TWD: Chewy Chunky Blondies

I know the rest of the country has been dealing with extreme heat, but here in "sunny" San Diego we've barely seen the sun all month. This has been just fine with me, as I live in a little house with little windows making it very difficult to cool down at night. While others complain I like the silver lining of being able to bake in the summer. And to enjoy hot tea in the morning, but that is another story.

Sometimes there is no better therapy than baking. Baking is good for the soul. And my soul has needed a little TLC this week. Everything is fine with me. No complaints, actually. But friends past and present have suffered great losses recently, and I feel for them. Scratch that - I ache for them. I ache and I am frustrated at not being able to help relieve their pain.

So you can see why I am so happy to be able to fire up the oven.



These little gems, chosen by Nicole from Cookies on Friday were a big hit at the office today. I occasionally lead meetings with my co-workers, and it is always nice to win them over first with a tasty treat. Too bad for those who don't like coconut (with all due respect, what is wrong with you people?). Apparently these looked and/or smelled so good that a non-coconut person broke down and gave them a try. Sadly, he tasted the coconut in them, and a perfectly good Blondie square was wasted. Sigh.


These were super easy to make, and although mine seemed to bake forever they ended up being perfectly done. If I need a quick and easy dessert to take somewhere, this will be high on the list.

TWD: Tarte Noire

Hello all - this will be quick. I have a weird habit of participating, enjoying what I make, and then totally forgetting to post. UGH!

This should be an interesting summer as I have once again made two boo boos. At least I got the right recipe this time (whew!) but messed up both parts to it. I used regular sugar for the crust rather than confectioner's sugar. The other mistake was not getting the butter to the correct room temp before putting it into the ganache. The result - not quite mixed ganache, which isn't very pretty. The most upsetting bit about this is my attention to detail is quite good, if I do say so myself. Or at least it is at work. Somehow I'm making some stupid mistakes in the baking department.



I went super bittersweet on the chocolate, for reasons that escape me, so this is a bit too much. I definitely needed the whipped cream to offset the taste of the chocolate. Were I to make this again I would use a milder chocolate, or perhaps one with a flavor (a little chocolate and coconut sounds pretty darn good).




My thanks (and apologies) to dharma girl at bliss: towards a delicious life for this week's pick. It would be a show stopper dessert in someone else's hands. I'll give this a try again another day, correcting my errors (I hope!).