Bready or Not Original: Salted Caramel Chip Blondies
Salted Caramel Chips now exist. There is hope for our world yet.
“What makes these chips different than just using caramel chips?” Well, they have the texture of and keep their shape like regular chocolate chips. Caramel bits are more chaotic–they melt, they ooze, they can create a sticky mess.
More and more stores are carrying salted caramel chips around Arizona. Locally, I have found Ghirardelli (at Walmart), Nestle (at Walmart and several stores), and a Kroger-branded kind (at Fry’s Grocery Store).
All three work and have a good flavor, but I liked the Kroger one the least. The color looks more artificial (yeah everything is about these is artificial but…) and the pieces are small and not quite as rich in flavor. Still, their price is good and they aren’t bad, by any means.
You’ll see these chips used in a couple recipes in the next while–I bought several bags to test out!
While I’ll definitely stick to using real caramel in things like pies, these salted caramel chips are now my go-to for cookies and bars.
I do suggest keeping the ratio of 1 cup chocolate chips with 1 cup of caramel chips in this recipe. The caramel chips ARE strong–they are like butterscotch in that way–and the white chocolate adds a different kind of sweetness to balance them out.
Bready or Not Original: Salted Caramel Chip Blondies
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter 1 1/2 sticks, room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups white sugar
- 1 1/4 cups brown sugar packed
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
- 1 cup salted caramel chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Line a 10x15 jelly roll pan with wide aluminum foil and apply nonstick spray or butter.
- In a small bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, beat together the butter, both sugars, and vanilla to create a smooth batter. Beat in eggs, one at a time, followed by the flour mixture. Stir in the cup of white chocolate and cup of salted caramel chips. Spread batter evenly in pan.
- Bake until evenly golden brown and set in the middle, 24 to 27 minutes. Cool completely at room temperature or chill before cutting. Blondies keep for up to 3 days in a room temperature sealed container.
- OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not Guest Recipe from Author Wendy Nikel: The Grandmother Paradox Cherry Cupcakes
Today I welcome Wendy Nikel! Her novella The Grandmother Paradox is out TODAY from World Weaver Press. This is the sequel to The Continuum. I’ve read both, and I can testify they are fun, fast reads that reminded me of old favorite shows like Quantum Leap and Sliders. Find out more about her new release below, and grab a recipe for some cupcakes that are loaded with cocoa and cherries!
When Dr. Wells, the head of the Place in Time Travel Agency, learns that someone’s trying to track down the ancestors of his star employee, there are few people he can turn to without revealing her secrets. But who better to jump down the timeline and rescue Elise from being snuffed out of existence generations before she’s born than the very person whose life she saved a hundred years in the future?
But Juliette Argent isn’t an easy woman to protect. The assistant to a traveling magician, she’s bold, fearless, and has a fascination with time travel, of all things. Can the former secret agent Chandler, with his knowledge of what’s to come, keep her safe from harm and keep his purpose there a secret? Or will his presence there only entangle the timeline more?
THE GRANDMOTHER PARADOX Cherry Cupcakes
by Wendy Nikel
Today is release day for THE GRANDMOTHER PARADOX, the second time travel novella in the Place in Time series. Which means, once again, it’s time to celebrate with cupcakes!
In this novella, which can be read as a sequel or as a standalone story, Chandler – a man from our present who’s been living in the future – is sent back to the year 1893 to protect the great-great-grandmother of the woman who saved his life. There, he joins up with a traveling magic show touring Michigan before heading down to the Chicago World’s Fair.
One of the many wonderful things that Michigan is known for is its cherries, which made cherry cupcakes an easy choice for this book’s recipe. Substituting fats like butter and oils with fruit in baking also makes for a healthier cake, which is something I’ve had to keep in mind since I’m still recovering from having my gallbladder removed. Fortunately, I happen to have a cherry tree in my backyard filled with sweet cherries just ripe for the picking.
