National Food Bloggers' Bake Sale, SF-Style

It's that time again, kids! You may remember my post from last year's bake sale, also known as The Bake Sale that San Francisco Rocked So Hard. I am thrilled and so proud to be involved with the National Food Bloggers' Bake Sale again this year, with all proceeds going to Share Our Strength, a spectacular organization dedicated to feeding hungry kids across the country. This year's organizers also include the fabulous Anita from Dessert First, Eat the Love's Irvin, and Annelies from La Vie en Route. We are so pumped to make this year's sale even bigger and better!

On May 14th, food bloggers in cities all over this great nation will band together to sell all sorts of delicious things as part of the Great American Bake Sale. Can you hear the faint sounds of "The Star-Spangled Banner"? This event has feel-good helping-your-fellow-man stuff written all over it. Plus, it's a total blast. Want to get involved?

If you're a Bay Area food blogger and want to participate in the San Francisco event, visit our bake sale website and send an e-mail to bakesalesf@gmail.com letting us know you're interested--we'll send you details as they become available. If you live somewhere else, well, first of all, come visit San Francisco sometime, and secondly, visit What's Gaby Cooking for a master list of all the bake sale contacts in other cities.

Get all up in butter and sugar for a great cause. Hope you'll join us!

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Blonde Rocky Road

Before we go any further here, I should warn you about Blonde Rocky Road.

Blonde Rocky Road is going to be one of the most addictively delicious things you put in your face all year. It is also a Real Problem.

Blonde Rocky Road is so quick and simple to assemble, you can even throw it together after a highly celebratory Ladies' Night out, more than a little tipsy, before you've even removed your high heels. Just try not to pull down all the baking pans in a crash at 12:30 in the morning. Or whatever. I'm just saying that when the craving strikes, you will do crazy things to make it happen. Trust me. I know things.

Blonde Rocky Road comes together so fast that you'll be three pieces deep before you even realize that you made it in the first place.

Blonde Rocky Road takes no prisoners. You have been warned.

Butterscotch chips, peanut butter, butter, salted peanuts, marshmallows. A touch of vanilla and a dash of salt added for balance and crave-worthy edge. I don't see how this could not go well.

And! You don't have to bake it, or even turn on the stove, for cry-yi. One bowl, a microwave, and a love story, people. That's what's happening here.

Now, before you come after me because you're waking in the night to eat this stuff, let me tell you where the inspiration came from. Have you seen Sweetapolita? Well, if you're ever feeling too confident about your website, photography skills or general personal style, you can go over to Rosie's blog and get yourself knocked down a few pegs. It's a beautiful site with dreamy recipes and it's an endless source of inspiration. She made Butterscotch Peanut Butter Marshmallow Hearts for Valentine's Day, and after making a batch in short order, I was craving more, more, more...MORE. Gah.

The second go around I added salted peanuts for crunch and more marshmallows. So basically, more calories. Obvi. But I also added a nice dose of vanilla and an extra hit of salt and oh-ho-hooo...friends. Next level stuff. Blonde Rocky Road stuff.

Now go forth and ruin your diets for the rest of the year. Loveyatoo.

Blonde Rocky Road

Inspired by a recipe from Rosie Alyea of Sweetapolita

This is definitely not the place for natural peanut butter. You need the smooth texture of commercial peanut butter, and with all these other crazy ingredients, there really is no point of anything natural, right?

Microwaves vary, so watch the butterscotch mixture carefully while melting.

Makes 25 pieces

1 12-ounce bag butterscotch chips

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (I like Skippy)

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon-size pieces

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon salt (fine sea salt or table salt)

2 1/2 cups mini marshmallows, divided

3/4 cup salted peanuts, divided (do not chop)

Line an 8x8-inch square baking pan with a large sheet of aluminum foil, being sure to get it neatly into the corners of the pan.

In a large, microwave-safe bowl, combine the butterscotch chips, peanut butter and butter. Microwave on 50% power for about 3 minutes. Stop to stir well. Place back in the microwave for 1 minute and 30 seconds on 50% power and stop to stir again--it should be smooth after a bit more stirring. If not, give it a couple more 30 second bursts of high power and stirring until smooth.

