Strawberry Blondies

Friends,
I write to you in a slightly disappointed frame of mind today. Sadly, this is one of the posts where things did not going according to plan, and I feel like renaming the blog "On Soggy Mountain" or "On Mushy Mountain" as I bow my head in shame.

Sigh. I was so in love with the Twix Brownies earlier this week, I thought I'd attempt a blondie as a nice point of comparison between bar cookies. I also just wanted to eat an entire batch of these Strawberry Blondies from Love&Olive Oil (which I will now not be able to do. Grr.). It started out great; white chocolate, butter, eggs, strawberries, flour, pretty simple, or so I thought. Into the oven it went. Golden brown on the exterior, the knife came out clean, and out of the oven they came....

only to my sad realization that the underneath the enticing exterior lay a mushy, soggy, disappointing interior. Maybe it's a sign that I should ease up on the sweets (hah, right) but soggy or not, I could always use the extra photography practice.

I managed to grab a few decent shots, and I love this one with the new baby cupcake stand. Can you believe it was only $3? Now that's my kind of pricing for food props. It's still taking me awhile to learn all my angles, and I've started this new pinboard on Pinterest with food photography I aspire to/take inspiration from when I am attempting to photgraphy my not so splendid brownies.

I'll include the recipe here with the suggestion that lowering the oven temp to 325 (as opposed to 350) and increasing the cooking time may help you avoid a mushy mess of blondies. I'm off to find a recipe that will soothe (and feed) my fractured ego.

But as always, Happy Baking!

Strawberry Blondies Slightly Adapted Via Love&OliveOil

5 oz white chocolate, chopped
1/3 butter, cut into chunks
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1 cup strawberries, sliced

1. Preheat oven to 325 and line one 8x8 pan with aluminum foil and spray foil with cooking spray.
2. In microwave safe bowl, heat butter and white chocolate in 15 second increments, stirring chocolate and butter in between microwaving until melted. Stir in sugar.
3. Whisk in eggs and vanilla. Stir in flour, salt, and baking powder until just combined, then fold in strawberries.
4. Pour into prepared pan and bake at 325 for 40-45 minutes, or until set and toothpick comes clean out of the center.
5. Let cool completely before slicing into bars to serve.

Twix Brownies

Hello friends!

So now that I am back in Florida and pretty much have the whole kitchen to myself, I was almost at a loss as to what to bake for you all for this week's post. Thankfully, Jamie over at MyBakingAddiction came to my rescue in the form of these Twix Brownies. After seeing this recipe (and inadvertently drooling over my laptop) I checked on my Recipe Index to see how many brownies I had listed there. It's quite a sad showing. Yes the Cookie Dough Topped Brownies were a huge hit, but I haven't been giving brownies their due here On Sugar Mountain and I mean to change that. Why the sudden change of heart you may ask?

Well to be truthful I've never been a huge brownie fan. Not that I dislike them, but my longstanding love affair with muffins and just plain old craving for cookies has kept me from realizing the truth...

Brownies are fabulous.

Brownies with candy bar pieces inside of them are out-of-this-world. Really the only reason I did not just at every single one of these brownies is that they need more Twix: a whole layer of side-to-side Twix pieces is in order next time I bake these brownies.

I'll also let you in on a little secret: I have been slacking. Yes, shocking I know, but many a time have I gazed at a brownie recipe, seen that it needed un-sweetened chocolate, and (cringe) used chocolate chips in their place.

What was I thinking? That it was a money-saving, easy substitution, but friends, the unsweetened chocolate is key to establishing a deep, rich chocolate flavor in brownies. I apologize to all brownie lovers; I knew not what I did and I am sorry.

Needless to say you must make these brownies; even if you aren't partial to Twix (though I do not know how such a thought is possible) you can easily substitute Reese's Pieces, Snickers, or any candy that suits your fancy.

Oh, and before I go, did you happen to notice my adorable little milk bottle? Here's another secret for you that I'm sure you'll love: don't spend the money ordering glass milk bottles online. The Starbucks mini Frappuccino bottles, when the plastic wrapper is ripped off, look just like them and you get an excuse to indulge in a deliciously sweet coffee drink!

Happy Baking!


Twix Brownies Via MyBakingAddiction

3/4 cup butter, cut into 1 tbsp cubes
4 oz chopped unsweetened chocolate
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
3 eggs
1 cup flour

16 fun-size Twix Bars, chopped into bite size chunks

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line one 8x8 pan with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray.
2. Put butter and chocolate in microwave safe bowl and microwave on 20 second increments until butter completly melts. Then stir until chocolate melts.
3. Whisk in sugar, vanilla, salt, and then eggs until fully incorporated.
4. Slowly stir in flour, mixing until just combined.
5. Pour half of batter into prepared pan, then sprinkle Twix all over the brownies. Cover with remaining brownie batter and then bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool before cutting into bars.