THE CUPCAKES:
Bready or Not Guest Recipe: THE GRANDMOTHER PARADOX Cherry Cupcakes by Wendy Nikel
Ingredients
Cupcake Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 egg whites
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 1/4 cup applesauce
- 1/4 cup buttermilk
- 1 cup cherries pitted & pureed
Frosting ingredients:
- 8 oz cream cheese
- 1 cup confectioners' sugar
- 1-2 Tablespoons milk
- 1 box cherry-flavored instant gelatin mix
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
- Sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- In separate bowl, mix egg whites and vanilla.
- Add honey, sugar, applesauce, and buttermilk.
- Gradually add the dry mixture into the egg and milk mixture until well blended.
- Add cherries
- Fill cupcake liners half full and bake for 22-25 minutes. Let cool.
- After cupcakes are cool, frost.
- Sprinkle gelatin mix on the top and enjoy!
THE CONTINUUM (book #1) out NOW
paperback via World Weaver Press $9.99
eBook via iTunes
eBook via Barnes & Noble
eBook via Amazon
eBook via Kobo
THE GRANDMOTHER PARADOX (book #2) out TODAY
paperback via World Weaver Press $8.95
eBook via iTunes
eBook via Barnes & Noble
eBook via Amazon
eBook via Kobo
Wendy Nikel is a speculative fiction author whose short stories have appeared in Fantastic Stories of the Imagination, Daily Science Fiction, AE Sci-Fi, Nature: Futures, and various anthologies and e-zines. She is a member of SFWA and Codex Writers Group and is a managing editor at Flash Fiction Online.
Read MoreSunday Quote is excited about this week
Read More“A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.”
~ Thomas Mann, Essays of Three Decades
Bready or Not: Blueberry Hand Cake
If you’re looking for a delicious way to use up summer blueberries, oh, do I have a recipe for you.
These Blueberry Hand Cake Bars are really easy to make. Seriously, there are only 6 ingredients!
That said, this is a recipe for a stand mixer or hand blender will come in handy. Eggs are the leavening agent, so they need to be beaten with the sugar for an extended period of time.
So if you make this by hand, consider this your arm workout for the day.
The baked bars are just downright summery and fresh. Cakey, light, perfectly sweet. I could come up with more adjectives, I’m sure.
If you want more of my blueberry recipes, be sure to check out:
Blueberry Pound Cake with Lemon Glaze
Jumbo XXL Lemon-Blueberry Muffins
Gluten-Free Blueberry Muffin Breakfast Truffles
Guest Post: Pat Esden with Old Fashioned Blueberry Cake
Bready or Not: Blueberry Hand Cake
Ingredients
- 12 ounces fresh blueberries two pints
- 3 eggs room temperature
- 1 3/4 cup white sugar
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour divided
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Line a 13x9 pan with foil and apply nonstick spray.
- Gently rinse the blueberries, removing any stems or smashed ones, and set the clean berries in a small bowl.
- Using a mixer, beat the eggs and sugar for about 5 to 7 minutes, until pale in color and almost doubled in volume. The eggs are the leavening agent in this recipe, so it's important they are beaten until thickened, with the batter forming a ribbon as the beaters lift up.
- Add the butter and vanilla, and mix for another two minutes. Measure out 1/2 cup of flour and carefully stir it into the blueberries to coat them, which will reduce sinking into the batter during the baking process. Slowly stir the remaining 1 1/2 cup of flour into the batter. By hand, gently fold the blueberries into the batter.
- Pour batter into the ready pan. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until lightly browned and the center passes the toothpick test. Let cool completely before lifting up contents by the foil to slice into bars. Eat within two days, or freeze for later enjoyment.
- OM NOM NOM!
Sunday Quote wants this week over with
Read More“My own experience is that once a story has been written, one has to cross out the beginning and the end. It is there that we authors do most of our lying.”
~ Anton Chekhov