Stir in the vanilla and salt. Stir in 2 cups of the marshmallows and 1/2 cup of the peanuts until well-blended. Turn the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth with a spatula. Sprinkle the remaining marshmallows and peanuts evenly over the surface, and press lightly into the candy with your palms. Chill until set--15 minutes in the freezer or about an hour in the refrigerator.

Remove the candy slab from the pan and cut into 25 squares. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

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Pear-Vanilla Brown Butter Bars

Welp, that's all the fun we're going to have for a while now, folks. The holidays have come and gone, we can't legitimately say "Happy New Year!" to strangers anymore, and Valentine's Day has fizzled out and left us all with killer chocolate hangovers. Now it's just...winter. Bah.

I can't be the only one who feels that the last two weeks of February are akin to watching a Top Chef marathon when you've already seen all the episodes, like, five times each. Pear-Vanilla Brown Butter bars, guys--consider them your ticket out of this crazy-making holding pattern.

Speaking of things that aren't dreary, several months back the husband and I got all 2003 with our ourselves (read: barely married, childless) and decided on an impromptu weekend trip down to Monterey. We were giddy about getting out of the city for a couple days, and thought that Little C would just love a visit to the insanely enormous aquarium down there. Our first little family getaway--how Griswold of us! So fun! So much bonding! So much gear required OH MY GOD DO WE REALLY NEED A CASE OF GRAHAM CRACKERS.

Four duffle bags, two sacks of snacky groceries and a loaded DVD player later, we were on our way to the Central Coast. Aside from Little C soaking her entire carseat with apple juice before we even reached the freeway, we had an awesome time together. The views were literally breathtaking, the heavenly sort that make you feel so tiny in comparison to their majesty. The aquarium was indeed Little C approved. And most importantly, I convinced the team to stop in Big Sur so I could cross something off my Baking Geek Bucket List: Lunch and dessert at Big Sur Bakery. Yesssss.

The savory items we tried at the bakery were terrifically satisfying, fresh and flavorful, but the desserts--oh the desserts!--that's what Mama really came for, people. And the Huckleberry Brown Butter Bar did not disappoint.

I couldn't get over how complex the bar was in flavor and texture, in direct contrast to its humble appearance. Nutty and rich with brown butter, a bit of crisp, a bit of chew, a punch of jammy fruit. I was instantly obsessed. The recipe would be mine. And thanks to the gloriously earthy tome that is The Big Sur Bakery Cookbook, I didn't have to look too far.

The recipe in the book is neither for a Pear-Vanilla bar nor the aforementioned Huckleberry Brown Butter Bar, it's actually made with rhubarb. But like I said earlier, we are in the slog of February here and rhubarb is in very short supply. In a couple months, we can make Rhubarb Brown Butter Bars happen, but for now, all things pear are the order of the day. And happily, the pairing positively sings.

Now I'm not going to lie, darling readers--for as unassuming as this bar looks, you do have to go through a few steps here to make it all happen. But if you're like me, you might be so intrigued by some of the elements that you won't really mind the extra time spent doing things like, say, browning two separate batches of butter, and then freezing some of it solid to make the crust. Genius!

After you've got your solid brown butter ready, the crust comes together in seconds in the food processor. Then while the crust is baking and cooling, you can start preparing a pear-vanilla jam of sorts and attempt to not pass out from how beautiful it smells while cooking.

In addition to the fabulously ambrosial jam, you're also going to whisk up a brown butter filling, which is a concoction so magical I might go into some very suggestive language to describe how delicious it is. I'll just say this: warm browned butter, sugar, eggs, hits of vanilla and orange? Huminuh, huminuh.

My only suggestion to you beyond being prepared to do a few extra dirty dishes with this recipe is to also have something heavy to chain yourself to while these bars are baking, because, good Lord, the smell is incredible. You'll suddenly care about those February doldrums not a bit.

Pear-Vanilla Brown Butter Bars

Adapted from The Big Sur Bakery Cookbook

These bars are so sweet and rich, I halved the original recipe and cut them much smaller than the bars the bakery serves.To feed a bigger crowd, you can double this recipe and use a 9x13 pan. When doubling, use 3 whole eggs.

