Interview with Hot Blondies Bakery co-founder Laura (Bringing edgy and fun eats to NYC.)

Last year my friend Lesley and I were introduced to Hot Blondies Bakery (HBB) at the Grub Street Food Fair. My fave is the peanut butter chocolate chunk blondie.  A moist, dense block of brown sugar, chocolate, peanut butter goodness. In this blondie nothing overwhelms. It is a fine balance, which is definitely a delicate thing to accomplish in baking. My husband, a purist at heart, very much enjoyed HBB's classic blondie. After tasting said confection I Googled HBB in the hopes that I could visit them for more blondie goodness and found that they're an online bakery based in New York City specializing in blondies and brunettes (aka brownies). Blondies have fast become a go-to baking item for me and a fave.  As a fan and emerging baker I decided to reach out to HBB founders Laura (marketing guru) and Lorin (brains behind the baking) for an interview. Laura was extremely gracious and kind (and excited!) to grant me an interview during one of their busiest fall seasons, which says a lot for the delectable treats that Hot Blondies Bakery has to offer.

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JBH: In terms of branding I have to say I love the signature blonde baking. It seems to take a fun jab at the dated “housewife” idea that women can’t be adept in the kitchen and be attractive, or shouldn’t be in the eyes of a conservative society. If I may ask, who came up with the branding and was it easy or was it a sudden epiphany?

HBB: It was really a collaborative effort. We [Laura and Lorin] are both creative people and we wanted to start a bakery that stood apart from all the rest. In our opinion there are too many cutesy, pink, grandmother-like bakeries specializing in cupcakes out there. Hot Blondies Bakery is not your average, traditional bakery. Our vibe is edgy, yet fun. From the conception, we knew we wanted to establish Hot Blondies Bakery as a unique, luxury baked goods brand.

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JBH: Hot Blondies Bakery (HBB) is an online bakery. What was the impetus for having Hot Blondies available online mainly and not having a storefront where people could pop in anytime they please? Also, how long has Hot Blondies been around?

HBB: The start of HBB kind of happened organically. We didn’t have a huge amount of money to invest at the beginning and we were both working full-time office jobs, so starting with an online shop seemed to make the most sense. Once our business started to take off we realized it was time to move from renting commercial kitchens to building out our own. We started HBB a little over 3 years ago and feel that a retail shop is the next step in growing our business. Stay tuned for more details…

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JBH: Hot Blondies doesn’t just offer blondies and brunettes, but also cereal bar treats, tarts, as well as gluten-free items and other bars. Is Hot Blondies strictly for us bar lovers or would you consider offering other varieties of baked goods? Or do you think that may take away from the appeal and branding of Hot Blondies?

HBB: At the beginning we wanted to focus on just blondies and brunettes. We’ve slowly expanded our menu to include other baked-goods and our customers really love the new additions. Shipping perishable, delicate items can be a challenge, so it’s something we’ve always had to be mindful of before adding a new item to our website. But when it comes to our baked goods we try to innovate everything, or it just gets very stale very quickly (no pun intended). We can’t wait to offer other varieties of baked goods and when we open up our retail store we’ll definitely be adding more to the HBB menu!

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JBH: And since I’ve brought up gluten-free. A few months ago I did all gluten-free baking. It was an eye-opening experience. When you started developing gluten-free goods did you find that there was a lot of experimentation involved, as there is in baking naturally? As gluten-free items can be just as tasty yet it seems that mainly the texture, depending on the flour(s) you’re using, is the difference.

HBB: Yes, definitely. We have experimented with our gluten-free brunette recipe quite a bit. The recipe we use now is not the one we originally started with. Not that our original recipe was bad. But you evolve, and the one we have now is even better. Since the need for gluten-free products seems to be on the rise we’re continuing to educate ourselves and explore this new trend in baking.

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JBH: Are there flavors that you would completely rule out using in one of your blondie or brunette recipes? For instance I’ve heard many times over that my two loves, lemon and chocolate, just do not go together but I think if one found the right recipe....

HBB: We’re open to everything! We’ve noticed in our baking classes that people love to go crazy mixing the most random ingredients together when customizing their blondies. And they actually end up tasting quite delicious. We’re also fairly adventurous eaters so we’re not scared to experiment.

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JBH: Speaking of, I see Hot Blondies offers classes, most recently in decorating and Passover brunette baking, what other classes have you offered or intend to offer those interested in trying their hand at baking? In your classes do you seek to show that baking shouldn't be a nerve-racking experience? Many of my friends fear their ovens, really.

