I’ve been sitting on these brownies for a while now, and I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to share them. Well, I haven’t been sitting on the brownies themselves – just the recipe. But now that I think about it, maybe I have been sitting on the brownies, in a sense, since I ate so many of them when I made these. :)
I’m a sucker for the cashew/caramel combination, and also the caramel/chocolate combination, so when I saw this recipe there was no chance I wouldn’t be making these. We all loved them. They’re fudgy and sweet and rich and decadent. I love the textural balance of the fudgy brownie, the crunchy cashews and the gooey caramel. I never met a brownie I didn’t like, but I really, really liked this one.
Cashew Caramel Brownies
from 5 Dollar Dinners
4 ounces bittersweet baking chocolate, chopped
1 cup butter
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips, divided
4 eggs
1 3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
20 caramels, cut into quarters
1 cup cashews, chopped
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour a 9 × 13-inch baking dish.
2. Melt the chopped baking chocolate with the butter and 1 cup of the chocolate chips in a glass bowl in the microwave for 1 1/2 minutes. Stir together. Let cool while you start on the next part.
3. In a stand mixer or mixing bowl, beat together the eggs, sugar and vanilla. After the chocolate mixture has cooled, beat it into the eggs mixture. Stir in the flour, baking powder and salt.
4. Gently fold in the rest of the chocolate chips, the caramels and the chopped cashews. Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish.
5. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean in the center.
6. Let cool slightly before cutting and serving. Serve warm or, to serve after cooled, warm the brownies in the microwave for 8 to 10 seconds, or long enough to make the caramel soft again.
I have a lot of cookbooks. Like, a lot of them. Buying cookbooks became a sort of addiction for me back when we first bought our house and were remodeling our kitchen. Since I didn’t have a kitchen to cook in, I became obsessed with dreaming about all the recipes I’d try when the kitchen was finally finished. Plus, I was pregnant with my first son at the time, so I was constantly hungry. I guess what I’m saying is, I’ve cooked out of a lot of cookbooks.
If you asked me what my favorite cookbook is out of all of them, the answer may surprise you. It’s not the essential Betty Crocker or the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. It’s Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2008. I’ve made tons of recipes out of this cookbook (and have nearly three-quarters of the recipes bookmarked to try in the future), and everything I’ve made has been beyond delicious. I could open that cookbook to any page and randomly pick a recipe, and I know it would be a hit.
So I wasn’t surprised when I tried this pork stir fry and it was the most delicious stir fry I’d ever made. The stir fry on its own is yummy (the sauce is a simple honey-soy sauce, and is divine), but my favorite part was the cashew rice. The crunch and saltiness of the cashews adds the perfect textural and flavor element to this dish. Without question, I’ll be making this again.
Pork Stir Fry with Cashew Rice
adapted from Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2008; original recipe also found on MyRecipes
1 cup instant white or brown rice
1/3 cup chopped green onions
1/4 cup dry-roasted cashews, salted and coarsely chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons cornstarch, divided
3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce, divided
2 tablespoons honey
1 (1-pound) pork tenderloin, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 tablespoon canola oil, divided
1 bag frozen stir-fry vegetable blend
1 tablespoon grated peeled fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced
1. Cook the rice according to package directions. Stir in 1/3 cup chopped green onions, chopped dry-roasted cashews, and salt; set aside, and keep warm.
2. Combine 2/3 cup chicken broth, 1 tablespoon cornstarch, 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce, and honey in a small bowl, and set aside.
3. Combine pork, remaining 1 tablespoon cornstarch, and the remaining 1 tablespoon soy sauce in a bowl, tossing well to coat. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork; sauté 4 minutes or until browned. Remove from pan.
4. Add remaining 1 teaspoon oil to pan. Add stir-fry vegetables and sauté until crisp-tender. Stir in ginger and garlic; sauté 30 seconds. Stir in pork; sauté 1 minute. Add reserved broth mixture to pan. Bring to a boil; cook 1 minute or until thick, stirring constantly. Serve over cashew rice.
Here’s a question for all of you food bloggers and home cooks out there: Do you ever daydream about writing a cookbook? It’s something I do pretty frequently. In my head, I break my cookbook down into categories and list out the recipes that would go in each section. I realize that there’s a lot more work involved in the process than that, but hey, it’s fun to dream. Maybe one of these days I’ll actually do it! :)
If I were writing a cookbook, this is definitely one of the recipes that would be in it. A few months ago, I had some cashews on hand that I’d bought for another recipe, and I was trying to think of some creative things to do with what I had left – rather than feeding them all to Andrew for a snack, which was the choice that he advocated. For some reason I thought of using cashews in chicken salad instead of walnuts, and adding in some strawberries instead of grapes. I thought the flavors would work really well together, and they absolutely did. The salty cashews and sweet strawberries and tangy, sweet dressing made this variation on chicken salad incredibly delicious. I served ours on wheat toast with bacon, and I loved the additional salty, smoky element that the bacon provided. I’m incredibly proud of this recipe!
Strawberry Cashew Chicken Salad
1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
2 cups cooked shredded chicken
1/2 cup cashews, chopped
1 cup strawberries
1/4 cup green onions, thinly sliced
Whisk together the mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar, and salt and pepper in a large bowl. Taste for seasonings and adjust as needed. Add chicken, cashews, strawberries, and green onions. Serve on bread or over lettuce. Refrigerate before and after serving.
