Cake batter blondies

I saw several variations on this recipe before I found this one - one I preferred because it seemed to be the easiest and for the most part, I had the ingredients readily available.

These blondies are just as good as you would imagine them to be. Mine didn't turn out gooey in the middle like I imagined - next time I make them I'll take them out of the oven a few minutes sooner. But they were extremely delicious and super easy to make. I think the white chocolate chips really make this dessert.

The only variation I made to the recipe was to use a Funfetti cake mix instead of a yellow cake mix, and since it has sprinkles in it I reduced the amount of extra sprinkles.

Ingredients:

1 (18.25 ounce) box yellow cake mix

1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil

1 egg

1/4 -1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup sprinkles

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine first four ingredients in a large bowl.
3. Add the milk slowly. You want to cake batter to be as dense & thick as possible.
   
   

   
4. Mix in the sprinkles and white chocolate chips.
5. Pour into 8 x 8inch baking pan, sprinkle a few more sprinkles on top, and bake for 25-30 minutes until edges are just turning brown. The blondies will still be gooey in the middle just out of the oven but after they've completely cooled they will be perfectly chewy and soft.
   
   

   
6. Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes so the center sets, before cutting into squares.

Source: The Girl Who Ate Everything

Blueberry White Chip Muffins

I had grand plans to break away from my recent pumpkin streak for the November craft party. I knew I still wanted to make something sweet, and when I saw that zucchini was on sale at my local grocery store, I decided I would find a zucchini recipe. I found two chocolate zucchini cake recipes that I fell in love with and settled on that.

But when I had some time to shred the zucchini, I discovered the worst: my zucchini was moldy! So I quickly scratched that plan and went to work finding something else.

I am SO glad I ended up making these muffins. They are AMAZING. I reduced the amount of white chocolate chips *in* the muffins slightly and omitted the white chocolate drizzle (I was lazy thought they'd be great without that extra sweetness). I also didn't have any lemon peel, but I added a few drops of orange extract for a citrus-y presence. I used frozen blueberries, too.

My husband, who isn't the biggest sweets-eater in the world, at first told me to take all of the muffins to craft party. I insisted on leaving two for his breakfast, and when I called him later in the day, he asked me to bring home all of the leftovers. Apparently they won more than just me over :)

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
1/2 tablespoon grated lemon peel
1 (12-ounce) package white chocolate chips - divided use
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
Streusel Topping, (see below)

1. Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C). Paper line 18 muffin cups.

2. Combine flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Stir in milk, egg, butter and lemon peel. Stir in 1 1/2 cups (I used about 1 1/4) morsels and blueberries. Spoon into prepared muffin cups, filling almost full. Sprinkle with Streusel Topping (recipe below).


3. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans for 5 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool slightly.


4. Place remaining morsels in small, heavy-duty plastic bag. Microwave on MEDIUM-HIGH (70%) power for 30 seconds; knead. Microwave at additional 10- to 20-second intervals, kneading until smooth. Cut tiny corner from bag; squeeze to drizzle over muffins. Serve warm.

5. For Streusel Topping: Combine 1/3 cup granulated sugar, 1/4 cup all-purpose flour and 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon in small bowl. Cut in 3 tablespoons butter or margarine with pastry blender or two knives until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Makes 18 muffins.

Source: Favorite Brand Name 3 Books in 1: Cookies, Bars, Muffins

White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies

After I made the Hawaiian Delights, I had leftover macadamia nuts. I searched for recipes that used the nuts and found something that looked DELICIOUS.

My first attempt at these yielded some yummy cookies, but I think if I avoid making a few stupid errors next time, they'll taste even better :-)

One of the cardinal rules of baking or cooking is to read the recipe the whole way through before you start. I usually glance through it, being more concerned about whether I have all of the ingredients than if I need to add the eggs all at once or one at a time.

But I think I made a major goof this time, and I was lucky that it worked out fairly well. I share this with you in the hopes that you might be spared from my stupid move.

The third step says to whisk all dry ingredients together. Which I did.


And then I groaned when I read the next step, which clearly indicates that the sugar and brown sugar are not included in the "all dry ingredients" category as I had previously believed.

I surveyed my options and realized I had two choices: Go forward and hope for the best, or abandon ship, as I was out of brown sugar and could not start over.

I forged ahead. I added the dry ingredients to the warm butter and then continued with the recipe ... and the cookies were edible and even tasty, if I dare say so (and I do, but so did other people).

Ingredients:
2 c. plus 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
12 Tbsp (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted & cooled until warm
1 c. brown sugar, packed
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 yolk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 c. white chocolate chips
1/2 c. macadamia nuts, halved

Directions:
- Adjust oven racks to upper & lower -middle positions & heat oven to 325.
- Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Whisk dry ingredients together; set aside.
- With electric mixer, or by hand, mix butter & sugars until thoroughly combined.
- Beat in egg, yolk and vanilla until combined.
- Add dry ingredients & beat at low speed just until combined.
- Stir in chips and nuts.
- Roll scant 1/2 cup dough into ball.
- Holding dough ball in fingertips of both hands, pull into 2 equal halves.
- Rotate halves 90 degrees and, with jagged surfaces facing up, place formed dough onto cookie sheet, leaving ample room between each ball.


- Bake, reversing position of cookie sheets halfway through baking, until cookies are light golden brown and outer edges start to harden yet centers are still soft & puffy, 15-18 minutes depending on size.
- Cool cookies on sheets until able to lift without breaking and place on wire rack to cool.


From Good Things Catered, Adapted from ATK recipe

White Chocolate Chip Lemon Cookies

When Meg and I signed up for Operation Baking GALS, even my husband suggested I make carmelitas for our soldier, Christian. But I wanted to make something else, too.

I've made these white chocolate chip cookies before and love them - they taste like warm weather, a throwback to a summer day or a spring picnic. They're light and refreshing and a total contrast to the heavier, gooey-er carmelitas, which always make me think of winter or fall (even though I make them year-round!). Like many of the cake mix recipes, I imagine you could use any cake mix flavor ... but I really don't know why you'd want to :-) Unless you went with orange ... hmmm ...

Ingredients:
1 lemon cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup white chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat over to 350 degrees. With a spoon, mix cake mix, eggs and oil together. Stir in white chocolate chips. Drop dough balls on to a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake 8-12 minutes or until light golden brown around edges. Remove cookies and place on nonstick rack to cool.



(You can also do this recipe as bars in a 9x13-inch pan. Spread dough evenly into a lightly greased cake pan. Bake 14-16 minutes or until light gold brown around edges. Cool, then cut in to bars.)

Source: 101 More Things To Do With A Cake Mix