Adventures in Baking Part 2

Tomorrow is the Student Nurses' Association Bake Sale. Normally in these situations, I open up a box of Ghiradelli Brownie Mix and call it a night...especially considering that I spent the weekend in North Carolina for my cousin's wedding. Yesterday while I was out shopping with my stepmom and Vicki, I purchased a new cookbook and a Taste of Home magazine. As soon as I got them, I envisioned myself on the couch with them in my hand in the kittens on my lap as I searched for something new and exciting to make. I was flipping through the Taste of Home magazine this afternoon when I came across this little recipe for Chocolate Chip Raspberry Bars. It seemed easy enough, and I'm a sucker of anything chocolate! I decided to do the Ghiradelli brownies and try out this new recipe.

I have a confession, though. After all the fun this weekend, I am rather tired which can make me rather forgetful. It wasn't until I took the raspberry bars out after the initial 5 minutes of baking that I realized that I forgot to put the egg in! Needless to say, I had to start over. Rick got a good laugh out of it when I told him about it. I ended up using almost the whole 18 oz jar of the seedless raspberry jam because it was a little difficult to spread. It wasn't until I started to try to cut them that I realized that sometimes, less is a better thing! The end result was very delicious albeit a little sweet and rich (and messy!!!). And yes, I did save a couple for Rick to enjoy.

Here's the recipe:

Chocolate Chip Raspberry Bars

Ingredients

• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup cold butter
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 cup seedless raspberry jam
• 1/2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chip

Directions
Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large bowl, combine flour and sugar. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in egg and extract just until moistened. Set aside 1 cup of crumb mixture for topping.

Press the remaining mixture into a greased 11 inch by 7 inch baking pan. Bade at 350F for 5 minutes. Spread the jam and sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture. Bake 35-40 minutes longer or until golden brown.

Sprinkle with chocolate chips. Return to the oven for 30 seconds or until chips are glossy. Cool completely on a wire rack. Cut into bars.

Adventures in Baking

I've never been a huge baker. Maybe it's having to get the ingredients just right with the measurements, or maybe it's the several times that I've burned myself on the side of the oven that make me a wee bit apprehensive about baking. I usually stick to brownies from a box (I swear by Ghiradelli's) or Grasshopper Squares around Christmas time (again, see boxed brownies!). Today, I decided to take a step outside of my comfort zone and combine Rick's recent request for desserts and his new found love for super foods. After seeing that Harris Teeter has both raspberries and blueberries on sale, I went searching on epicurious.com for some sort of dessert to have this weekend. I came across the recipe for the raspberry buttermilk cake and decided to substitute half of the cup of raspberries with half a cup of blueberries. I'm a little disappointed that I didn't have any parchment paper to line the 8 inch cake pan that I bought at Publix, but I did use Pam baking spray. The cake came out with ease!

And it was really good...pretty light and fluffy with the super-fruits on the bottom. I think that the next time that I make it, I may go ahead and use both whole packages of berries!

Here's the recipe:

Raspberry Buttermilk Cake
Gourmet | June 2009

Yield: Makes 6 servings
Active Time: 15 min
Total Time: 1 hr

Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar, divided

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk
1 cup fresh raspberries (about 5 ounces)

Directions
Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in middle. Butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Beat butter and 2/3 cup sugar with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes, then beat in vanilla. Add egg and beat well.

At low speed, mix in flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour, and mixing until just combined.

Spoon batter into cake pan, smoothing top. Scatter raspberries evenly over top and sprinkle with remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar.

Bake until cake is golden and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and cool to warm, 10 to 15 minutes more. Invert onto a plate.

Changes I made: Used Pam baking spray instead of butter and flour for pan and used 1/2 cup blueberries and 1/2 cup raspberries