Twix and a blogiversary!

Today is Broma Bakery's first birthday. I cannot believe it's been a year since I started my blog. I've loved every bite, every photograph, and every post. Through midterms, finals, work, play, holidays, and bored mornings this blog has kept me sane. My motto for life is now unofficially, "when in doubt, bake." And in looking back over old posts, I realize how insane I sound in most of my writing. It's kind of ridiculous. So thank you for bearing with me. And happy birthday to YOU, Broma! My little baby's all grown up!  

For the shortbread:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup granulated sugar

For the caramel:

14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the chocolate:

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 350°F. In a medium bowl, cream sugar and butter for about two minutes. Stir in the vanilla. Add in the flour and salt, mixing until the dough starts to come together.

On a lightly floured surface mix the dough together with your hands. Spread out into a 9"x13" greased baking dish. Use a fork to poke holes in the dough so that no air bubbles will form. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the dough is golden brown. Allow to cool on a wire rack.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, bring the butter, salt, sugar, and condensed milk to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cook for about 45 minutes, stirring often. The caramel should be medium-golden brown in color and the milky taste should pretty much cook out (taste test this!). 

Once the cookies are cooled, spoon the caramel over them. Again allow to cool completely before cutting the cookies into 1 1/2 by 4 inch bars. Set aside.

In a microwave-safe bowl, microwave the chocolate chips in 30 second intervals, stirring in between each one. Once the chocolate is completely melted, pour into a shallow bowl. Dip the cookie bars into the chocolate and set on wire racks to cool.

Tadaaa, homemade Twix!

Samoa girlscout cookies!

2 hours, 10 burnt fingertips, a frustrated me, and a messy kitchen later, they were finished. Other than the fact that these were a bitch and a half to make, these Samoa cookies are bomb. But they're definitely not for the faint of heart. Or the faint of, erhm, expertise? I don't know. Just expect to get frustrated like five times in the process. Verdict? They are worth the effort. Totally.

Makes about 32 cookies

For the shortbread:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

For the coconut bit:

14 ounces sweetened, shredded coconut
14 ounces soft chewy caramels (like Kraft Caramels)

For the chocolate:

3/4 cup semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate
2 tablespoons shortening
4 tablespoons confectioner's sugar
2-3 tablespoons water

Heat oven to 350ºF. Line bake sheet with parchment. Place coconut on bakesheet and bake until golden brown,  10-15 minutes. Make sure to stir the coconut half way through. Be very watchful of the coconut-- it takes seconds for toasted to turn to burnt.

Place butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until light and creamy. Add vanilla and beat until combined. Add flour and beat until combined. Place dough in refrigerator and chill for 20 minutes. Turn out dough on a lightly floured surface and roll out the dough to an 1/8 of an inch in thickness.

Using a two inch round cookie cutter stamp out cookies and for the center use the wider end of a piping tip if you don’t have a small enough cookie cutter. Place stamped out cookies on parchment lined bakesheet and bake for 10-12 minutes. Cool cookies on a wire rack.

Place caramel squares in a medium size sauce pan over medium heat to melt. Once the caramel bits are completely melted reserve ½ a cup of mixture in a shallow bowl; set aside. Add the toasted coconut to the remaining caramel mixture. Fill a shallow pan with hot water and place saucepan filled with the finished caramel coconut in it to keep the mixture at spreading consistency. Reheat mixture as needed to maintain spread consistency during assembly.

Dip tops of cookies into the reserved caramel bowl. This will help the sticky caramel coconut mixture to quickly adhere to the cookie. Place cookie on a flat surface and using an icing spatula or butter knife spread caramel coconut mixture on to the cookie. If necessary, use a spoon to guide the caramel coconut spread off the icing spatula and on to the cookies. Let cookies rest for 30 minutes before dipping the bottoms in chocolate and drizzling the striping on top.