Zest your orange before juicing it for the jam--you'll need the zest for the brown butter filling.

Makes 12

For the crust:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

For the jam:

2 medium firm-ripe pears (I used Anjou), peeled, cored and chopped into 1/2 inch chunks (to yield about 1 1/2-2 cups cut fruit)

1/3 cup fresh orange juice (from 1 large orange)

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the brown butter filling:

5 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest (from 1 large orange)

7 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Being by making the crust: Place the butter for the crust in a small saucepan set over high heat. Melt the butter. Once the butter is completely melted, it will bubble and sizzle. Keep swirling the pan occasionally, and listen and watch carefully--when the foam begins to subside and the sizzling suddenly, the butter will quickly turn brown and smell nutty, about 5 minutes total. Quickly pour the hot butter into a small metal pan (I use a loaf pan) and place in the freezer until the butter is solid, about 20 minutes (wipe out the saucepan with a paper towel and set is aside--you'll need it for brown butter batch #2).

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Completely line an 8x8-inch square pan with aluminum foil.

Place the confectioners' sugar, flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor (or a mixing bowl if you want to work by hand). Pulse briefly to blend the dry ingredients. When the butter is solid, scrape it out of the pan using a spoon or fork--it doesn't have to be pretty, it just has to get all out of the pan. Place the butter pieces into the food processor and pulse until a dough forms (or use a pastry butter if you're working by hand). Press the dough into the prepared pan. Freeze until firm, about 15 minutes. Bake the crust until golden brown, about 18-22 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack (leave the oven at 375 degrees).

While the crust is cooling prepare the jam: Place the pear chunks, orange juice and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir to combine, and bring the mixture to a boil. Cook until the pears are very tender, about 7 minutes. Use a potato masher or fork to mash the pears into small bits (but not completely smooth). Cook until the jam is thick and any excess liquid has all but disappeared, about 7 minutes more. Stir in the vanilla extract. Transfer the jam to a separate bowl to cool.

Place the 5 tablespoons of butter for the filling into the small saucepan. Brown the butter as you did in the step for the crust. Set the brown butter aside to cool slightly. Whisk together the egg, egg yolk, sugar, orange zest, flour, salt and vanilla extract until smooth. Gradually whisk in the warm brown butter until the filling is well-blended.

Pour half the brown butter filling over the cooled crust. Dollop the jam evenly over the surface of the filling. Top with the remaining filling.

Bake until the filling is a deep golden brown, about 35-40 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack before removing the bars from the pan and cutting into squares. Store any leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

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Fettucine Carbonara al Funghi

A pasta dish so gorgeously tasty, and yet so simple to make - there really is no special faff involved in preparing this, and it can be ready in less than 15 minutes. I prefer to use fresh pasta rather than dried, but thats merely personal preference! Also optional, is the mushroom component. Some people don't like them, that's okay - it's adaptable as a recipe! :)

You will need the following ingredients:

Fresh or Dried Pasta (up to you to determine portion size!)
1 cup of cubed Ham or Bacon (yes, i actually use a coffee cup to measure!)
6 Mushrooms
1 clove of garlic (crushed)
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 teaspoon of dried oregano
Coarse ground black pepper
1 tablespoon of parmesan (fresh grated or dried - either works!)
3 tablespoons of cream
1 egg yolk

Utensils needed:

Medium saucepan
Large frying pan
Chopping board
Sharp knife
Small mixing bowl

First things first - get some water on the boil. While that's doing - take your cubed ham or bacon, and put in a frying pan with the garlic, olive oil & oregano on a medium heat. Chop the mushrooms while that's cooking, and add the mushrooms to the frying pan, and stir with a wooden spoon every so often, making sure you don't overcook it If you get the timing slightly wrong, it'sokay - turn the heat down, or off completely, and leave it to sit until you're ready to use it. Anyway, by this point, the kettle should have boiled. Add the water to the saucepan, and put on a medium-high heat with a pinch of salt. Just a pinch, mind!

