Category Archives: Bars & Squares

Fudgy Brownies {recipe}

Bars & Squares,

Fudgy Brownies - Lil Miss Cakes

My goal when developing my perfect brownie recipe was to create a dairy free brownie that tasted like it came out of a box when in fact it’s made from scratch. Why was this my goal? Because boxed brownie mix is just so good-one of the ultimate comfort foods from childhood. I tested and tested until I came up with a recipe I was really happy with, but couldn’t figure out the best way to bake them until I came across Alton Brown’s new technique for baking his brownies. The method worked for my dairy free recipe too! It creates a dark and fudgy brownie with a crispy, crackly top.  It’s kind of a weird technique but it does result in fudgy fudgy brownies. His way takes a bit longer because you bake the brownies for 15 minutes, then remove from the oven for 15 minutes. After that you bake again for a final 30 minutes resulting in dense and fudgy greatness. If you aren’t loving that method, simply bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.
Some notes to consider: I like to use Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa powder, in this recipe, but you can use any cocoa powder you have on hand.
I bake my brownies in a true 9×13 inch baking pan. I don’t recommend using a disposable tin for this recipe. Those tins are smaller even though everyone calls them 9×13 inch size. Your baking time will be different than I have listed.

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Fudgy Brownies {recipe}
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Ingredients
  • 1 cup oil
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 cup flour
  • ¾ cup cocoa powder
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 tsp. kosher salt
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • ¼ cup chocolate chips, melted
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Prepare a 9x13" baking pan by lining it with parchment paper.
  2. In a large bowl stir together the oil, sugar, flour, cocoa powder, eggs, salt, and vanilla.
  3. Melt the chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl or on top of a double boiler. Stir in the melted chocolate.
  4. Pour the brownie batter into the pan and carefully spread it to the edges. The batter will be thick.
  5. Bake at 300 degrees F for 15 minutes.
  6. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes.
  7. Return to oven and bake for another 30 minutes.
  8. Allow to cool completely before cutting into squares.

 

Honey Bear Blondies {Recipe}

Bars & Squares

Honey Bear Blondies | Lil Miss Cakes
It is traditional to bake with honey at the start of the Jewish New Year-it’s a wish for a Sweet New Year. I personally love honey cake and bake this one from Smitten Kitchen every year. My recipe for honey cookies is also insanely popular during this season. I also have a recipe for honey sugar cookies that are perfect for cutting out cookie shapes, apple honey crumb muffins that are moist, sweet, and delicious, as well as honey whoopie pies for the more adventurous baker. But not everybody loves the taste of honey in their desserts. For those people I present you with honey bear blondies. I call them “honey bear” because everybody knows about the plastic bears that honey comes in. Blondies, or blonde brownies are basically brownies without chocolate in the batter. I have a recipe for blondies I shared a few years ago. It makes soft, cake like chocolate chip cookie squares and it’s delicious. The addition of honey in this recipe makes super fudgy, thick, dense cookie squares with the slightest hint of honey flavor. I found 2 similar recipes for honey blondies: one from Martha Stewart, and the other from the Ovenly cookbook that is floating around the internet and used those to come up with this recipe. My recipe is dairy free, quick, and easy. All the ingredients are easy to find, I’m sure you have everything you need right in your pantry already!

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Honey Bear Blondies {Recipe}
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Serves: 16
 
Ingredients
  • ½ cup oil
  • ⅓ cup honey
  • ¾ cup brown sugar
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1 egg
  • 1¼ cup flour
  • 1½ tsp. kosher salt
  • ⅔ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
  1. Line an 8x8 inch square baking pan with parchment paper and set aside.
  2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  3. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the oil, honey, brown sugar, and vanilla. Mix until it comes together and smooth.
  4. Add in the egg and mix.
  5. Add in the flour and salt and mix until combined.
  6. Stir in the chocolate chips.
  7. Spread into the baking pan.
  8. Bake for about 30 minutes until lightly browned.
  9. Allow to cool before cutting into 2x2 inch squares.

 

Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Sticks {Recipe}

Bars & Squares, Cookies,

Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Sticks

I’m back with a new recipe! I’ve barely been baking these last few months, and while I’m always coming up with recipes I want to share here, life has just been getting in the way. I’ve been blogging on and off for  over 7 years now! At times I find myself posting weekly, while other times I take longer breaks. I started this journey to share my baking journey with family and friends without a plan of where I wanted it to take me. I still don’t have a clear idea, I do know that I love creating delicious dessert recipes to share and that is what I hope to focus on for a bit. I’ve been pretty unmotivated in the baking department lately, but sharing this (my thoughts and my recipe) feels really good. I hope you like this dairy free, easy, quick, delicious recipe for oatmeal raisin cookie sticks. It’s a great alternative for those who don’t love chocolate or simply need a break. Is that even a thing? These cookie sticks are sweet, crispy and chewy. Plus, they freeze great! The key to these or any recipe that calls for raisins, is to soak them in boiling water before mixing them into the dough. The hot water plumps the raisins right up and keeps them moist inside the cookie sticks. Just make sure to strain the water out of the raisins before using them.

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Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Sticks {Recipe}
Author: 
Serves: 24
 
Ingredients
  • ½ cup oil
  • ½ cup sugar
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1¼ cups old fashioned oats
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon
  • ½ tsp. baking powder
  • ½ tsp. baking soda
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • ½ cup raisins
Instructions
  1. Boil some water and pour over the raisins, set aside.
  2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  3. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
  4. In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the oil with the sugars. Add in the egg and vanilla and stir to combine.
  5. Add the flour, oats, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and stir to combine.
  6. Strain the water out of the raisins and add the raisins to the mixer. Stir to combine.
  7. Divide the batter between the 2 baking sheets. Spread the batter out to form a rectangle about 12 inches long by 3 inches wide. The batter will be sticky, use a spatula to spread the batter.
  8. Bake for about 20 minutes until the edges begin to brown. The batter will puff and spread.
  9. Remove from the oven and carefully slice into about 12 cookie sticks.
  10. Allow to cool completely. Once cool, slice the sticks once more to separate.