Pumpkin Butterscotch Blondies

Posted by: Maggie

Le sigh.  Washington, DC is still repulsively hot and humid, despite the fact that it's almost October.  I've put off baking with pumpkin for a couple weeks now, hoping to have more autumn like temperatures to match my baking, to no avail. 

The unfortunate side effect of this pumpkin procrastination turned out to be an astronomically large folder full of "favorites" saved from various blogs with one common theme: PUMPKIN.  I knew I couldn't wait any longer, so when I got home tonight I pushed the memories of my sweaty day aside and forged ahead on these delicious blondies.

These are more cakey than your typical blondie or brownie recipe, but still super delicious!

Here's what you'll need:

2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips

Preheat the oven to 350° F.  Line a 9×13-inch baking dish with foil.  In a medium bowl, combine the flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt.  Stir together and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Beat in the egg and vanilla until well combined.  Mix in the pumpkin puree.  With the mixer on low speed add the dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated.  Fold in the white chocolate and butterscotch chips with a rubber spatula.

Spread batter evenly into the prepared pan.  Bake until the edges begin to pull away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few crumbs, about 35-40 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool completely before cutting.

To serve, lift the cake from the pan using the foil and transfer to a cutting board.  Peel off the foil and using a sharp knife, cut into 24 squares.

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Posted by: Annie

Every Monday at my job is "Marvelous Monday", meaning that every Monday morning a different person brings in a treat to kick the week off on a great start. This week it is my turn for Marvelous Monday and my initial idea was to just go with a staple, and in my kitchen that would be my chocolate chip cookies. However, the more I thought about it I realized that I would be less inclined to eat a chocolate chip cookie at 7:30 am, because it lacks that certain breakfast-y feel. After much deliberation I settled on chocolate chip muffins - enough chocolate to make a Monday happy, but with enough muffin to make the guilt of eating chocolate for breakfast disappear.

 

What you'll need: (recipe below yields 1 dozen, I doubled it)

Batter:

2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup milk

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 egg

1 cup chocolate chips

Crumb topping:

3 tbs sugar

2 tbs brown sugar

 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line muffin tins with cupcake liners. Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. In a separate large bowl mix the milk, eggs, oil, vanilla extract and chocolate chips. Slowly add the dry mixture to the milk/egg mixture until the mixture is moistened. Fill cups 2/3 way. Sprinkle the crumb topping on each of the muffins and bake for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick entered in the center comes out clean. 

Sangria

Posted by: Annie

Summer may be officially over, but the beautiful weather Friday night inspired my roommates and I to mix up a pitcher of white sangria. Because truly, after a day of work what is better than sipping on a glass of homemade sangria. After a quick trip to Trader Joes, our Mango Raspberry Pineapple Sangria was in the works.

What you will need to make this refreshing, slightly intoxicating beverage:

1 bottle white wine (we chose Yellowtail Chardonnay)

3 T sugar 

1 pint raspberries

2 cups mango/pineapple (we purchased a pre-sliced version of this from Trader Joes- really any fruit choice of your liking will work)

sparkling soda (we chose Raspberry flavored)

Mix sugar, raspberries, mango/pineapple and chardonnay together in a large pitcher or bowl. Let chill for 2-3 hours. Pour into glasses and top off with sparkling soda.