Salted Caramel Pretzel Brownies

I became inspired to make something like these brownies once I successfully made this salted caramel recipe from Averie Cooks. If you think you want to take a crack at making your own caramel sauce, if you like caramel (I've said it before, but for the record--and you can write this down--I thought I didn't until I made some), you should give it a go. You just lay out all your ingredients before starting (because you can't be measuring out ingredients while you've got sugar boiling), and then it's mostly just watching it to make sure it doesn't burn. I've made it three times now, and my sugar starts to become caramel around 12-13 minutes of boiling.

But I digress. Go for it if you want (I have faith in you, dear reader). I've laid out some photos of what the process might look like below. Or, you can use jarred caramel sauce. That's part of the beauty of this recipe. Although multilayered, this recipe can be as easy as you want. These brownies are ridiculous and unnecessary. They are over the top and stupid indulgent. People love them. The pretzel crust (adapted from the crust in this recipe) is pretty thick and crunchy, and the brownie base I used is cocoa brownies (sans sea salt)--the now standard in our house. I've made them a few times, and each time I varied the recipe slightly to a different end.

In the first run through, I added the caramel about 10 minutes before the end of the brownies' cooking time. Once finished, you couldn't see the caramel at all, as it had baked into the brownie itself. Ultimately, I was needlessly disappointed--they still had a great salted caramel taste, but I disliked that the caramel's presence wasn't visually apparent. The second time through, I added the caramel just a minute or two before pulling them out of the oven, so there was a layer of melty caramel on top that would slide around as you tilted the pan. While nice to look at initially, it made cutting them very difficult (i.e., they looked like a nightmare when I was done) and would make packaging them next to impossible.

What I ended up doing in this final run through was to add the caramel about 5-7 minutes before taking them out of the oven, settling on the fact that they would be a little messy to cut but that there would still be a little caramel pooled at the top. An alternative way of doing it would be to use the first method (baking it into the top), cutting the brownies, and then drizzling a thin ribbon of caramel over them in a nice pattern. Something to consider. Onto the goods.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Squares with Coconut Streusel

I'd been meaning to make use of some old bananas hanging out on my counter for a while now, and I decided to try to adapt this pumpkin bar recipe from Kelly at Meals for Miles (if you are into reading about evidenced-based nutrition and high-volume running, give her blog a read). I've made her recipe several times, and I love it because it's flavorful, pumpkin, dense, and it comes together super easily. Anything I can make in the evening without waking the baby up is a plus. I figured I could easily swap the pumpkin for banana and change some of the spices around and such, and I'd have a similar recipe going on. Except that it wasn't, not really. What I ended up with instead of a dense bar was a soft bread-like baked good, which, in retrospect, shouldn't have been surprising. What I wanted was banana bar, and what I ended up with was banana bread in an 8 x 8 bar pan. 

I was disappointed as I went to taste my first bite, thinking to myself that I'd do better in the next run-through . However, although the texture was not what I'd anticipated, both it and the flavor were excellent. I had a second huge piece just to be extra sure that I wasn't disappointed any longer... The base was almost fluffy and quite moist, and because I liked the addition of the streusel topping so much, it's going to be difficult to stop myself from putting it on everything.Also, although the streusel contains dairy, the bread itself is vegan. I'm going to toy with a streusel topping made with coconut oil in future recipes, so check back if that's something you're interested in. 

I let a friend take some of the bread home (because I'm trying to save myself from myself), and she reported back that it was the best banana bread she's ever had. In short, it may not be a great bar, it is some hella good banana bread. Happy accidents, y'all. Give those old bananas some new life. 

Grapefruit Shortbread Bars

I've relayed to you my penchant for apple cinnamony things. You know what's also up there? Citrus. You know what's also in season pretty much year-round? That's right--pucker up, y'all. I started thinking about doing something with citrus when I was running around our local farmer's market a few weeks ago. Although I really long for the summery days when the stalls are overflowing with zucchini, tomato, and corn, I still go in the winter because I gotta get outta the house every once in a while with this baby, and because the eggs are absolutely ridiculous. Yard eggs, farmed eggs, whatever they are. They're amazing and beautiful, and I love them over easy (whites cooked all the way through fortheloveofallthatisholy!) on some avocado toast. Or some sauteed spinach and mushrooms. Or on, like, just a plate. In any case, if you have the opportunity to support your local farmers and get some delicious eggs that were probably laid yesterday, I highly suggest you do.

Anyway, in addition to the eggs, I also got some citrus--grapefruit. I feel as though grapefruit don't get as much love as the lemon in baking. Or as much as the blood orange, which I see everywhere in blog recipes, but I have yet to find a blood orange in my local area (although if you do happen upon them, lemme know, because I've got plans laid out...). The grapefruit is like the citrus people eat while they're dieting, and it doesn't have to be! Just as it has a place next to the dieter's fat-free cottage cheese and hard-boiled egg breakfast, it has a place in delicious baked goods. Case in point--these grapefruit bars. They're a play on the classic lemon bar, which I love.

 Like lemon bars, these have a basic shortbread crust that comes together easily. The filling is tart, sweet, and rich. When I first tested this recipe and brought it out along with the salted caramel pretzel brownie and king cupcakes, I honestly thought it would be overlooked. I was pleasantly surprised to find that people seemed more eager to try the grapefruit bar than either of the other two. Perhaps they shared my love of citrus, or perhaps they were simply curious--either way, those who tried it definitely seemed to enjoy it. I know I did.

I juiced the grapefruit with this helpful guy I bought at Publix.