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 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!

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!

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! There’s Leftovers!

We aren’t usually fans of leftovers. We easily pass on the plastic containers of last night’s dinner. We even refrain from eating our treats after each’s Saturday bake-a-thon. But when there’s leftover Valentine’s M&Ms we get on board! Today we’ll be using them in our Leftover Valentine M&M Cookie Pizza perfectly trimmed with our homemade buttercream frosting. Now we truly can’t wait for leftovers!

Directions:

Make our favorite Cookie Dough Recipe. Place in a greased pizza pan. Bake at 350 degrees until it just slightly underbaked. Once cooled pipe the outer edge with our favorite Buttercream Frosting Recipe. Leftover win!

Valentining Sweetly

Happy Valentine’s Day! Sure it’s a day of loving on your sweethearts, but also a fantastic excuse to eat large amounts of chocolate! We’re geared for both! We’ll be showering our lovies with our new obsession- Sweetly Brownies the sweet sister of slutty brownies. They contain all our favorites – dark chocolate cookie dough with Valentine M&Ms, dark chocolate brownie batter, and we’re adding a new fave Lady Gaga Oreos to the middle. Have you seen them? Pink with green filling!!! We die! All of these goodies layered into a wonderfully delicious brownie bar guaranteed to show your sweeties know how much you love them! Enjoy the sweet things!

Directions

Make Sister Sweetly’s Valentine Oatmeal Cookie dough and press into the bottoms of a greased 9×13 baking dish.

Line the cookie dough with Lady Gaga M&Ms.

Make a box of dark chocolate brownie batter according to the directions on the back of the box. Pour on top of the Oreos.

Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 min or until the middle is just slightly underbaked.

Sweeten your sweeties!

Hello My Sweet Dollies

You may have wondered how we got started baking together. Well, we were encouraged and inspired by the original “Cookie Lady” herself. You see, our grandma’s last name was meant to be. Grandma BAKER loved baking cookies, but even more she loved to share them with others. Lucky for us she passed on this love to her twin “dollies”. This Saturday we will be reminiscing and remembering her fondly as we bake up Candy Bar Hello Dolly Bars. Grandma your dollies are extra proud to carry on your traditional! We miss you!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter melted
• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs about 10-12 whole crackers
• 2 cups candy bars broken into bite size pieces
• 1 6-oz pkg. butterscotch chips
• 1 cup flaked coconut
• 1 15-oz can sweetened condensed milk

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9×13-inch pan with foil or parchment paper.
2. Pour melted butter evenly over bottom of a 9×13-inch baking pan.
3. Sprinkle graham cracker crumbs evenly over butter.
4. Sprinkle candy bar pieces and butterscotch chips over crumbs.
5. Sprinkle coconut over chips.
6. Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over all.
7. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 25 to 30 minutes, until edges are golden brown.
8. Cool completely and cut into bars.

A Simple Sweet Treat

We’ve made this recipe many many many times. Each time we bake Candy Bar Brownies, we are reminded how yummy yet simple they are to make. Grab a couple boxes of your favorite brownie mix. Add the ingredients on the back of the box and place bits of broken candy bars of your choice in the middle and on top. Bake and enjoy. So simple. So sweet!

Sweet Making

Saturdays are for bakers and makers! Somethings just go better together! While our ooey-gooey Flourless Brownie Cookies baked in the oven we were busy crafting up some more holiday goodies to make our homes extra festive. And isn’t it fitting that National Cookie Day was yesterday and today we bake them! Baking and making our way through another Saturday makes us super joyful!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup white sugar 
• 1/2 cup brown sugar 
• 6 T butter 
• 2 large egg whites
• 1 teaspoon vanilla 
• 1 cup dark cocoa powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt 
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup toffee bits

• Combine the sugars and butter in a microwavable bowl (or in a pot on the stove). Heat until bubbly, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and beat well with a hand mixer. 
• Add in the egg whites and vanilla and beat with a mixer for two minutes (this, along with melting the butter and sugar, helps create a crackly crust on top of the cookies). 
• Stir together the cocoa and salt and add them to the batter. Beat for another 30 seconds.
• Fold in the chips and toffee. The batter maybe be thin. Allow the batter to rest while you preheat the oven to 350°F and lightly grease a cookie sheet. The batter should thicken as it rests. 
• When the batter is scoopable (but still very sticky), scoop by about 3 tablespoons full onto pan.
• Bake cookies for about 12-15 minutes. When they come out of the oven, you can press a few more chocolate chips into the tops of the cookies.

recipe adapted from Yammie’s Noshery