HBB: We usually tie our group baking classes into specific holidays/seasons. We also offer private baking classes for bachelorette parties, team building/corporate events, children’s birthday parties, or just for people that want to have a fun evening with friends. Our baking classes usually involve a little bit of alcohol (not the kids ones!), which helps people relax. By the end of the class they all realize it’s not nearly as intimidating as it looks.

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JBH: After enjoying Hot Blondies at the Grub Street Food Fair last fall I was hooked, and inspired! I had a blondie versus brunette competition for my 30th birthday where friends made (or purchased) blondies or brunettes and we enjoyed both in harmony. I think it helped people realize that there’s a lot of variety in bar form. Is showing variety something you sought or seek to do with Hot Blondies? Especially with the blondie of the month club (the latest flavors are Candy Corn Blondies and Pumpkin Patch Brunettes)? And when developing new flavors/recipes do you find that you try to make new flavors by the season or whatever inspiration you may have at the moment?

HBB: Thank you for the compliments! Lorin has a real talent for coming up with new recipes for our blondies and brunettes. The seasons definitely play a role in what recipe we develop and we’re always open to ideas and suggestions from clients/customers. Our brand is influenced by contemporary culture– film, music, fashion, etc. We’re lucky to live in a city like New York; we find inspiration everywhere.

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JBH: Hot Blondies was a staple at Madison Square Eats over the past few weeks. (Yay!) And I’m happy to see a list of eateries that offer your delicious treats on your ‘News’ page. But where else will we be able to find Hot Blondies? Do you frequent places like Brooklyn Flea or Chelsea Market or various street fairs that pop up around NYC? Do you have staples that you appear at annually or monthly? Were you at this year’s Hester Street Fair?

HBB: We’re very selective about the food festivals/events that we’re involved with. We only choose those that have a very well-edited group of artisan food vendors. We’re very proud to have been a part of the Brooklyn Flea and Smorgasburg since the beginning. We now take a hiatus from doing them during the warmer months because our product melts in the heat, but we’ll be back this winter. Sadly, we had to stop doing the Hester Street Fair for that same reason. And we love being a part of Mad. Sq. Eats and the Grub Street Food Festival each year and are already looking forward to the next ones! And of course people can place orders any time they want with same day delivery in Manhattan through our website: http://shop.hotblondiesbakery.com/

I want to thank Laura again for taking the time out of her very busy schedule to do an interview and to her and Lorin for creating some delicious baked goodies in a different way for us New Yorkers. 

Hot Blondies can be found on Twitter, Facebook, and their website where you can make orders, check for classes & HBB appearances, and join their mailing list to get first dibs on the new blondie of the month and receive special discounts!

National Novel Writing Month Begins...Again! (And Update on Bout of Books)

I'm participating in National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo) again. Last year you may recall that I failed miserably at it. You can see my bevy of excuses here. The aim last year was to finish a new idea I had been tinkering with but 1/3 of the way through I just did not like what I was writing and went back to my passion project--yes that short story collection you keep reading about!

This time I have a plan. For over a year I have been mulling over the side story of one of the characters from my collection. In realizing that an additional 'coming of age' story wouldn't work as a short in the collection I decided to write a companion YA contemporary novel centered around this character where the collection ends. While I was away at my artist residency at Jentel I wrote an outline for this YA novel. I've tinkered with it since but have steadily not written a thing (though have made copious notes) in preparation for NaNoWriMo. I figure that since I do love the characters in this collection and this particular character, Kayla, very much (hell, I've been living with them for 4+ years at this point) that it made sense to delve into something I wanted to do and reserve a set amount of time to do it. And having a framework for the story arc(s) will help me so that I won't be scrambling for ideas of what should happen next like I was last year.

Like always the premise for NaNoWriMo is to write a 50k word novel (or more) in 30 days taking place throughout the month of November. There are write-ins where you can participate with other NaNoWriMos and a large online community.

While I anticipate I'll have much on my plate with a full-time job, freelance work, and social outings (it is wedding season after all!) I hope to be able to focus on this piece while also dabbling with others during the month. But we'll see. I aim to get a completion badge dang it!

If you're also on the NaNoWriMo site feel free to tag me. My username is jenn.bakerhenry.

Bout of Books Read-a-thon update

On October 23rd I posted about being a part of the Bout of Books read-a-thon.

