Isa's Baking Corner

1. Melt together 1 stick butter and 2 squares unsweetened chocolate and take the saucepan off the heat.

2. Stir in 1 cup sugar, add 2 eggs and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, and beat the mixture well.

3. Stir in 1/4 cup all-purpose flour and 1/4 teaspoon salt. (In the original recipe, 1 cup chopped walnuts is added here as well.)

4. Bake the brownies in a buttered and floured 8-inch-square pan at 325°F for about 40 minutes.

You can cut these brownies into squares, once they have cooled, and eat them out of the pan, but it is so much nicer to pile them on a fancy plate, from which people are going to eat them with their hands anyway. If you want to smarten up your act you can put a square of brownie on a plate with a little blob of créme fraîche and a scattering of shaved chocolate.

Ingredients:
Brownie
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup cocoa powder
1 3/4 cup sugar
4 egg, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
0.67 cup walnut pieces, toasted


Chilled Hot Chocolate Sauce
2/3 cup whipping cream
4 0z. seme-sweet chocolate squares, chopped
Directions:

Brownie
Preheat oven to 325 F and prepare 2 greased 2 x 3 1/2-inch loaf pans (or 1 4 x 8-inch loaf pan).
Melt butter (over stove or in microwave) and pour into a larger bowl. Sift cocoa into butter and stir in. Stir in sugar.
Add eggs to mixture, blending well after each addition. Stir in vanilla.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt (do not sift). Add to cocoa mixture and blend. Stir in walnuts.
Pour brownie batter into pans and bake for 40-45 minutes, until firm when touched. Allow to cool.
Thaw ice cream for 5 minutes, just to soften.
Remove brownies from loaf tins. Wipe tins and line with plastic wrap. Slice each loaf horizontally in half. Place bottom half back into each tin. Spoon ice cream onto brownie in tin and spread into corners. Top ice cream with other half of brownie. Wrap and freeze until ready to serve (brownie should not freeze completely due to high sugar content).
Chilled Hot Chocolate Sauce
Heat cream over medium heat until simmering, remove from heat. Pour over semi-sweet chocolate in a bowl. Let stand for 5 minutes. Gently stir. Let stand another 10 minutes, and stir again. Pour over brownies.

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.
Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.
To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

INGREDIENTS:

3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
2 egg yolks
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup fruit preserves, any flavor

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, white sugar and egg yolks. Mix in flour a little bit at a time until a soft dough forms. Roll dough into 1 inch balls. If dough is too soft, refrigerate for 15 to 20 minutes. Place balls 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Use your finger or an instrument of similar size to make a well in the center of each cookie. Fill the hole with 1/2 teaspoon of preserves.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown on the bottom. Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks.

You can use 6 mini bundt cake pan or a 9-inch round cake pan.

Ingredients:
1 Cup Flour
1 Cup Sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup butter, soften
2 large egg whites
1 large egg
1/2 cup 1 % milk
2 tsps instant coffee granules
1 1/2 tsps vanilla extract

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 F. grease baking pan with cooking spray.

Combine first 5 ingredients together. Add butter, egg whites, & egg into flour mixture, blend well; add milk, coffee granules & vanilla extract, mix well. Pour batter into prepared baking pan.
Bake at 350 F for 35 minutes


Chocolate Glaze:

1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup sugar
3 TBS hot water

combine all together, set aside.

This recipe is easy to make. Great with a cup of tea or coffee.

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp Baking soda
2 tsps Baking Powder
1tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup walnuts
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:
Mix first 6 ingredients together. Beat in raisins and walnuts; set aside
Beat together soften butter, sour cream, eggs & vanilla, blend well but don't overbeat. Add the wet mixture to the flour mixture.

Drop the dough with ice cream scoop on the greased cookies sheet, then sprinkle some sugar on top of the dough. Bake at 350 F for 20-22 minutes.

These cookies are crunchy on the edge and soft in the center. I added ground rolled oat in this recipe, just a different twist.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup rolled oats, ground
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
1 cup (2 sticks/8 oz/226g) butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
2 eggs
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts (optional)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Grind oats in a food processor or blender until fine. Combine the ground oats with the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Cream together the butter, sugars, vanilla, and lemon juice in another medium bowl with an electric mixer. Add the eggs and mix until smooth. Stir the dry mixture into the wet mixture and blend well. Add the chocolate chips and nuts to the dough and mix by hand until ingredients are well incorporated. Spoon rounded 1/4-cup portions onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Place the scoops about 2 inches apart. You don't need to press the dough flat. Bake for 16 to 18 minutes or until cookies are light brown and soft in the middle. Store in a sealed container when cool to keep soft. For the best results, chill the dough overnight in the refrigerator before baking the cookies.

This bar cookie is an old fashioned favorite. Chocolate chips, nuts and coconut are set in a caramelized layer on top of a graham cracker crust."

Original recipe yield: 24 to 36 bars.


INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 (14 ounce) can EAGLE BRAND® Sweetened Condensed Milk (NOT evaporated milk)
1 (12 ounce) package semisweet chocolate morsels
1 1/3 cups flaked coconut
1 cup chopped nuts


DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (325 degrees for glass dish). In 13x9-inch baking pan, melt margarine in oven. Sprinkle crumbs over butter; pour EAGLE BRAND® evenly over crumbs. Layer evenly with remaining ingredients; press down firmly.
Bake 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool. Chill if desired. Cut into bars. Store loosely covered at room temperature.
Variations:7-Layer Magic Cookie Bars: Substitute 1 cup (6-ounces) butterscotch flavored chips* for 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips and proceed as directed above.Peanut butter flavored chips or white chocolate chips may be substituted for butterscotch flavored chips.Magic Peanut Cookie Bars: Substitute 2 cups (about 3/4 pound) chocolate-covered peanuts for semi-sweet chocolate chips and chopped nuts.

We had a reception after the show, and I tried a piece of date square, it was yummy, so I decided to try to make them myself. It's just taste like what I had at the reception.

Date Filling:
2 cups pitted dates, chopped
1 1/2 TBSP Butter
1 cup water

Crumble:

2 1/2 cups rolled oat
1 1/4 cups flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter

Method:

For filling:
place all ingredients in a pot and bring up to a boil. Remove from heat and let dates sit and soak until room temperature. Puree until smooth and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Grease a 8" square baking pan and line bottom with parchment paper so that the paper hangs over the edge of the pan on 2 sides.

For Crumble:
Combine oat, flolur, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl and stir in soften butter and blend with hands until an even crumbling texture. Press half of the crumble into the bottom of the pan. Spread the date filling over the base, and top with remaining crumble(not pressing). Bake for 45 minutes or until the top of crumble begins to brown. Cool completely before cutting into squares.

These cookies taste just like the bakery counter cookies, amazing. It's a must try recipe. You won't regret it.

Makes about 18 large chewy oatmeal raisin cookies.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups rolled oats
11/2 cups raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Direction:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper or waxed paper.

Either by hand or with electric mixer, beat butter until creamy. Add sugars; beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add vanilla.

Mix flour, salt, baking powder, and nutmeg together in medium bowl. Stir dry ingredients into butter-sugar mixture. Stir in oats, raisins and optional walnuts.

Working with generous 2 tablespoons of dough each time, roll dough into 2-inch balls. Place balls on parchment-lined cookie sheet, leaving at least 2 inches between each ball.

Bake until cookie edges turn golden brown, 22 minutes. Let cool on cooling at least 30 minutes before peeling cookie from parchment.