This is one of those recipes I grew up on. I had forgotten how much I loved these magical brownies. The combination of butterscotch, marshmallow, chocolate, and walnuts is delightful! The marshmallows really do “disappear” into thin air, leaving remnant puffy little craters. These brownies are meant to be gooey in the middle. They’ll leave you with fudgy fingers and a sweet sticky smile!
Disappearing Marshmallow Brownies
INGREDIENTS
1 cup butterscotch chips
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs, lightly whisked
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 cups mini marshmallows
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Melt butter and butterscotch chips in a large saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and cool slightly.
3.. Stir in brown sugar, egg, and vanilla. Mix well. Add flour, salt, and baking powder. Stir until well incorporated.
4.. Fold in the marshmallows, chocolate chips, and nuts until just combined (at this point the batter should still be warm enough to melt some of the chocolate chips but not so hot as to melt all of the marshmallows). Pour into a greased 9×13 baking dish.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes. DO NOT OVERBAKE. The center will still jiggle but will firm up when cool. Remove from the oven and cool completely before cutting into squares.
8/15/09: Ah, what can I say, strawberry cupcakes? We have an ambivalent relationship. Should I tell them how much I long for you, how when you are not around I desire your moist center and fluffy frosting. And then once I have you I cannot stop myself from consuming all of you, at once. I am uninhibited in your presence. So much so that our encounters always leave me feeling regret. Regret that I couldn’t stop after just one taste. And sick, overwhelmed by your sweetness and the fact that I licked up every last crumb and you are gone. I will miss you. Until I once again succumb to temptation and invite you back into my life. It’s inevitable. And I’d say, worth it!
2/23/09: The vibrant pink color and subtle strawberry flavor of these cupcakes both come form using real, fresh strawberries! I was so excited that I found this recipe and couldn’t wait to try it out! They not only turned out stunning, but just as anticipated, they tasted divine! I totally agree with Dustin’s comment that they “actually tasted even better than they looked!” And in my opinion, when it comes to cake, that’s rare. I’m betting you could make them using frozen berries in the off-season. If you have a bunch of fresh strawberries and you are making the sauce, why not make extra and freeze it? It could be thawed out for cupcakes on the spot!
INGREDIENTS
For the Cupcakes:
1 1/3 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 cup strawberry sauce
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
For the Strawberry Sauce:
2 cups fresh strawberries, stem removed
sugar, to taste
For the Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting:
8 oz. cream cheese
1/4 cup butter
3 1/2- 4 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup strawberry sauce
DIRECTIONS
1. For the Strawberry Sauce, macerate strawberries with about 1-2 Tbsp. sugar for 15 minutes. Put strawberries in a small saucepan and heat under medium heat with lid on. Cook strawberries for approximately 15 minutes till strawberries cook down and become soft and saucy. Adjust sweetness with sugar until you get the desired sweetness. Using a hand blender (or a food processor), puree until you get the desired smoothness or chunkiness. Cool before using in recipe.
2. For the cupcakes, preheat oven to 350 F. Grab a large bowl and beat the butter and the sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Measure out milk and strawberry sauce together.
3. Add about a fourth of the flour to the butter mixture and beat to combine. Add about one third the milk mixture and beat until combined. Repeat, alternating flour and milk and ending with the flour mixture. Scoop into cupcake papers about 3/4 full. Bake for 18-20 minutes.
4. For Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting, bring cheese and butter to room temperature. Sift powdered sugar into a bowl. Beat butter and cheese at medium speed until creamy. Add half of the sugar, beat until combined. Add strawberry sauce until you achieve the right color and flavor but making sure not to add too much or the frosting will be too soft. Gradually add any remaining sugar until you get to the consistency and sweetness you like.
5. Remove the cupcakes from the oven when they are done (a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.) Cool them on a wire rack completely before frosting.
Whoever dreamed up such an appetizing name for these “dessert droppings”, I’ll never know. That’s what my mom called them and so that’s what they are. Delicious as far as dung goes. We always made them with coconut, but I recently realized that the rest of the world was using peanut butter. So this go round I made them both ways, coconut for the sake of tradition, and peanut butter for Dustin (like I’ve mentioned 800 times, he detests coconut, and it’s tragic).
They really are a snap to make. No preheating the oven, setting timers, shuffling cookie sheets. Just drop them by the blob on some wax paper and you’re done. The hard part is waiting to eat them until they’ve cooled. I’ve singed my tongue countless times due to lack of patience. And it’s ironic because afterward you can’t taste much of anything! (Luckily, the fridge/freezer will speed up the cooling process.)
INGREDIENTS 2 cups sugar 5 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder 1/2 cup milk 1/2 cup butter 1 tsp. vanilla extract pinch of salt 1/2 cup coconut OR peanut butter 3 cups old-fashioned oats
DIRECTIONS 1. In a saucepan bring sugar, cocoa, milk, and butter to a rapid boil for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and add vanilla, salt, coconut or peanut butter, and oats. Mix well.
