Baker's Delight -- Blondies!

So, it's that time of year again when the weather is getting cold and the urge to bake overcomes me. And this time, the new thing I'm obsessing over are ... blondies! My old college buddy, Cin, and I were reminiscing about the special cookout events our alma mater used to hold, and how blondies were always present at them. Both of us admitted that, before attending college there, we had never heard of the term before. For me personally, being the brownie aficionado that I am, I at first viewed them with suspicion. Blondies are supposed to be like brownies, you see, but minus the fudge! Did not sound appealing to me AT ALL. But then I ate one and, try as I might, over the years they grew on me.

As for Cin, she's against all things chocolate. Yeah, I can't explain it either. So blondies are right down her ally! And it got me to wondering: what the fudge are blondies even made of? I mean, what if not chocolate? Well, once I found out, it became my mission in life to make them!

And make them I did, I'm happy to say. It took me a couple of tries to perfect the recipe, but I think I got it just right. I've made a batch for the family get-together 2 weeks ago, and to rave reviews. I even made a batch for work, also to great fanfare and applause. Well, yes ... I exaggerate. But people liked 'em, I think!

Cake Me!

I was in the mood for some cake over the weekend, so figured I'd try an oldie but goodie family tradition--the pineapple upside down cake! This is a dessert my grandma used to make for us kids all the time, and was my personal favorite growing up. Problem was I didn't have a big enough cake pan to do the job. I'd always heard that the traditional method of making this classic was in a cast-iron skillet. I don't own a cast-iron-skillet, but I do have a very heavy, 12-inch Cephalon skillet that I thought might do the trick. And so I set to work on what I hoped wouldn't prove a colossal disaster.

First I melted an entire stick of butter in the skillet over a low fire. Then, I mixed in one cup of packed light-brown sugar until the entire bottom of the skillet was covered in the butter/sugar mixture. Atop this I placed around 8 slices of pineapple.

Some people use cherries, halved, to place within each pineapple slice center. My grandma never did this, so I didn't either. Perhaps next time. And like grandma, I decided to use pineapple from out of the can rather than going through the labor of cutting and coring a whole pineapple myself. After all, I didn't even know if I was wasting my time or not. So I wanted to stick as close to what I remembered from childhood as I could.

Next I combined all my dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, granulated sugar, salt . . . box of instant vanilla pudding mix!) with eggs, more butter, oil and a about a cup of pineapple juice from the can the slices came out of. I dug out my trusty old mixer and set it on medium. After around 2 minutes of this, the batter felt like just the right consistency.

Or so I thought. After pouring the batter into the skillet and over the pineapple and brown sugar, the result seemed a little too stiff for my liking. But I hoped beyond hope that this was just my paranoia taking over, and decided to risk it all. I placed the entire skillet in a pre-heated oven set at 350 degrees . . . and crossed my fingers.

Good thing the skillet has a steel handle! I let it bake for an hour, checking every 10 minutes to make sure the cake was rising the way it should be. What I saw each time was promising. It just rose and rose until the top was almost cresting the skillet's rim. Whoa!

But I'm happy to report the cake came out just fine! Take a peek for yourself:

I noticed the pineapple slices migrated quite a bit from the center during the baking process. Hmmm, will have to pack them in closer together next time, methinks. But overall the coloring and consistency came out just as I had hoped. Better yet, the skillet worked out perfectly! I never would have guessed. It does make me wonder what difference a cast-iron one might have made. I dunno.

But anyway, here is the final result:

Mmmmm. Doesn't that look simply scrumptious? Is your mouth watering yet? Maybe you'll want to click on that image to get a closer look? I know I for one can't wait to eat this! :)

I think next week I will try to make a pie for the very first time. Blueberry is my favorite, but I was thinking of going traditional American and making an apple pie as my first try. I will be making everything from scratch, including the crust. *meep* Wish me luck!

Mmmmm -- Chocolaty!!!

The fruits of my latest baking endeavors:

I made a batch of two-dozen, lusciously thick chocolate brownies today using Ghirardelli squares cut up into pieces. Oooh, the way they melted in the center of the brownie mixture -- simply DIVINE! Biting into one after the pan cooled down was like pure heaven. I almost collapsed under the onslaught of so much baked yumminess.

Phew! These things are deadly.