After a month of abstaining from serious dessert (inordinate amounts of dark chocolate, providing heaps of antioxidants, don’t count), a sugar craving and a magazine blurb had me unearthing baking pans and once again scribbling down butter, chocolate and brown sugar on my grocery list.
The blurb described a treat offered at San Francisco’s Black Jet Baking Co — brown butter blondies made with Maldon sea salt — which I needed to have in my mouth immediately. Sorry, but I did.
While no recipe accompanied the blurb, the ever-so-giving interweb provided more than a handful of brown butter blondie recipes for me to compare and contrast, many of which had similar butter-to-flour-to-sugar ratios.
After creating a crude comparison table, I ultimately just altered the blondie recipe I always make , substituting brown butter for the butter and a teaspoon of Maldon sea salt for the salt. And, perhaps because the sea salt enhances the flavors of all of the elements including the brown sugar, after making a few batches, I reduced the amount of brown sugar by a quarter cup.
To me, these are heaven, a perfect balance of sweet and salty, impossible not to nibble on all day long. The brown butter, which I had yet to experiment with in baking, provides all of the nuttiness and deliciousness promised by its many fans. These are particularly good with a glass of milk, but I can’t pretend I haven’t enjoyed them aside morning coffee and afternoon tea as well.
Description
Adapted from Simply Recipes’ blondie recipe
Notes: As mentioned above, the original recipe, which is delicious, calls for melted butter not browned, much less salt, and 1/4 cup more brown sugar. I double the recipe (reflected below) and bake it in a 9×9-inch pan, and although I have not tried it, a few of you have had success using an 8×8-inch pan with the double recipe, too.
- 1 cup ( 227 g ) unsalted or salted butter (I always use salted)
- 2 cups ( 255 g ) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon ( 2 g ) baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon ( 1.4 g ) baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ( 5 g ) Maldon sea salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 cups ( 300 g ) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon ( 11 g ) vanilla extract
- 2/3 cup white chocolate (11o g)
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9×9-inch pan baking pan with parchment paper. (Alternatively, grease with butter.)
- Brown the butter: Place butter in a saucepan and bring to a bubble over medium heat. Let the butter gently bubble, swirling the pan occasionally, until the mixture smells nutty and starts turning brown. Before the mixture starts turning brown, the bubbles at the surface of the butter will get really small and will be moving rapidly — be careful at this point as the mixture can quickly turn from brown butter to burnt butter. The whole process should take about 10 minutes. Remove pan from heat and let cool slightly before using.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside.
- In a separate bowl, beat the eggs. Whisk in the brown sugar, browned butter, and vanilla extract and mix until smooth.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir together until just combined. Stir in your mix-ins of choice.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 – 35 minutes.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
Adapted from Simply Recipes’ blondie recipe
Notes: As mentioned above, the original recipe, which is delicious, calls for melted butter not browned, much less salt, and 1/4 cup more brown sugar. I double the recipe (reflected below) and bake it in a 9×9-inch pan, and although I have not tried it, a few of you have had success using an 8×8-inch pan with the double recipe, too.
- 1 cup ( 227 g ) unsalted or salted butter (I always use salted)
- 2 cups ( 255 g ) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon ( 2 g ) baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon ( 1.4 g ) baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ( 5 g ) Maldon sea salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 cups ( 300 g ) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon ( 11 g ) vanilla extract
- 2/3 cup white chocolate (11o g)
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9×9-inch pan baking pan with parchment paper. (Alternatively, grease with butter.)
- Brown the butter: Place butter in a saucepan and bring to a bubble over medium heat. Let the butter gently bubble, swirling the pan occasionally, until the mixture smells nutty and starts turning brown. Before the mixture starts turning brown, the bubbles at the surface of the butter will get really small and will be moving rapidly — be careful at this point as the mixture can quickly turn from brown butter to burnt butter. The whole process should take about 10 minutes. Remove pan from heat and let cool slightly before using.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside.
- In a separate bowl, beat the eggs. Whisk in the brown sugar, browned butter, and vanilla extract and mix until smooth.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir together until just combined. Stir in your mix-ins of choice.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 – 35 minutes.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Find it online : https://alexandracooks.com/2013/01/25/brown-butter-blondies-with-sea-salt/
On many Sundays during the summer we find ourselves at 2Amys , tired and famished after a long morning at the zoo, trying to keep our two thrashing children from making too much of a disturbance. An order of arancini — deep-fried risotto balls stuffed with cheese — usually does the trick, settling the children (and us) at first bite.
I LOVE arancini, but they’re a total pain to make, not only calling for leftover risotto, but also requiring a lengthy assembly process — shaping, stuffing, breading and deep frying. Crispy on the outside, oozing with cheese on the inside, these “little oranges” are worth their every effort — once I made them at home — but they are not something to whip up every day, better ordered out a place like 2Amys , best (not that I speak from experience) picked up at a vendor parked along a Palermo sidewalk.
Arancini macaroni and cheese is a different story. Made with a thin bechamel infused with saffron — the classic seasoning of risotto milanese — this macaroni and cheese shares all of the crispy-creamy goodness of arancini but without all the fuss. This dish is my contribution to the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board’s Fourth Annual 30 Days, 30 Ways, a month-long event celebrating macaroni and cheese. Check out their blog for other mac and cheese ideas, this year all based on classic dishes.
Description
No-boil method inspired by this Bon Appetit recipe; arancini ingredients inspired by a Mario Batali recipe, suppli al Telefono, in Molto Italiano
- 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
- 1/4 cup flour
- 3 cups whole milk
- 3 cups water
- 2 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste
- Pinch of saffron* (optional)
- 4 ounces (about 1 cup ) pancetta, diced
- 3/4 pound elbow macaroni
- 1 1/2 cups ( 6 ounces ) Wisconsin Parmesan Cheese, grated
- 1 cup panko bread crumbs
- 1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped
- 1 cup Wisconsin Fresh Mozzarella, cubed
*Saffron is expensive, but a little goes a long way, so once you purchase some, you will likely have it on hand for a long time. It imparts a lovely flavor, but it can be omitted — the cheese, pancetta and buttered bread crumbs add plenty of flavor on their own.
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Melt 4 tablespoons butter in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add flour, whisking constantly for about a minute. Add milk and water, whisking to remove any of flour-butter mixture from bottom of pan. Bring to boil, then reduce heat and gently simmer. Add salt, pepper and pinch of saffron. Simmer until mixture begins to barely thicken — it will lightly gloss the back of a wooden spoon — about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat.
- Meanwhile, in medium frying pan, crisp pancetta over medium heat until fat is rendered and nicely browned. In 9x13x2-inch baking dish, toss macaroni (there is no need to cook the macaroni in this recipe) with Parmesan Cheese. Transfer pancetta to baking dish using slotted spoon; toss gently to combine. Add remaining 3 tablespoons of butter to pan with rendered pancetta fat and melt over low heat. Add panko to medium bowl; pour butter over top; mix to combine. Stir in parsley; season with salt.
- Pour prepared saffron sauce over macaroni mixture — it will feel like an inordinate amount of liquid for the amount of pasta, but it will all get soaked up during baking. It is not necessary to stir mixture. Cover pan with foil and carefully transfer to oven. Bake 20 minutes.
- Remove from oven and gently stir. Scatter cubes of Fresh Mozzarella evenly across the mixture. Top with panko bread crumb mixture. Bake additional 15 – 20 minutes, or until top is golden and the macaroni is bubbling. Let sit 10 minutes before serving.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hours 5 minutes
