Super Delicious Maple Butter Blondies

If you ever go to Applebees, you must try the Maple Butter Blondies. They are so incredibly delicious and will cause you to eat so much that you may or may not need to unbutton your pants to be comfortable, or to possibly make room for another Maple Butter Blondie. They are that good.

Well, a couple of months ago Food Network Magazine came out with a copy-cat recipe for this fabulous treat and it tastes just as good as the original. It has become my job when my family gets together at my mom's to make the Blondies. It is a blessing... and a curse. I've created some Maple Butter Blondie addicts, and it is a hard and tasty habit to kick, and I honestly don't think that they are trying very hard to do it. So tonight I will be making another batch of goodness and passing this burden on to you, so that you too may have some addicts in your homes. I mean, seriously, where did they find these things? Heaven?

Almost-Famous Maple-Butter Blondies

Ingredients

For the Blondies:

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature,

plus more for the pan

1 cup walnut pieces

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar

3 large eggs

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

6 ounces white chocolate, cut into chunks

For the Topping:

1/3 cup maple syrup

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 cup heavy cream

Vanilla ice cream, for serving

1/2 cup walnut pieces

Directions

Make the blondies: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with foil, leaving an overhang on two sides; butter the foil. Pulse 1/2 cup walnuts in a food processor until almost fine (do not overprocess). Whisk the ground nuts, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.

Beat 10 tablespoons butter and the brown sugar with a mixer on medium speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula. Beat in the vanilla. Gradually beat in the dry ingredients until just combined. Fold in the white chocolate and the remaining 1/2 cup walnuts.

Spread the batter in the prepared pan and bake until the blondies are light brown around the edges and spring back when pressed, about 30 minutes. Cool slightly on a rack.

Meanwhile, make the topping: Place the maple syrup and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat and cook until the mixture bubbles and thickens, swirling the pan, about 6 minutes. Add the cream and continue to cook until the mixture is the consistency of caramel.

Use the foil to lift the blondies out of the pan, then cut into large bars. Serve warm topped with ice cream, the maple-butter sauce and the walnuts.

Original recipe can be found here.

Best Ever Double Chololate Chip Cookies

I love me some chocolate. I also love me some cookies, so I am not kidding when I say I LOVE these double chocolate chip cookies. So when making some of these delicious treats the other day for my brother-in-law who is away at basic training (it was his birthday) I thought to myself, "Sammy, you need to spread the love!" So here it is...

 Best Ever Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 1/3 cup butter (use real butter please!!!!!), softened

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla (you can't go wrong with the mexican vanilla, yum)

4 cups of flour (makes your cookie extra fluffy and chewy)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

2/3 bag of milk chocolate chips

1/3 bag of white chocolate chips

First preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together the butter, brown sugar, and sugar with your beaters until it is well mixed and fluffy. Next add in your eggs and vanilla. Mix in the flour 1 cup at a time until just mixed. Add the salt and baking soda and then add in your chocolate chips. Now drop the cookies by the tablespoon onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Stick in the oven for 6 1/2 minutes. No more, no less. They may seem like they are not done yet, but let them cool for 2 minutes on the pan and then transfer them to a cooling rack and let them cool down completely. This is the trick to making and keeping your cookies super chewy. And that's it. And if you feel the need to polish off an entire sheet of cookies before your husband gets home from work, don't worry, I won't tell anyone ;)

Cookie Dough Pie

 Congratulations to Kierstin for winning the giveaway and thanks to everyone who supported us with it. We will hope to do another one soon!!

In honor of our apron winner today we will be sharing an awesome treat. This recipe is sooo easy and delicious. There is no real cookie dough in it but it tastes just like it.  Please to enjoy!!

Cookie Dough Pie

Ingredients:
1 package Chips Ahoy (the original kind- not chewy)
1 tub of cool whip
hershey's chocolate syrup
vanilla ice cream (softened)
cup of milk

First thing you do is dunk your chips ahoy in the milk and layer them on the bottom of your pie pan. Lay down full cookies first, then break smaller chunks and dunk them in the milk to fill in the gaps.

Next layer you want to spread on about an inch thick of vanilla ice cream

Now layer another layer of chocolate chip cookies the same way as the first layer. This would also be fabulous with 2 layers of these cookies right in a row. Don't forget to dunk them in the milk first!

Now to finish it off, layer on a ton of whipped cream then drizzle chocolate syrup on top. Use a rubber spatula and set it on the whipped cream and pull staight up to create peaks and make the pie look extremely delicious :D

Now eat it up as quickly as you possibly can, or if you are on a diet like I am, take it over to a neighbor so that they can enjoy all of that fabulosity while you sit at home feeling jealous hit the gym and be proud of yourself for all of your self-discipline.