Food Friday: Pear Brownies

I know it's not Friday yet.  I wanted to post this simple recipe in case you need any last minute desserts for Thanksgiving.  These aren't really brownies or blondies, but what else do I call gooey bars of delicious?

On to the recipe (you can skip down to the bottom for the written or grab the printable here).

 

What you need:  flour, sugar, vegetable oil, cinnamon, vanilla, eggs, salt, baking powder, and a large pear

 

3 eggs in a bowl

  

Whisk the sugar and eggs together until light and fluffy (sort of custardy)

 

Add the vanilla and the oil

 

Cinnamon is one of my favorite spices.  Add a heaping teaspoon of that (or more if you are me).

 

I love the way stuff looks when it's being mixed together!

 

Sift in 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, and 2 cups of flour

 

Mix it all up

 

Gently fold in the pears (or apples)

 

Spread in a 9x13 pan (the yellow on mine is that baking spray stuff.  Pam maybe?  I didn't really need it for this pyrex pan, but I wasn't taking any chances.)

 

  

After about 40 minutes, you get this delicious gooey hunk of amazing with a creme brulee-esque top.  I ate mine with some greek yogurt because I like that sweet/tart flavor combo.

 

 

The entire pan disappeared before I could take photos the first time I made these brownies.  This is my second go at them.

 

I was so tempted to grind some of this cinnamon sugar on top of my yogurt.  I thought it might be overkill, but now I wish I had.  That yogurt looks so plain next to the brownies.

Have a recipe. (Link opens printable recipe in a new window)

Pear Brownies
Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup vegetable oil (increase to 1 cup if using apples)
1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups all-purpose flour 
2 cups diced pears (or apples)

Directions: 
Heat oven to 350­°.  Whisk eggs and sugar together until light and fluffy.  Add vanilla and vegetable oil.  Stir in cinnamon.  Sift salt, baking powder, and flour into the wet ingredients and stir to combine.  Gently fold in pears (or apples).  Bake for 35-45 minutes in a 9x13 baking dish.  If using aluminum, grease the pan.

Freezer Friday: Strawberry Peanut Butter Froyo

Man, oh man.  This is my shiz.  Thanks to Ryan and Matthew for bringing me into the light with this flavor combo.  I never knew this was even a thing.  This recipe is a bunch of fails that just came together in the end.
First fail:  I couldn't find strawberries and I bought some the day I made the froyo.  I would have preferred to buy strawberries and allow them to sit and partially decay for a few days. That extra sweet works in froyo/ice cream.
Second fail:  I couldn't find peanut flour to make Chocolate Covered Katie's PB chips.  (Love her blog btw.  She has lots of delicious recipes over there.)
Third fail:  my version of peanut butter chips was somehow wrong and they didn't freeze properly.
But look at this photo and try to tell me this is not full of winning.  You can't.  Seriously.  It's just not possible.

Strawberry Peanut Butter Froyo

 

Ingredients:

Peanut Butter Chips:

4 tablespoons creamy peanut butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

4-5 teaspoons agave, more or less to taste

1-3 teaspoons milk (just enough to get the consistency right)

Froyo:

1 quart strawberrries, hulled and sliced

3/4 cup sugar, divided

1 teaspoon lemon juice

2 cups vanilla yogurt (I used Chobani)

1/2 cup milk

2 teaspoons vanilla

 

Preparation:

(I move around a lot in my kitchen.  Here's my sequence to save time.)

 

Rinse, hull, and slice the strawberries into a medium saucepan.  Add 1/4 sugar and 1 teaspoon lemon juice to the saucepan and cook on medium heat for about 20 minutes, more or less depending on how big your slices are.  My strawberries were hella fresh, and I HAD to cook them down to bring out the sugar.  If you are using berries that have been in your fridge for a week, feel free to skip the stovetop step.  Do not, however, skip the sugar and lemon juice.  (and here's the moving...)

 

In a small bowl, thoroughly mix the first three ingredients for the peanut butter chips.  Add milk a teaspoon at a time until you get something that resembles the texture of play-doh.  Tamp the peanut butter mixture down into a candy mold and put that into the freezer to chill while you prepare the rest of the froyo.  (I hope you've been checking on your strawberries on the stove during this time, lol!) 

 

When you think your berries have reduced enough, take them off the stove and make them smaller in some way.  You may puree, smash with a potato masher, or whisk them in your kitchenaid like I do.  Either way, make the strawberries as big or small as you prefer.  Next, add the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar, 2 cups vanilla yogurt, 1/2 cup milk, and 2 teaspoons of vanilla.  Once everything is combined, put the froyo in the refrigerator for a minimum of 3 hours to cool down.  This is mandatory if you cooked your berries.  Once the froyo base is cold again, cream it up in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions.  Add the peanut butter chips duing the last five minutes of churn time.  You can eat this right away, though it's way better if it has time to firm up in the freezer for a few hours.  Your choice.

 

Cast of Characters for the PB Chips:  Milk, Peanut Butter, Agave, Vanilla (I ran out of real vanilla long ago.  Oops.)