Place chocolate and shortening in a bowl over simmering water. Let chocolate and cream sit for 2-3 minutes to melt without stirring. Then slowly stir mixture to combine. Add powdered sugar and mix to combine. Add water 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing after each addition until pouring consistency is reached. Set aside and let sauce cool to warm.

oh hey where'd they go....

Recipe adapted from Bakers Royale.

Upside-down apple biscuits

I'm feeling very wintry today. Maybe it's the fact that our furnace has been on the fritz for 3 days and I am relegated to wearing Uggs and my winter coat around the house. Or maybe it's the fact that I decided to go for a run yesterday, realizing only after I ran down the huge hill that our house is on that it was definitely too cold to go running (I mustered up the courage and ran anyways. Thank you, Under Armour). Either way, it's cold out. And cold temperatures mean warm desserts (hazzah!). So I woke up this morning and had a little baking adventure. And out came these beautiful biscuits! The warm apple-cinnamon smell filled the house with a spiced goodness reminiscent of fall and no-snow-time. A perfect way to start the day.

For the sauce:

3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons unsalted butter

For the apples:

1 1/2 tart apples (I used Granny Smith, but you can use whatever you have on hand)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon fresh-squeezed lemon juice

For the biscuits:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, frozen
1 cup cold buttermilk

In a small saucepan, melt the butter and sugar on medium heat until a spreadable mixture forms, about 2 minutes*. Pour the mixture into the bottom of a 9" round cake pan and spread evenly to coat the bottom. Set aside.

In a large pan, melt butter for the apples. Add in the cinnamon, nutmeg, and apples. Sauté until the apples become tender and begin to caramelize. Once done, turn off heat and add lemon juice. Arrange the apples on top of the brown sugar mixture in a decorative fashion.

At this point, preheat the oven to 450°F. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, powder, soda, salt, and sugar. Using a large grater, grate the frozen butter into the flour mixture. Working quickly, use your fingertips to knead the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles a coarse oatmeal. Using a fork, mix in the buttermilk. Move the dough onto a floured surface and pinch the dough into 8-10 round biscuits. Arrange on top of the apples.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the top of the biscuits are golden brown. Let cool for 2-3 minutes. Turn the mixture over on a serving platter and serve immediately... with ice creammmmm.

Recipe from Pam Anderson's Perfect One-Dish Dinners via Cookin' Canuck.

*Be sure to put the butter and sugar in together. If you melt the butter first, the mixture will not congeal properly.

Salted chocolate caramels

Ohmuhgah look the fudge looks like it has snowflakes on top of it. SoOo cute!

Great. Let's get down to buisiness. I'm a huge fan of fudge. And soft caramels. And things that are slightly salted (if you haven't ever done this, try putting sea salt on your fruit next time. Just a pinch. I promise you won't be disappointed). So. Salted caramel fudge is like my new favorite thing. And unlike plain fudge, this isn't so sickly sweet that you can only indulge in one bite. This is like a brownie-sized dessert (YUSS!). So get your candy thermometers out, turn up the burners, and start cookin'!


For the fudge:

10 1/2 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon regular, iodized salt
2 teaspoons flaky sea salt
1 3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup water
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into cubes
Candy thermometer

Line a 8"x8" baking dish with parchment paper (make sure to line the sides!). Set aside.

In a large saucepan on high heat, bring the cream to a slight boil. Then add the chocolate, stirring until it melts. Turn heat to low and stir until mixture thickens. Turn off heat, set aside.

In another large saucepan, bring sugar, corn syrup, water, and salt to a boil. Keep at a boil, swirling occasionally, until sugar turns dark brown, about 10 minutes.

Next, insert a candy thermometer into pan. Pour in the chocolate mixture. Continue to boil for about 15 minutes, until the thermometer registers 255°F. It must reach this heat before being taken out, or your candies will come out fudge-y and not caramel-y. Add the butter, stirring until melted. Immediately pour into the glass baking dish. Let the caramel cool for 10 minutes, then sprinkle on salt. Cool in refrigerator for 1-2 hours. Cut and serve. Nom nom nom.

Recipe from Epicurious!