Sweet Holden Saturday

Do you ever have one of those glorious days that seems extra shiny and sparkly? For us, that’s every Saturday. Saturdays are just the happiest days. Especially when we get to bake together. This Saturday we’re baking Golden Blondie Bars to celebrate yet another shiny, sparkly, glorious day. Stay Golden!

Ingredients

Brownie layer:
1/2 cup butter flavored Crisco
1 cup dark brown sugar
2 tsp of vanilla
1 egg white
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp of baking soda
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Oreo layer:
1 pack of Golden Oreos

Cookie Dough layer:
1/2 cup butter flavored Crisco
1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg white
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder

InstructionsPre-heat the oven to 180 degrees celcius. 
Line the bottom of a 9×9 baking tin

Start with the Brownie layer:
Put Crisco into a larger mixing bowl. Add the brown sugar and whisk to combine. Add the vanilla and egg white and whisk until it’s completely mixed together.
In another bowl mix together the dry ingredients, flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.

Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients until it’s completely mixed together, try to fold in the ingredients as you don’t want to ruin all the air you’ve whisked into the mixture. Stir in the white chocolate and set aside 

For the Cookie Dough layer:

Cream together the Crisco and sugars in a mixer. Add the egg white and vanilla and mix. Then add the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder and mix on low until everything is completely mixed in together.

Layer the cookie dough on the bottom of a 9×9 baking pan, pressing down in all of the edges.
Layer as many oreos that will fit on top of the cookie dough
Press the blondie brownie batter on top of the oreo layer and make sure it’s even on top
Bake for 30-35 minutes. Test with a knife to see if the center is done. When the knife comes out clean, let the brownies rest until cooled before putting in the fridge for a further 30 minutes.

*recipe inspired by Blonde Vision

A New Take On Our Favorite Sweet Treat

By now you know that if we ever are stranded on a deserted island, we would pick brownies to eat all day everyday for the rest of our lives. Plain brownies, layered brownies, stuffed brownies, loaded brownies. You name it, we’d chose it. And by now we’ve thought we had made all the varieties of brownies there ever were. That is until a new idea popped up in our Pinterest feed. Pound Cake Brownies. What the what? Pound cake and brownies. Both? Amazing! Deserted island, here we come!

INGREDIENTS

Pound Cake Batter

• ½ cup butter flavored Crisco
• ¾ cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 large egg white
• ¾ cup flour
• 2 tablespoons almond milk

Brownie batter made according to the directions on the back of the box

DIRECTIONS

• Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spray or lightly an 8×8 inch square baking pan or a brownie pan and line with parchment paper. 
• To make the pound cake batter: in the bowl of a stand mixer beat the Crisco, sugar, vanilla and sea salt until very light and fluffy, about 5-7 minutes. This is the key part of getting the pound cake texture right so don’t skimp on time !
• Add the egg white and beat for another 3 minutes. Scrape the bowl and beat for another two minutes. 
• Over the bowl, sift in the flour and add the almond milk. Beat the batter until most of the flour has been incorporated. Scrape down the bowl and beat again. Ensure the batter is fully blended. Set aside.
• Make the brownie batter according to the directions on the back of the box
• Pour half of the brownie batter into the prepared cake pan. Dollop pound cake batter onto the brownie batter, as pictured above. Use the back of a spoon to smooth down the pound cake batter. Spoon the remaining brownie batter over the pound cake batter and gently swirl them together with a butterknife or offset spatula. 
• Bake for 30-40 minutes, until the center has puffed and when you shake the pan gently the center doesn’t wobble. Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pan and then remove. Store in an airtight container.

*recipe inspired by Buttermilk By Sam

Sweet Sistering

Seems like a perfect Saturday built for sistering. Yes, sistering. A verb. Meaning to spend time with your sis doing all the things you love doing together. (We may have made that up 😉-don’t check Webster). Our sistering usually includes something sweet to bake and something crafty to make. And that’s just what we will be doing this Saturday. Sistering around Toffee Dusted Frosted Cookie Butter Cookies and table full of arts and crafts. Sistering at its best!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter flavored Crisco
• 1/2 cup creamy cookie butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 large egg white
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup old fashioned oats

For the Filling

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 cup creamy cookie butter
• 2 1/2 tablespoons almond milk

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream together 1/2 cup Crisco , 1/2 cup cookie butter until light and fluffy – about 2 minutes. Gradually add in sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla, mixing until well combined. Add egg white and beat well.
3. In another bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. Stir. Add oatmeal, mixing until well combined.

1. Use a medium cookie scoop and drop dough onto prepared baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes, or until cookies are a light brown. Allow cookies to cool on pan for 5 minutes before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely.
2. To Make Filling: Cream together 3 tablespoons butter 1/2 cup cookie butter. Gradually add in confectioners’ sugar, mixing until creamy and thoroughly combined. Add in almond milk and beat for 1 minute. Spread filling onto the cooled cookies, then dust with Heath toffee bits. Celebrate!

*recipe inspired by My Baking Addiction

Sweet Clean Out

Good thing it’s Saturday because our baking cabinets are full! We’ve been stockpiling ingredients like nobody’s business and it’s time to get organized! What better way to use these goodies than in our Loaded Oatmeal Cookies. Chocked full of all things chocolate, a variety of M&Ms, toffee, and for extra crunch – pretzels! We will get these cabinets cleaned out so we have room for tasty new ingredients to try!

Directions

Make Sister Sweetly’s Favorite Oatmeal Cookie Dough. Stir in dark chocolate chips, a variety of M&M flavors, Heath Bits, and pretzel pieces. Bake according to the recipe directions. Now go stock up again!

