Cinnamon Almond Roca Blondies

What do you do with left over candy? You re-event them into something even more delicious! One week ago, I and another Bridesmaid, Vie, helped our friend Yae assemble all her favors for the wedding, bridal shower, and rehearsal dinner. After labeling, bagging, and ribbon-ing all the favors, there were left over Almond Rocas.

I left the leftover Almond Rocas at Yae’s house that night. Two days latter, Yae made a special trip to my house and dropped off the leftovers. Almond Rocas were her favorite candy and she did not want to devour the 20-30 pieces of candy left. I gladly accepted the candy and was determined to bake it into something.

I was playing around with the idea of cookies, but settled on the blondie idea instead. I have only attempted to make blondies once and it was a disaster. Not every recipe is a good recipe, and the previous one was horrible. This blondie recipe was phenomenal however.

These blondies came out chewy, gooey and delicious. These are more than just a chocolate free brownie or a chocolate chip cookie bar, which is what most blondies are compared to. These little beauties deserve a category and name of their own. I can definitely see using theis recipe as a base and just changing the add-ins in the future.

I did share with Yae one of the blondies (it was perfect portion control according to her) and I took the rest into my office.  These are decadent and I suggest cutting them into smaller pieces, more to share that way.

Cinnamon Almond Roca Blondies

Adapted from Two Peas & Their Pod

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups Cake Flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Salt
1 1/2 cups Light Brown Sugar
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) Butter, melted
2 large Eggs
2-3 tsp Vanilla Extract
approx 2 cups Almond Roca, chopped/smashed into small pieces

Method:
1. Adjust rack in oven to lower third of oven and preheat oven to 330F.

2. Line 8 inch square pan with parchment paper.

3. Mix together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.

4. Whisk together butter and brown sugar. Next whisk in eggs and vanilla.

5. Whisk dry ingredients into butter mixture until just combined.

6. Fold in Almond Roca pieces and then pour into pan.

7. Bake for 50-55 minutes until a tooth pick inserted comes out with no batter, but possibly melted toffee and/or moist crumbs.

8. Cool completed, cut into bars, and enjoy.

Bachlorette Party Cookies

A few weeks ago, I posted some engagement cookies for my dear friend Jay.  But what you do not know is that I have another dear friend, Yae, who is getting married very, very soon, October 22 to be exact.  This is the first in a series of post (I am thinking a total of three or four), which will be dedicated to treats for Yae’s wedding activities.

The first activity I baked for was Yae’s bachlorette party.  I did A LOT of baking for this event, but all I have pictures of are the favor cookies (because I am lame and forgot to snap pictures of the other food).  But to give you a little sample of the menu it included: almond cake truffles dipped in purple candy melts with purple sugar sprinkles; strawberry cake truffles dipped in purple candy melts with heart sprinkles; lemon bars cut into circles; brownies cut into hearts; triple chocolate chip cookies; sweet cinnamon sugar palmiers; and savory sun-dried tomato and pesto palmiers.

I took on all of the above, plus these lovely lingerie cookies that served as favors. I used my new favorite sugar cookie recipe and a not-so-loved royal icing recipe.

The tag for the favor bag was designed by another of Yae’s bridesmaid, Ste. She did an awesome job and I wish I had her graphic design skills.

The party was a success.  There was tons of food, laughs, and slightly inappropriate commentary.  Most importantly, Yae enjoyed herself and the Bridesmaids were able to deliver a party she wanted and loved.

My (New) Favorite Sugar Cookie Recipe

Adapted from Bake at 350

Ingredients:
2 sticks (1 cup) Butter
1 cup Sugar
1 Egg or Egg Substitute
2 tsp Princess Flavor Emulsion
3 cup All-purpose Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder

Method:
1. Cream together the sugar and butter.

2. Add in egg or egg substitute.

3. Add in flavor emulsion.

4. Stir in flour and baking powder.

5. Roll-out sugar cookie dough, between parchment paper if desired (I roll my cookies thicker than most). Cut out desired shape and place cookies and parchment on cookie sheet and place in fridge or freezer to chill, this prevents the cookies from spreading in the oven.

6. Once chilled, not frozen, preheat oven to 350F.

7. Bake the cookies for 8-12 minutes, depending on how cold the cookies are and the cut-out selected. Look for the cookies to be gentle brown around the bottom edge of the cookies and firm in the middle.

8. Cool and decorate as desired.