Bleached Blonde Mania! Aka - Recipe #1, Filed Under Dessert, Bleached Blonde Brownies!

Finished Product - Vegan Bleached Blonde Brownies

So.. my kids are 'foodtournal' which means...  I've put em on a diet.   They're restless when the food isn't out for them to graze on, but when it's right there, staring them in the face..they'll sleep soundly until 5pm or so (when I'm under the assumption their hunger meters go off) and then they'll go eat.  I've put them on a diet.  You know your cats need a diet when one of them can't reach her hiney to clean it!  The only thing about this diet they're a bit happy about is that in the evening, they'll get wet food - (which used to be only an occasional snack)  not anymore - it's part of their new diet.  Dry in the morning and wet at night.  Heathens.. they'll get used to it.  I'm ignoring the fabled hunger panicked looks on their faces, each one of them has enough fat to get he or she thru a hiking winter in the Himalayas as it were..I can't imagine they're really hungry.  :P


Now, let's get on to the real deal here THE BROWNIES!

Okay.  What makes these brownies 'Bleached Blonde'?  Well, let's look, shall we?   I'm clearing out the cholesterol.. y'know what that is, right?  That stuff that clogs up arteries, gives people heart attacks.. etc.  Heart problems run in my family and took my grandma Grein from me.. so cholesterol is personally not my friend.  I'd love to be posting something here that grandma just told me while I was chit chatting with her live self on the phone, but I cannot do that.  So - killing the cholesterol in all food is my goal, and it is part of what 'bleached' means.  The second part?  I'm not putting chocolate chips in these.  #1 because chocolate gives mommy a headache, and we can't have that.. and #2 because - haha.. top her off.. it looks like my neicage weisage before she went Grover on me!  The tops of these brownies are covered in vegan white chocolate (literally created from scratch here because it's almost impossible to FIND vegan white chocolate locally) gives them a nice head of bleached blonde on top of the already blonde they are... kinda like yours truly.  ;)

So, this is where the prep starts.
      

The setup

 So, now that I've got it ready it's time to roll.  I open the deck door and the furkids scatter - all except Bella who's my usual cat-chef watcheroverer..  Pull out the mixer, the measuring cups and spoons and I check my ingredients.   Start to mix and here we go.   So when the mixture was done it was superde duper fluffy.  I had to add water to make it spreadable, actually... all part of making a new recipe I guess.
I've changed the time in the oven as well at this point... not much but 20-25 mins is really written for a recipe with eggs... since this kid doesn't have eggs, we don't need that.

It's all whipped up and in the pan now!

Now, let me tell you, it's August 21 so it's HOT outside... I had cocoa butter chips (white chocolate spread for the top) in a double boiler ready to go once i got the brownies out of the oven.. I didn't even have to start the stovetop -lol, they melted on their own!  (I live in this, guys.. I live in this! I have no central air!)

Cocoa Butter disks melting as I shoot!

Regardless, I get the brownies in the oven - and out again (like magic) and mix up the rest of the ingredients to make vegan white chocolate.   This whole process takes me well over two hours to finish...

Right outta the oven..see my knifed in 'check' spots?

So, upon making changes to my original 'changed' recipe, I started saving the 'finished' recipes in a locked diary online, because I noticed my actual diary which I use for cooking is starting to become a bit 'loved' already - lol, and this is only my first recipe!   Live and learn.

So - you're dying to know, right?

How did they taste?

Well "I" personally have had blonde brownies before - now I dunno if I had the Toll House kind but I'll try and compare best as I can.  They didn't have the 'exact' taste of blonde brownies to me, and it may be because I remember blondies tasting a bit like butterscotch. (mommy, help me out here - did you put butterscotch chips in yours?)  This could be rectified i'm sure if you like that butterscotch taste by adding a bit of butterscotch flavoring.  They were very moist.. I'll give em that.  They had the faint taste of the 'buttery stix' (Which I'm accustomed to, but not everyone is - this is why I want to attempt to make my own 'butter' for the next baking venture).   The white chocolate topping - this is where it's wild, tasted just like un-vegan white chocolate.. which pleases me because this was all by hand - defatting the cocoa butter and adding to it to make it taste right.  These aren't 'difficult' tasks, but not things just anyone can do.   I am impressed.  They were good - however, I'm still partial to the ol chocolate brownie.  But these work for what they're needed for!  :)

Happy Birthday Mommy!

