The Nifty Foodie

Part of me cannot believe that the Superbowl is Sunday. I mean, that’s the end of football season until next Fall. I have to wait at least six months to watch another game after this. Sad.  (If you know me, you know I’m being dead serious about how sad this is to me. Crazy football fan here!) A perk of Superbowl Sunday? Watching Millie run up to the TV when I randomly switch over to the Puppy Bowl.

To mourn celebrate the end of another football season, here’s some great recipes that will definitely disappear if you serve them at your Superbowl parties.

Restaurant Style Queso Blanco

Restaurant Style Salsa

Crawfish Pies

Crawfish Cheesecake

Pork and Sausage Jambalaya

Berry Mash Bruschetta

Sugar Cookie Bars

Peanut Butter Cheesecake Brownies

Oreo Cupcakes

Oh, and if you have an occasional puppy bowl break, I’m pretty sure the dogs at your party would love you for these!

Peanut Butter and Pumpkin Dog Treats

One of the last things you think about in December is citrus. To me, citrus screams bright colors and summery flavors, but in Louisiana, the end of the Fall/beginning of Winter is our citrus season. Satsumas and Louisiana Navels and Meyer Lemons…oh my! I’m crazy about the local citrus, for sure!

A couple of years ago, my husband bought a Meyer Lemon tree for our little backyard, and I couldn’t have been more thrilled! Meyer Lemons are a special lemon…they are a lot sweeter and way juicier than your average lemon. They just scream, “Make me into a dessert, woman!” When our tree made 10 lemons this year, I was more than happy to make these into a dessert!

When I think about lemon desserts, I think about lemon bars. Since I’m personally not a fan of lemon desserts (I know, I’m a weirdo!), I made a batch of these for my husband and his coworkers. My husband told me that his coworkers absolutely loved them, and I need to send desserts more often! (In case they’re reading this, that’s definitely not the last of the desserts that I’m sending him with!)

Meyer Lemon Bars
Source: Ina Garten

Ingredients:

For the crust:

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 cups flour
• 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

For the lemon filling:

• 6 large eggs, at room temperature
• 3 cups granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons grated meyer lemon zest
• 1 cup freshly squeezed meyer lemon juice
• 1 cup flour
• Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2. To make the crust: Cream the butter and sugar in your mixer for about 2 minutes, until fluffy. In another bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. Turn the mixer to low and slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture until the crust is just mixed. Take the dough out of the mixer and roll into a ball on a well-floured surface. Pat some flour on your hands and flatten the dough. Then, press it into a 9×13 cake pan and make sure there’s about a 1/2 inch edge of crust along the edges of the pan. Chill the dough in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

3. Bake the crust in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until it just starts to brown. Allow the pan to cool on a wire rack, and keep the oven preheated.

4. To make the filling: whisk the eggs, sugar, lemon zest/juice and flour in a bowl until well combined. Pour the mixture over the crust once it has cooled, and bake for 30-35 minutes, until the filling has set. Place the cake pan on a wire rack and allow to cool. Before serving, lightly dust the bars with confectioners’ sugar.

As much as I love baking, sometimes it’s good to find a recipe that’s quick and convenient. I didn’t have time on my side this past weekend since we were hosting our housewarming party, so I wanted to bake something that was quick, but would also feed a crowd. This definitely fit the bill.

As you can see, I dyed them a nice LSU gold color and sprinkled purple Halloween sprinkles on top (gotta love Halloween clearance). Geaux Tigers! (Sorry, can’t help it!)

Back to the bars. I decided to add almond extract to the recipe, because I usually use a combination of almond and lemon for decorated sugar cookies. It’s just the perfect combination for sugar cookies, in my opinion. I have to say that the texture of these cookies is slightly cookie-cakey, which made for the perfect soft, chewy bar and the icing was pretty classic. I highly recommend trying these bars out if you love sugar cookies, but want something that is as quick as possible.

Sugar Cookie Bars
Source: mildly adapted from Annie’s Eats (originally from The Repressed Pastry Chef)

Ingredients:

For the bars:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. almond extract
• 1 tsp. lemon zest
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. baking soda

For the frosting:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt
• 4 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
• 5 tbsp. milk
• Food coloring (optional)

Directions:

1. To make the bars, preheat the oven to 350˚ F.   Grease and/or parchment paper line a 13 x 18″ rimmed baking sheet. Combine the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer.  Beat on medium-high speed until the mixture is fluffy and smooth, about 2 minutes.  Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, making sure to scrape down the bowl as needed. Blend in the vanilla, almond extract, and lemon zest.  In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking soda.  Whisk to blend the mixture.  Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl and beat on low speed just until incorporated.
2. Transfer the cookie dough to the prepared baking sheet and press into an even layer. Keep a bowl of water near you so you can dip your fingers in and prevent dough from sticking to your fingers  Bake 10-15 minutes, until light golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool completely before frosting.
3. To make the frosting, place the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer.  Beat on medium-high speed until smooth, about 1 minute.  Blend in the vanilla, salt, and confectioners’ sugar until smooth, 1-2 minutes.  Mix in the milk a tbsp. at a time.  Tint as desired with food coloring.  Spread over the cookie bars in the pan, cut into bars and serve.

