Tag Archives: brown butter

Gooey Brown Butter Blondies with Pecans

Posted on August 20, 2018 by Julie

I’ve been feeling a little bored with my standard bakes lately. They’re still good, don’t get me wrong, but they just aren’t scratching that itch anymore. After a relatively brief tour around Pinterest, I landed on a recipe from Bon Appetit for Gooey Brown Butter Blondies with Pecans. I decided to go with something that was sweet, but really highlighting more savory flavor elements like brown butter and toasted pecans, and I have to tell you I was delighted with the results.

INGREDIENTS

Brown butter mixture

  • ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
  • 1 large egg
  • ¾ cup (packed) light brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt
  • ⅓ cup all-purpose flour

Blondie

  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more
  • 2¼ cups all-purpose flour, plus more
  • 1½ cups pecans, coarsely chopped
  • 1½ teaspoons baking powder
  • 1½ teaspoons kosher salt
  • 1¾ cups (packed) light brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Vanilla ice cream (for serving)

RECIPE PREPARATION

Brown butter mixture

  • Cook butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring often, until butter foams, then browns, 5–8 minutes. Transfer brown butter to a medium bowl; let cool slightly. Add egg, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt and beat until mixture is light and falls back onto itself in a slowly dissolving ribbon, about 3 minutes. Fold in flour.

Blondie

  • Preheat oven to 350°. Butter a 13×9” baking dish and dust with flour. Toast pecans on a rimmed baking sheet, tossing once, until slightly darkened and fragrant, 8–10 minutes. Let cool.

  • Whisk baking powder, salt, and 2¼ cups flour in a medium bowl. Using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat brown sugar and 1 cup butter in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating between additions; mix until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Mix in vanilla.

  • Reduce speed to low and mix in dry ingredients. Fold in half of pecans. Scrape two-thirds of batter into prepared baking dish; smooth top, pushing batter to edges. Alternating, dollop brown butter mixture and remaining batter on top. Smooth and sprinkle remaining pecans over.

  • Bake until blondie is golden brown and firm (a tester will not come out clean), 30–35 minutes. Let cool before slicing. Serve with ice cream.

  • DO AHEAD: Blondies can be made 1 day ahead. Store tightly wrapped at room temperature.

Notes:

  • This recipe was a little more complex than your standard dump and mix but well within the reach of the casual baker.
  • Hands down one of the best recipes I’ve tried. I loved it; my husband loved it; an office full of my new coworkers loved it. One guy even told me it was one of the best things he’d ever eaten. This is a fantastic option for a situation that calls for something a little extra special.
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Sweet Potato Cupcakes with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

Posted on November 14, 2017 by Julie

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, my dislike of sweet potatoes has peppered any remarks around holiday recipes/meal planning. So this year I decided to set aside the distaste and give it another chance. I mean I eat broccoli now, and no one saw that one coming. Tastes change, right? Supposedly? Maybe? Okay, maybe not in this case. The cupcakes are good, but I’m still not a huge fan. My taste testers really enjoyed them. Oh well, at least I tried right?

Ingredients:

Cake

  • 1 cup cooked sweet potato
  • 1 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla paste or extract
  • 1/3 cup bourbon
  • 1/3 cup butter
  • 2 1/2 cup all purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup whole milk
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp cinnamon
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Frosting

  • 1/2 stick unsalted butter
  • 4oz cream cheese (softened)
  • 1 tbsp vanilla paste or extract
  • 3/4 cups powdered sugar
  • 1-4 tbsp heavy whipping cream
  • 1/4 cup toasted chopped pecans (optional)

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350F
  2. Cream together sweet potato, brown sugar and butter until smooth.
  3. Mix in the eggs one at a time.
  4. Add bourbon, vanilla, cinnamon and salt.
  5. Sift together flour and baking powder.
  6. Add milk and flour mixture alternating until everything is incorporated.
  7. Pour batter into cupcake liners and bake for 20-25 minutes. Allow to cool completely before frosting.
  8. While cake bakes, brown butter in a pan and set aside to cool.
  9. Cream together cooled brown butter and cream cheese, then add vanilla.
  10. Add powdered sugar a cup at a time until the desired consistency.
  11. Thin frosting with cream if it becomes to stiff.
  12. Frost cooled cupcakes, top with toasted pecans and enjoy!

