples are slightly tender (not falling apart) and the sugar has caramelized.

And note.. If you notice that the sugar is caralized before the squash and apples are tender, just add in a splash of water and mix around to prevent the sugar from burning.

Filling all ready to go, just add in the juice of the lemon here.

The left over crust crumble, some more earth balance, cinnamon, oats and sugar get mix together to make a little crumble to sprinkle on top. 

And now all there is left to do is to put it all togehert. Filling goes into pre-baked crust.

And gets topped with the crumble. 

Into the oven it goes (give it about 45-50 minutes to bake)

And pulled out when the top is all golden brown and smelling pretty.

Left to cool for a few minutes, then sliced into thinck pieces and shared all around!

Now thats a pie that's meant for breakfast!

-C

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Apple Acorn Squash Pie with an Oat Crust 

Makes 1 pie

The Crust 

• 3 cups  old fashion oats
• 2 tablesppon brown sugar
• 4 tabelsoons earth balance
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1-2 tablespoons water

Filling

• 1/2  acorn squash (about 3 cups chopped)
• 4-5  apples (any kind will do)
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 1 lemon
• 4 tablespoons earth balance
• 6 tablespoons brown sugar

Crumb topping

• 1/2 crumb that is set aside
• 1/2 cup old fashion oats
• 2 tablespoon earth balance
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3-5 tablespoon brown sugar (more if you like it sweeter)

Start by making the crust. This crust is going to be prebaked so preheat the oven to 375.

Stick the oats, some super soft or even melted earth balance, brown sugar, a pinch of salt and cinnamon, and a splash of water into a food processer and pulse until a fine crumbly crumb is made. Remove about 1/2  cup of the crumb and dump the rest into a pie plate. Press into the dish evenly and once you are happy with the looks of the crust, stick it into the oven. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the crust is just starting to brown.

While crust is prebaking, peel (if you want), core and slice apples into ½ inch pieces. Now grab the squash while you are at it and cut it in half, remove seeds, peel (if you want) and slice into ½ inch pieces (make them about the same size as the apple pieces.) Get yourself a big skillet and add in the earth balance, all the chopped up apples and squash, the spices and the sugar and stick on the stove one medium high heat. When the skillet is nice and hot, the butter all melted and the sugar is starting to melt, turn heat down to medium low, stick a lid on the pan, and cook for a few more minutes (like 7 minutes) until the squash and apples are slightly fork tender , but not falling apart. If the sugar starts to caramelizes before the stuff is tender, add in a splash or two of water to stop the sugar from burning. Remove from heat, add in the juice of the lemon, and set aside.

 And for the crumble. Just add all the crumble ingredients together and mix around (I used my fingers).

So crust is pre-baked, filling is precooked, and crumble is ready. So now all you need to do is put it together.

Dump the filling into the crust and then top with the crumble. Stick the pie into the oven and bake for about 45-50 minutes or until the filling is fork tender and the crumble on top is nice and golden brown.

Remove from oven and let cool for at least 5 minutes (15 minutes is even better), and serve it on up!

Pumpkin Hot Chocolate

We have been super busy the past few weeks and haven’t seen any of the littles for a while and I am starting to miss them. So the other day, (when it was actually kinda cold. its been way to warm here!) when I was in the neighborhood, I stopped by my sisters house after the kids got out of school with pumpkin hot chocolate supplies and to hang out. Unfortunately, one of those littles (Miley Lu) was to cool for me and went to hang out with her friend, but whatever, that just left enough hot chocolate supplies to make the one that stayed the biggest cup he could handle, look through all his pictures, and sit around talking about his fart hole. 

Pretty great visit it I do say so myself.

This hot chocolate is just a little seasonal twist on regular old hot chocolate. I bet that some of you out there might end up with a bit of extra pumpkin puree come next week and this is a great way to use some of that up. The pumpkin make the hot chocolate a little thicker, a bit more hearty, and adds a nice smooth creaminess to the drink. And some fiber, which is always good.

 Now all we need is some snow.

The stuff. Milk (any kind you drink) pumpkin puree, cocoa powder, crown sugar, and a pinch or so of cinnamon. 

Oh, and pick out your most favorite kick ass mug (it will just sate better that way). I brought over the rainbow bug cause Judah loves him some rainbows. 

Dump all the stuff into a pot and stick it on stove on medium heat.

Whisk it all around, and continue to whack until the its as hot as you want it to be.

Pour it into a cup (preferably one with rainbows on it) and  top it off with whatever you like on top of your drink  (I added a bit more milk froth and a spinkle more of cinnamon)

And serve up, to yourself, or to the monster little waiting for his chocolate fix.

Have a great day!

-C

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Pumpkin Hot Chocolate 

Makes 1 cup 

• 1 1/4  cup milk (cow, nut, soy.. whatever)
• 1 heaping tablespoon cocoa powder
• 3  tablespoons pumpkin puree
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar(more if you like it sweetness) 
• a pinch or two of pumpkin spice blend (or just some cinnamon works)

Take all ingredients and place into a pot.  Whisk everything together until fully incorporated. Place pot on medium heat and keep whisking until the hot chocolate is heated to your preferred temperature.

Pour into a mug and feel free to top with whipped cream, sprinkles, marshmallows or whatever you heart desires.