Blueberry Pie Bars

Hello friends!

Who knew that while gallavanting through Portland I would actually get a chance to bake up something myself?

Well, I did. My boyfriend, Josh, had come to me a few days before vacation to tell me that his grandmother (a master baker if I ever knew one) wanted to know if I'd like to bake something for the family while I was up there.

I, of course, said yes, not realizing just how much his family loves food. By the time it came down to it, I was convinced they were as in love food as I was (a scary thought), and baking for a whole group of foodies was now slightly intimidating. Especially after experiencing Standard Baking Company, Two Fat Cats Bakery, and of course, Josh's grandma's out-of-this-world carrot cake. Oh, and his grandpa's sticky buns. All from scratch.

But, I had my plan. I knew blueberries were a big deal up in Maine, so I had bookmarked this recipe from Kirbie's Cravings for Blueberry Pie Bars. They seemed simple enough but still able to pack a punch, and I really was (as always) in it to win it.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention: do you see these eggs?

Now you know me; as a college student I can't afford to jump on the organic bandwagon. But when I didn't have enough eggs and mentioned this to Josh's grandmother, she said simply "oh we will see if Karen's chickens laid any today."

Yes, my friends, these eggs came from a chicken that morning. They do not joke around up here about fresh ingredients. Josh's aunt Karen owns a few, and now I had the honor of utilizing the freshest eggs I could ever possibly hope to obtain in my blueberry pie bars. I love this place.

So, into the oven it goes, and thank you Kirbie's Cravings, because the scent of this quickly filled the house and even reached the adjacent porch. Soon I had questions of "how long until it'd be done?" "Do we have ice cream to go with it?"

We served them up with a small scoop of vanilla, and I have to say I, with everyone else at the table, cleaned my plate when it came to these. A golden, crispy top with an almost custard-like texture in the center, bursting with fresh blueberry flavor - these are a crowd-pleaser if I ever knew one. They went almost too quickly in my opinion, and so I think it may be necessary to double the recipe next time I make it.

So ends my wonderful vacation in Maine. Parting was of course, such sweet sorrow, but I can only hope that I will return to the food-loving city again soon so that I may explore even more of it's deep culinary treasures.

Blueberry Pie Bars Slightly Adapted Via Kirbie's Cravings

for the crust/topping:

1 1/2 cups flour

3/4 cup sugar

1/8 tsp salt

3/4 cup cold butter

for the filling:

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup sour cream

3/8 cup flour

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

16 oz fresh blueberries

**Preheat oven to 350 and grease one 9x9 in pan with butter/cooking spray**

1. Make the crust/topping. Sift together flour, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Cut cold butter into the flour mixture. Use pastry cutter or two knives to begin mixing butter into flour mixture, then use clean hands to continue until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Save 1 1/2 cups of the mixture for the topping and use the rest to press into a well-greased 9x9 square pan.

2. Make the filling. Whisk together sugar and eggs in medium bowl until well combined. Whisk in sour cream and vanilla extract. Fold in flour until just combined then gently fold in blueberries. Pour filling on top of crust and bake at 350 for 45-55 minutes, until it just begins to brown around the edges.

3. Serve up like a cobbler while still warm OR let cool completely to cut into bars.

Falling in Love with Portland Part Two

Hello all!

I knew you'd be back - who isn't intrigued by Mashed Potato Pizza? Or maybe you truly were curious about how food-obsessed the city of Portland is...either way I'm glad you're back because I have lots to share today!

First on the list today is Miccuci's Grocery, specializing in high quality cheese, wines, and breads. An adorably nostalgic brick building, you are greeted with the scent of freshly baking bread coming from deep within the store, and aisles upon aisles of high quality ingredients, such as white truffle oil.

Yes, white truffle oil. Now maybe it's the college student mindset, but I almost bought this just to say I have white truffle oil in my pantry. Then of course I floated back down to reality and realized I knew not how to use this oil nor how I would justify paying for it when I had so many other places to see on my foodie adventures through Portland. One day, truffle oil, you will be mine AND I will know how to employ you in my kitchen.

As I traveled deeper into the grocery, past rows of wines I've never even heard of and the offering of gourmet Provolone cheese from my boyfriend, I found the source of the scent that emanates through the entire store: fresh bread. Behind this photo of Ciabatta lies a group of busy bakers, diligently working near hot-as-blazes ovens to churn out artisan loaves for happy customers.

Now I take a moment to pause in my adventures to remind everyone that, if you are like me and not around high-quality, fresh ingredients or artisan, gourmet foods all the time, the wonderful internet is here for you! Whether its high-quality Saigon cinnamon from the Gourmet section of Amazon or fair-trade Gourmet Chocolate from FineFoodSpecialists, becoming a gourmand is only a click away! Or, you know, just base your next move on how awesome the food is in the area. It's a key factor that is largely overlooked in my opinion; if HGTV would work that into House Hunters, maybe Josh would actually watch it with me without rolling his eyes.

