Unicorn Poop Cookies, the Most Magical Cookies in All the Land

I simply cannot take credit for such an amazing cookie. The Unicorn Poop Cookie is the brainchild of a genius named kristylynn84 (at least, that's her username on Instructables). Try it at home! She provides the recipe and step-by-step instructions here. And she even made a cheesy-good video set to classical music that beholds such a beauty.

I always knew baking was magical, but this takes it to a whole new level.

Board Certified Banana Fudge Brownies with Walnuts

I brought these to work and people went bananas! I've learned over years of bringing treats to parties, work, friends' houses, etc, that certain flavor combinations are definite hits with crowds. And the popular opinion whole-heartedly supports chocolate and banana together. These brownies are the real deal. They mean business. Monkey business. So so good!

I doubled the recipe and used 3 ripe bananas I had on hand. The recipe supposedly comes from the California Walnut Board. Did you know such an organization existed? That's some serious dedication to a nut! The "supposedly" above is because my mom sent me the recipe, which she had saved on a recipe card in a binder, and can't recall for sure, but thinks it's from that walnut board. I'm going to assume she's right. Because board certified brownies simply sound better. It's like they passed a test or something. And hey, based on the faces of the lucky recipients of the batch I made, they passed with flying colors.

If you happen to know for sure that these don't come from the California Walnut Board, or heck, that the board is a fantasy all together, please keep it to yourself. I purposely didn't check Google for accuracy because I like a little mystery now and then. And I can't bear the thought of these brownies not being board certified. It would ruin my day. ;)

Banana Fudge Brownies with Walnuts

Adapted from a recipe by the California Walnut Board (if memory serves my mom right...hehe)
Makes an 8-inch pan of brownies (recipe can be doubled and baked in a 9x13-inch pan)

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
6 ounces semisweet chocolate (can use chocolate chips)
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup mashed ripe banana (about 1 small)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/3 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom only of 8-inch square pan. I like to line my pan with foil and then grease the foil so it's easy to lift the entire tray of brownies out and slice on a cutting board.

In a saucepan, melt together the butter and chocolate. Remove from the heat and beat in the flour, sugar, mashed banana, vanilla, baking powder, salt, egg, and walnuts with a wooden spoon.

Spread batter evenly in prepared pan.

Bake 20-25 minutes or until center is set (do not overbake or the brownies will be dry). Cool in the pan on a wire rack, then cut into 2-inch squares. Or smaller, bite-size squares, which is my preference.


Step-by-Step in Pictures

Melt the chocolate and butter together...

Remove from the heat and add the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt...

Add the banana, egg, and vanilla...

Stir in the toasted walnuts...

Spread evenly in the prepared pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes at 350 degrees F...

Cool, then slice and serve!

One Bottle of Beer Bread

Do you know why the song "99 Bottles of Beer" is called "99 Bottles of Beer"? Here's a nifty story. Believe it at your own risk. There once were 100 bottles of beer. A nice round number. But someone stole a bottle to make this beer yeast bread and then there were only 99!

Got an extra bottle of beer lying around? This yeast bread recipe calls for exactly one bottle. No need to use a glass measuring cup because you use the whole bottle! I love that it's the perfect quantity! And each time you make this bread, it will come out a little different because you can continue to change up the brand of beer you use.

I was at my parents' house when I made this. They are not the drinking kind. But I did find one random, lonely bottle of beer in the fridge in their garage, and I knew they wouldn't miss it. So I used an Italian beer called Birra Moretti La Rossa. The loaf was great! It's got white whole wheat flour in it, which gives it a hearty flavor. Would be great for making sandwiches. Turkey or cheddar! And of course, it's best enjoyed with a tall ice cold beverage in a frosty glass, if you catch my drift. ;)

One Bottle of Beer Bread

Adapted from a recipe by Marcy Goldman in The Best of Betterbaking.com

Makes 1 large loaf

1/4 cup warm water

1 tablespoon instant yeast

2 tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 cups warm beer

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 cups white whole wheat flour

2 to 2 1/2 cups bread flour

1 egg white, beaten until foamy, for glazing

Grease or spray a 9x5-inch loaf pan. Place on a lined baking sheet.

In the bowl of a stand mixer with the beater attachment, stir together the water, yeast, and sugar. Let stand for 2 to 3 minutes until the yeast is dissolved.

Add the beer, oil, salt, white whole wheat flour, and 1 cup of the bread flour. Mix until well combined, then switch from the beater attachment to the dough hook attachment. Add the remaining bread flour, only as much as is needed to form a smooth, elastic dough that pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Knead for a few minutes. Then transfer the dough to a floured work surface and knead by hand for a few minutes.

Spray the inside of a large bowl and place the dough in the bowl, then turn to coat both sides with the oil. Cover and let rise until almost doubled in size, about 30 to 45 minutes.

