pie v cake stickers!

we still have lovely pie v cake stickers available after spx (the design can be seen here) so please email us at pievcake AT gmail DOT com if you’d like some. we’ll be asking for a SASE to cover postage, but other than that, they are FREEEEEEEEEE.

blondies have more fun!

so i had planned on making a hawaiian coconut pie for my bakeoff entry, but i fell asleep and never made it to safeway to get the ingredients i needed.
thus, i was faced with the prospect of waking up at 6:30 AM and figuring out a bakeoff entry. what to DO?
i thought about trying out a new cherry turnover recipe, but in the end, made this:

yup – the “easy” blondie recipe that i’ve made three times in one week now, and i think i’ve finally figured out the kinks to it.

here’s how to do it:
ingredients
30 graham crackers
1 14-oz can of sweetened condensend milk
3/4 of a bag of chocolate chips
1 tsp baking powder
dash of salt

1. Pulverize the puny graham crackers until they are nothing but crumbs. You are a powerful being. DO IT!
2. Stir in the baking powder, salt, and chocolate chips.
3. Pour in the sweetened condensed milk.
4. Mix really well.
5. Pour into greased pan (8 by 8 or 9 by 9) and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Sounds simple, right? Yeah, I thought so the first time that I made it. But the second? It was a FLOP. And I’ve heard report from coworkers who couldn’t get it right either.

troubleshooting tips
CONDENSED MILK: If you have trouble getting it out of the can, and a spatula isn’t cutting it, add a little bit of soy or coconut milk to the can of condensed milk, swirl it around to pick up the stuff that’s sticking to the sides of the cans, and then pour into the bowl.
CHOCOLATE SINKING TO THE BOTTOM OF THE PAN: I’ve heard you could try dusting the chocolate chips with flour, so that they don’t weigh down everything else.
UNEVEN BAKING: This might just be a problem in my test kitchen oven, but my second attempt ended up all poufy and hard. Ick. I attribute this to the fact that I let it bake until the middle was done, meaning that the edges of the dessert were beyond repair. I remedied this in the future by baking it for 30 minutes at 350, taking it out, letting it cool slightly, cutting it into bars, and then returning to the over for another 5-10 minutes. perfection!

oh, and how did this turn out? it survived the bike ride to work, and received kudos from the coworkers. to my fellow bakeoff participants – the gauntlet has been thrown down. the challenge is on. and while i’m not going to name names here, i think we all know that a certain baker has no hope of getting anything higher than third place now.