Take your pasta and start the boiling process - if you've used fresh pasta, the rule of thumb is 3 to 4 minutes to cook fully, and 2 minutes for al-dente. We'll go for the happy medium of 3 minutes.

While the pasta is on the boil, you'll want to sort out the sauce. Take your bowl, add all three tablespoons of cream, the parmesan and the egg yolk. Beat through with a fork until you have a nice, thick looking sauce, it should only take seconds to do!

Your pasta should have finished by now - so take it off the heat, and strain in a colander or sieve, before putting it back in the pan. Take your ham & mushrooms off the heat, add to the pan with the pasta. Then take the sauce you just whisked up, and add that too. Mix through with the spoon you used for the first step, and then divide, and serve. You should end up with something like this:

After serving, i like to add a little more parmesan on top - flakes, grated, however you want, it's entirely up to you! Oh, and of course, enjoy :)

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Hard Candy Cookies

This Valentine's Day, I urge you to forgo the typical. Fine wine, fragrant roses, silky chocolates, intense passion? Snore. Boring! Where's your sense of adventure, people? Your fire, your moxie?! It's in the form of a recipe that is so wacky that it works, that's where.

Hard Candy Cookies. Because I'm coming up short on ways to express that you need to try this recipe right now even though it doesn't have chocolate.

I can't really explain how the idea first came to me, guys. But I had big dreams one particular day in the Piece of Cake kitchen. Dreams that involved producing a certain kind of cookie, something that would at once be buttery and crisp, but with teeny bits of chew tucked within. It could have been my ongoing mourning of Archway's Cherry Chip Nougat Cookies, which sadly no longer exist (holler if you hear me!), but more likely it was just that sort of mad scientist feeling that tends to grab a baker every now and again. And so it came to be--bashed-up cherry hard candies mixed into a sort of shortbread cookie dough. I know, right?!

What turned out to be really awesome about this recipe is the way all the elements played together in the oven. The cherry flavor of the candy really permeates the whole cookie without having to use any other flavorings (though you most certainly could bump up the cherry flavor a bit with an extract if you have one), and the candy bits just sort of melt into the cookie in places, while staying intact in others, which makes for the most phenomenal texture here. It's downright addictive, for real.

When the cookie cools and the candy bits settle into their new forms, some parts end up chewy, while others pack a crunch. It's a sort of candylike cookie, and I just can't think of too many things more delightful that that.

The cookies are topped off with a roll in some powdered sugar, which gives them an almost iced finish. Altogether it's like a Mexican Wedding Cookie-meets frosted sugar cookie-with a little howdoyado at the candy shop. I know, I'm flailing here. Just make these, and soon. You won't regret it.

Hard Candy Cookies

As you may have guessed, using cherry candies here is just a starting point. Lime, lemon, or a mixture of colored candies all sound delightful. Bump up the fruit flavor if you wish with a coordinating extract. Use just enough food coloring to color the dough slightly, but depending on the candies you use, extra color may not be necessary.

Makes about 2 dozen

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt (or 1/8 teaspoon table salt)

2 1/2 ounces cherry-flavored hard candies, crushed (about 1/3 cup crushed candy)

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Red gel food coloring, optional

1/3 cup sifted confectioners' sugar, for finishing the cookies

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and crushed candies. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and confectioners' sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla. Reduce the speed to low and stir in the flour mixture. Increase the speed to medium and mix until the dough comes together. If it still looks dry and crumbly, add a teaspoon or so of water and it should quickly come together. If you want to bump up the pink color of the cookies a bit, add a drop or two of food coloring.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat (don't skip this lest you won't be able to get the cookies off the baking sheets because of the melted candy bits). Using a small ice cream scoop or two spoons, scoop out level tablespoons of the dough, then roll into balls and place them on the baking sheet.

