Thursday, May 26, 2011

White Chocolate Studded Brownies

I created my own recipe by using THIS as a guide line. 


And they turned out to be heaven on a plate.
Or should I say bowl...? 
We ate ours on top of vanilla icecream. :)


I wish I would have taken more pictures.. I always seem to forget.


White Chocolate Studded Brownies
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted 
(to make these even more decadent you could brown your butter, be careful not to burn it though!!)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla 
2  eggs
1/2 cup All-Purpose Flour
1/3 cup Cocoa
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350* F 

Melt your butter and allow to cool. Not until solid, but cool to the touch.

With your stand mixer (you could use hand held also.) mix together your melted butter, white sugar, and brown sugar. Until light in color. 
Add vanilla.
Mix until combined.
Add eggs, one at a time while still mixing.

Sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. 

Add to egg mixture and mix until just combined. 
Fold in white chocolate chips.


I used a greased 9"x6" baking pan since that was all I had.

 8"x8" would be ideal.. Keep in mind that you might have to cut down the baking time. :)


Bake in preheated oven for 30 - 35 minutes. 


Sorry for such crappy quality pictures..,
I only have my iphone as a camera,
and these were made at 10 pm.. so there wasn't any daylight.


Since we ate ours piping hot out of the oven they weren't picture friendly..
Still hot = crumbly 


But they were superb over icecream!! :)


Make these!! 
Your stomach will thank you. 
Mahalo for looking..




Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Cookie Failure.

Alright, so I tried to make a cookie that my boyfriend requested.. and it was a complete fail.


Although they tasted great, they looked absolutely horrid. :(

I combined these flavors into one cookie.


The recipe I found online just didn't work for me...
So I'm going to have to make my own, and keep you guys updated once I've created the best oatmeal blueberry and whitechocolate cookie. It tastes great.

But these blueberries that I bought from costco are MASSIVE!!

So I'm on the quest of creating the perfect cookie...

These were the result...



I don't think that I hate anything any more than this...
This is the worst. 
I hate having to waste ingredients and time for something to come out crummy.


One perk of my last couple days has been that we have had a very nice sunset almost every night. :)


Life sure is rough.. ;)


Oh, and Jackson is getting very very big. 


Yesterday before work we took Jackson and Bamboo to the beach...

 Dan and Jackson Playing with a coconut. :)

 Jackson and Bamboo cooling down in the shade.
Mr. Handsome :)


Adios all!


Oh, have a request?
Have a question?

Leave a comment. :) 


Friday, May 20, 2011

Got beer? Make bread.


Hello again!!

Here in Kona we have had rain... for months it seems like.

Personally, I'm a beach bum. 
Not literally, but I would be if I could... 



And this rain is really messing up my tan... 
I'm too pale for someone who lives here.

So, when I did go to the beach I got fried, 
and now I'm dealing with peeling because aloe vera didn't do the trick.



But, besides this short rant... It's raining tonight, yet again.

So, I'm having some tea....

Passion tea.

Ohhhhh yeahhhhh :)


This stuff is good.

I sweeten mine with honey, tonight I used this....
I snagged this lil' jar of goodness from one of the condos my mom stayed at during her Christmas Vacation...

Holy cow, it's may. This has been sitting in my cupboard for quite awhile... :| whoops.


Anyways... Have any extra beer? 
and you're craving some carbs.. 


make a good hearty loaf of 



Beer Bread!!


3 cups All-Purpose Flour, Sifted
3 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup Sugar
1 (12 oz.) beer (your choice :) )
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
 
*If using self-rising flour omit baking powder and salt.*

Sift flour and baking powder.
Add salt and sugar.
Mix.
Add beer.
Mix until just combined, pour into ungreased loaf pan.

Pour melted butter over top.
Bake at 375*F for 45 min. - 1 hour.
 
It's so worth it...

I know that all that butter seems like a lot... 
You could probably cut it in half if you wanted..
I wouldn't though, because I LOVE ME SOME BUTTAH! :p
 
This is especially good with a big bowl of chili...
My dad makes the BEST chili... 



Enjoy folks,
I'm having a movie night with my pups and my man. :)
 
 






Wednesday, May 18, 2011

First Post, Again. :)

Hey Everyone...
Sorry for this being my first post, again. 
Blogger went down the day after I first posted... and as frustrated as I was it took me this long to sit down and start this thing all over.
Better late than never, right?

Or was it, Better late than never, but never late is better? ;)


 It's 8:22p.m. right now here in Kona, and I'm eating a piece of my banana bread (stay tuned for details.) with an already filled to the brim stomach.

I really shouldn't be eating this, but what the hell... It's quite delicious.



Tonight for dinner I went downtown and had dinner with a friend... 

Besides the man standing in the worst place possible, the sunset was a very nice view to have while eating chicken pad thai and yellow curry chicken. :)
Life sure is rough, you know? hahaha. 

I created this recipe by using this as my guide lines.. 
It's the Food Network Magazine, May 2011.
This is such a cool article.. These are probably my most favorite part each month. :)
You need to buy it, and keep it on hand.. So quick and easy...



I recommend getting all of your ingredients measured out before you start mixing things together. 
This is called "mise en place" French for "everything in it's place".
For many reasons...
  1. To be sure you have all of the ingredients.
  2. If something is still on the counter, you know you forgot it.
I'm known for forgetting eggs, I don't know why... I just always forget to put them in. My bad.
This was my baking partner, Jackson. :)


Ashley's LOADED Banana Bread
Preheat oven to 375*F

2 ripe bananas, mashed
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 container yogurt (I used Yoplait Boston Cream Pie Since that was all I had)
(If you haven't had this flavor, you should buy it. IT'S SO DARN GOOD!!!)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon clove
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger 
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter chips
1/3 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1/3 cup chopped nuts, toasted (I used hazelnuts)
1/3 cup dried mango, chopped
  1. Mix together banana,  eggs, vegetable oil, and yogurt. Set aside.
  2.  In a medium sized bowl mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and spices.
  3. Add chocolate/peanut butter chips, coconut, nuts, and dried mango.
  4. Add banana mixture to dry ingredients, and mix until just combined.
Grease your loaf pan.
(I got my glass ANCHOR brand at Ross for $3.99! What a deal, right?)
Pour batter into pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 55 - 1 hour 10 minutes 
Or until middle springs back lightly to the touch...
I added a vanilla bean glaze on mine, but I would have preferred it without...
It was a waste of a good vanilla bean. :(
 This bad boy is sooooo good. It's so moist... 

YOU NEED TO MAKE THIS.

Enjoy folks, my alarm will be ringing at 3 am... and it's just around the corner.
SWEET DREAMS..

Ashley:)