Vanilla Marble Blondies

As many people will attest, the Kitchen Aid mixer is like the Ultimate of the Kitchen Appliances. Mine answers to the name of HG (short for Holy Grail; we don't want to be uppity, after all). I discovered something this weekend, however.

HG has a sidekick. Yep. The KA Handmixer. A birthday present, the as yet unnamed buddy, proved his/her worth with this recipe. Any suggestions on a name? HG, Jr seems a little... simplistic. I think the handmixer needs its own identity. A superhero cape would be pushing it, though. HG gets that first. ;)

Anyways, this is my other weekend baked good. I can't remember how long ago I found this at the Domestic Goddess blog. And I kept putting it off and putting it off, and I could just hit myself over the head for doing that.

Oh my god. The batters by themselves were awesome, but together? What a marriage made in heaven. I really need too work through that list a bit faster. :)



Ingredients:
Blondie Base:
1/3 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces
6 oz white chocolate, chopped
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup all purpose flour
½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt

Cheesecake Top:
8 oz. cream cheese, well softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg yolk
¼ teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Butter and line a 9-inch square baking pan with parchment and set aside.

Over a pot of simmering water start to melt butter. Add white chocolate and stir until melted. Allow to cool to room temperature.

In a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip eggs until creamy. Add sugar and vanilla and continue to whip until pale and thick. Reduce speed to medium and add cooled, melted white chocolate.

In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt and stir into egg mixture, by hand. Set aside.

Whisk together cheesecake batter ingredients in a small bowl until smooth. Dollop into pan along with blondie batter, then swirl together with a knife or spatula.

Bake at 350F for 40-45 minutes, or until edges are slightly puffed and center is just set. Serve warm or at room temperature.

White Chocolate Coconut Blondies

I will get this posted, one way or another. I'm not allowed to pick up my book, watch Jeopardy, or go to any other website until this is posted. I made these on Wednesday and things just kept getting in the way every time I attempted to get these posted. Even now, it's "Hmm... I should see when that bill is due." Nope, don't do it, Kristen. Post!

Alright. *determined sigh* I had a 'bonus' day off this week, and decided that I should bake something to mail out to Johanna. I texted her early in the morning, asking if she had a specific blondie in mind (she's very fussy about brownies, preferring, sadly, the box mix kind). Well, with no response within about 30-45 minutes, I went with these, having seen them many times over the years at Very Best Baking. Minus the macadamias, since we didn't have any in the house. *shrug*

They came together easily enough, but the finished product didn't leave me all that wow'ed. Maybe more coconut next time? I don't know. Any suggestions?

(No picture due to lack of time on Thursday morning, pre-mailing lol)


Ingredients:
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
½ tsp. vanilla
1 egg
1 cup white chocolate chips
½ cup coconut

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9-inch baking pan.

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

Beat sugar, butter, and vanilla until creamy. Beat in egg. Gradually add flour mixture. Stir in morsels and coconut. Press into pan.

Bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool on wire rack before cutting into bars.

White Chocolate Cheesecake with Cranberry Topping

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone's having a great day today. It's been such a happy, being home again. There've been some great holidays out in CA, but it was really good to be with my family again. My aunt, uncle, cousin, and her husband came over last night. Today it was just me, Dave, and my parents, and it was nice. Quiet, relaxing, and very nice. My dad and I even got to watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, which is my favorite Christmas movie. That squirrel flying out of the tree gets me every single time. :)

The other night, while watching the repeat Iron Chef episode of Battle Cranberry, I started contemplating cranberry cheesecake. Which led to white chocolate, figuring on the sweetness to compliment the tartness of the cranberry. I wound up combining a few different recipes, including a portion of this cheesecake and the cranberry topping from an Ocean Spray pavlova. The end result? Wow. Very smooth, subtle white chocolate taste, with that sharp tartness of the cranberry topping. I loved it. Dave felt it was a bit too sweet, but my dad said he would happily help out with the remainders.



Ingredients:
Crust:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
3 Tbsp. sugar
3 Tbsp. butter, melted

Cheesecake:
3 pkg. cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
4 ounces white chocolate chips, melted and slightly cooled

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325F. (300F if using a darker colored pan.)

Combine crust ingredients, and press into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan. Bake for 10 minutes.

Beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, until combined. Stir in chocolate. Pour over crust.

Bake at 325F/300F for 45-50 minutes, or until center is nearly set. After some cooling, run a knife along the outer rim to loosen cake from pan. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

Cranberry Topping:
1 can of whole berry cranberry sauce
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
Zest of half a lime

Combine cranberry sauce and cornstarch in a small saucepan. Bring to boil, stirring constantly. Let boil for one minute before removing from heat. Add lime zest. Cover and refrigerate until cool. Spoon over cheesecake.




Penny (with her glowing eyes lol) and I wish you each a fabulous holiday season! :D

Request: Peanut Butter White Chip Blondies

While on a "cake break" at work with Johanna and Amelia on Tuesday, Johanna suggested I make the above-named recipe. With very firm instructions, including, "no added mint whatsoever!" (As a side note, despite how weird it sounds, peanut butter and mint cookies are quite yummy)

I work well with requests, so long as they're within reason. I have like two feet of counter space, so a lot of things are just because I simply don't have the room. (One day!) Anyways, I didn't have anything in mind to make this week, so I went for it.

After some searching with no luck, I hit the jackpot at one of my favorite blogs: Culinary Concoctions by Peabody. I can't remember how many times I've been inspired by something she's made. And I've even learned a little bit about hockey, too. ;)

The taste, you ask? Pleasing. I'm currently in a good period with ol' pb. The white chips at times are too sweet (so I lessened the sugar in the recipe a bit), but that could just be me. I'd prefer it with either milk or dark chocolate, but hey, it is a request.

And I just realized I need to bring my camera to work on Tuesday, to get a group picture of my Official Guinea Pigs. :D



Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
½ cup smooth peanut butter
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup white chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325F. Grease an 8-inch baking pan.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

Cream butter, peanut butter, and sugars until smooth. Add egg and vanilla, mixing well. Stir in white chips. Spread into pan. If desired, sprinkle some of the remaining white chips on top.

Bake at 325F for 30-35 minutes, or until toothpick inserted near center comes out mostly clean. Let cool before cutting into bars.