25 November 2010

Blogs to Be Thankful for, 2010 Edition

Every year since I started this blog in 2007, I've done a little Thanksgiving special shout out to my favorite foodblogs. This year is no exception, but a lot has changed. Unlike last year, when I was more or less unemployed and managed to actually *cook* something from 20+ blogs in time for Thanksgiving, I'm now working 9 hours a day and commuting 4 hours a day and therefore rarely manage to cook at all, let alone blog. I've had to cut back my food blogs a lot, which is quite a bummer for a compulsive recipe collector. So this year, instead of saying something about each of a few favorite blogs, I'm going to tell you all the blogs I still read, grouped by category, so that maybe you can discover something new!

Baking and Desserts

Beau à la Louche
Chocolat et Caetera
Joy the Baker
Bake or Break
Brown Eyed Baker
Culinary Concoctions by Peabody
Foodbeam
La Cuisine d'Helene
Sugar Plum
Tartelette

Simple, Reliable Recipes

Cafe Fernando
Coconut & Lime
Delicious Days
Kitchen Wench
La Tartine Gourmande
Smitten Kitchen
The Passionate Cook
Use Real Butter
Evil Shenanigans
David Lebovitz
Ezra Pound Cake
Greedy Gourmand
Hey That Tastes Good
Inn Cuisine
My Madison Bistro
Picky Cook
Simply Recipes
Tracey's Culinary Adventures
101 Cookbooks

Regional

Almost Turkish Recipes
Binnur's Turkish Cookbook
Ev Cini
Homesick Texan
Nami Nami
Pham Fatale
Russian Season

08 November 2010

Self Consolation with Peanut Butter Fudge and Butterscotch Brownies

Confession: I've been a little bit down about food blogging since I got kicked out of Project Food Blog in round one. I didn't think I'd go much further, but since I had about a 2 in 3 chance of advancing, and since the whole basis of that first round was the blogger's personality, it feels a little like a rejection of me. So I've been licking my wounds and eating a lot of prepared food in the meantime.

Of course, one thing that's always been a tried and true mood lifter is sugar. Specifically, in this case, brown sugar. Brown sugar in square form. Really, any square dessert will make me happy. The first thing I tried in this vein was a good getting-back-on-the-horse recipe, in that it involves a microwave and comes from Alton Brown, one of my most trusted recipe-creators. It was very tasty, though the method kind of backfired. 1/3 of the butter mixture ended up all over the inside of my microwave and my floor. I recommend that you be very careful with the last two minutes, and try stirring again at minute 3 if your microwave is powerful. I omitted the vanilla and it was still very good.

The second recipe, for butterscotch "brownies," is of more dubious provenance. I attributed it in my recipe database to "Joy of Cooking," but the recipe for butterscotch brownies in my copy of Joy of Cooking is definitely more complicated than this one. I'm guessing it's either from my dad's copy or off the internet somewhere. Anyway, it's pretty simple--you melt 3 tbsp butter, combine it with a cup of brown sugar until wet, let cool a bit, then add 1/2 cup flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp vanilla, and an egg (I used 3 Tbsp applesauce). I also dumped in about 1/2 cup cinnamon chips. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes in a greased 8 x 8 pan. As you can see, mine turned out very thin and bubbly. Next time I would double the recipe, because I liked the gooey effect but I would prefer a bit more weight to my "brownies." Loved the butterscotch flavor.