 

Mix the peanut butter, vanilla, and agave together.  Add milk a little at a time until it reaches this consistency. It's sort of like play-doh, but a little looser.  You will need a touch more milk if you use natural peanut butter.

 

Drop the PB mix on your candy mold.

  

I found the easiest way to get the PB mix in the mold was to finger tamp it down.  I put a lump at the top of the mold and pushed it down.  The excess mix spills over into the next section of the mold.  Totally nonfancy.

 

I didn't quite have enough to fill the whole mold, but I'm okay with that.  Toss the tray into the freezer while you prepare the froyo base.

 

Cast of Characters for the froyo:  Milk, sugar, vanilla yogurt, strawberries, lemon juice, vanilla

  

My berries were very fresh and I wanted to break them down a little.  You can skip this step if you are using old berries.  Hull and slice one quart/one pound of strawberries.  Add  one teaspoon of lemon juice and 1/4 cup sugar.  Allow to cook on medium heat, stirring every now and then.  I let my strawberries cook for about 20 minutes.  Like I said, this is optional.  Cooking the strawberries in sugar brings out more sugar.  Go figure.

 

 Further break the strawberries down by mashing or pureeing them.  I use put kitchenaid and the wire whisk and beat them up for about five minutes that way.  Leave the berries as chunky as you prefer!

 

Add 2 cups yogurt, 2 teaspoons vanilla, 1/2 cup milk, and 1/2 cup sugar.  Mix well.  From this point, refrigerate the froyo base for several hours.  This is mandatory if you cooked the berries!

 

After the cooling time, churn the froyo according to your ice cream maker's directions.  Add the peanut butter chips in the last 5 minutes of churn time.

 

 

This is just SO FRACKING GOOD.  You put it in your mouth.  Then it's all strawberry, strawberry, chunk of strawberry, BAM POW! peanut butter.  All up in your face hole.  Yummmmm.

Enjoy!

Freezer Friday: Chicken Parmesan Wraps

As I promised last week after posting my Greek chicken wraps recipe, here is the chicken parmesan wraps recipe!  These are so stinking delicious.  It's always fun to have something turn out exactly as you imagined it would. 

 

Unfortunately I don't have a baked picture.  The one I baked at home to test the deliciousness ended up a little crispy because one of my out-of-town friends called me and we talked for way too long.  These are really delicious and so easy to make ahead and cook just when you need to.  I find the wraps quite filling too.  A link to the printable version is here (opens in a new window).

 

Enjoy!

~elle

 

Chicken Parmesan Wraps

 

Ingredients:

Baby spinach

1 cup pizza sauce or marinara sauce (approx.)

1 pound cooked chicken, shredded

8oz mozzerella cheese, shredded

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Italian seasoning

12-14 egg roll wrappers

 

Preparation:

In a bowl, mix the pizza or marinara sauce with the chicken, adding more or less depending on your tastes. Place an egg roll wrapper on a flat surface. Place 2-4 spinach leaves in the center of the wrapper. Put a couple spoonfuls of chicken on top of the spinach. Next, add mozzerella and parmesan cheese to your tastes (I used a lot of cheese!) and sprinkle the Italian seasoning over the top. Fold one corner to meet the other and seal the edge with a bit of water, pressing all along the open sides to keep everything inside. Repeat until you are out of stuff. At this point, you may flash freeze the wraps for later or cook immediately. Prior to baking, brush the top of each wrap with olive oil to get a nice golden top. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 375° and enjoy!

Freezer Friday: Greek Chicken Wraps

I said wraps and you immediately thought, "how in the world is she making a wrap freezer friendly?"  I'm a trickster!  I found the glory that are egg roll wrappers!  These may be my new stuffed shells.  I will be putting everything I can think of in egg roll wrappers.  First, I stuffed the egg roll wrappers with the makings of chicken parmesan.  Delicious.  I should post that.--next week.  Then, I had some leftover chicken in the fridge and a hankering for olives and feta.  I grabbed my leftover egg roll wrappers and Greek chicken wraps was born.  I love feta and I didn't want to go overboard, but I did not put enough feta in my wraps!  Horror of horrors.  Let me show you my new recipe!

Of course I forgot to take an ingredients picture!  Here's what you need:  1/2 pound cooked & shredded chicken, greek seasoning blend, spinach, 4oz container feta, greek olives, red onion, and 10-12 egg roll wrappers.

 

I'm a total DIYer, so I made a greek seasoning blend using this recipe minus the parsley because, as it turns out, I only ever use fresh parsley.  Who knew?

 

Here it is pre-mixing!  I had some leftovers after I made all my wraps. 

Take an egg roll wrapper and lay it on a plate.  Put 2-4 spinach leaves in the center.

Top with more stuff.  I used onions next because they lay neatly in the spinach leaves.

Then add 1/4 teaspoon of the seasoning mix

Then add shredded chicken, 2-3 Greek olives (don't forget to remove the pitts!), and some feta.

