March 12, 2010

The perfect blondie.

I mentioned awhile back that I've been on the hunt for the perfect blondie recipe. Well ladies and gents, I do believe I've found it. Where I found this perfect recipe forces me to admit something that might make me seem a little, um, nerdy. I got the recipe because I subscribe to Gwyneth Paltrow's newsletter, GOOP. So what if I'm a huge Gwyneth fan and secretly want to be her? No big deal.


I actually really love her newsletter. She sends out fairly useful tidbits about food, fashion, wellness, etc. In one of her food newsletters, oh about a year ago, were recipes for a bake sale. I took note of the blondie recipe but never got around to making them. Last weekend we decided to take advantage of the decently warm weather and cook out. I've got spring fever bad, and I thought making blondies would help. I was right.

Gwyneth's recipe called for peanut butter chips and marshmallows, but I'm not crazy about marshmallows so I left them out. I happened to have butterscotch chips instead, so I used those, and added some chocolate chips and macadamia nuts to round it out. I really love the combination, but you could substitute all kinds of things if you prefer.

Gwyneth's Blondies
I cut her recipe in half because I didn't want a gazillion of them. But the recipe doubles for a 12"x18" cookie sheet with a 1" rim. There is coconut in here for texture, so try it even if you don't like coconut.

2 sticks of unsalted butter at room temp
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups of unbleached, all purpose flour
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup shredded coconut
3/4 cup butterscotch chips
3/4 cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup macadamia nuts, chopped
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9x12 inch pan.
Cream the butter and sugars together in a mixer. Add the eggs, one at a time, and then the vanilla. In a separate bowl, sift together all the dry ingredients. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter-sugar mixture, just until combined. Mix in the chips and nuts. Spread into the prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes, or until golden brown.

March 4, 2010

We're almost there.

Today I bring you a little preview of what I've been working on for the wedding, with the help of some wonderful friends. I won't lie: we found this gorgeous wedding and decided to steal a lot of ideas, including the yellow and gray color palette. I love it.

We are sewing napkins for all (estimated) 175 of our guests. That's right, sewing them. With a sewing machine. I'M actually learning to sew! It's so much fun, who knew? The fabric is Amy Butler. She has such amazing prints.

This is a sample poof - one of about 150 we have to make to hang from the ceiling with huge round lanterns, in what my friend Nat calls "a makeshift chandelier". Nat, by the way, is a creative genius and is my unofficial wedding planner. She was the one that said, "Yes we CAN make cloth napkins for everyone!", even though I was terrified of the idea. But with the help of Nat, Jamie, Debby, Emily, Winter and Jess, we're almost there. This whole wedding thing is coming along quite nicely, really. I can't wait.