Gooey Cookie Butter Brown Sugar Bars

Cookie butter. Alternate names: Biscoff spread, Speculoos.

These bars–all of the above, plus nectar of the gods.

Did I get the magic words in there anywhere?

If you’re like me, you’ll want to grab a jar and just jam your really grown-up Minnie Mouse spoon right in–

Ohhh yeah.

If this sounds like something you have done would do, you won’t want to miss these heavenly, gooey, cinnamony cookie butter bars!

Plus, they’ll give you a really amazing excuse to spoon out mouthfuls of cookie butter while you’re waiting for the bars to finish baking. I know my jar is almost gone, and the recipe only calls for a little over half a cup…

On the other hand, if you’d like to agonize over nutritional labels and keep your body in bikini ship-shape in time for summer–skip out on these. Be my guest. Really. Because that means more, more, and more for me.

Oh, who are we kidding? These are awesome. You HAVE to try them!

If you’re really set on avoiding these, I’ll be nice. I won’t tell you about the thick, perfectly proportioned spiced graham cracker crust, and I certainly won’t tell you about the melt-in-your-mouth, warm gooey layer of cookie butter molasses-style brown sugar that you’re sure to love.

Aren’t I just the nicest?

You can probably see why having an entire trayful of these bad boys sitting on my kitchen counter can be an eensy, weensy, HUGE problem.

So check out the recipe. You DO have a jar of cookie butter sitting in your pantry, don’t you? Why, you DO? (Or if you don’t–you WILL in about 10 minutes, right?)

While I leave to Google the definition of “addiction,” why don’t you take another look at these drool-worthy bars?

And if you don’t see me back again in a while–er, don’t look in the kitchen. You might find a strange girl standing there with a Minnie Mouse spoon in one hand and an empty jar of cookie butter in the other…and that’s just awkward.

Guess you might want to check your kitchen after all. And while you’re there, why not make these FANTASTIC cookie butter addict bars?

Gooey Cookie Butter Brown Sugar Bars

Cookie butter filling adapted from Handle the Heat

Ingredients:

For graham cracker crust:

• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs (approximately 16 sheets, crushed)
• 10 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted and cooled to room temperature
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

For cookie butter brown sugar filling:

• 3 eggs
• 1 1/4 cups dark brown sugar, tightly packed
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cookie butter spread

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease an 8×8-inch baking pan and set aside.
2. To make crust: Combine all crust ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Press evenly and lightly into greased baking pan. Bake in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes, until lightly golden. Set aside to cool while making filling.
3. To make filling: Combine filling ingredients until completely smooth. Pour over slightly cooled crust and bake for approximately 30 minutes, until the center has just set. Remove from oven and allow to cool, then cut into bars and cool completely on a wire rack.

Green Eggs and (Veg)Ham: Celebrating Dr. Seuss! (March 2nd)

He’s a good man,
Oh! a good man is he–
Who’s HE, we all said,
And HE said, who’s WE?

“Why, don’t you know?”

“Oh, didn’t you hear?”

“Didn’t anyone say

there’s a birthday this year?”

Was it the moose

or the duck or the foose?

Was the snarffle–

NO

It was…

DR. SEUSS!!!

(“A foose”–you silly goose.)

Happy yester-yester-birthday, Dr. Seuss!! (March 2nd, 1904)

A tribute to my childhood hero/children’s books idol/gibberish generator/nonsensical nobblygookie.

You’ll love this twist on a classic storybook favorite, folks. Pesto, baked eggs, and veggie ham–even the grumpy old red-hatted creature from Green Eggs and Ham would approve!

Have you had your green eggs and ham today, Sam I am?

Is there a food that you once refused to try, but now love? What’s YOUR green eggs and ham?

(Mine is eggplant!)

Green Eggs and (Veg) Ham for Sam-I-am

Yield: 1 8×4-inch loaf pan

Ingredients:

• 1/2 medium tomato, diced
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup mushrooms, chopped
• 5 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/3  cup cheese of your choice (I used feta)
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 serving homemade pesto (recipe to follow)
• Veggie or regular ham, to serve on the side

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease 8×4-inch loaf pan. Set aside. 
2. Over medium heat, cook onion, mushrooms, and tomato until cooked through and lightly browned.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, cheese, and a pinch of both salt and pepper. Add cooked vegetables, then pour mixture into greased pan. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until top is set and eggs are pretty nearly cooked through. (I like mine slightly runny, so I remove it a few minutes early from the oven for that nice slightly runny touch!)
4. Serve with pesto and veggie (or regular) ham. Voila! Green eggs and ham!

