Best-Ever Bourbon Brownies

Cookbook Countdown is a monthly cooking/baking event, which I'm co-hosting with Emily's Cooking (Makan2) Foray.  Everyone is welcome to join us. How does it work? To summarize, you may select a cookbook from your own cookbook collection, to cook or bake from each month. That selected book shall be your cookbook of the month. You may cook any recipes and as many recipes as you want from your selected book of the month. This is a fabulous way of using your cookbooks at least once! For more information on how to join Cookbook Countdown, please click here. 

************************

Cookbook Countdown #2 : Recipe No. 4 : Best-Ever Bourbon Brownies

from my selected cookbook for this month, Better Homes and Garden : Baking

Everyone needs a brownie every now and then! 

These brownies are not too sweet. I did not brush the top of the brownies with bourbon when the brownie has done baking. I've added 2 tablespoons of the bourbon into the batter instead. I've used dark chocolate and I can taste the slight bitterness of the chocolate with the aroma of the bourbon, very nice. The crumbs are soft and moist with a little cake-like texture. 

Bittersweet chocolaty brownies served with a  scoop of vanilla ice cream, so yummy!

Recipe comes with the Bourbon Frosting which is spread over the brownies. I have however, omitted the frosting, as we wanted to eat the brownies with vanilla ice cream. For the Bourbon Frosting recipe, please refer to the link (Better Homes and Garden website) provided in the recipe below. 

Best-Ever Bourbon Brownies
(adapted from "Better Homes and Garden : Baking", or here)
Makes 16 brownies
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter
2 tablespoons water
1 cup semisweet chocolate pieces
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted
2 to 3 tablespoons bourbon
1 recipe Bourbon Frosting
2 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted
pecan halves, toasted (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8x8x2-inch baking pan with foil, extending foil about 1 inch over the edges of pan. Grease foil; set pan aside. In a medium saucepan combine sugar, butter, and the water. Cook and stir over medium heat just until boiling. Remove from heat.
2. Stir in 1 cup chocolate pieces until melted. Add eggs and vanilla, beating with a wooden spoon just until combined. Stir in flour, baking soda, and salt. (Add in 2 tablespoons bourbon). Stir in chopped pecans. Pour batter into the prepared pan, spreading evenly.
3. Bake about 25 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near center comes out clean and edges start to pull away from sides of pan.
4. Place pan on a wire rack. Brush top of hot brownies with bourbon. (I did not brush the top with bourbon). Cool in pan on rack.
5. Spread brownies with bourbon Frosting. Cut into bars. Top each with some of the melted chocolate and, if desired, a pecan half.

"I'm linking this post with Cookbook Countdown hosted by 

Kitchen Flavours and Emily's Cooking (Makan2) Foray".

p/s : I am having problems with wordpress blogs for the past two weeks. I am unable to open the link to the posts using wordpress. I apologize if you have not received any comments from me. This has never happen before, and I am wondering why. Whatever the issues are at wordpress, I hope they will resolve the problems soon. Do any of you have the same problems?

An InLinkz Link-up

Peppery White Cheddar Biscuits

Cookbook Countdown is a monthly cooking/baking event, which I'm co-hosting with Emily's Cooking (Makan2) Foray.  Everyone is welcome to join us. How does it work? To summarize, you may select a cookbook from your own cookbook collection, to cook or bake from each month. That selected book shall be your cookbook of the month. You may cook any recipes and as many recipes as you want from your selected book of the month. This is a fabulous way of using your cookbooks at least once! For more information on how to join Cookbook Countdown, please click here. 

************************

Cookbook Countdown #2 : Recipe No. 3

from my selected cookbook for this month, Better Homes and Garden : Baking

I've made Peppery White Cheddar Biscuits. I've made only half a recipe, which yield 9 biscuits. These are really similar to making scones, and when I googled for information on the difference between biscuits and scones, I came across some interesting info. Scones originated from Scotland and are associated with British high tea, which is usually served with jam, clotted cream or simply with a cup of tea of coffee. Scones are slightly sweeter and maybe plain flavoured with dried fruits and nuts. Biscuits on the other hand, are American made, and in the South, biscuits are considered a staple diet. They are served during mealtimes as part of a meal, with butter, soups, stews or gravy. 

These are very easy to make. There's white cheddar cheese and black pepper in these biscuits. Smells so cheezy nice when they are in baking in the oven. I love how the cheese bakes up so golden brown in some spots.

These biscuits are moist with a tender flakiness, and very tasty. We ate these while still warm with some mushroom soup to dunk in.


