More Orange Cream Cake goodness

"Brewed Bohemian" also decided to give the Orange Cream Cake recipe a go. Please check out her post and see how it went.

Orange Cream Cake, updated

Tammy from A Speckle of Dirt was brave enough to try the Orange Cream Cake recipe posted recently.

Looks pretty good, eh? Do yourself a favor and check out the entire post.

Chocolate Chip Bars: Updated

A few weeks ago, the wonderful Joanne Camas found this site and was nice enough to write up a piece for her blog on Epicurious. She helped put out the call for some test chefs, as I've always been curious to see how some of those recipes might turn out. I got over 100 emails, and I'm still sorting through them - this is the first of what I hope are a series of posts.

Our first guest post is by Malorie:

For my first entry on Handwritten Recipes, I couldn’t resist the Chocolate Chip Bars, something warm and comforting on a grey New England day. These did not disappoint and made a wonderful afternoon snack. Enjoy!

Recipe as found in "The Green Mile" by Stephen King. Published by Plume, 1997.:

Chocolate Chip Bars

1/3 c. shortening
1/3 c. butter or margarine
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sug. (packed)
1 egg
1 teas. vanilla
1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 teasp. soda
1/2 teasp. salt
1/2 c. chopped nuts
1 pkg. (6 ounces) semi-sweet choco. piece

Heat oven to 375° Mix short., butter, sugars, egg and vanilla thoroughly. Stir in remaining ingred. Spread in ungreased oblong pan, 13 x 9 x 2 inches. Bake 20-25 minutes. Cool; cut into bars.

My notes: I chose pecans for the nuts in this recipe, but really think that any nut (or omitting them and adding more chocolate for those with allergies or aversions) would work just fine. I also used a slightly smaller oblong pan, because of personal preference for a thicker bar.

Ingredients:

Cream together the butter, shortening and sugars, then add the vanilla and egg.

Add the dry ingredients.

Stir in nuts and chocolate chips.

Dough! It’s delicious at this stage too ;-)

Spread dough into oblong pan. I used a slightly smaller one than stated in the recipe because I like the consistency of a thicker bar cookie.

After 25 minutes at 375 – Voila! Warm and delicious Chocolate Chip Bars. The hard part is waiting for them to cool enough to consume one.

After some impatient waiting, a bar ready to be eaten:

Overall Verdict: Wonderful. Thumbs up all around from my husband, a visiting friend, and myself. These bars taste like thick chocolate chip cookies with a soft interior, an excellent crunch from the nuts and a nice crust on top. I think they’re best while warm, and I am planning on enjoying my next one with a scoop of ice cream on top.

-Click to enlarge photos-

Blueberry Muffins

Blueberry Muffins

2 cups flour sifted before measuring
1/4 cup sugar
4 teaspoons B Powder
1/2 teaspoons salt
1 egg well beaten
1 cup milk
1/4 cup melted butter
1 cup blueberries

Combine sifted dry ingredients. Beat egg. Add milk + melted butter. Add the liquid to dry ingredients mixing only enough to dampen flour. 25-30 minutes.

Found in "New York Gardener`s Guide" by Ralph Snodsmith. Published by Cool Springs Press, 2004.

To put this recipe to the test, I contacted Handwritten Recipe's rogue chef-for-hire. Here's what Sharon came up with:

Mise en place. Excellent start.

Make it rain.


I find this photo rather dry.


Much better.


Rather gooey. I blame the one cup of milk called for in the recipe. Seems like quite a bit, no?


You know, this is brilliant. I have the nonstick muffin tins, and even with paper cups, they take 45 minutes to clean. Foil tins FTW.


Lovely!

Final report from our chef:

"not the best tasting muffins in the world"

We'll get 'em next time.