HOMEMADE PARSLEY PESTO

Ingredients:

• 1 cup almonds or pecans
• 1 large bunch parsley (no need to be precise here!)
• 1/3 cup feta cheese
• 2 – 4 tablespoons lemon juice
• Garlic salt, to taste
• Pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Line a baking pan with foil and spread nuts in a thin layer on it. Toast in preheated oven for 15 minutes (pecans) to approximately 30 minutes (almonds), stirring nuts every 10 minutes or so to prevent them from burning. Remove from oven and allow to cool briefly.
2. Place toasted nuts in food processor. Blend at 20-second intervals, scraping down sides as needed, until the nut reaches a thin paste consistency. Add parsley; blend until smooth. Add feta, lemon juice, and salt and pepper (to taste). Blend for another minute or so, until pesto is completely smooth.

LWOM: Healthy Apple Spice Bars with Caramel Penuche Icing

It was a Wednesday, and as a consequence, Piglet was sitting on a log. Mind you, this was his Wednesday log, which is different from his Thursday or Saturday log, although sometimes you found it hard to tell the difference, and so did Piglet.

“Tiddly pom, hum,” he said, since it seemed like the right thing to say when one is sitting on a Wednesday log.

Speaking of the right thing to say, it was an afternoon perfect for soft, warmly-spiced apple bars frosted with caramel penuche icing and–

“Excuse me?” said Piglet.

“Excuse me,” I said,  startled.

“Were you speaking just now?” he asked, looking up with a slightly mesmerized expression, as I’m sure you’re wearing at this very moment. Because his attention was fixed on this gif right above us, too.

“I think so. Or at least the gif above you was. It was one or the other of us, you know.”

“Oh. I thought somebody must have been.” He paused and twiddled the daffodil that he had been twiddling after his thumbs had been all twiddled out. “And…and who were you speaking to?”

“Why–to the readers, I suppose,” I said.

“Oh.” The flower wiggled its petals and worried its stem. There was a pause.

“Not to me?” he asked finally.

“Well, not at first,” I said, but I added kindly, “But it could have been to you.”

Piglet considered this. He considered saying “Oh, hooray, and three cheers for Piglet!” but decided that might make him sound what he called “over-eager.” So he said instead, rather randomly, “You know, people like to talk to Pooh very much.”

“I know,” I said. Because it was true.

“But he can be a bear of very little brain–as he says himself, of course,” Piglet finished hurriedly. And then he added, so as not to sound too self-interested, “I admire your the pig cup in your pictures. And the apple spice bars look very nice, too. There’s something about pigs that are very pleasing and nice and…and un-bear-like, you know.”

“Of course,” I said.

“I mean,” he went on, speaking now to the stem of his greatly worried daffodil, “what does one DO as a Pooh bear?”

“Eat, I suppose. And think about eating. And other Pooh-like things.”

“Right,” Piglet replied. “

We waited. The daffodil jiggled a little bit as he thought about this carefully.

“Do you think, hypo-thack-tikly speaking, (which was a grand thing to say, because Christopher Robin said it all the time), one–say, perhaps, a pig, or a tiny pig–that one could become a Pooh?”

“Well,” I said. “When one wants to pretend like one’s a grown-up, Piglet, what does one do?”

“Wear grown-up clothes and do grown-up things like cook and stay up late and cross the street without holding anybody’s hand,” Piglet said proudly, for he had done all of these things before when he wanted to feel grown-up.

“Precisely,” I said. “And so if one–say, a tiny pig–wanted to be a Pooh Bear, what would one do?”

“Aha!” Piglet said suddenly, jumping up from his Wednesday log and casting a longing look at the pan of apple spice bars with rich caramel penuche icing sitting in front of him.

And do you know what happened then?

I’ll let you decide. Although, if I were you, which I am decidedly not (but if), I would look below for a clue.

Done just like a Pooh bear.

What character would you be from the 100 Acre Woods?

(I apologize for the blurry, pixelated gif this time–it was a rushed day! But I’ll get it right next time around :] )

This post is part of the Lit, Wit, and an Oven Mitt (LWOM) series here at Wallflour Girl, where Ala takes a popular or classic literary character and uses him/her/it to tell a story about her recipes.  Ala is an English literature graduate student with a strong interest in children’s literature, Victorian lit, and everything in between, beyond, bubbly, or burgundy. Ala does not own the rights to any of these characters or original literary texts, although she does own a really cute Winnie-the-Pooh balloon-shaped stuffed-animal. This series is intended to offer you a glimpse into her world through our shared love for food. Please let Ala know what you think of these stories–she’d love to hear what you think (and I’m sure Piglet would, too).

