Raspberry Crisp

Wahoo! A post that doesn't involve me apologizing and promising to post again soon. And it's a good one. Involving dessert!

I love raspberries, anytime I see a dessert on pinterest involving raspberries I pin it. And when I saw this recipe for raspberry crisp, from the Pioneer Woman, not only did I pin it...I made it! And it did not disappoint. It was so good. And so so easy. I ate leftovers for breakfast all week. I mean, as long as there is fruit it's ok to eat for breakfast, right? That's what I thought. Please run out and grab the ingredients for this as soon as possible. There might be a chance that you have the ingredients in your kitchen already, that's how simple it is.

Raspberry Crisp

Source: The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients:
2-1/2 cups Raspberries
1 Tablespoon (Heaping) Cornstarch
2/3 cups Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 cup All-purpose Flour
1/4 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
1/3 cup Oats
1/4 cup Pecans, Chopped
Dash Of Salt
3/4 sticks Butter, Cut Into Small Pieces
Whipped Cream Or Vanilla Ice Cream, For Serving

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, combine (rinsed) raspberries, corn starch, 2/3 cups sugar, and vanilla. Stir and set aside.

In a separate bowl (or food processor) combine flour, 1/4 cup sugar, brown sugar, oats, pecans, dash of salt, and butter pieces. Cut together with a pastry cutter (or pulse in food processor) until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Add berry mixture to a small baking dish or pie pan. Sprinkle topping mixture all over the top. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until topping is golden brown.

Allow to sit for ten minutes before serving. Scoop out with a spoon and top with sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies

Before I made these brownies I don't think I had ever made brownies from scratch before. I always used a box mix. It's easy and fast to just throw the mix in with some oil and eggs and be done with it. But after this recipe I might make all my brownies from scratch. 

Having a baby right before the holidays makes it really hard to watch my calorie intake. Logan's Halloween candy along with Christmas baking have been just to tempting for me. And these brownies are so not good for my post-baby weight loss. I've been forcing to limit myself to one brownie a day. If you like cookie dough and brownies you will like this. I had one with ice cream last night and it was even better. Ice cream makes everything better though! Brian can't get enough of these brownies and I have heard him telling more then one person about them. He'd probably give them 5 stars, but I'm going to give them a 4; a very respectable rating. Give them a try and see how you would rate them!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies
Source: Brown Eyed Baker

Ingredients:

For the Brownie:
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups light brown sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour

For the Cookie Dough:
¾ cup unsalted butter
¾ cup light brown sugar
¾ cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons whole milk
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1½ cups mini chocolate chips

Directions:

Prepare the Brownies: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line a 9x13-inch pan with foil, with enough to hang over all four sides. Butter the foil. In a medium glass bowl, melt the chocolate in the microwave in 30-second increments, stirring after each, until melted and smooth. Set aside to cool slightly. In a large mixing bowl, mix the butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract, scraping the bowl as needed. Mix in the melted chocolate until combined. Reduce the speed to low, add the flour and mix just until combined (don't over-mix). Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Bake 25 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool completely.

Prepare the Cookie Dough: In a medium bowl, use an electric mixer on medium speed to combine the butter and both sugars. Add the milk and vanilla and mix until combined. Reduce the speed to low and mix in the flour just until combined. Using a rubber spatula, stir in the chocolate chips.

3. Spread the cookie dough over the cooled brownies. Refrigerate until the dough is firm, about an hour. Use a sharp knife or a pizza cutter (my favorite way to slice brownies!) to cut the brownies. Store the brownies in an airtight container at cool room temperature or in the refrigerator.

Raspberry Lemonade Bars

I would give this recipe 4 stars. You know when you put a lot of time into something and expect it to be amazing but your expectations are always too high. That's what happened with these. I didn't really read the steps involved in this one, and it ended up taking an entire afternoon to make them. Don't get me wrong, they were really good. And everyone who tried one loved them, but for the amount of time I put in to them I was expecting phenomenal, knock-your-socks-off good. So go ahead and make them, but just expect it to take you time. Or, better yet, get someone else to make them for you!

Raspberry Lemonade Bars
Source: Annie's Eats

Ingredients:
For the crust
2 1/4 sticks (18 tbs) unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
For the filling
3 cups sugar
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
3 tbs. lemon zest
1/4 tsp salt
3 cups frozen raspberries, thawed
6 large egg whites
2 large eggs
1 1/3 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice
Confectioners sugar for dusting
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Line a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with parchment paper.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter and sugar.  Beat on medium-high speed until smooth, 1-2 minutes.  With the mixer on low speed, mix in the flour and salt just until incorporated.  Add the dough to the prepared baking pan.  Press into an even layer over the bottom of the pan.  Bake for about 25 minutes or until light golden brown.  Remove from the oven, maintaining the temperature.


While the crust is baking, make the top layer.  Combine the sugar, flour, lemon zest and salt in a large bowl and whisk to blend.  Add the raspberries to a fine mesh sieve and press through, mashing with a spatula, to extract as much juice and pulp as possible, straining out the seeds.  Add the egg whites and eggs to the bowl with the dry ingredients and whisk well to blend.  Whisk in the raspberry puree and lemon juice until smooth.


Pour the mixture over the crust and bake until the center is just set and not longer jiggles when gently shaken, about 35-40 minutes.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool to room temperature.  Cover and chill well in the refrigerator, at least 2 hours.  When ready to serve, use the parchment paper to lift the bars from the pan.  Place on a cutting board and slice into bars.  Dust the tops with confectioners’ sugar if desired.