Chill the dough balls for 30 minutes in the refrigerator while you preheat the oven to 325 degrees. When the dough has chilled, bake until they're just beginning to turn golden around the edges, about 22-25 minutes. Let cool for a minute on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

To finish the cookies, place the remaining 1/3 cup confectioners' sugar in a medium bowl. Working a few cookies at a time, roll them in confectioners' sugar and then place them in a sieve. Shake the sieve over the bowl of confectioners' sugar to dust off any excess. Repeat until all the cookies are dusted with sugar. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

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Nutella Pop-Tarts

So is it just me, or is there way more pressure involved with Valentine's Day when it falls on a weekend? Something about it being on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday creates high drama and expectations--wine, roses, fancy dinner reservations. Also, feeling compelled to take a lengthy shower, exfoliate and wear something spectacular. In other words, STRESS. Right?! Gah.

Thankfully, this year Valentine's Day falls on a Monday, so we can all rest easy. I'm thinking something homemade, insanely delicious and crazy clever for breakfast along with a sweet card will fit the bill just fine. If you go with these Nutella Pop-Tarts, for instance, it will totally make up for couching it--wholly ungroomed and in stretchy black pants--by 7:30 p.m. on February 14th. Because hey, it's a Monday. I'm sticking with that theory.

Nutella is clearly one of the best inventions ever, and it holds fine sense memories of all sorts for me. In fact, one of my top reasons to move to Europe is eating Nutella for breakfast without reservation. But with World Nutella Day fast approaching, people all over this wonderful Earth can bond over scarfing down bread and chocolate with abandon first thing in the morning. I can't think of anything more world peace-encouraging than that, except for maybe joining forces of the most questionable breakfast foods of both Europe and America, and creating the Nutella Pop-Tart. And just in time for World Nutella Day? I'm feeling a Nobel Peace Prize nomination coming on here, people. Just saying.

Happily, promoting world peace and sugar high-inducing breakfasts couldn't be easier. All it takes is a batch of flaky, foolproof pie dough and a jar of Nutella. Oh, and a glossy, coffee-spiked glaze to shine things up. Because coffee things definitely mean breakfast, right?

The resulting pastries are so positively divine, you'll feel all kinds of love this Valentine's Day. Including the priceless joy that comes from eating chocolate for breakfast and the knowledge that exfoliation is totally optional.

Nutella Pop-Tarts

If you use My Favorite Pie Crust recipe, make it with 2 tablespoons of sugar. If you use another pie crust recipe, just make sure it's enough to make 1 double-crusted 9 or 10-inch pie.

Makes 12

For the tarts:

1 batch of My Favorite Pie Crust, well-chilled (see note)

1 (13-ounce) jar Nutella

1 egg

For the glaze:

1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar

2 tablespoons strong brewed coffee

1 tablespoon dark unsweetened cocoa powder (I like Valrhona)

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

Divide the chilled pie dough in half. Working with one half at a time (refrigerate the half you're not working with), roll the dough out to a rectangle, about 9 1/2 x 13 inches. To make for a more even rectangle, use a thin, sharp knife to trim the edges. Patch any shaggy edges together using the dough scraps. The more evenly shaped your rectangle, the easier it will be to form neat-looking tarts. Cut the dough rectangle into 12 equal squares on a grid, 4 down and 3 across. Place the squares on the baking sheets, 6 squares per sheet.

Using spoons or a small ice cream scoop, dollop 1 generous tablespoon of Nutella in the center of each dough square, spreading slightly as you go, leaving a 1/2 inch border of dough around the filling.

Repeat the dough rolling and cutting process with the second half of the dough.

In a small bowl, beat together the egg with 1 teaspoon water and a pinch of salt, whisking until the egg wash is liquified and well-blended. Using a pastry brush, lightly brush the exposed border of dough around each mound of filling (set the remaining egg wash aside to brush the assembled tarts if baking them the same day). Place a second dough square on top of each tart, using your fingers to gently press the seams together. Use a fork to crimp together the two layers of dough. Refrigerate for at least 20 minutes (at this point, you can cover the baking sheets with plastic wrap and chill overnight).

When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly brush the top and edges of each tart with the remaining egg wash. Bake until the tarts are golden brown on the top and bottom, about 35-40 minutes. Cool for 1 minute on the baking sheets, and then transfer the tarts to cooling racks.

To prepare the glaze, whisk together all the ingredients until smooth.

When the tarts are just slightly warm, spoon the glaze over them. Let the glaze dry for 15 minutes before serving. Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 days.

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