Healthy Apple Spice Bars with Caramel Penuche Icing

Apple spice bar recipe adapted from Allrecipes

Caramel penuche icing recipe originally posted at lifesabatch (and it’s delicious!)

 

Apple Spice Bars:

Yield: 30 large bars (or 9×13-inch pan)

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 cup applesauce (I used unsweetened)
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking pan and set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Add egg, mix in until combined. Stir in applesauce. Add remaining (dry) ingredients and stir until the entire mixture is just combined. Pour into prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, until bars are golden and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely before cutting into squares.

Caramel Penuche Icing

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter or margarine
• 1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a medium pot and bring it to a boil. Add sugar and return mixture to a boil for 2 minutes while stirring constantly. Add milk, then return to a boil. Remove from heat and allow to cool a few minutes before mixing in powdered sugar.
2. Pour over cooled bars. Enjoy!

What the FUDGE Brownies

One golden rule to the art of storytelling has withstood the test of time and clime:

“Show, don’t tell.”

I call it story-showing. If a picture’s worth 1000 words, a moving image is priceless.

What story does this gif show you?

Maybe it shows you a comforting, rich, fudgy morsel of relief on the tattered couch after an exhausting Friday.

Maybe it shows you a righty trying really hard to be a lefty, with limited success.

Or perhaps it shows you something subtler.

Maybe it shows you a girl staring out the window into the distance as the seconds on her kitchen clock tick by–5, 10, 22, 43– without her noticing. The heater hums its monotonous, warm tone; the girl’s chapped fingers stretch across her forehead: thumb to right temple, middle finger pressing against the left temple so the small patch of skin there pales to an exhausted white.

She breathes in, one, two, deep breaths, it smells like comfort and calm and cocoa.

Maybe it shows the same girl leaning over the beaten oven now–beaten but not conquered–pulling out a gleaming tray of thick fudgy brownies that will melt in your mouth and, consequently, melt your heart. The faces from the day, too many faces to count, fade into an indistinct swirl as bright white chocolate swirls wink at her from the brownie-tops and whisper her name.

Take solace. We’re the fudgiest you’ve had, and we know you.

There are unseen friends and future tongues that will taste them. They will laugh, smile, and say to her with little gestures of appreciation, “What the fudge–these are incredible!”

As the thought of it runs through her mind like a locomotive–starting slow at first, then gradually gaining momentum, its engine cranking and its wheels wheezing until it’s hurtling along the track and suddenly whips around the corner and out of sight–as it runs through her mind like that vanished locomotive, and her tired fingers twitch on the edge of the pan–

she is smiling.

And her teeth are stained with fudge.

What story do you see?

What the FUDGE Brownies

Adapted from Ina Garten’s Outrageous Brownies Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter or margarine
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, and 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips or chunks (divided)
• 1 1/2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 3/4 tablespoon instant coffee granules, finely crushed
• 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1/4 cup flour, and 1 tablespoon flour (divided)
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease an 8×8-inch baking pan and set aside.
2. In a microwave-safe bowl, combine butter and 1 cup chocolate chips. Heat for 30 seconds and stir; continue heating at 15-second intervals, stirring after each interval, until mixture is completely melted and smooth when stirred.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine eggs, coffee granules, vanilla, and sugar. Add slightly cooled chocolate mixture and stir in. Mix in 1/4 cup flour, baking powder, and salt, stirring until just incorporated.
4. Toss remaining 1/2 cup chocolate chips in 1 tablespoon flour and fold into chocolate batter. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 15 minutes, then rap pan against the side of oven to force out any air bubbles. Continue baking for an additional 15-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. Remove from oven and set aside to cool completely in the pan.
5. Frost with chocolate ganache (recipe below). Allow brownies and frosting to set up completely for at least 1-2 hours in the fridge before cutting into 16 large, rich squares.

Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. In a pot, combine all ingredients over a medium flame. Stir continuously as margarine melts; heat until all ingredients combine into a smooth chocolate mixture (approximately 1-2 minutes).
2. Beat ingredients with a spoon for at least 1-2 minutes, until it starts to stiffen. Pour over brownies while they are still in the pan; spread ganache as needed to create a thick, even layer. Allow to cool in fridge for at least 1-2 hours before cutting.