 

You can roll them traditional egg roll style by folding up one corner over the goods.  (bad picture)

Then folding the side corners in

And finally flipping the top edge over to seal everything in.  Keep the egg rolls face down until you are ready to cook them.

 

As you can see, I made some using the egg roll style and some as more of a popper/turnover style.  With the triangle ones, fold one corner to the other and seal with water, pinching the edges all around.

 

εδώ είναι  Here it is!

 

A printable version of this recipe is here (recipe opens in a new window).  Enjoy!

 

~elle

 

Greek Chicken Wraps

 

Ingredients:

 

10-12 egg roll wrappers

1/2 pound chicken, cooked and shredded

4oz container feta cheese

Greek seasoning blend

20-30 Greek olives, pitted and sliced (more or less as desired)

Spinach leaves

1/4 cup of finely chopped red onion (approx 1/3 of the onion)

 

Preparation:

 

Place an egg roll wrapper on a flat surface. Arrange 2-4 spinach leaves in the center on the diagonal. Put a spoonful of red onions on top of the spinach leaves. Sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon of the Greek seasoning blend over the onion and spinach. Next, place some chicken, 2-3 sliced olives, and a sprinkling of feta over top. Roll your wrap egg roll style by pulling the bottom corner up and over the contents (the top 1/3 is still free), folding each side corner towards the center, and finally pulling the top corner down towards the center of the wrapper, overlapping the edges. Put the wrap folded side down on a flat surface until you are ready to bake. Coat the tops with olive oil and bake at 375° for 10-12 minutes. Alternatively, you may flash freeze the prepared wraps by laying them on a wax-paper lined baking sheet and freezing for at least an hour before putting them in a freezer safe storage bag for later. No thawing is neccessary, but you may need to increase the cook time a minute or two.

Recipe: Blueberry Lemon Scones

My coworker gave me a quart of blueberries and I immediately wanted to make scones.  I figured blueberries and lemons would be the perfect combination.  A good scone should hold up well on it's own, that is, you shouldn't need butter or jam or a sweet glaze in order to make it taste good.  I decided to make a glaze for mine anyway.  Even though it isn't neccessary, I liked that extra sweet/tart combination on top and I left several scones unglazed as well. 

Cast of Characters:  Flour, sugar, baking powder, lemons, blueberries, powdered sugar, heavy cream, salt, unsalted butter

Mix 2 cups flour, 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt together.

Cut the butter into the flour mix  using a pastry cutter

The mixture will be coarse and you'll have pea-shaped crumbles when it's thoroughly mixed.

Wash and inspect your blueberries before you put them in the flour mix.  Mine had some organic materials still attached!  You need about 1 cup of blueberries, more or less depending on your taste.

Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the blueberries into the flour mix being extremely careful not to break the berries.  Blue scones might not be so appealing to everyone!

 

Squeeze in the juice of 1/2 a lemon

And add the zest of 1/2 a lemon

Make a well in the center of the flour mix and add 1 cup heavy cream.  Gently fold to incorporate all the ingredients.  It will still be kinda crumbly.

Dump the contents out on a lightly floured pastry board and press out into a circle about 1/2"-3/4" thick, depending on your size preference.  Mine was 1/2" thick.

Using a pizza cutter, slice the scones into wedges.

Onto the baking sheets...

Brush the tops with more heavy cream before tossing the sheets into the oven for 15-20 minutes at 400°

While those are baking, mix 3/4 cup powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons heavy cream, the juice of 1/2 lemon, and the zest of a whole lemon in a smaller bowl.  This is your glaze and it is glorious!

They come out of the oven nice and golden like this.  Allow them to cool slightly before drizzling the glaze over the top.

Yumm-o! 

Enjoy!

A printable version of this recipe is here (opens in a new window).  I hope you enjoy the recipe.

~elle

Blueberry Lemon Scones

Ingredients:

 

Scones:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 T granulated sugar

1/2 t salt

1 T baking powder

6 T unsalted butter

1 cup blueberries

zest of 1/2 lemon

juice of 1/2 lemon (approx 1 T)

1 cup heavy cream + a bit more to brush the tops

 

Lemon Glaze (Optional):

3/4 cup powdered sugar

juice of 1/2 lemon (approx 1 T)

zest of 1 lemon

2 T heavy cream

 

Preparation:

 

Sift flour, granulated sugar, salt, and baking powder together in a bowl. Cut the butter into the flour mixture using a pastry cutter or two forks until crumbly. Gently fold in the berries being careful not to smash them. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the lemon zest, lemon juice, and heavy cream. Gently fold to incorporated the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients. The dough will be crumbly. Dump the contents onto a lightly floured pastry board and press into a circle about 1/2"-3/4" thick. With a pizza roller, cut the dough into triangles and place on a baking sheet. Brush the tops of the scones with heavy cream before baking. Bake at 400° for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

 

While those are baking, prepare the optional lemon glaze. Whisk powdered sugar and second amounts of lemon juice, lemon zest, and heavy cream in a bowl. Allow the scones to cool a bit before drizzling the glaze over the top.

 

Makes 8-12 depending on thickness.