you got yr. cherry bomb

In Ohio, cherry pie filling is a cheap, common pantry staple. In New York, it's like gelatinous gold. I learned this after going to four grocery stores to find the comically expensive and elusive key ingredient for the Cherry Squares I made for the Casse-rock-n-roll party last night. I'm still in crushed-Dorito-and-sherbet withdrawal.

Cherry Squares
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup shortening (i.e. Crisco. That's right)
4 eggs
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 can cherry pie filling
Powdered sugar

Gradually add sugar to shortening in large bowl. Cream well -- at least five minutes at medium speed (my hand mixer only has one speed -- too fast -- and my arm got tired, so I capped it at about 2 1/2 minutes).
Add eggs one at a time. Add the flour and lemon juice and mix well.

Spread the batter in a greased pan or cookie sheet with sides. Mark off squares.

Place one heaping teaspoon of the filling in the center of each square. Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes or until knife inserted in the center comes out clean. When cool, sprinkle with powdered sugar and cut. And eat.
Baking tunes: Spoon, natch. Recipe courtesy of the adorbsies scrapbook/cookbook my mom made me for Christmas.

hitting the bar (cookies)

In my opinion, dark chocolate is overrated. Yeah, yeah, antioxidants, I get it. But it's white chocolate that really gets neglected. So, it's my wish that these cookie bars elevate the status of my delicious friends. Plus there's cranberries for antioxidants. And Omega-3s. Take that.

White Chocolate Chunk-Cranberry Cookie Bars

1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 Omega-3 egg whites
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup white chocolate chunks
1/2 cup dried cranberries
Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer. Mix in egg whites. I would have added vanilla, but I was out (sigh). Add flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir in white chocolate chunks and cranberries. Spread batter into an 8x8 greased glass pan. Bake 25-30 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Lick the bowl.
Baking Tunes: Ben Gibbard's cover of "It'll Be a Breeze." And these cookie bars were. I won't take that back.

mmm...chocolate

So apparently not all brownies come from boxed mixes. I know, right? I was also shocked to learn that this brownie recipe (adapted from cooks.com) didn't include baking soda or baking powder. This seemed suspect to me, but they turned out quite delicious, so who am I to question food science?

Frosted Fudge Brownies

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup Splenda
1/4 cup egg substitute
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 tablespoons cocoa
1 1/4 cup flour

Cream butter, sugar, and Splenda. Add egg and vanilla. Blend in flour and cocoa. Spread batter in 8x8 glass pan and bake at 350 for about 25 minutes or until a fork or toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

For the frosting, mix two tablespoons of cocoa with a splash of milk and about 1 1/2 cups of confectioners sugar or until you get your desired thickness.

Baking tunes: To match the guilty pleasure nature of the brownies, I listened to an '80s trinity of the Bangles, Belinda Carlisle, and The Cure. Oooh, heaven is indeed a place on Earth.