MangiaMore: brown butter BLONDIES with salted speculoos frosting

RER 8.22.16

Summer just about slipped through my fingertips. The last weeks of steaming August melted, collecting and creating a pool at the feet of muggy September. There is a summer haze hovering over those last few weeks as so much happened in so little time; heat and excitement have clouded my memory…

RER 8.22.16

RER 8.22.16

But, in the midst of it all, was a sweet baking adventure with a great friend. It was just a little less hot, but just as sticky because brown sugar, brown butter, white chocolate chips, cookie butter, and a little too much frosting were involved.

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RER 8.22.16

RER 8.22.16

After speculation, we decided to make brown butter blondies with salted speculoos frosting found on Butter and Brioche. We knew these were going to not only be sweet, but also a mature play on the oh-so-delicious blondie.

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RER 8.22.16

Anything with browned butter is instantly kicked up a notch, and the sexiness goes through the roof. Browned butter brings maturity—burned notes that are round and intriguing. The walnuts in these blondies connected nicely with the rich flavor of the brown butter, while the white chocolate chips vanished, but traces of their sweetness remained, bringing a softer side of the browned butter out to play.

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RER 8.22.16

If that wasn’t enough, a thick layer of decadent cookie butter frosting, weeping with the late August heat, was smeared across the just-cool-enough blondies. The frosting was warmed with just a touch of cinnamon, but the cookie butter mimicked the brown sugar and butter patterns of the cookie-like blondie below.

RER 8.22.16

RER 8.22.16

The confection was fudgy and dense, an overdose of sugar that mellowed with refrigeration. Each bite tickled so many senses: the scent of browned butter and cinnamon emanated from each morsel; the sticky frosting that clung to fingers and lips and crunchy toasted walnuts, both with textures forcing feel and touch; the taste of caramel brown sugar spiked with fat chunks of sea salt heightened sweetness and added sophistication and refinement; the visual undulation of salt and sugar, monotone yet alluring.   

These blondies had it all— brown sugar, brown butter, white chocolate chips, cookie butter, and a little too much frosting.

RER

9.10.16

RER 8.22.16

Not Just Nourishment: The Hudson School Board of Trustees Dinner

Third Course: Dill Crusted Salmon with Fennel , Yukon Potato, Pearl Onions, Asparagus and Lemon Beurre Blanc

Tuesday night, alumni, faculty, board members and parents of The Hudson School came together for their annual Trustee Dinner at Amanda’s Restaurant. For many years, the school and its board have hosted the event involving a five-course meal with complimentary wine pairings, to raise money for the school’s scholarship fund.

Amanda’s is a mainstay of Hoboken (more here, here, here and here), offering fresh and classic food laced with comfort and refinement. Each course at this event was visually balanced and alive with color, from the mint green of the pea flan, to the coral pink of the salmon and bright red of the tart raspberries. Quality was present in the pretty ingredients and the varied textures throughout the courses along with the polished flavors.

First Course: Balsamic Roasted Strawberries with Olive Oil Whipped Goat Cheese, Basil, Arugula and Grilled Baguette

Second Course: Spring Pea Flan with Poached Shrimp

Fourth Course: Roasted Strip Loin with Horseradish Whipped Potatoes, Zucchini Batons, Parsley and Meyer Lemon Gremolata

Fifth Course: Raspberry and Brown Butter Tart with Vanilla Gelato

After enjoying chatting over the first few courses, Suellen Newman, the principal and founder of The Hudson School, spoke to the crowd. Her speech was heartfelt and sincere, using stories and real-life examples to underline the reason for the delectable event: raising money for The Scholarship Fund and enabling students who need financial assistance to attend the private school.

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4.28.15

MangiaMore: BANANA blondies

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RER 7.15.14

It's becoming abundantly clear why I cannot lose a pound. Not one. Not a single one. I can’t stop baking!

You know the expression, “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels”? Like, I really can’t agree with it. I can think of  a zillion billion things that taste way better than how I imagine skinny would feel (I can only imagine friends… I know what strong and healthy feel like, but not ‘skinny’ per se).

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These banana blondies just happen to be one of those delightful things that might just outweigh thin. Cookies and Cups is making it impossible for me to drop any weight and achieve that “tasty” skinniness.

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RER 7.14.14

First of all, I would not describe these as blondies. They’re something more like a moist flavorful cake with a healthy smear of delish brown sugar frosting. They were buttery and dense, like a blondie, but they didn’t have that cookie-like crumble; they were just smooth and bouncy like this banana cake.

RER 7.15.14

RER 7.14.14

-->Secondly, if there is an option of browning your butter instead of using plain-old butter, always, always go the browned butter route. Just the smell of browned butter is lusty—sensual, seductive and sonorous. It makes everything ten times more scrumptious and infinitely amplifies sex appeal.

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RER 7.14.14

-->C: This frosting was a jaw dropping. So wonderful, I wanted to take some off of the blondies to eat with other goodies. The luscious icing had some sugar heating involved like the frosting of my caramel cake and the deep yumminess of browned sugar like the pear cake but somehow, it outshone both and was utterly mouth-watering perfection. There are no words.

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Finally, the combination of the cakey base and the smooth and creamy caramelized brown sugar frosting was practically out of control. Like ridiculously, wildly, disgustingly delicious. Every bite (I cut the blondies into tiny tiny itty bitty square, aka bites) was like heaven. The banana flavor was just strong enough to linger on the tongue and waft delicately into hearts. The frosting sealed in the moistness with a rich and creamy caramel note, pulling out the beautiful moments of browned butter in the bar. And with these powers combined, the banana blondies were practically invincible.

I think this is what skinny feels like…

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7.14.14

RER 7.15.14