Peppery White Cheddar Biscuits
(adapted from "Better Homes and Garden Baking" or here)

Makes 18 biscuits

4 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup shortening

1/4 cup butter

1-1/2 cups finely crumbled or shredded sharp white cheddar cheese (6 ounces)

2 to 3 teaspoons coarsely ground black pepper

1-1/2 cups milk

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon water

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Lightly grease a large baking sheet; set aside. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in shortening and butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add cheese and pepper; mix well. Make a well in center of the flour mixture. Add milk all at once; stir just until moistened.
2. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead dough by folding and gently pressing it for 10 to 12 strokes or just until dough holds together. Divide dough in half. Roll or pat each half into 6-inch square, about 1 inch thick. Using a sharp knife, cut dough into 2-inch squares. Combine egg and water; brush tops of biscuits. Place on prepared baking sheet.
3. Bake for 13 to 15 minutes or until golden. Remove biscuits from baking sheet; serve warm.

To Store :

Place biscuits in an airtight container or resealable plastic bag; cover or seal. Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. To serve, preheat oven to 300F. Place scones on a baking sheet and bake for 5 to 6 minutes or until warm.

To Make Ahead :

Prepare and bake biscuits as directed; cool completely on a wire rack. Place biscuits in a freezer container or bag and freeze up to 3 months. To serve, wrap frozen biscuits in foil and bake in a 300F oven about 15 minutes or until warm.

"I'm linking this post with Cookbook Countdown hosted by 

Kitchen Flavours and Emily's Cooking (Makan2) Foray".

An InLinkz Link-up

Banana Bread

Cookbook Countdown is a monthly cooking/baking event, which I'm co-hosting with Emily's Cooking (Makan2) Foray.  Everyone is welcome to join us. How does it work? To summarize, you may select a cookbook from your own cookbook collection, to cook or bake from each month. That selected book shall be your cookbook of the month. You may cook any recipes and as many recipes as you want from your selected book of the month. This is a fabulous way of using your cookbooks at least once! For more information on how to join Cookbook Countdown, please click here. 

************************

Cookbook Countdown #2 : Recipe No. 2

from my selected cookbook for this month, Better Homes and Garden : Baking

Recipe No. 2 : Banana Bread

What do you do when you have more than a dozen ripe bananas sitting on your kitchen counter? Make Banana Smoothies, Banana Ice Cream and of course Banana Bread! 

The bananas I used were very sweet, so I have reduced the sugar by half, and the cake is still a little sweet for me. There's some spices used in the bread, but I've only used ground cinnamon. I've omitted the ground nutmeg and could not find my ground ginger spice jar, so I've omitted that too. I've used canola oil and have omitted the walnuts as my daughter is not fond of nuts.

Very easy to make, mix the dry ingredients in one bowl. Mix the wet ingredients in another bowl. Then pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, mix to combine, then pour into a 9x5-inch loaf pan and bake as directed. It bakes up a lovely deep brown with some cracks on top, as pictured in the book. I baked the bread in the evening, and left it to cool overnight, as advised in the recipe. And I think banana bread always tastes so much better the next day.

The cake is moist, soft and very nice. Love both the flavour and fragrance from the ripe bananas. I would make this recipe again, though I would further reduce the sugar a little bit more. 

Banana Bread
(adapted from "Better Homes and Gardens Baking")
2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg (I omit this)
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger (I omit this, cannot find my ground ginger spice jar!)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1-1/2 cups mashed bananas (4-5 medium)
1 cup sugar (I use 1/2 cup)
1/2 cup vegetable oil or melted butter (I use canola oil)
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (I omit this)

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and line a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan, or two 7-1/2x3-1/2x2-inch pans.
2. In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg and ginger. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, combine eggs, bananas, sugar, and oil. Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy). Fold in walnuts. Spoon batter into prepared pan, spreading evenly.
4. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes for 9x5x3-inch pan or 40 to 45 minutes for 7-1/2x3-1/2x2-inch pans or until a wooden toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. If necessary to prevent overbrowning, cover loosely with foil for the last 15 minutes of baking.
5. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan. Cool completely on rack. Wrap and store overnight before slicing.

my notes : I use only 1/2 cup sugar and it is already sweet enough! If you prefer much less sweeter, especially if the bananas are very sweet, you can reduce another 2-3 tablespoons from that 1/2 cup. I used 4 bananas. For the spices I use only ground cinnamon and have omitted the walnuts. For the oil, preferably use flavourless cooking oil like canola.

"I'm linking this post with Cookbook Countdown hosted by 

Kitchen Flavours and Emily's Cooking (Makan2) Foray".

An InLinkz Link-up

Cookbook Countdown #2 - Homemade Checkerboard Rolls

Cookbook Countdown is a monthly cooking/baking event, which I'm co-hosting with Emily's Cooking (Makan2) Foray.  Everyone is welcome to join us. How does it work? To summarize, you may select a cookbook from your own cookbook collection, to cook or bake from each month. That selected book shall be your cookbook of the month. You may cook any recipes and as many recipes as you want from your selected book of the month. This is a fabulous way of using your cookbooks at least once! For more information on how to join Cookbook Countdown, please click here. 

