Bake or Break

Caramel-Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

On my refrigerator, there is a little card from Penzeys that reads, "Love people. Cook them tasty food." With all the things I bake, sometimes I like to come up with something especially for a particular person. In the case of these bars, my intention was to make something for Quinn. I incorporated a few of his favorite things, like caramel and chocolate. If I had been making these for anyone else, I would likely have included some chopped nuts. When given the choice, he opted to leave those out of the equation. In this case, I have to admit that he was right.

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Snickerdoodle Bars

A few years ago, I made Snickerdoodles for the first time, overcoming my strange childhood aversion to them. Since then, however, I don't recall baking them another time. That's certainly not due to any dislike of those lovely, cinnamon-y cookies. It's really just a consequence of having a baking blog. Recipes rarely get made multiple times. While I may not have made Snickerdoodles again, I did find this recipe for them in bar form. If you are fan of all there is to love about Snickerdoodles - all that brown sugar and cinnamon - then you're sure to love these, too.

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Brown Sugar Cashew Blondies

Brown sugar is one of my favorite baking ingredients. Everything is way behind chocolate on that list, but brown sugar is pretty close to the top. Combine that with how much I like baking bars, and you get these beauties. I've lamented before that cashews often get overlooked in baking. (If you agree, check out this or maybe this.) What better complement to all that brown sugar goodness than a big helping of cashews? Continue reading Brown Sugar Cashew Blondies.

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Brown Sugar Pound Cakes with Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting

In a strange turn of events, it seems I have baked something with neither chocolate nor nuts. For those of you who are astonished, I think I may have redeemed myself by the presence of cream cheese frosting. I am further redeemed by the perfection that is these cupcakes. Oh, my, but they're good. Basically, these lovely little pound cakes are loaded with brown sugar, creating a wonderful caramel-like flavor. Then, they are topped off with an amazingly simple, delicious cream cheese frosting that features even more brown sugar.

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Toffee Nut Squares

Lately, I've been going through brown sugar like you would not believe. Actually, I guess you would believe it if you've been keeping up with my recent recipes. I must say that I love the impact of brown sugar in baking. It just seems to give baked goods a little extra boost. These bars are certainly not shy with the brown sugar. Two cups in a batch of bars is surely significant. Keep in mind that with all that brown sugar front and center taste-wise, you'll need to ignore that old rock-hard lump of brown sugar you have stored in your cabinet and open up a fresh box.

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Brown Sugar Cinnamon Biscotti

View a printable recipe or more photos I was tasked this week with baking something that Quinn’s parents could take with them to St. Louis for Thanksgiving. I started thinking about what kind of baked good would be most likely to survive an airplane ride, and decided that biscotti would be just the thing. I [...]

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