Sunday, December 5, 2010

Homemaker Monday

Welcome to the 111th weekly edition of...


Thank you for joining us! If you're new to this carnival and would like to enter your post, please check HERE for the rules and regs.

YOURS: This week's "YOURS" goes to "Simply Sweet Home"! When I saw the thumbnail of Jerri's chocolate truffles, I knew I would be looking no further! These delicacies are made with brownie mix, almond bark and other delectables, and they are absolutely lovely. Just take a look...

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For Jerri's recipes, click HERE. You can bet I'll be making these at Christmas time!

MINE: Applebee's Copycat Blondies!

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We love to bake on Sunday. I don't know why. Maybe it's because it's a lazy day, a day in which we avoid the usual media, abstain from regular housework, and just spend time together as a family. Usually we make something rich and chocolate-y, but because John abhors chocolate (Can you imagine such a thing?), sometimes we try to find something that is equally delicious sans chocolate.

As I racked my brain yesterday to come up with something, I remembered that Applebees has a rich dessert called a Blondie. It has the texture of a brownie, but without the chocolate. It is topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and steaming caramel sauce. So we found a blondie recipe at allrecipes.com, the 15-year-old girl whipped up a batch, I made the ice cream in our super-easy ice cream maker, and the 10-year-old boy made the caramel sauce. We didn't like the sauce (it was a vegan recipe because we were out of cream), but I'm sure you can find a recipe that would be to your liking. Enjoy!

The Best Blondies

<p>A brownie-like recipe great served with ice cream and caramel syrup!</p>

See The Best Blondies on Key Ingredient.


Ingredients
* 3 cups cake flour
* 1 tablespoon baking powder
* 3/4 teaspoon salt
* 3/4 pound unsalted butter
* 3 cups packed light brown sugar
* 3 large eggs
* 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions
1. Adjust oven rack to lowest position; heat to 325 degrees. Spray a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with vegetable cooking spray. Fit a12-by-18-inch piece of heavy-duty foil into the pan so you can use the foil overhang as a handle to pull baked blondies from the pan; coat foil with cooking spray.

2. Whisk flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl. Then, heat butter and brown sugar in a large pan until bubbling hot. Whisk eggs and vanilla in a large bowl. Slowly whisk hot sugar mixture, then dry ingredients, into eggs. Stir in optional add-ins (if using chocolate, let batter cool slightly first).

3. Scrape batter into prepared pan, then bake until blondies are just set, about 45 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for five minutes. Pull blondies from the pan using foil handles and set on a wire rack. Cool completely before cutting into 24 pieces.

OURS: Okay, let's see what great Homemaking tips you have for us today. Thanks so much for your link and visits and have a great Homemaker Monday!





P.S. My sister and I are finally getting skinnier!
See how we're doing it HERE! :)

12 comments:

Tara said...

This is one of my fav desserts from one of my fav restaurants! Surely east coast (US) Applebees serve the same menu as west coast ones. If so, I have the exact recipe for this! And the sauce is actually a maple butter sauce instead of caramel (that's why I was wondering if the menu items were same on both coasts). Let me know if you ever want to give this another try with the maple sauce - I'll get the recipe to you.

Tara

a moderate life said...

yes! I do love the blondie's at appleby's and would love to make them myself! very cool! This week, i am linking up my mother's apple cake recipe that I tweeked a bit to make healthier and it was a success! All the best, Alex

annies home said...

those look delicious.I am sure my teens would think they would be in heaven I also love the fact that there are so many great goodies shared today

Mom2my10 @ 11th Heaven said...

Well, Tara, sure I'd love the recipe! You can just post a link in the comments for everyone to enjoy if you want, or if you don't have a link, you can email it to me at mom2my9 (at) gmail (dot) com. Thank you!

a little bit of everything said...

I was unable to get the linky to work. It goes through the whole process but then doesn't show on your main page.
http://robertapm28.blogspot.com/2008/12/crafts-wall-hangings-and-christmas.html

http://robertapm28.blogspot.com/2008/12/table-settings-and-recipes-christmas.html

Mom2my10 @ 11th Heaven said...

Okay, a little bit of everything, I got your link up, then I saw that it was already up. Sorry about the problems, but thank you for linking up!

Jerri at Simply Sweet Home said...

I was so excited when I came by and saw my truffles here! Thanks so much for featuring me! And thank you for hosting each week!

Tara said...

Here is the link from food.com for the Applebee's blondie with maple butter like they serve here on the east coast. Since you weren't fond of the caramel sauce, maybe you will like this one better!

http://www.food.com/recipe/maple-butter-blondie-dessert-like-applebees-130184

Also, I used a great maple sauce for a pie during Thanksgiving that came from Pioneer Woman - it was WONDERFUL! Now, she used a TB of Bourbon in hers (OK, so did I!) but I tried it again a second time without it & it was still great - a bit more smooth and without the "whang". PW's sauce is pretty close to the one in the recipe link above.

Mrs Happy Homemaker said...

Oh my - does this look delish or what! Adding this to my 'must make' list! :)

Tasha Lehman said...

Truffles are my weak spot!!!!

Chats the Comfy Cook said...

I have printed this up and I am raring to go. I know, I am going to love this.

You have so many great recipes linked today. Where do I start after the blondies?

Would you link the blondies to My Meatless Mondays?
http://sweetsav.blogspot.com/2010/12/my-meatless-mondays-december-5-2010.html

Kristin said...

Blondies were my favorite thing on the applebee's dessert menu.