Note: Now something I feel like needs to be said is that these are not your traditional light fluffy cupcake, they are a bit more dense. Still good, but more of a “one with a cup of tea” and less “holy crap, how did I already eat three of these”.

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Pecan Banana Bread with Brown Butter Glaze & Toasted Pecans

Posted on April 3, 2017 by Julie

I’m on a roll, you guys! I woke up the other day and thought “I want to up my banana bread game,” and a few short hours later, I had this recipe. Now I will admit that this isn’t a “from nothing” origin: I used several different reliable recipes and shuffled, edited, and altered them until I had exactly what I wanted. This bread is dense, rich, nutty, and completely delicious. I can’t wait to make it the next time we have house guests!

Ingredients:

Banana Bread

  • 3-4 ripe bananas
  • 5 1/2 tbsps brown butter
  • 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Glaze

  • 2 1/2 brown butter
  • 3/4 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 tbsp cream

Topping

  • 1/3 cup chopped almonds

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and grease one standard loaf pan.
  2. Heat the butter over medium high heat until it turns a toasty hazelnut brown. Once the desired color is reached remove from heat immediately.
  3. Mash the bananas in a bowl, then beat in the sugar, brown butter, eggs, pecans and vanilla extract.
  4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and baking soda.
  5. Combine the two mixtures, stirring until just incorporated.
  6. Transfer batter to the prepared loaf pan and bake for 50-60 minutes.
  7. Allow to cool for 25 minute and then turn out of pan.
  8. Toast the pecans to put on the top of the glaze in the oven for 6-8 minutes.
  9. While the bread is cooling, brown the butter for the glaze.
  10. Whisk together all the glaze ingredients until smooth and then drizzle over the cooled loaf. Top with the toasted pecans.
  11. Enjoy!!!

Notes:

  • I actually don’t have anything I would change about this. I think my only comment would be that it is a little dangerous. With the exception of the two small slices I cut for tasting and photography purposes, Andy ate the rest of the loaf within 6 hours of it being made. I’m just glad it wasn’t me.
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Baked Banana Donuts with Brown Butter Glaze

Posted on August 18, 2015 by Julie

So, I have finally decided to try my hand at making my own doughnuts. I know there is a huge debate when it comes to baking vs. frying, but I decided to start with baking since A) that is the style Andy and I like best and B) I don’t like cooking that involves large containers of hot oil. I have a scar on the back of my left hand from a deep fryer mishap when I was 6 or 7, and I have been leery of frying things ever since. I found this recipe for Baked Banana Donuts with Brown Butter Glaze on Rumbly in my Tumbly, and it seemed like a pretty easy place to start.

D1

Ingredients:

For the donuts:
1 cup flour
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup buttermilk (*if you don’t have buttermilk, use milk + 1 teaspoon white vinegar)
1 ripe banana, mashed
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 tablespoon of melted butter

For the brown butter glaze:
4 tablespoons butter
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk or cream
1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 325°.  Lightly grease a donut pan.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.  Make a well in the center of the mixture and add the buttermilk, mashed banana, beaten egg, vanilla, and butter.  Mix until all ingredients are just combined.

Spoon mixture into donut pan.  Each one should be about half full.

Bake for 8-10 minutes until baked through.  Donuts should spring back when lightly pushed.

To make your glaze, heat butter over low heat until it turns golden brown- about 6-8 minutes. Do not burn it, or you will have burnt butter donuts, which will not be good.  Remove from heat and add the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla.

Dunk cooled donuts into the warm glaze, and place on parchment paper until set.  Sprinkle with cinnamon if desired.

Notes:

  • Browned butter is AMAZING; I don’t know why I never made it before!
  • The texture and taste was great, but my doughnuts were a little on the flat side; next time I’ll fill the cavities a bit more. I might also add some clove and nutmeg just to see how the glaze pairs with a spicier batter.
  • You need to use a piping bag or a ziplock with the corner clipped to fill your pans. Trust me; I am saving you a lot of time and headache.
  • I can’t wait to make these again, and since they lasted well overnight, I am thinking about bringing some into the office with me.
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