Failure Friday

These just came out of the oven.
I failed at snickerdoodle blondies.
If you want to see how bad I failed, check out Brown Eyed Baker's post
That is how they are supposed to look.
I even followed the recipe perfectly.




This is all after something I was promised didn't turn out the way it was presented. To take my worries away I decided to bake something for a mini trip I am taking this weekend.
I bought flour, sugar, baking soda. Turns out I needed brown sugar so I had to go back to the store. Then I used all the butter so now we're out. Also I ran out of vanilla extract.
I also go egg shell in my batter. And burned my hand on the stove top. And burned the entire bottom of my blondies.
I am officially over today.
And i don't even have anything sweet to snack on.
Failure Friday, you win.


:(

Chocolaty Goodness

I'm going to come right out with it... I have misplaced the recipe for these.

So instead I'm going to tell you how awesome these brownies are. And how they are gluten-free.

These brownies are fudge-y. Oh so fudge-y. So fudge-y in fact that I kept shoving them in my face.





Once I find the recipe and give it to you I advise against shoving them in your face. You should not shove them in your face as yummy as they are only because the main ingredient in them is a can of black beans. A WHOLE CAN of fiber-y deliciousness. And if you've ever eaten beans you know how your body reacts to them. So either eat your container of Activia or eat a few of these.

Edit: Found it!! Thanks Madeline



Black Bean Brownies
from Intentionally Katie

1 (15.5 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
3 eggs 3 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 pinch salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon instant coffee (optional) (I didn't add any but they tasted like I did)
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional) (I totally did)


Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease an 8x8 square baking dish.

• Combine the all ingredients (except chocolate chips) in a blender; blend until smooth; pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top of the mixture.

• Bake in the preheated oven until the top is dry and the edges start to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 30 minutes. Yields 16 brownies.

Now that I've more than likely completely turned you off from trying gluten-free black bean brownies all I ask is give them a try. A few family members ate them and had no idea they were flourless and full of beans.

They are just that good.


:)

OH! I Almost Forgot!

HAAAAAAAPPY STACHETASTIC STACHE-QUERADE NEW YEAR!!

From Me

From Me and BF




And From Our Dessert




:)

I Wanted, I Needed, I Had to Have It…

For the past oh… several months or so all I’ve wanted was a s’more.

I have yearned and craved and pined.

So I fiiiiiiinally broke down and bought grahams, and marshmallows (because for some reason I had a bar of chocolate in my freezer already).

I carefully assembled my s’more on a plate before I gently placed it in the toaster oven.

Halfway to perfection.

I waited. And waited. I waited about 30 seconds and then…This is what I got.

I had to take it out of the toaster before the top completely charred.

I had to manually toast the marshmallow by sticking it on a fork and cranking up the heat.

Only half of my chocolate got melty.

I tried…

:)

Four Dead Bananas

I love twitter. I have awesome tweeps. They actually pay attention to my 140 character ramblings. But when I throw out a question they are there to answer.

A few days ago I tweeted that I had dead bananas and didn’t have anything to do with them. I usually make banana bread but I craved something new. When one of my loooovely tweeps mentions Dorie Greenspan’s super awesome banana cake I immediately grabbed “Dorie” ( I call Baking From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan “Dorie”) and checked it out.

And thus began my big bananaventure.

Classic Banana Bundt Cake

3 c AP Flour

2 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Salt

2 Sticks Unsalted Butter, At Room Temp

2 c Sugar

2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

2 Large Eggs, At Room Temp

~4 Very Ripe Bananas, Mashed

1 c Sour Cream or Plain Yogurt (I used sour cream)

Preheat oven to 350F

1. Butter a 9 to 10 inch Bundt pan

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

3. Beat butter until creamy.

4. Beat in vanilla, then add eggs one at a time.

5. Mix in bananas

6. Mix in half of the dry ingredients, all the sour cream, then the rest of the flour mixture.

7. Scrape batter into Bundt pan.

Bake for 65-75 minutes or until knife inserted into cake comes out clean.

Lemony White Icing

3/4 c Confectioners Sugar

2+ tsp Lemon Juice

Mix lemon juice into sugar, adding more juice until icing is thin enough to drizzle down the Bundt cake.

Bananas and lemons, you say?!

Uhh… YEAH!! Tart and tangy and sweet and moist and I can go on and on about this delightful combo but…

Let me eat cake!

:)

Cookie Fail?

I have been on somewhat of a kind of vacation of sorts.

I’m at my parents house. I’m on a break from summer break. I can only take so much of my college town.

I haven’t been cooking or baking or doing much of anything this week. Just taking it eeeeeasy. I did make chocolate chip cookie dough. I usually do about once a month. I think having chocolate chip cookies or at least dough around is a requirement for life.

While visiting my parents I have been eating my weight in cherries. My stomach hates me for it too. And it lets me know periodically during the day.

But. I figured having cherries around could be interesting. I cant very well let them go to waste. Duh. So I soaked some chopped up cherries in a little vanilla. Then I added them to my cookie dough.

YUMS!

The only drawback to the cookie is theyre ugly. I know this. They know this. Neither of us are going to skirt the issue. They aren’t pretty cookies. Not in any way, shape, or form. They wouldn’t look pretty to even the most abstract of abstracty artists.

I feel sorry for my yummy ugly cookies. Yumgly.

My cookies are yumgly.

:)

My Treat

The past six weeks of my life were without a doubt the most fulfilling weeks I’ve ever experienced. I’m going to miss my high schoolers. They were such an awesome group of kids who went above and beyond everything I asked of them. I am sad and proud and overwhelmed with emotion and and and… Thursday was difficult. I could not look at my kids in the eye and tell them how unbelievably amazing they are without completely losing it. I am even getting teary just thinking about the journey we’ve had and the good-byes we exchanged.

Wednesday was the last full work day we spent together. And instead of working I took them downtown to play in the fountain and enjoy a cool treat. Before we got completely soaked (of course I joined in on the fun) I bought them a tiny package of goodness in the form of an ice cream cupcake. Naturally I took a picture first then took a bite then took a look at my shot. Then took another picture and looked over it. I then proceeded to scarf my ICC like it was a matter of life and death, stopping every other bite to wipe pink frosting off my nose. I looked up from my tasty treat to make sure my group was still in sight to find them each approaching their ICCs methodically. Each and every one of them had their ICC completely intact; whereas I had cracked open the chocolaty bottom of mine and it was dripping everywhere.

We all enjoyed our last day together. And thus our summer together came to a close with water fountain fights, ice cream cupcakes, and the company of forever friends.

UPDATE!!

Day 26, money spent thus far: $43.94 + $9.99

So I kinda came in under budget for the challenge... I don't count the $9.99 I spent on ICC because it was my gift to the kids and not something I was going to feast on.

AAAAAND....

I'm at the parents' house so I am throwing in the kitchen towel because no longer need to buy food for the rest of the month! I WIN!! Sort of.. I don't really get anything besides the satisfaction of knowing I didn't spend much on food on account of my eating really cheap crappy food.

:)