Lovey Dovey Trifecta Cookies and Sweetheart Cupcakes

I’ll admit it–I’m a little vixen.

This crazy (good) cupcake-and-cookie love blast combo is brought to you by a little V-day vixen named Ala.

Consequently, the V-day jean-size-enlargement-of-everyone-around-me scheme was also instigated by yours truly.

Because let’s face it: us bakers siphon off our baked goods onto our friends, classmates, family, significant others, grocers, landladies, and cute cafe seat neighbors for one reason, and one reason alone.

We’re out to get your jeans.

But in all seriousness–does anybody else out there feel the same way? Or am I just a complete aberration in occasionally feeling this way?

Anybody who knows me in “real life” can tell you that I have a terrible habit of encouraging people to indulge in every single desire they have the misfortune to express to me. I do a pretty darn great job of it too, if I say so myself. If the president was as successful at reconciling cross-party views as I am at persuading my friends to hit up every single one of the Seven Sins in the course of one party, every congressional session would just be a bunch of people clasping hands and singing hallelujah to a blown-up picture of a red & blue donk-lephant-ey.

I’m not a moral degenerate myself. I’d actually like to think of myself as a sort of pre-transformation, goody two shoes Sandra Dee. (Did I mention that I saw Grease for the first time in a singalong theater on V-day? Fantastic! Young John Travolta doing pelvic thrusts on a car ::swoon::)

At the same time, if I bring this entire tray of lovey dovey trifecta cookies (i.e. the best, fluffiest, chewiest PB oat choco-chip cookies you will ever have) and raspberry cheesecake-filled sweetheart cupcakes to my friends, as I did on V-day, and somebody says…

“Oh my GAWD, these are AMAZING…”

and then follows that by saying

“Take them away from me, or I’ll eat them all!”

I will say…

You, eat them all?

“CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.”

Yes, I am that girl. The girl you love to hate, and hate to love. <3 Just say it.

If you ever have the misfortune pleasure of meeting me in “real life,” don’t tell me about how you really want to buy an entire jumbo-sized pack of Peeps from the store while we’re shopping.

Refrain from explaining why you’d really much rather be watching the entire BBC series of Pride & Prejudice (which I STILL have to watch) online than finishing your essay on the comparison between national patriarchal benevolence and hierarchical gender dynamics in a Maria Edgeworth novel (which I STILL have to finish).

And definitely resist telling me how much you LOVE this lovey, lovely cookie-and-cupcake combo.

Because you inevitably will be tempted, and I will subsequently make sure you never fit into your jeans again.

Singlehandedly and proudly.

Hey, I work hard at what I do.

Fortunately, you won’t have to work hard at either of these delectable treats the next time you want to show your love to somebody random! Jeans-sabotaging aside, they’re both super straightforward recipes and totally worth whipping up in a jiffy to share.

They’re Alfred J. B’lloon–frock (he’s the balloon, pictured above) approved!

So what are you waiting for? If you want to be a little vixen like me, or if you’re just a much better human being than I am and actually want to make these with as much heart as these cupcakes and cookies express, then I’m whisking you off to your kitchen and mixing bowl!

See what I did there?

Ha! Ha! Ha…

Oh, never mind. I’m such a dorky little Sandra Dee after all. <3

Why do YOU love to bake/cook?

If you loved this post, these photos, or this recipe (after giving it a try!), please let me know! I love hearing from all of you, and I promise I’m really not very vixen-y at all

Lovey Dovey Trifecta Cookies

Yield: 3 dozen cookies

Adapted from Allrecipes

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup peanut butter (homemade or store-bought)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup oats (quick-cooking or rolled are fine)
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 36 Dove Heart chocolates (I used chocolate and raspberry creme)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a cookie sheet and set aside.
2. Cream together butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until fluffy and smooth. Stir in peanut butter, vanilla, and egg until well-incorporated. Add flour, baking soda, and salt; mix in until just incorporated. Fold in chocolate chips.
3. Drop dough by small tablespoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes in oven, until golden.
4. Remove cookies from oven and immediately press an unwrapped chocolate into the top of each cookie. Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then remove from sheet and cool completely on a wire rack.

Sweetheart Cupcakes (Chocolate with Raspberry Cheesecake Filling)

Yield: 1 dozen cupcakes

Original chocolate cake recipe from Averie Cooks

(I wasn’t sure how Averie’s moist, delectable-looking cake would translate into cupcakes. In the end, the cupcakes were still great, but a bit dense for my purposes–still love the cake, as did everyone else, but might substitute a different chocolate cupcake recipe next time! Below is the original recipe I tested.)

