{"id":17177,"date":"2018-06-01T01:10:04","date_gmt":"2018-06-01T06:10:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=18102"},"modified":"2018-05-29T15:56:29","modified_gmt":"2018-05-29T20:56:29","slug":"the-kitchen-witch-33","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2018\/06\/01\/the-kitchen-witch-33\/","title":{"rendered":"The Kitchen Witch"},"content":{"rendered":"

Browned Butter Blondies<\/b><\/u><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The first time I made \u201cBlondies\u201d, I was in fact making Chocolate Chip Cookies and I realized that I didn\u2019t have enough time to bake four pans of twelve cookies on each pan, so I put the cookie dough into a lightly-greased 9×13 pan and a picnic tradition was born. This was many years ago \u2013 my son James was just a little guy. I have made many pans of \u201cBlondies\u201d \u2013 some with dark chocolate chips, some with white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts, some with crushed peanut M&M\u2019s, some with walnuts or pecans or even cashews \u2013 the variations are endless. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

So, I was pleasantly pleased to come across this recipe for Browned Butter Blondies at The Food Charlatan, a blog I discovered recently. I love browned butter. I love its nutty aroma and the added dimension it brings to food. I usually brown butter for my popcorn \u2013 it really rocks \u2013 especially if you add a touch of garlic salt to the butter before putting it on the popped corn. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t know how to brown butter, I suggest you go to YouTube and check out some of the tutorials on how to do it. It\u2019s much easier once you\u2019ve seen it done in front of you. I was lucky \u2013 I learned as a young girl from my mother. It\u2019s quite like scalding milk \u2013 you have to keep the heat at medium and you have to keep stirring \u2013 the fun part when you\u2019re a child. It\u2019s very easy to burn butter \u2013 just like milk \u2013 but the technique, once you have it down, is also quite easy. Honestly, it\u2019s like riding a bike. When you\u2019re first learning, you fall off a lot and scrap your knees and elbows \u2013 and maybe you cry a little bit \u2013 but suddenly you just know how to do it. And then you <\/span><\/span>always <\/i><\/span><\/span>know how to do it. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The first thing I did was start the butter to melting.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As I slowly melted the butter, I got out the other ingredients that I needed: brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, flour, baking soda, salt, and the chocolate chips. I didn\u2019t have any nuts in my pantry except for the almonds that I snack on each day and although I personally think that all cookies and bars of this type ought to have nuts in them, I decided that I didn\u2019t want almonds in this batch. I also decided that I didn\u2019t feel like running to the store to buy any other nuts!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

After the butter is melted, immediately pour it into your mixing bowl so that it doesn\u2019t burn sitting in the hot pan! I let it cool for a few minutes before adding the brown sugar. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Remember to pack the brown sugar! When you add it, mix it well! But wow! This is like <\/span><\/span>candy. <\/i><\/span><\/span>In fact, this makes me think of making homemade butterscotch candy with my mother when I was twelve or so. That was a lot of fun. A lot of work but a lot of fun. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Add the vanilla and mix well. And then the eggs. I put the eggs into a bowl first because I\u2019ve had too many eggs break badly and pieces of shell fall into the batter \u2013 and this is exactly what happened \u2013 there was a bad break and I had to pick pieces of shell out of the egg in the bowl before beating them. But at least the pieces of shell weren\u2019t in the batter. It\u2019s always easier to get pieces of shell out of the egg than out of the batter. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

And then you add your dry ingredients \u2013 the flour, the baking soda and the salt. If you have a sifter like I do, add them in that fashion, but if not, just measure them into a bowl, mix well, and then add them. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Then add the all-important chocolate chips!! Yummy!! <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The recipe didn\u2019t say to grease the pan but I did anyway. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

My pan was slightly smaller than 9×13 and I had to bake them longer than the 23-27 minutes that the recipe said it would take for \u201cgooey\u201d bars but of course, I have an electric oven and every oven is different, even the gas ovens that I prefer. Your oven might bake these faster than mine or it might bake them slower. And in a 13×9 pan, they might have been done in that time frame. But I am <\/span><\/span>not <\/i><\/span><\/span>complaining. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

THESE THINGS ARE AWESOME. They smelled so great that I couldn\u2019t even wait for them to cool to cut into them and try them out and of course the first one fell apart completely but then I had the <\/span><\/span>most fabulous <\/i><\/span><\/span>idea of putting a little ice cream on the top of it \u2013 yeah really \u2013 all it needed was some hot fudge sauce and whipped cream! But damn! Was that ever good! <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

(picture blurry cuz I was in a hurry to chow down)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

After the pan cooled, the bars came out in perfect fashion, as shown here:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

And everyone who had one of these Browned Butter Blondies raved about how good they were! Believed me! They are fabulously, magically good!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

So \u2013 make this recipe! I\u2019m not even phrasing this as a suggestion \u2013 I\u2019m telling you to do it. Add chocolate chips, nuts, oats, even dried cranberries would be good! This is kitchen witchery at its finest!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

References<\/b><\/u><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Food Charlatan<\/i><\/span><\/span> \u2013 <\/span><\/span>http:\/\/thefoodcharlatan.com\/browned-butter-blondies\/<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/u><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

