Happy 4th of July!!

Happy 4th of July! I hope you and your family have a great and safe day! As we spend our days eating hot dogs and watching fireworks with friends, take time to remember those to make our freedom possible.

We are going to a cookout and then watching the Washington D.C. fireworks from on top of our friend's apartment. There is nothing better than friends, food and fireworks. I can't wait.

I made a cookie cake to take.

I totally used a coloring sheet that Make and Takes posted as my inspiration for this cake.

The border is my favorite! 

Chocolate Chip Pecan Pie

[Printable Recipe]


King Arthur Flour sends me emails every so often - to try and get me to buy their products. I never do, but I do check out the recipes they have attached and this one caught my eye! It looked so good I knew it was going to be made for Thanksgiving dinner. I was super happy when my grandmother took me up on my offer to make dessert.

I have never made a pie crust before in my life - I think this turned out ok - it broke a little when I tired to put in the pie plate- but I patched it and it was good to go.

Ingredients:
Crust

• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 3 tbsp vegetable shortening
• 5 tbsp cold butter
• 1 tsp white vinegar
• 3 tbsp ice water (maybe more)
  

Directions:

1. whisk together flour, salt and baking powder
2. add shortening and let it mix throughout the dry mixture
3. cut the butter into cubes and roughly work it into the mixture- there may be large chunks
4. add the vinegar to the bowl and then add 3 tbsp of ICE water. Mix quickly and gently (if using a stand mixer go slow)
5. Gather some dough in your hand and squeeze - if it sticks together then it is ready, if not add water a tsp at a time
6. Shape it into a rough disk and put on a floured surface. Roll into a rectangle 8 by 12 inches. Fold it 3 times like a letter. (photo from KingArthurFlour.com)
7. turn 90 degrees and roll out into another rectangle - fold again like a letter
   
8. Fold in half and cover with plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator for at lest 30 mins - up to 24 hours.

Filling

• 2 eggs room temp
• 1 c. sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 c. flour
• 1/2 c. butter melted and cooled
• 2 tsp vanilla*
• 1 1/3 c. semisweet chocolate chips**
• 2/3 c. chopped pecans

* The original recipe calls for 1/2 tsp vanilla-butternut. pralines and cream or butter rum flavors - I didn't have any of these so it said to sub the vanilla
** This was SO SO SO rich - next time I will only use about 3/4 c. of choc chips.

1. Beat eggs, sugar and salt for about 2 mins at high speed - they will be thick and light colored.
2. Stir in four, melted butter and flavoring. Then add chocolate and pecans.

Assembly

1. Remove dough from refrigerator and allow to warm up for about 15 mins.
   
2. Preheat oven 375 degrees
3. Roll dough out into a 12 to 13 inch circle
4. Transfer to pie plate, trim edges and use to patch the dough if needed. Put a little crimp on the dough. I sucked at this but I tried.
5. Pour the filling into the pie crust, then put pecans on top for decoration
6. Bake for 30 mins uncovered then tent with foil and bake for another 10-15 mins until crust and top are golden brown.
7. Remove from oven and let cool so that it can set.

This was very good, but very rich so we cut the pieces small.

** Sorry for the pictures being all over the place - I am still learning blogger and the 1 thing that I liked about wordpress was how easy it was to add images , I will figure it out soon!

Blondies

[Printable Recipes]


Matt and I were flipping through the tv one night- and there was this dude on there baking cakes and other pretty yummy looking cakes and desserts. It was on pbs and that was about all I knew, but I knew I needed the recipe for these things he was making. Matt went to the internet and figured it out. It was called Everyday Baking, Matt found a recipe for Blondies and requested I make them. So last Friday before I went to meet my mom, I threw them together. Making them was easy, but I wish I knew how my oven would handle because the sides were a little dark and hard. My oven is gas now - I am used to electric. I guess I should have watched them a little better. The recipe said 40-45 mins so I put them in for 40 and figured I'd be ok...I think they would have been perfect at 35.

Ingredients

1 stick butter melted

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup chopped walnuts (I left these out)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350

line an 8 inch square baking pan with parchment paper leaving an over hang on 2 sides. Spray paper and pan with Pam (or butter it)



In a large bowl- whisk butter and sugar until smooth, then whisk in egg and vanilla.

butter , sugar, egg and vanilla


Add flour and salt and mix until moistened.

flour added


Fold in chocolate chips saving a little for the top (Walnuts too if using them)




Put in pan and sprinkle with a little more chocolate chips.



sprinkled with choc chips and ready to cook


Bake until golden brown 40-45 mins (or 35 depending - just watch them)




Set pan on wire rack to cool. When cook remove with parchment paper and cut into 16 squares.




These were good - I wish we could have had more than 4 or 5. I will be making them again. Maybe I can find the recipe for the topping they use on the blondies at Applebees and I can have my old roommate Carol, and her NJ friends over. That's what blondies remind me of. Applebees with Carol and Zanzibar Scuf. (Sigh I miss college) They were very easy to make. Plus I love my kitchen so I want to spend more time it in. :-D