Ingredients:

• 1 large egg
• 1 cup white sugar
• 6 ounces plain Greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup brewed coffee, warm or room temperature
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Raspberry cheesecake filling ingredients:

• 1 (8 oz.) block cream cheese, softened
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup raspberry preserves

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 12 cupcake tins with cupcake liners.
2. In a mixing bowl, whisk together egg, sugar, yogurt, oil, and vanilla. Stir in coffee and cocoa powder until smooth. Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; mix until just incorporated. Fold in chocolate chips.
3. Pour batter into cupcake liners until each is about 2/3 full. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until toothpick inserted into center of each cupcake comes out relatively clean but with moist crumbs sticking to it. Remove from oven and allow cupcakes to cool as you prepare cheesecake filling.
4. For raspberry cheesecake filling: Whip together cream cheese and white sugar in a medium bowl. Add egg and mix in until mixture is completely smooth. Stir in preserves.
5. Assembly: Take a completely cooled cupcake and place on a cutting board. Running a sharp knife parallel to the base of the cupcake, slice off the muffin-top part that pops out over the cupcake liner. (In other words, you’re slicing the muffin-top from the base, so that the surface of the cupcake base is now as high as the cupcake liner.) Cut out a hole from the center of the muffin and fill generously with raspberry cheesecake. Carefully cut a heart shape out from the muffin-top and then replace the muffin-top on the cheesecake-frosted cupcake base. Voila! You have a cute raspberry cheesecake filling peeking out in the shape of a heart.

Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies

So sombody’s been listening to “I won’t say I’m in love” on repeat today!

I won’t say–er, who.

Happy Valentine’s/Galentine’s Day, folks!

In honor of this lovely, commercial-saturated annual holiday, I am 1) sharing the recipe & photos for this gorgeous red velvet cheesecake bar recipe (in case you haven’t had enough red velvet to last you a bleeding lifetime this month! This is my only, I promise), and 2) sharing 10 things I will be doing to celebrate a day of love, single or otherwise.

But these bars really are the best. I actually had the honor of popping some virgin red-velvet cherries today, and if decorum had allowed, I’m sure said persons would have asked me out on a romantic date for tonight on the spot.

Alas, decorum stands, and Ala is still single. BUT. Here’s what I’m doing this week to enjoy, appreciate, and celebrate the wonders of being single in February this year!

10. Watching Anastasia, the best animated film known to mankind featuring a sweet-hearted, slightly sarcastic singing love interest…while eating a melt-in-my-mouth scrumptious red velvet cheesecake brownie.

9. Sending V-day care packages to all my lovely friends and honorary valentines…containing red velvet cheesecake brownies, of course. Mwah!

8. Galentine’s Day picnic brunch under the sunny skies. And yes, there were red velvet cheesecake brownies. Are you seeing a pattern here?

7. Scoping out the gym shamelessly on V-day night. Think about it: if they’re at the gym on Valentine’s night and working them rippling biceps, chances are that they’re single and ripped into the bargain. Who says romance can’t start on February the 14th? Eh?

6. Browsing lovely food blogs like Sally’s, where I first got the inspiration and recipe for these delicious brownies! I’ve loved everything you guys have posted leading up to this beautiful day, so feel free to link me up to your favorite posts and recipes!

5. Dropping by the farmer’s market! Picked up a sweet pack of strawberries–on discount, because my man (a.k.a. the vendor, with whom I’m on a first-name basis now!) tried some of these brownies. I’m serious.

4. Dancing around my room singing “You Belong with Me” and Michael Buble’s “Haven’t Met You Yet” at the top of my lungs into a hairbrush, hoping all the while that this will happen to me. Again, February 14th. Chances are up, right??

3. Inflating an entire party pack’s worth of balloons and drawing silly faces on them, like this:

 

Heartthrob J. Alfred B’lloon-frock says hi! He even wrote me a love song today.

2. Going to a Grease sing-along at the local theater tonight with my gal pals. SUMMER NIGHTS BABY. (Even though: BIG confession. I’ve never watched all of Grease in one sitting before. Shocker!! Bringing red velvet cheesecake brownies to make up for my lack in that department.)

And, finally….

1. Wishing all of you the best Valentine’s Day you can have, whether you’re taken, single, or just a celebrator of life! Enjoy your day, folks!

