Life on Food

Monday, December 8, 2014

One Bowl Blondies

My sweet tooth has pretty much gone away since being pregnant. I might have a small bite here or there but nothing huge and if I didn't I would probably care less. This weekend however I wanted a cookie bar. One with lots of chocolate and a dollop of ice cream on top.

When the cravings hits you don't want to wait around. Plus I had a whole bunch of other things I wanted to get done. Baking was not in the plan. This recipe was super easy to put together. It only took one bowl and you can use whatever you have in the pantry to sweeten them up. I threw in some chocolate chips, cinnamon chips and sprinkles. Don't you just love sprinkles? You could pretty much put anything you wanted in the mix.

These one bowl blondies will be making an appearance again soon. Next time I plan on doubling the recipe and using a 9X13 baking dish. Full of Christmas M&Ms to bring holiday cheer to the neighbors.

One Bowl Blondies

by Emily Morris

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 25-30 minutes

Keywords: bake dessert chocolate sprinkles bar

Ingredients (16 bars)

8 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
Pinch salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
1/2 cup cinnamon chips
1/4 cup sprinkles
Further additions, use one or a combination of:
1/2 to 1 cup chopped nuts, toasting them first for even better flavor
1/2 to 1 cup other chips, butterscotch, peanut butter, etc.
1/2 teaspoon mint extract in addition to or in place of the vanilla
1/2 cup mashed bananas
1/4 cup bourbon, scotch or other whiskey; increase the flour by one tablespoon
2 tablespoons of espresso powder
1/2 cup dried fruit
Top with a vanilla butter cream or chocolate peanut butter cream frosting

Instructions

Butter an 8×8 pan and line with foil. Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a large mixing bowl melt butter in microwave. Add brown sugar and beat until smooth.

Add in egg and then vanilla and mix until combined.

Add salt and four and stir until just combined. Mix in any additions. I used chocolate chips, sprinkles and cinnamon chips.

Pour into prepared pan. Bake at 350°F 25-30 minutes, or until set in the middle.

Cool on rack before cutting.

Sunday, December 7, 2014

Lately

These are the everything blondies I made today. This is right after I dropped my photo right in the pan. Not only did I make a huge dent in the blondies but my phone got a nice little chocolate bath.

It has almost been a full week since I last checked in. Boy what a week it was. I was super busy. I had to go to South Carolina for two days and Maine for two days. Lately I have been getting super sick from traveling. Thus making for some not very fun days. I couldn't wait till Friday hit. Plus only two more weeks of work travel for me.

Once I had both feet on the ground and not a hundred billion things to do I started to feel better. We went out to breakfast and I got a bit too excited about the menu. Eggs or pancakes? If you are pregnant you can get both. I was only able to eat half of each but Mr. J made up for it.

We got this cute little cart at IKEA. I love putting things together and this was a fun project. Now I just have to decide what to do with it. I kind of want it for the baby room. But I could also use it in our kitchen pantry.

I also got some Christmas cards done. 10 down. 20 more to go. Forgive my pregnancy brain that I wrote some maiden names on the envelopes. I also lots the two books of stamps I bought for about 24 hours and had a minor freak out.

What were you up to this weekend?

Monday, December 1, 2014

Pumpkin Favorites

I hope everyone had a marvelous Thanksgiving Day!

Ours was very eventful. Mr. J and I headed up for Maine early Wednesday to beat the snow storm coming later in the day. We arrived just after 11 am and soon after that the snow started to fall. We were all warm and cozy eating up BBQ Wednesday night. We went to bed dreaming of turkey but woke up to no power.

We have some caffeine fiends in my family so after a little searching we found a Cracker Barrel not far away which was opened. We all piled into the car not waiting for showers and headed off to breakfast. We realized they were open all day long and figured we might just be showing up again later for our Thanksgiving day meal.

The power ended up coming back on around 11 am but at that point my mom was convinced the turkey was no longer good. She didn't want anyone getting sick on her watch and she refused to cook it. No stores were open to get a new one so we ended up ordering some sliced turkey and gravy at Cracker Barrel. My mom cooked all the sides just like normal. The turkey was OK. The sides were amazing. Funny how we all determined our favorite part of the day had nothing to do with the turkey.

We had a great meal and were thankful to be together with the power back on so early in the day. This was definitely a Thanksgiving for the record books.

But now it is December and although I am in full blow Christmas mode with cookies and presents I wanted to remind you of a few yummy pumpkin recipes. If you are like me I haven't gotten enough. I am going to somehow fit a few more in the next month right along side the gingerbread and cookies.