************************

Cookbook Countdown #2 : Recipe No. 1

from my selected cookbook for this month, Better Homes and Garden : Baking

There are more than 350 recipes in this book! And each recipe comes with a photo. Now which recipe should I make first? Could not decide... just too many, but there's always some recipes that stands out among the many dozens in the book. Just like this one, Homemade Checkerboard Rolls. I keep going back to this particular page each time I browse thru the book. I finally tried out the recipe on one afternoon and here it is :

These are little bread rolls, made checkerboard style, by using a different topping (one light and one dark) and placing them next to each other. The dough is pretty easy to make. One thing to note is I did not use the 1/4 cup of warm water as stated in the recipe. Our weather is hot and humid, and we tend to use slightly less water. So I have omitted the water, thinking of adding it in by the tablespoons if needed during kneading. Turns out it did not need the water at all, the dough is soft, only slightly sticky and very easy to work with. The amount of flour I used is 3-3/4 cups and I have used bread flour instead of all-purpose flour. Depending on the environment and type of flour used, you may need to adjust the amount of flour and liquid accordingly.

There are two different toppings. One is a mixture of black poppy seeds and white sesame seeds. The other is a mixture of grated Parmesan cheese and fine cornmeal. When the dough is ready to be shaped, divide it into 24 rolls (about 36grams each), dip the rounded top into a small bowl of melted butter, then dipped the buttered part into one of the topping mixtures. Repeat with the other topping mixture. Place the rolls next to each other in a greased pan, alternately, into a checkerboard pattern. Cover with greased cling wrap and let to rise until double in size, about only 30 minutes. Bake as directed in the recipe.

The baked rolls.

With different toppings.

These rolls are soft and nice. I made them meant for breakfast the next morning, but in the end we had these with some homemade stew for dinner instead! There's only 6 left for the following morning's breakfast.

Homemade Checkerboard Rolls
(adapted from "Better Homes and Garden : Baking", or here)
Makes 24 small rolls
1 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
1 teaspoon salt
1 package active dry yeast (2 teaspoons)
1/4 cup warm water (105F to 115F) (omitted, refer instruction below *)
1 egg, lightly beaten
3-1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour (I use in total about 3-3/4 cups bread flour)
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
2 teaspoons dried minced onion or dried minced garlic (omit this)
2 tablespoons yellow cornmeal
2 tablespoons grated Romano or Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup butter, melted

1. In a small saucepan, combine milk, sugar, 1/4 cup butter, and the salt; heat and stir over medium-low heat until warm (105F to 115F). Meanwhile, in a large bowl dissolve yeast in the warm water. (* I did not use the warm water since the dough is soft and slightly sticky, and since I'm using instant yeast, I added the instant yeast to the lukewarm milk mixture, stir with a whisk until dissolve, then add in the egg, and proceed with Step 2 below, adding the flour).
2. Add the milk mixture and egg to yeast mixture. Gradually stir in enough flour to make a soft dough.
3. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Knead in enough of the remaining flour to make moderately soft dough that is smooth and elastic (about 3 minutes). Shape dough into ball. Place in a greased bowl, turning once. Cover; let rise in warm place until double in size (about 1 hour). (I use the stand mixer with the dough hook, to knead the dough, about 10 minutes).
4. Grease a 15x10x1-inch baking pan; set aside. Punch dough down; turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Let rest for 10 minutes. Divide dough into 24 pieces. (I weighed the dough, and divide into 24 rounds of about 36 grams each). Gently shape into balls.
5. In a shallow dish combine sesame seeds, poppy seeds, and dried minced onion. In another shallow dish combine cornmeal and cheese. Place 1/4 cup melted butter in a third dish. Working quickly, roll dough pieces in butter and in one of the seasoning mixtures to lightly coat. Coat half of the rolls with one seasoning mixture and the remaining rolls with the other seasoning mixture. Alternate rolls in prepared pan. Cover rolls with greased plastic wrap and a towel. Let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.
6. Preheat oven to 400F. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden. Remove from pan. Serve warm or at room temperature.

To Make Ahead :

Prepare as directed through Step 5. Chill for up to 24 hours. Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Continue as directed in Step 6. Or prepare and bake rolls as directed. Wrap cooled rolls in plastic wrap; place in a resealable plastic freezer bag. Freeze for up to 2 months. To serve, heat rolls in a 375F oven for 5 to 8 minutes.

"I'm linking this post with Cookbook Countdown hosted by 

Kitchen Flavours and Emily's Cooking (Makan2) Foray".

An InLinkz Link-up