Bake or Break

Peanut Butter Mud Bars

I’ve been re-visiting some of my favorite cookbooks lately. I don’t have a vast collection, but it’s large enough that some get a little lost occasionally. The positive side to that is that when you find a formerly lost one, it’s a bit like getting a new cookbook… for free!

I happened upon this recipe while re-discovering The Buttercup Bakeshop Cookbook. Of course, it had me at peanut butter. Then, I read the description that stated that these are a favorite at the bakery. With that kind of endorsement, I started rounding up ingredients. Luckily, these are all ingredients that most of us probably have in our pantries all the time.

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Fleur de Sel Chocolate Chip Blondies

If the baking lords ever decide the whole sweet and salty thing is played out, please don’t tell me. I’d rather live in oblivion, happily eating salty, sweet treats.

These blondies are a very fine example of how sweet and salty play well together. First of all, you have brown sugar blondies that can barely contain all the chocolate chips in them. Then, that’s topped off with lots of beautiful sea salt.

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Black Bottom Brownies

When we moved to New York just over a year ago, I was forced to whittle down my cookbook collection. Believe me, losing 3000 square feet of living space will make you whittle down a lot of things. I spent a lot of time and thought considering what books would make the cut.

My collection is about 85% baking books. One of my favorite kinds of baking books is bakery cookbooks. To me, those are just the best. I’m pretty sure all of those made the cut. An old favorite of mine is The Sweet Melissa Baking Book. From that book, I share with you these brownies.

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Coca-Cola Cake

I’ve had a strange fascination with this cake for a long time, yet I’ve never made it. There’s something about the thought of making a cake with a Coke that intrigues me. Sort of in a how-can-that-possibly-work way.

This particular recipe comes from Classic Southern Desserts by Southern Living. I don’t know if this cake truly has Southern origins, but it certainly seems Southern enough to me. I mean, who else would pour Coca-Cola into a cake?

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Peanut Butter Cookies with Milk Chocolate Chunks

The recipe for these amazing cookies comes to us from the equally amazing guys at Baked and their cookbook, Baked: New Frontiers in Baking. I’ve only made it over to Red Hook once to sample their creations, but their two cookbooks are certainly well-used in my kitchen.

I’ve had these cookies bookmarked for a while. Recently, I had a couple of baking… Well, I hate to say disasters. Let’s just say I’ve had some challenges of late. Because of that, I found myself wanting to bake something straightforward. Not surprisingly, I turned to an old favorite pair of mine – peanut butter and chocolate.

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Cocoa Cake

I try to keep things simple in my kitchen and on this blog. You won’t find a lot of complicated, time-consuming recipes here. Sure, I get overly ambitious from time to time, but I generally like to keep things a bit more approachable and attainable.

I actually resisted making this cake for a while. It seemed almost too simple. I mean, it’s a no-frills chocolate cake. I’m as much of a fan of chocolate as anyone, but most of the time I prefer it with just a little extra interest.

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