Return the dough to the floured work surface, pat it down to deflate it, and then shape it into a loaf. Place in the prepared pan. Brush the top of the loaf with the foamy egg white. Cover the pan and let rise until almost doubled in size, about 30 to 40 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Slash the top of the loaf with a very sharp knife in two diagonal lines. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the top is browned and the bottom sounds hollow when tapped. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for the first 15 minutes, then remove to the wire rack to cool completely outside of the pan.

Step-by-Step in Pictures

Dissolve the yeast in water and sugar...

If you look closely, you can see that the entire bottle of beer has been poured into the measuring glass to make exactly 1 1/2 cups...in other words, no need to measure! Pour the whole bottle in the mixing bowl!

Add the beer, oil, salt, white whole wheat flour, and 1 cup of bread flour...

Add enough additional bread flour to form a smooth, elastic dough...

The dough will start to pull away from the sides of the bowl...

Let the dough rise in a greased bowl, covered, until doubled in size. Then shape into a loaf and place in the prepared pan. Brush with the foamy egg white, let rise again until doubled in size, then slash the top of the loaf with two diagonal lines...

Bake at 375 degrees F for 35 to 40 minutes...

Let cool on a wire rack, then slice and enjoy with an ice cold bottle of BEER!

A Tool to Help You Make My Award-Winning Lucky Charms Ice Cream

Remember that Award-Winning Lucky Charms Ice Cream I blogged about back in April? One of the steps for making the ice cream required separating the toasted oat grain cereal from the marshmallows. And as a dedicated ice cream maker, I handpicked those marshmallows out, one by one, because what else was I going to do? It was a labor of love.

But I just read in a blog that someone invented a sifter that almost perfectly separates the marshmallows from Lucky Charms cereal! I know you are celebrating quietly in your seat.

The only minor challenge is that you need to own a 3D printer (or become friends with an owner of one) because that's how you create your sifter. The sifter shape reminds me of a paper tea cup with holes in the bottom. So, go invest in a 3D printer and then make delicious Lucky Charms Ice Cream! How much do 3D printers cost? Small price to pay!

Step-by-step instructions for making your own sifter here.

I Want a Wonder Woman KitchenAid Stand Mixer and I'm Ready to Fly to Brazil to Get It

Looks like KitchenAid's Brazilian division is offering a Wonder Woman edition of the KitchenAid stand mixer. And a peace and flower edition! And a bugs edition! And a skull and cross bones edition! Gahhhhh! View the Brazil KitchenAid stand mixer Facebook photo album here. Maybe they'll add more designs soon!




This news came to me while I was staring depressingly at my plain white uber-boring white mixer. I've already vented on this blog in the past about my white mixer, wishing I had a fun color like turquoise or hot pink. Now that I see these special edition patterned ones, forget the solid bright colors! (Though honestly, anything is more fun than white!)

Do I have to fly to Brazil to get one or do they ship internationally? I'm ready to book my flight.

Honey and White Whole Wheat Bread

It's the darndest thing. I was watching an episode of Man vs. Food on the Travel Channel, and this cook was featured demonstrating how he makes meat pastries (or pasties, as the restaurant calls them) from scratch, rolling out the dough with a vintage commercial dough roller, and hand filling and shaping each pastry. My mouth was watering. And within a minute of watching that, I got the urge to make homemade dough. The guy on the episode wasn't using yeast, but I think my craving to make dough was so strong, and unspecific enough, that pretty much any type of dough would do.

I pulled out a bread book from my extensive collection, and selected the first thing I saw that I had all the ingredients for without needing to stop at a grocery store. This Honey and White Whole Wheat Bread was the winner.


The bread has a delicious, hearty, sweet taste, and is a bit dense from all the whole wheat. I think next time I'd use a cup of all-purpose flour to replace one of the cups of white whole wheat, just so it isn't quite such a heavy dough, as is typical of whole wheats. But I can't really complain, because I can't stop eating the loaf, and it makes delicious toast with a little butter spread on top. I made split pea soup from scratch last night and intend to have honey and white whole wheat bread and a cup of soup each night for dinner this week. We'll see how that goes. The loaf might not last that long...


Honey and White Whole Wheat Bread
Adapted from a recipe by Judith M. Fertig in Prairie Home Breads
Makes 1 loaf

1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon warm water
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups white whole wheat flour, plus more if needed

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and stir to dissolve the yeast. Let sit for 5 minutes until foamy.

2. To the yeast mixture, add the honey, oil, salt, and flour, 1 cup at a time. Add more flour as necessary to form a soft dough that pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

3. Knead the dough for 3 to 4 minutes, until smooth and elastic. Then place in an oiled bowl, and turn over so both sides are coated with oil. Cover and let rise at room temperature until doubled, about 1 hour.

4. Grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan and set aside. Punch down the dough in the bowl and turn it out onto a floured work surface. Shape the dough into a loaf and place, seam side down in the prepared pan. Cover and let rise at room temperature until doubled, about 1 hour.

5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake the bread for 30-35 minutes, until golden brown on top and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.


Step-by-Step in Pictures
Combine the yeast and warm water, allow to get foamy, then add in the honey, oil, salt, and flour...

Add enough flour to form a soft dough that pulls away from the sides of the bowl...

Knead the dough on a floured work surface for 3 to 4 minutes, then cover and let rise until doubled in size...
Shape into a loaf and place in prepared pan, then cover and allow to rise again until doubled in size...
Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 to 35 minutes, until golden brown...

Cool on a wire rack, then slice and serve!

Super Chewy Homemade Soft Pretzels

I have a weakness for soft pretzels. They are my kryptonite, and the thing I gravitate toward at baseball games, festivals, street fairs, malls, Costco, you name it. And yet I'd never tried making them at home. It was time.

When I found this recipe and read the instructions, I had one thought: I've done this before. Ok, no, it wasn't to make pretzels, but it was the exact same method of boiling, then baking. It was to make bagels! That was definitely a comfort as I approached this slightly intimidating pretzel project; I already had experience doing almost the identical thing. And as a result, I already owned a bagel strainer, which would come in handy when making the pretzels.

These pretzels freeze great, so if you don't think you can eat all 16 within two days, I recommend freezing them in Ziploc bags and defrosting one at a time as you have a craving. Just keep in mind that if you choose salt as your topping, the salt will get soggy and absorb into the top of your pretzel once frozen; better to freeze the ones you top with seeds and eat up the salt-covered ones first. Drizzle some yellow mustard on them, and there you have it, the real deal.

Mall shmall. Make soft pretzels at home! Though who am I kidding? The very next time I'm at a mall, I'm sure I'll succumb to the kryptonite.

Soft Pretzels

Adapted from a recipe by King Arthur Flour
Makes 16 pretzels

1 tablespoon sugar
2 cups room-temperature water
1 tablespoon active dry yeast or 2 teaspoons instant yeast
3 cups white whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons sugar or non-diastatic malt powder (King Arthur Flour sells this!)
1 tablespoon salt
2 1/2 to 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

6 cups water
2 tablespoons baking soda

1 egg
1 tablespoon water
sesame seeds, poppy seeds, pretzel salt, or other topping of your choice

If using active dry yeast, combine the sugar, water and yeast in a large bowl or stand mixer, and stir until dissolved. If using instant yeast, there's no need to mix these ingredients together first; simply add them directly to the bowl like the other ingredients. Add in the white whole wheat flour, malt/sugar, salt, and all-purpose flour. Only add as much all-purpose flour as is necessary to form a soft dough that pulls away from the sides of the bowl (the dough should not be sticky). Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface, knead well, place in a greased bowl, and turn over in the bowl so both sides of the dough are greased. Cover the bowl and let rise until doubled in size.

Return the dough to the floured work surface and divide the dough into 16 equal pieces. Roll each piece of dough between your hands until it is a pretty lengthy log, then lay it on the board and shape into a pretzel. Repeat until all 16 pretzels are shaped.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

In a large soup pot, boil the water and baking soda together. To add a pretzel into the water without burning yourself, carefully lay a pretzel onto a bagel strainer, then lower the strainer into the water until the pretzel comes off and floats in the water. The pot will hold 3 to 4 pretzels at a time. Because the pretzels will float to the top, boil for 30 seconds, then turn the pretzel over to boil for another 30 seconds on the other side. Using the bagel strainer, transfer the boiled pretzel to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Leave enough space between the pretzels on the baking sheet to account for them growing in the oven. They will puff up in all directions and you don't want them to stick to each other!

Beat together the egg and 1 tablespoon of water to create an egg glaze. Brush the glaze on the pretzels and sprinkle with your topping of choice. Bake for 10-14 minutes, until the tops of the pretzels are golden brown.


Step-by-Step in Pictures
Dissolve the yeast and sugar in water, then add the white whole wheat flour, salt, malt/sugar, and some of the all-purpose flour...

Continue to add all-purpose flour until the dough comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl...

Knead the dough on a floured work surface, then place in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled...
Divide the dough into 16 pieces...
Shape each piece into a log...
Then shape the log into a pretzel...
Place a pretzel on a bagel strainer and carefully lower the strainer into the boiling water...

Boil for 30 seconds on each side...
Strain excess water from the pretzel as you transfer it from the pot to a baking sheet...
Brush with an egg glaze, then sprinkle with seeds or salt...

Bake at 450 degrees F for 10-14 minutes, until golden brown...

Try not to eat all 16 at once. Enjoy!