Baking Style-Edition: Crowd Pleasing Chocolate Chip Blondies Recipe

Chocolate cookies are my go-to when I want to whip up a sweet treat (I think I had my chocolate chip cookie recipe memorized before I was 12?  Is that weird?) but recently I've gotten a bit lazy in the kitchen (i.e. too lazy to spoon out individual cookies) so,  blondies are starting to take over as my simplest baked good. The recipe happens to be about the easiest ever:

Chocolate Chip Blondies Recipe

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, melted

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla 

1 pinch of salt

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup chocolate chips

See - just 1 of everything! 

Here are the steps:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350°F 
2. Beat melted butter & sugar 
3. Add in egg & vanilla and beat just until smooth
4. Mix in flour and salt
5. Add in chocolate chips (and nuts or M&M's or anything else you'd like)
6. Pour into a greased 8x8inch brownie pan 
7. Bake at 350°F for 20-22 minutes  - take them out just as the top starts to brown and the center starts to set

See.. so easy.

Give them a try next time you have a sugar craving!  Let me know how it goes!

San Francisco in Spring

We've had some phenomenal weather here in SF lately and I've tried to take advantage of it.... as documented by some of my instagram shots...

Beach Days...

I'm craving a few days at the beach and something about these old LIFE photos makes it seams as though a day at the beach used to be so much more glamorus!

How killer is the striped jumpsuit? (on a sailboat in the 1930s)

Currently on Repeat

(Electric Guest - This Head I Hold)

Happy Monday!

Easy Homemade Granola Recipe

Granola & greek yogurt is one of my favorite breakfasts so I've been working on perfecting my homemade granola recipe.  It's surprisingly easy to make, and I love that I can customize it with whatever nuts, dried fruit, or spices are available.

Here is the basic recipe I used most recently:

Ingredients:

8 cups rolled oats

1 ½ cups flax seeds

1 cup ground flax seeds

1 ½ cups coconut

2 cup almonds (or other nuts), chopped

1 ½ teaspoons salt

½ cup brown sugar

¼ cup maple syrup

3/4  cup honey

1 cup vegetable oil

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325 and line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Combine the oats, nuts, cocunut and seeds in a big bowl.

In a saucepan over medium heat, stir together the brown sugar, maple syrup, honey, oil, cinnamon, salt and vanilla and bring to a boil. Then pour over the dry ingredients, and mixing to coat the oats

Spread the mixture out evenly on the baking sheets. Bake in the preheated oven until crispy and toasted, about 20 minutes. Stir once halfway through. If you want to add raisins or dried cranberries, stir them in after the granola has cooled.

Store the granola in airtight container.