Sweet Easter Sweets

Easter, a day of rejoicing, celebrating, and egg hunting. All things worthy of cake. Mini bundt cakes topped with buttercream frosting and Easter chocolates are the cutest little treat to share with all of your peeps. Happy Easter!

A Love So Sweet

Brownies. We love them. We love everything about them. We love them plain. But we especially love them when they come with extras. This Saturday we’re indulging in brownies covered in Oreo pieces and hot fudge. And Heath bits too. We might even top them with a little whip cream. Thank you brownie inventor. You make our Saturdays full of sweet love.

Sweet Birthday Cake Sundaes

When someone extra special has a birthday, you make sure to have an extra special birthday treat. Not only are we making birthday cake, we’re topping it with all the yumminess that of an ice cream sundae. Ice cream, whip cream, sprinkles, frosting, caramel, hot fudge, sprinkled with bits of Heath, Rolos, and M&Ms. Extra special for the win!

Directions

Make a yellow cake according to the recipe on the back of the box.

Later a jar with cake, then frosting, ice cream, whip cream in any order. Top with Rolos, Heath, and M&Ms. Celebrate!

Cookie Monsters’ Sweet Dreams

Get Ready! Cake Batter Monster Cookie Cupcakes!!! Part cake batter. Part monster cookie. Blended together into a buttercream filled cookie cupcake. Perfection! Making our cookie monsters’ sweet dreams come true!!!

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter flavored
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1 large egg white
• 1 tablespoon almond milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup vanilla cake mix, dry
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup M&Ms

FOR THE FROSTING

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup butter flavored Crisco
• 3 3/4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoons (10ml) pure vanilla extract
• 5 tablespoons almond milk
• sugar sprinkles for garnish

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Combine the softened crisco with the brown and granulated sugar. Beat on medium speed until well combined, 2-3 minutes.
2. Next add the egg white, almond milk, and vanilla extract and continue beating until well incorporated.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients: flour, cake mix, oats, salt and baking soda. Stir to combine and slowly add the dry ingredients into the dough, mixing on low speed until dough starts to form.
4. Before the dough thickens, add the chocolate chips and M&Ms. Beat a couple of times until they start to incorporate.
5. Scoop the dough using a large cookie scoop and place in a greased muffin pan.
6. Bake for 9 minutes. The center of the cookie should be slightly under baked but not too gooey. Allow to cool fir 2 min then use a small shot glass and press into the center of the baked cookie. Allow to cool in the muffin pan for 5-10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.
7. For the frosting: Cut the butter into smaller pieces. Using the paddle attachment, whip the butter and Crisco for 5-7 minutes, scraping down the bowl occasionally, beating until the butter is very fluffy.
8. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla extract & almond. Ensure the powdered sugar is well combined, then and whip for 3-4 minutes at high speed.
9. To assemble the cupcakes use a cookie scoop and scoop the frosting into the indentation if the cookie. Place sprinkles on top. Yum!

recipe inspired by Beyond Frosting

Sweeting Together Is Our Favorite

Hooray! It’s our favorite day – Saturday! We’re popping with joy for our new favorite way to dress up a box of our favorite – Brownies! Salted Caramel M&M Popcorn Brownies are the perfect combo of salty and sweet and the M&Ms add a little more crunch and a lot more chocolate (our most favorite)! Favorite day + favorite treat = favorite way to spend time together!

Directions

Brownies – make according to the directions on the back of the box

Caramel Corn –

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup popcorn kernels
• 2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup + 4 T. butter cubed
• 1/2 tsp . salt
• 1 cup M&M’s

Directions

• Using an air popper, pop the ¼ cup of corn kernels.

• In a medium saucepan, add the sugar into a dry pan. Place the pan over medium heat. Every minute or two, give the sugar a swirl by picking the pan up and moving it in a circular motion. Don’t use utensils. You’ll start to see the sugar caramelize. Keep picking up and swirling the pan until all the sugar has melted. It will take about 17 minutes for the sugar to caramelize and melt.
• Once the sugar is melted, turn the heat down to medium/low. Add in the salt and vanilla bean paste. Do not use vanilla extract. It will make the caramel gritty.
• Add in all of the butter and whisk until the butter incorporates into the caramelized sugar and it becomes thick. It will take a good couple of minutes of whisking vigorously to have the salted caramel come together. I used salted butter, but feel free to use unsalted. Remove from the heat.
• Pour the salted caramel into the bowl of popcorn and stir until all the popcorn is coated.
• Add in the m&m’s and stir to combine.
• Spread the popcorn on the prepared brownies and let cool. As the caramel cools, it will harden. Slice and enjoy.

*recipe inspired by Cookie Dough and Oven Mitt

Sweet Signs Of Spring

After last weeks frigid temps, we were pleasantly surprised with some spring-like weather this week. Spring fever is definitely in the air! And it’s certainly spreading into our Saturday sweet treat. Mini Frosted Sugar Cookie Sandwiches are what we will be creating this weekend. Bright colored frosting and sugar sprinkles will give us all feels of sunshine and rainbows. Bye bye winter blues! Hello spring!

Make:

Our favorite sugar cookie recipe

Roll out the dough and use a small glass or round cookie cutter to cut out circles of dough. Bake at 350 degrees for 6-7 min. Allow to cool.

Make:

Our favorite buttercream frosting

Mix with food coloring to create different smilk pring colors. Apply frosting between two cookies. Cover with sugar sprinkles. Then sandwich together and indulge!