Now, back to Portland.

My friends, this is the Willy Wonka of Popcorn Shoppes. We almost walked right by it on our way to mashed potato pizza (who doesn't love the sound of that?!) but I became intrigued by the flavor possibilites listed on the sign.

Who knew popcorn had such depth? They allow you to sample any flavor you want, but I was a bit wary of the more out-there flavors. I opted to try the olive oil/sea salt while my boyfriend plunged right in for the Key Lime Pie. Naturally we shared and I must say, it tasted eerily similar to Key Lime Pie. Almost too close in my opinion, but when asked how they do it, the young teenager working behind the register gave me the most vague reply ever. I bet it's magic. After sampling their wares that seems the only logical explanation to me.

NOW my friends we have come to the epic climax of my foodie adventure: Otto's Pizza. Thank you for being so patient; unless you just scrolled down immediately thinking "get to the mashed potato pizza already!" In which case, you are most likely not even reading this little paragraph anyway since you are mesmerized by...

MASHED POTATO, BACON, SCALLION PIZZA

Why did I scoff at my boyfriend for ordering an entire pie, thinking we could never finish it? How did I even manage to secure these two photos before the pizza vanished into thin air, or more specifically, our stomachs? WHY have I never been given the honor of eating this pizza before?

Friends, some questions are just not worth asking. Needless to say, we did finish this pizza, and even ordered single slices from their astounding list of gourmet pizzas before we slowly made our way to the ferry back home. I went to bed with the words "mashed potato pizza" on my lips and a smile on my face; my love affair with the city of Portland complete.

But you can't think I didn't bring my own baking skills to the table while up in Maine do you? Of course not. This little baker from Jersey has to represent too.

Check back this Friday to see what I baked and get the recipe for yourself!

~Jess

Portland, Maine - A Foodie Town After My Own Heart

Hello friends!

I've been so terrible with posting, but I just woke up from the most pleasant food coma ever. How was I induced into such a coma you may ask? It all started with a pleasant vacation to...

Maine!

Portland, Maine, and the surrounding small islands to be more specific. This little city stole my heart this past Memorial Day weekend when I journeyed there with my boyfriend, Josh, and his family. First we spent a day relaxing on Great Diamond Island then it was a fun-filled grub (and pub) crawl through Portland, but not before we enjoyed some fresh, from-scratch sticky buns, prepared with love by Josh's grandparents.

I will have to split this into two posts because I just couldn't help myself when taking photos. So today we will focus on, what else, the two out-of-this-world bakeries of Standard Baking Company and Two Fat Cats Bakery. Now I had already read about Standard in an article on Twitter about "Top Bakeries in the US", so I knew I was in for a real treat. In both taste and character it does not disappoint. With some of the friendliest staff to the most mind-blowing baguettes, I was swooning as soon as I stepped through the door.

From classics like baguettes, focaccia, and croissants, to delectable sweets like vanilla bean madeleines and morning buns with pecans - I just couldn't decide what to buy. I could have just bought one of everything, but I had many more food shops and restaurants to explore, and with my college student budget, choices had to be made. I went with a demi baguette and the vanilla bean madeleine, and I can see how the baguette was voted into that article in the first place. Hard, crusty exterior with a light-as-air interior that melts in the mouth. I am sadly wishing I had one right now as a matter of fact.

Where to next? Well, until recently, the sister bakery of Standard was Two Fat Cats. I heard that it was recently sold to another owner, but it was (according to any and everyone I encountered in my days there) a must-go-to in Portland. So off we trekked to see what Two Fat Cats had to offer...

Do you see those pies? It took all of my self control not to buy one (again - so many places to see, so many foods to eat!) but their scent left me feeling warm and cozy and wanting to curl up with a thick slice and a dollop of ice cream. But I had to buy something that could be eaten (without shame) all by myself, so I settled, as if settling were truly the right word, on this red velvet cupcake.

Note: I am not a delicate eater. I apologize if the way I dove into this cupcake upsets you, but this is how we eat cupcakes on sugar mountain; and I dare you to go into Two Fat Cats Bakery one day and see if you can leave without inhaling something in seconds. Moist and with the perfect amount of cream-cheese frosting - this cupcake lasted even less time than it appears in the photos. Ah, little cupcake, you never stood a chance.

I barely stepped into Portland before I became overwhelmed with just how much they love food there. Dare I say it, could I have found my dream city to retire to, where I can eat and enjoy food to its fullest potential without surprising and/or shocking my peers? The dedication to good food continues on Wednesday, when I share with you gourmet groceries, crazy popcorn flavors, and...

mashed potato bacon pizza.


Until Wednesday my fellow foodies!

~Jess