(And whipping up a batch of these absolutely meltaway red velvet cheesecake bars wouldn’t hurt, either. Just saying.)

What are you doing to celebrate this season of love?

Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies

Yield: 9×9-inch baking pan

From Sally’s Baking Addiction

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon red food coloring
• 3/4 teaspoon white vinegar
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9×9-inch baking pan.
2. Cream together melted butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy. Stir in vanilla; add cocoa powder and stir in until no clumps remain. Mix in food coloring and vinegar, then add eggs and mix in until batter is smooth. Finally, add flour and stir in until just incorporated. Pour into prepared pan.
3. To make cheesecake batter: Beat cream cheese in a medium bowl until smooth. Mix in sugar and continue beating until mixture is smooth and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; mix in until no lumps remain.
4. Drop cheesecake batter in large spoonfuls over the red velvet batter, taking care to leave some red spaces between each white dollop (this will make it easier to get a nice red contrast when you swirl in the cheesecake). Run a knife through the red and white batters to create a swirl pattern.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in brownie comes out clean. (I like to underbake mine just a tad and then set the bars out on top of the oven for a few minutes to finish cooking that way without drying them out too much.) Allow bars to cool completely before cutting into 25 squares. Serve and enjoy with your significant other, your friends, or just your lovely ol’ self!

Classy Overnight Blueberry French Toast

Every once in a while, something happens in our lives that makes us put the gear in park, turn off the ignition, and just wonder.

I consider myself a fairly happy-go-lucky person. I am, after all, a hybrid donut and crepe type on my Breakfast Breakdown of Personality Types. That’s not my gushing description when I step into the interview room, but gloomy funks and I don’t mix-’n-match well. For better or for worse, I am no Eeyore.

Without getting into too much detail here–the story is long, weighty, and (only for the purposes of my musings here, though certainly not personally) irrelevant–someone close and dear to me is suffering. I flew home suddenly this weekend when I heard the news, and while I’d love to say that it hasn’t thrown a complete wrench in what has already been a particularly rough school term–the wrench has definitely been chucked, toolbox and all.

I found it difficult to teach on Friday, when I was being observed by the professor in charge of teaching assistants. I’m finding it even more difficult to concentrate now, when I know I should be working and then the cycle creeps in.

Oh, come on–you know the one!

It looks something like:

Emotionally unstable –> stress bakes instead of works –> stuffs face with freshly baked goods –> gets gloomy over indulging in so many cookies or pastry of your choice –> even more emotionally distraught –> throws shoe against wall in frustration –> makes hole in wall –> goes to fix wall instead of work –> ginormous pile of work going, “You’ll never finish me nooooooowwwwwww” –> despair dresses up in an all-consuming black hole costume.

And so on. With minor tweaks along the way.

Despite my moment of Eeyore-like indulgence here, though, one thing that this past month has really brought to the forefront is just the undeniable fact that I am so, so incredibly lucky. Sure, I caught the flu last month.

Does it feel like the end of the world? Heck yes. Especially when you’re wading through piles of papers and the fever invading your entire body is screaming, “It’s time for a BONFIRE, people!”

But is it really the end of the world? No. No, no, so incredibly no.

So I’m taking things one step at a time now, and I’m going to advise that you do, too. Wake up early. Make breakfast for your loved ones. Tell ‘em you love them while you’re doing it, too. This delicious, from-the-heart baked blueberry french toast recipe could be a good way to start.

So before I go, one more word from me: I send my love to you all, dear readers! You all mean so much to me, and you deserve to know it.

Have you told somebody you loved them today?

Classy Overnight Blueberry French Toast

Adapted from Allrecipes

Ingredients:

• 8 sweet Hawaiian rolls, cubed (I used King’s Hawaiian 12-dinner roll pack)
• 4 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1/3 cup fresh blueberries
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 1/2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Splash of vanilla extract

Directions

1. The night before: Lightly grease a 9×9-inch round baking pan (or any pan of similar dimension–a square 8×8-inch pan would work fine). Arrange half of the bread cubes in the bottom of the dish; spread softened cream cheese on top, then sprinkle with fresh blueberries. Top with remaining bread cubes.
2. In a bowl, combine eggs, milk, syrup, cinnamon, and vanilla. Pour over bread, pressing in cubes so that all of them are fully soaked. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
3. Remove pan from fridge 30 minutes prior to baking. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
4. Loosely cover baking pan with foil and bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes. Remove cover and continue baking for an additional 20-25 minutes, until center is fairly firm and surface is golden brown. Serve warm with maple syrup.