***<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

About the Author:<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Polly MacDavid<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0lives in Buffalo, New York at the moment but that could easily change, since she is a gypsy at heart. Like a gypsy, she is attracted to the divinatory arts, as well as camp fires and dancing barefoot. She has three cats who all help her with her magic.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Her philosophy about religion and magic is that it must be thoroughly based in science and logic. She is Dianic Wiccan and she is solitary.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

She blogs at\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>silverapplequeen.wordpress.com<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/u><\/span><\/span>. She writes about general life, politics and poetry. She is writing a novel about sex, drugs and recovery.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Browned Butter Blondies The first time I made \u201cBlondies\u201d, I was in fact making Chocolate Chip Cookies and I realized that I didn\u2019t have enough time to bake four pans of twelve cookies on each pan, so I put the cookie dough into a lightly-greased 9×13 pan and a picnic tradition was born. This was many years ago \u2013 my son James was just a little guy. I have made many pans of \u201cBlondies\u201d \u2013 some with dark chocolate chips, some with white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts, some with crushed peanut M&M\u2019s, some with walnuts or pecans or even cashews \u2013 the variations are endless. So, I was pleasantly pleased to come across this recipe for Browned Butter Blondies at The Food Charlatan, a blog I discovered recently. I love browned butter. I love its nutty aroma and the added dimension it brings to food. I usually brown butter for my popcorn \u2013 it really rocks \u2013 especially if you add a touch of garlic salt to the butter before putting it on the popped corn. If you don\u2019t know how to brown butter, I suggest you go to YouTube and check out some of the tutorials on how to do it. It\u2019s much easier once you\u2019ve seen it done in front of you. I was lucky \u2013 I learned as a young girl from my mother. It\u2019s quite like scalding milk \u2013 you have to keep the heat at medium and you have to keep stirring \u2013 the fun part when you\u2019re a child. It\u2019s very easy to burn butter \u2013 just like milk \u2013 but the technique, once you have it down, is also quite easy. Honestly, it\u2019s like riding a bike. When you\u2019re first learning, you fall off a lot and scrap your knees and elbows \u2013 and maybe you cry a little bit \u2013 but suddenly you just know how to do it. And then you always know how to do it. The first thing I did was start the butter to melting. As I slowly melted the butter, I got out the other ingredients that I needed: brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, flour, baking soda, salt, and the chocolate chips. I didn\u2019t have any nuts in my pantry except for the almonds that I snack on each day and although I personally think that all cookies and bars of this type ought to have nuts in them, I decided that I didn\u2019t want almonds in this batch. I also decided that I didn\u2019t feel like running to the store to buy any other nuts! After the butter is melted, immediately pour it into your mixing bowl so that it doesn\u2019t burn sitting in the hot pan! I let it cool for a few minutes before adding the brown sugar. Remember to pack the brown sugar! When you add it, mix it well! But wow! This is like candy. In fact, this makes me think of making homemade butterscotch candy with my mother when I was twelve or so. That was a lot of fun. A lot of work but a lot of fun. Add the vanilla and mix well. And then the eggs. I put the eggs into a bowl first because I\u2019ve had too many eggs break badly and pieces of shell fall into the batter \u2013 and this is exactly what happened \u2013 there was a bad break and I had to pick pieces of shell out of the egg in the bowl before beating them. But at least the pieces of shell weren\u2019t in the batter. It\u2019s always easier to get pieces of shell out of the egg than out of the batter. And then you add your dry ingredients \u2013 the flour, the baking soda and the salt. If you have a sifter like I do, add them in that fashion, but if not, just measure them into a bowl, mix well, and then add them. Then add the all-important chocolate chips!! Yummy!! The recipe didn\u2019t say to grease the pan but I did anyway. My pan was slightly smaller than 9×13 and I had to bake them longer than the 23-27 minutes that the recipe said it would take for \u201cgooey\u201d bars but of course, I have an electric oven and every oven is different, even the gas ovens that I prefer. Your oven might bake these faster than mine or it might bake them slower. And in a 13×9 pan, they might have been done in that time frame. But I am not complaining. THESE THINGS ARE AWESOME. They smelled so great that I couldn\u2019t even wait for them to cool to cut into them and try them out and of course the first one fell apart completely but then I had the most fabulous idea of putting a little ice cream on the top of it \u2013 yeah really \u2013 all it needed was some hot fudge sauce and whipped cream! But damn! Was that ever good! (picture blurry cuz I was in a hurry to chow down) After the pan cooled, the bars came out in perfect fashion, as shown here: And everyone who had one of these Browned Butter Blondies raved about how good they were! Believed me! They are fabulously, magically good! So \u2013 make this recipe! I\u2019m not even phrasing this as a suggestion \u2013 I\u2019m telling you to do it. Add chocolate chips, nuts, oats, even dried cranberries would be good! This is kitchen witchery at its finest! References The Food Charlatan \u2013 http:\/\/thefoodcharlatan.com\/browned-butter-blondies\/ *** About the Author: Polly MacDavid\u00a0lives in Buffalo, New York at the moment but that could easily change, since she is a gypsy at heart. Like a gypsy, she is attracted to the divinatory arts, as well as camp fires and dancing barefoot. She has three cats who all help her with her magic. Her philosophy about religion and magic is that it must be thoroughly based in science and logic. She is Dianic Wiccan and she is solitary. She blogs at\u00a0silverapplequeen.wordpress.com. She writes about general life, politics and poetry. She is writing a novel about sex, drugs and recovery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17177\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}