What did mommy think?  She loved them, and so did my sister.. of course my sister said that the white chocolate was too sweet on top with it, but she also claimed to have had a monster drink beforehand.. so I think she was already sugared up!  So, they're a hit with the un-vegan set this week.
And I am EXHAUSTED... so I might just go to sleep!

So, all that being said:

Hunting for next weekends recipe made me a little teary eyed.  I have grandma's Edge Scott Fire House cookbook apparently and not my own.  I found two recipes of mine which she had written down in them.  Spinach Lasagna and Tofu Pumpkin Pie.  <3  I wish grandma were here - she ALWAYS tried everything I made. (And she must have liked those two!)


Sigh

Anyhoo - Next Week I'm thinking something kinda quick.. regardless it won't be 'too quick' because it's got preparation - but the issue here is that I'm spending all day Saturday with mommy and the sister canning tomato juice so I have to see what I can prepare.  Tons of fresh veggies out there - I'm actually thinking 'beef' stew - because I'm craving it! Keep 'er posted here - by Friday you should know what it is I'm gonna make (that is if I'm not at a 'you pick it' farm with my mother).


Music Enjoyed while cooking and writing this blog:


Sneaker Pimps - 6 underground: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrvk1bmTayg

Lamb - Angelica: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIX8cqbmK5s

Tango Jointz - Tango Que Misterio: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoLIWj4Oo0o

Bitter Sweet - Trouble: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBECqpxLvGA

Waldeck - Floater: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBQivMKS5rc

Enigma - almost full moon:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUbNYBe3Vas

Helen Jane Long - Echo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYoXd-c9drQ

Chance's End - Diamond In Disguise:  http://old.thesixtyone.com/s/L5wsvaorNVT/

Peabo Bryson & Regina Belle - A Whole New World (Aladdin): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9RFRhRWv4s

Billy Joel - Why Should I Worry (Oliver and Company): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuUQmkAzSZE

Phil Collins & N'Sync - Trashin' The Camp (Tarzan) - I was mixin' tea herbs to this one for my office tea pot - I was groovin'  it was epic. ;): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYDskTSBNOs

Julie Andrews - Do Re Me (The Sound Of Music) - This one Bella got seranaded to - she was the only one not on the deck.. giving me moral support.: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dpGmAc3kMk

Supreme Beings Of Leisure - Angelhead:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvQ9M0auMlc

Moby - Extreme Ways:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOuPqeHXMzQ

DJ Krush & Deborah Anderson - Skin Against Skin: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNjAeVw4PEU

Tosca - Jo Si Ha: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLtNCroCYc0

Tegan & Sara - Floorplan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90vsnUcPkrA

Goldfrapp- Fly Me Away (Goldfrapp makes my blonde brownies gooey.  <3): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHXRUlI9Ksg

Metric - White Gold: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATql79c0FXE

Ladytron - International Dateline: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaO3AXaiTIc

Fiona Apple - Criminal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFOzayDpWoI

Sneaker Pimps - Blue Movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynisWVLokLo

Azure Ray - New Resolution: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0G6V2Wo3t5U

Telepopmusik - Breathe: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdUpxch4F8M

Sarah Brightman - La Lune: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LIQ7UM8cv4

Celine Dion - Beauty and The Beast (Beauty and The Beast): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3n_5xo9YpmQ

The Sound Of Music - So Long, Farewell (The Sound Of Music):  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJjBvK_2Wjo

Israel 'IZ' Kamakawiwo'ole -  Over the Rainbow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMnDcA0seBA

Matthew Wilder & David Zippel - I'll Make A Man Out Of You (Mulan): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSS5dEeMX64

Dario Marianelli - Dawn (Pride and Prejudice): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMtTJuVH28U


Current Craving: Beef Stew


Current Motivation: My Mommy  <3  Happy Birthday!

Mom emjoying her birthday blondies.. and me