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.

if you like pina coladas...

After a week of drinking my fruit (with rum) in the islands, I'm hooked on the tropical flavors, but aware of the need to consume them in a less hangover-inducing form. I adapted this Banana Pineapple Muffins recipe from Cooks.com to boost the flavor and cut the fat a bit. You know, so you can eat a muffin top without developing a muffin top.

Banana Pineapple Muffins

1 1/2 c flour
3/4 c sugar
1/3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 c egg substitute
1/2 c apple sauce
1/2 c crushed pineapple, drained
1/2 c mashed banana
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Add liquids and stir until combined. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until muffins spring back when lightly touched.

Baking tunes: "Brushfire Fairytales" by Jack Johnson, one of the roughly two V.I.-approved artists. I really need to get my hands on the calypso version of "Independent Women."

what leprechauns would eat

I'm an Irish lass, but there's not much my ancestral cuisine that I get excited about. Boiled potatoes? I'll pass. Corned beef? Sorry, vegetarian. Cabbage? Eh. Soda bread is the exception, so every year I make my mom's recipe (after emailing her because I always lose the instructions). I like it straight from the oven with a drizzle of honey. So much more enjoyable than drinking Irish Car Bombs until you puke. Believe me.

Irish Soda Bread

3 T margarine or butter, softened

2 1/2 cups flour

2 T sugar

1 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

1/2 cup raisins

3/4 cup buttermilk

Cut margarine into flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Stir in raisins and enough buttermilk to make a soft dough.
Turn onto a lightly floured surface nead until smooth one to two minutes. Shape into a round loaf about 6 1/2 inches in diameter. Cut an X on the top. Bake in 375 oven until golden about 30 minutes, knock on it to see if it sounds hollow. Brush with melted butter.

main squeeze

I'm obsessed with all things lemon. From the Bliss body lotion I covet to yellow Starbursts, lemon makes everything better. Especially dishsoap, apparently. My friend Megan is a big fan of these Lemon-Cornmeal Cookies from Martha (hey, gurrrl!), so I whipped up a batch for her birthday. (Meggo, sorry if I'm ruining the surprise.)
The butter and cornmeal add richness and texture to the cookie, but combined with the lemon, somehow they end up tasting very fresh and light. The recipe doesn't call for icing, but I think a lemon glaze keeps the cookie from tasting too dry, so I squeezed half a lemon and stirred in powdered sugar until I got a thick, but still drizzle-able consistency.
Baking tunes: "Heartbreaker" by Ryan Adams, in honor of his recent wedding to Mandy Moore. I'm still baffled by that relationship, but such is love. Cheers!

what is that? velvet?

No red velvet creation will ever be as memorable as the armadillo-shaped groom's cake in "Steel Magnolias," so all a girl can hope for is second. It was with this mindset that I tackled my friend from work's birthday request for red velvet cupcakes. I whipped up a batch from Recipezaar, but instead of the frosting in the recipe, I made my own from a package of fat free cream cheese, about a tablespoon of skim milk, and all the confectioners sugar I had, so about three cups. The frosting was more of a glaze, which wasn't quuuuite on purpose, but in the end it made them a lot lighter. You know, so you could have seconds and thirds.