Better Than Brownies: Lower-Fat Blondies Recipe

Blondies are the butterscotch version of brownies, and I did not believe I could ever love them more than brownies, but now I do thanks to this lower-fat recipe found in a recent Cook's magazine. They turn out moist, chewy and with a chocolate bar chopped into it, and nuts. Note: They really ARE best if you wait 2 hours before cutting into them.

These blondies will melt in your piehole.

Lower-Fat Blondies (makes 16)

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1-3/4 cups packed brown sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg plus 2 large-egg whites, room temperature
4 teaspoons vanilla extract

Chopping the chocolate bar.

1-1/2 teaspoons cider vinegar
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine
1/4 cup pecans, toasted and chopped

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat to 350 degrees. Line a 13x9" pan with foil sprayed with vegetable oil spray.
2. Whisk flour, salt and baking soda together in a bowl. In a large bowl whisk sugar, melted butter, egg and whites, vanilla, and vinegar together until smooth. Stir in the flour mixture, chocolate, and pecans with a rubber spatula until just combined. Don't overmix. Batter will be thick.
3. Pour batter into the prepared pan and smooth out the top. Bake 17 to 20 minutes until toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. Cool completely, about 2 hours (I challenged this and they truly are BETTER and easier to cut if cooled completely), and cut into serving pieces.

Kansas State University Cornmeal Biscotti: Recipe

Biscotti exquisitely crunchy with a portion of cornmeal in the flour to make it golden, and there's no sugar (it's sweetened with maple syrup) and no grease. The finishing touch: as many roasted Sunflower Seeds as the dough will hold.

Kansas State University Biscotti

1-3/4 cups unbleached white flour
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup real maple syrup
1/2 cup or more roasted unsalted sunflower seeds

Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray or coat it lightly with oil. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl,  put the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt, and whisk them together. Crack the two eggs into a cup and beat them lightly before adding to the flour. Stir in the maple syrup, vanilla and nuts, mixing just until the dough is smooth. Divide dough in half and form each half into a log about a foot long. Place logs about 5 inches apart on the baking sheet, and flatten the tops of the logs a little with the heel of your hand. Bake the logs 25-30 minutes until the logs are firm.

Remove the logs from the oven, carefully lift them out of the pan with spatulas, and put them on a rack to cool for about 15 minutes. Reduce the oven heat to 325 degrees. When logs are cooled,  use a sharp knife to slice each log on the diagonal, each slice about 1/2 inch thick. Place slices back on the baking sheet and bake them at 325 for 15 minutes or until they are dry. When they are dry they are ready. You will have about 25-30 biscotti.

I like to just turn off the oven after the 15 minutes and let them dry in the oven for a couple of hours. 

Recipe: Blueberry Five-Minute Freezer Jam

Buy up those bargain blueberries and enjoy them at your leisure with a no-canning, no-brainer recipe--

Speedy Blueberry Refrigerator Jam

Serve this jam on toast, pancakes, vanilla ice cream, pound cake, stir it into oatmeal or yogurt. . .

4 cups fresh blueberries
1 cup sugar
1 (3-ounce) package of lemon-flavored gelatin

Combine all ingredients in large saucepan. Bring to a boil. Cook for 2 minutes. Pour into jars and refrigerate. Makes 3 cups. Yes, it will set up and jell.

Recipe from Bountiful Harvest (Reiman Publications, 1994) a cookbook of recipes that specifically use up "too much produce" whether it's rhubarb or zucchini or tomatoes.