It’s been a while, I know.

But I bring you a recipe with butter, sugar, eggs and PUMPKIN. I hope you forgive me.

I decided it was time to just start baking again. It’s feeling cold outside again, butter was on major sale, so, of course, things felt right.

Of course, I wanted to make something a little out of the ordinary, so I scrolled through my google reader starred items and stumbled upon this!

Pumpkin Pie Snickerdoodle Bars. Pumpkin pie layered on top of a snickerdoodle cookie layer, drizzled in spiced white chocolate. Delicious, right?

Sounds great right? Yes. They are excellent! So excellent, in fact, that they ended up being a hit at the hubs’ office.

Pumpkin Pie Snickerdoodle Bars
Source: adaptation found on Beantown Baker, originally on Dozen Flours

Snickerdoodle Layer Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1 cup butter, at room temperature
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Pumpkin Pie Layer Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 stick butter, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin

Topping Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Drizzle Ingredients:

• 1 oz white chocolate, chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 9×13 inch pan and lay a piece of parchment paper across the pan, so that it extends the pan slightly. The parchment paper is an optional step, but it will make it easier to get the bars out later
2. To make snickerdoodle layer:
   Sift together flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. In large bowl, beat together butter, sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth.
   Stir in the flour mixture until well blended. Spread evenly in prepared pan. (Tip: wet your hands with warm water to make the batter easy to spread, since it’s thick.)
3. To make pumpkin pie filling:
   In a mixer bowl (you can use the same one you used to make the snickerdoodle batter) with a paddle attachment, mix together butter and sugar. A dd the rest of the ingredients and mix until well combined. This layer will be less thick and more pourable. Pour over the snickerdoodle layer, smoothing out the top.
4. Combine white sugar and cinnamon in a little bowl. Evenly sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture over the top of the batter.
5. Bake for 33-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the pan comes out clean. Let the bars cool completely. They will deflate a bit and remain a bit pie-like on the top layer. The bars that are closer to the edges of the pan will be more firm.
6. After the bars are completely cool, place the chopped white chocolate into a bowl or zip-lock bag and melt on low power. When it’s completely melted, add the pumpkin pie spice and mix (or knead if using a zip lock bag). Use a spoon or cut a small corner off the bag and drizzle the melted chocolate over the top of the bars and let it cool and harden.
7. Use the parchment paper to lift the bars out of the pan. Place on a cutting board and cut into bars. Store in a covered container.

If you read my Twitter, you might already know that I’m on a major diet. A 10 week weight loss challenge for my local YMCA to be exact. I slowly freaked out inside when they took my body fat % and weight…those numbers weren’t so pretty. However, I guess I should see this as more weight to lose and alas, a good chance to win this challenge. The prizes are pretty phenomenal, too. The hard thing? It’s 10 weeks….until December 16th.

I’m pretty hardcore when it comes to competition. Just ask my family…I get pretty extreme just to get that “#1″ feeling. So, I’m back to the gym 4-5x/week and back on Weight Watchers too to kick this challenge’s booty!

Before you panic about my recipes being ALL ”skinny” again, I still intend to do my cold weather baking, because my urges to bake and create things are far too strong lately. The difference this year is that a lot of my husband’s coworkers (and maybe mine) will be getting to enjoy these treats moreso than I.

These blondies, actually, were made for my family. I went to visit them this past weekend and had a blast! I thought it would be nice to bring these blondies, and with a family of 6 in the house, the pan of these were almost GONE Sunday. I’d say the recipe was pretty darn successful, no? I did try a couple (small) squares of these, and yes, yes, yes! Majorly yummy and potentially majorly addictive. It took a lot for me to hold back.

Pumpkin Blondies
Source: Martha Stewart (adaptation found on Smells Like Home)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp. pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 16 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar (or brown sugar)
• 1 large egg
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 cup white chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 cups butterscotch chips

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F.  Line a 9×13-inch baking dish with foil.  In a medium bowl, combine the flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt.  Stir together and set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Beat in the egg and vanilla until well combined.  Mix in the pumpkin puree.  With the mixer on low speed add the dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated.  Fold in the white chocolate and 1 cup butterscotch chips with a rubber spatula.
3. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan and sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup of butterscotch chips over the top of the batter.  Bake until the edges begin to pull away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few crumbs, about 35-40 minutes.  Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool completely before cutting.
4. To serve, lift the cake from the pan using the foil and transfer to a cutting board.  Peel off the foil and using a sharp knife, cut into 24 squares.