I found this recipe on Smitten Kitchen, who adapted it from All Recipes, and I did a little tinkering of my own. I tried it two ways: with classic white sugar and white flour and a “healthified” version with natural cane sugar and whole wheat. (The latter still contains a full stick of butter so it still doesn’t exactly fall within the health food realm.) I split the pan right down the middle, half whole wheat and the other half not.
It was an experiment of sorts. As you can see, the whole wheat crust was a deeper golden brown, hinting at its whole grain goodness. The test was to see how different they tasted. I made the mistake of telling my guests the difference, and predictably, they avoided the whole wheat bars. I munched on both (with a scoop or two of vanilla ice cream on the side, yum!) and didn’t think either stood out as better than the other. But sometimes I worry that I’m slightly jaded, being accustomed to the taste of whole wheat. My husband though, who is brutally honest in his culinary opinions, happily gobbled up the leftovers with no discrimination. According to him- brown or white- the taste was the same. So there you have it… either way you make ’em, you’ll have blueberry bliss!
INGREDIENTS 1 cup white sugar (or evaporated cane sugar) 1 tsp. baking powder 3 cups all-purpose flour (or whole wheat pastry flour) 1 cup cold butter (2 sticks) 1 egg 1/4 tsp. salt Zest and juice of 1 lemon 4 cups fresh blueberries 1/2 cup white sugar (or evaporated cane sugar) 4 tsp. cornstarch
DIRECTIONS 1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Grease a 9×13 inch baking dish.
2. In a large bowl, stir together sugar, baking powder, and flour. Mix in salt and lemon zest. Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter and egg. Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of the dough into the bottom of the prepared pan.
3. In a separate bowl stir together sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice. Gently mix in the blueberries. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Top with the remaining dough crumbles.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 30-45 minutes, until the top is slightly browned. Cool before cutting into squares.
It has taken me five days to get around to finishing this post. These last two weeks of school (before a glorious summer break) have been the busiest yet. Why is it that teachers like to throw everything at you at once? I have a final tomorrow morning that I should be studying for right now. That or practicing giving a physical examination that I have to record to DVD next week. But instead I’ve got my laptop propped on the end of an examination table in our clinical lab, next to the otoscope and blood pressure cuff, avoiding productivity for just a few more minutes.
Food is my creative escape from this sterile world of hospital gowns and surgical gloves. I want to be a nurse. I signed up for this. But some days I want to be a the girl who doesn’t think about food as a measure of input and output. I’ll never again be able to eat a cinnamon bun without thinking about its spiking affect on my blood glucose. This heightened level of awareness is keeping me healthy, but it can be irritating.
Since adopting a natural foods diet, there are several treats we miss. I miss my daily Fiber1 Bar (they are way too tasty to actually be good for you). Dustin longs for his favorite packaged cookies: Keebler Fudge Sticks, Nutter Butters, and Oreos. When I came across this recipe I was super excited! Homemade Oreos! I was not expecting to be wowed, but Dustin and I both agreed (and he is the expert) that these are far superior the to Nabisco brand! The outer cookie is soft and chewy (and stays so stored at room temperature for a few days) and perfect with the fluffy frosting filling. Pour a glass of milk, pile up a plate of cookies, dip, and devour.
INGREDIENTS For the chocolate cookies: 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa 1 tsp. baking soda 1/4 tsp. baking powder 1/4 tsp. salt 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature 1 large egg
For the filling: 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature 1/4 cup non-hydrogenated shortening (suggested: Spectrum organic shortening made with palm oil) 2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted 2 tsp. vanilla extract
NOTE: While I try not to use shortening, it is essential in this case to maintain the consistency of the filling. If you were to use butter or oil it wouldn’t keep its shape at room temperature (and would alter the taste.)
DIRECTIONS 1. Preheat oven to 375 F.
2. In a food processor or electric mixer (this could be done by hand as well), thoroughly mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar. With the motor running on low add the butter and then the egg. Continue mixing until the dough comes together in a big ball.
3. Spoon rounded teaspoonfuls onto parchment lined baking sheets (giving them room to spread). Slightly flatten them with the tips of your fingers. Bake in the preheated oven for 9 minutes. Remove from the oven to cool on a wire rack.
4. To make the filling, cream butter and shortening at low speed, gradually beating in the sugar and vanilla. Turn mixer to high and beat several minutes until light and fluffy.
5. To assemble the cookies, spoon frosting into a piping bag (or a Ziploc with the corner cut off works just as well). Pipe dots of filling onto the center of half of the cookies. Place a second cookie (that is the same size) on top and press down gently so the filling spreads to the sides. Continue assembling all of the cookies and enjoy!
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