[For three weeks, Josh and Katy blogsit]
In the spirit of idleness, my sister Maggie and I took an online IQ test yesterday. It turns out — and I don’t mean to brag — that I am THREE POINTS smarter than my sister. Yippee!
However, we were both shocked to discover that neither one of us is technically in the category of “Genius.” This flies in the face everything we we hold to be true about ourselves. Namely, that as siblings, we are smarter than everybody else alive.
I do know this, however. When it comes to the gentle art of throwing birthday parties, genius is not too strong of a word to use. After a riotous good time at Eclipse di Luna, I invited everyone back to our house for birthday dessert.
Dessert included…
My GENIUS four-berry pie with a flaky lemon pastry crust. Blackberries! Blueberries! Strawberries! Raspberries! I cut out a flower shape out of the top crust! Genius! Well, it did start to look a bit messy once it was cut, but who cares?
My Josh is a pie man through and through. That boy sure loves pie. He would pick pie over any other dessert any day of the week. I, on the other hand, am at heart a cookie girl, especially a bar cookie girl. I never even made a pie until I hooked up with Josh, and the notion that somebody might choose a fruit dessert over a chocolate one still baffles me. (Who’s with me?)
To appease other cookie girls present, I made my GENIUS brown-sugar chocolate chip bars, too. These came from the Marcel Desaulniers cookie cookbook, and are really just excessive and delicious:
Some have commented that when I cut the bars, I cut them somewhat crookedly. What can I say? All that sangria.
Finally, many attending seemed to enjoy the previously-mentioned party favors above all else:
Those must have been the Nerd People.
–katy
I am soo with you on the chocolate dessert thing. I mean, fruit as dessert? What is wrong with these people?
Anyhow, if you enjoy cookie bars you HAVE to make Magic Cookie Bars. Not magic like magic brownies, magic in name only. They involve a condensed milk and graham cracker crust topped with chocolate chips, walnuts, coconut and anything else you might like. They are the best.
Hi Mon, I know you’re reading this right now =). Haha, I just did a shout out on the AG.
Your fill-in posts have been great so far, Katy. You should do your own food blog once Adam returns to the land of the living.
(And more importantly you should post the recipe for the brown sugar chocolate chip bars!)
I am a fruit dessert person and I wish you wouldn’t oppress me on my own website. What is this blog coming to?
I want the recipe for the flaky lemon pastry crust. You’ll just have to make if for josh again, and take photos every step of the way (without sangria).
I don’t know how much faith I put into that IQ test… I just did it and got about a million on it.
Brian, or Shadowfoot: If you watch the hit film “Katy Bakes A Nectarine Pie” (upper left side bar), I DO make the crust there. Nevertheless, I will try soon to make it again soon in greater detail. It is a recipe I am fond of. You’ll like it.
Christine D: Regarding the IQ test, um, YES, I got a million, too. A million. Right.
Brian W: You asked, and you shall receive. Very dedicated readers may recall I posted this recipe a long time ago when the Amateur Gourmet was looking for the perfect chocolate chip cookie. He dismissed it as too much of a bar cookie, but he did end up trying Marcel Desaulnier’s other delish chocolate chip cookie recipe.
Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Bars
yield: 4 dozen 1-inch bars
1 3/4 cups all-purpose
1 teasp baking soda
1/2 teasp salt
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
1/2 pound unsalted butter, at room temp
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teasp vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (no more or the bars will flatten … I know from experience)
Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a sifter combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Sift onto a large piece of wax paper and set aside.
Place brown sugar, butter and granulated sugar in a 7-quart bowl. Use a stiff rubber spatula or wooden spoon to cream the butter and sugar together until very smooth. Add eggs and combine until incorporated. Add the vanilla extract and combine. Add sifted dry ingredients, followed by chips — combine until incorporated thoroughly.
Transfer the batter to the nonstick baking pan, using a rubber spatula to spread the batter evenly. Bake on center rack of preheated oven for 40 minutes until uniformly golden brown. Remove the pan from oven and allow to cool for one hour before cutting.
Cut with a serrated knife with rounded tip. For clean cut, heat the blade of the knife under hot running water and wipe dry before making each cut. Serve immediately or store in a tightly sealed plastic container.
You got me out of a bind! I promised a friend I would make the Brown Sugar Bars (they rock) but so far I’ve been to cheap to purchase Marcel Desaulnier’s book and I couldn’t find my photocopy of the recipe. Amateur Gourmet to the rescue. Your site is awesome!!