White Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut Blondies

Better late than never.


Sorry for the delay in getting this post up. Like most of you I have been busy this summer. I just got back in town from West Virginia and had a wonderful time with my boyfriend's family. You should all be happy to hear that I got the best chocolate peanut butter dessert recipe from my boyfriend's mom and plan to make it as soon as I have company. For the time being this will have to hold you over. I saw this recipe quite some time ago on The Crepes of Wrath. You should go visit her site right now because it is fantastic and I love everything she posts. I had been wanting to make this for a while, but I kept forgetting to get white chocolate chips. I finally got around to getting the white chocolate chips and when I went to make these I did not have enough macadamia nuts. I did not want to wait any longer so I just substituted half of the macadamia nuts with walnuts and they turned out great. I definitely recommend you trying them and in case you are also out of macadamia nuts, walnuts work great!

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Blondies
from The Crepes of Wrath

1/2 pound (1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 cups white chocolate chips
1 cup macadamia nuts, toasted and roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Chop your macadamia nuts and place them on a baking sheet. Toast in a 350 degree F oven for 5-10 minutes, until golden and fragrant. Allow to cool before using. Cream the butter and brown sugar on medium speed until a smooth batter is formed (this should take 3-5 minutes). While the machine is running, add the eggs, the vanilla extract, and almond extract, until incorporated into the batter. Combine the flour, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl. Slowly add the flour mixture to the batter and mix on low speed just until a dough is formed. Either by hand or with a big spoon or spatula, fold the nuts and chips into the dough. Once the dough is all blended, line and/or grease a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with Pam. Spread the batter into the pan with a greased spatula or just use your hands to press the dough in and place in the preheated oven. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until set and lightly golden. Allow to cool completely in the pan before cutting. Store in an air-tight container.

Raspberry Walnut "Better for You" Muffins

Sorry for the delay....



...I have been out of town. This past weekend my brother graduated from college, so my boyfriend and I flew down to Atlanta to be with my family. I could not be more proud of my brother. We are very close in age which was a curse when I was young and a blessing now that I am older. My brother and I did not get along in the slightest when we were young. He was always teasing me, calling me names, and generally being mean. Then one day I moved to DC and when I went back to visit we were friends. I guess absence really did make the heart grow fonder. My brother truly is an amazing person and an even better brother. Anyway, this is why my post is delayed and why I have not been visiting with your blogs. Don't worry, I am back to updating Baked Perfection and I will be visiting your blogs shortly.

So on to these muffins. I bought a ton of raspberries and knew I wanted to make muffins. My friends and I decided we wanted to eat healthier, so I did all that I could to make this a "healthy muffin" and I think I did a pretty good job. I think each muffin has around 175 calories, but don't hold me to that count because I calculated it quite a while ago. These muffins did not taste one bit "healthy". They were moist, light, fruity, sweet, and had a nutty crunch. Everybody loved them and they were gone in no time.


Raspberry Walnut "Better for You" Muffins
recipe from Baked Perfection

Cooking Spray or Paper Liners
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup uncooked old fashioned oats
dash of cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp table salt
1 cup fat-free vanilla Greek yogurt
1/4 cup fat-free skim milk
1 egg
1 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 cup fresh raspberries
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 tbsp sugar

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Coat a 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray or fill pan with paper liners.

Combine flours, oats, 1/4 cup of sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and chopped walnuts in a large bowl. Mix well, make a well in the center and set aside.

Whisk yogurt, milk, egg, butter, vanilla and almond extract together in a small bowl. Fold mixture into dry ingredients until blended; fold in raspberries. Spoon batter into prepared pan, filling each cup about 2/3 full.

Bake for 20 minutes; sprinkle tops of muffins with remaining tablespoon of sugar. Bake until a wooden toothpick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean, about 5 minutes more. Allow to cool in pan for at least 10 minutes; remove from pan and cool completely.

Chocolate Mint Chip Cookies (a.k.a Polka Dot Cookies)

Just like an Andes Mint.


A few weeks ago I discovered the wonders of a great store, World Market. I am sure I am the last one to realize how great it is, but either way I am glad I did. I went there because I heard they sold spices at great prices which was definitely true. My cabinet is now stocked with all kinds of dried herbs and spices and it cost me a fraction of the super market prices. I was wandering around the food section at the store and came across some Guittard Green Mint Chips. They also had Cappuccino Chips, but since I am not a coffee person those did not appeal to me. I had heard great things about Guittard so I thought I would get the mint chips and would figure out something to make with them. Well I did not have to go far to find a recipe. It was last Sunday night and I had just finished making a pot of Gumbo. The mint chips were sitting in a basket I keep on top of my fridge filled with random baking items. I just kept looking at them and decide at 9pm on Sunday night I was going to make something. I grabbed the package and right on the back was a recipe entitled "Polka Dot Cookies". I am calling them Chocolate Mint Chip Cookies purely because it annoys me when you see the name of a dessert and it does not hint to what it is. Anyway, I followed the recipe exactly and they came out perfectly! They almost had the texture of a brownie in a cookie form and the mint chips were smooth and creamy. After we tasted the finished product we thought this cookie base would be amazing with any time of chip. So if you want double chocolate toss in some chocolate chips. I wold love to try some peanut buter chips myself! I definitely want to try more Guittard products in the future.

Chocolate Mint Chip Cookies (a.k.a Polka Dot Cookies)
recipe from Guittard

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
3 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups Guittard Green Mint Chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In top of double boiler over low heat, melt the semi-sweet chips and butter, stirring constantly until smooth. Set aside to cool. In small bowl combine flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. In large bowl, beat eggs, sugar, and vanilla until light. Blend in melted chocolate then dry ingredients. Stir in green mint chips and chill for 10-15 minutes or until stiff. Drop by well-rounded teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheets. Bake 8-10 minutes; cookies will be soft inthe centers but will firm up as they cool. Yeilds approximately 4 dozen cookies.