Results: I read all three books I had listed and enjoyed Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self and Wonderstruck very much. Eve I was lukewarm about. (You can see my reviews on Goodreads.) But, the kicker is that I read Wonderstruck in 2 hours the day before the read-a-thon officially began. So my total count from October 24th to October 30th was actually two whole books. Not bad, but I could've done better had I had my weekend free for just reading.

Pluses: I met some great people and one of the entrants in Bout of Books organized a Twitterchat a couple days in which was fun. We talked about what we liked about read-a-thons and books in general. Connecting with avid readers and all-around cool people.

There were also some cool giveaways and contests held during the read-a-thon and I think in general it was nice to see other writers and book reviewers sites to see what they were reading, are reading, intended to read and were excited about.

I'd definitely do it again and have already signed up for another read-a-thon, a holiday one, set for December 2nd-4th. So hopefully I'll be able to block off time to actually read.

Bout of Books Read-a-thon 2011!

Via the Twitter-verse (where I get much of my networking info these days) I learned about Bout of Books Read-a-thon (October 24th-30th) via Amanda at On a Book Bender. And this past Friday I signed up for it.

Why did I participate in this read-a-thon?

A) Because I'm a book lover and as a writer I love learning from books.

B) See A.

With my ever growing crazy schedule the fact that this read-a-thon takes place over a week and not a weekend seemed feasible. And plus I'm kind of backed up on books I got from Book Expo and that I'm just dying to read in general. I already have an indie bookstore trip planned where I intend to do my part to help stimulate the economy. And it's good prep since NaNoWriMo starts in November. So get in a bunch of reading just before for inspiration! Good idea? Yes.

Plus, it's always good to connect with fellow book lovers! Book bloggers are gaining followings because they tend to give voice to books that get lost in the shuffle. In speaking with an editor for a major NY publisher he affirmed that publishing houses reach out to book bloggers more and more because of the fact it helps get the word out about their books.

So, the goal that I have set for myself is to read 3 books in a week. Considering my schedule this can be a stretch as I do most of my reading on the subway to/from work and sometimes in the evening. Basically for this read-a-thon one must spend every extra minute you have reading!

The books I am hoping to complete are as follows:

  

Since I've been writing my own short story collection I wanted to delve back into contemporary ones. And Danielle Evans' collection has won the PEN/Faulkner and she was chosen as one of the National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35 this year.

I snagged ARCs of Eve by Anna Carey and Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick at Book Expo and haven't had the chance to get to them as much as I wanted to. So I'm eager to finally get to them. Especially Wonderstruck as the illustrations look gorgeous.

If I'm unable to read one of these I may switch it out for another book I have on my shelf to be read, Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater.

I'll be logging my progress on Goodreads and posting finished titles on Twitter as well. And I'll be rooting everyone on!

If you're interested in still signing up feel free to do so via Amanda's website. She's leaving sign up open until October 28th. (You have to have signed up to be able to participate in giveaways hosted at a new website daily during the Bout of Books challenge.) And if you're on Twitter remember to tag #boutofbooks in your post on status and to other participants.

Happy reading everyone!

Pie Party Live at Rodeo Bar NYC (October 15, 2011)

This weekend I had the pleasure of being a part of Jackie (The Diva That Ate New York) and Ken's (Hungry Rabbit NY) Pie Party Live! Ken and Jackie participated in a virtual pie event and decided to throw one for real at Rodeo Bar in the Flatiron District in NYC. This was the pie party to end all pie parties! There were seventy or so pies available, in both the sweet and savory variety. There were bakers and cooks and enthusiasts alike ready to gorge. When my best bud Dana and I arrived I don't think we expected there to be as much deliciousness as there was. We were pleasantly surprised.

I tried my hand at Banoffee pie again. Last year I was none too happy with the results from the Claire Robinson 5 ingredient fix. So this year I went with a name I knew I could trust: Paula Deen. While I should never anticipate that Banoffee pie is quick to make it did go smoother than boiling a can for several hours. Well, this time the crust was way buttery and rose. I asked a couple of other Pie Party Live participants who had made pies with graham cracker crusts their secrets and Kelsey (Kefir lime meringue pie) said that she had put a smaller ratio of butter to graham crackers, while Tara of Chip Chip Hooray (S'mores pie) informed me that she added sweetness to her pie. She also noticed that hers rose but  found after she took it out of the oven the crust tended to flatten on its own. Mine did not flatten but was buttery goodness and overly sweet. Score!

The thing about Banoffee pie is that it is something to be refrigerated and served cold and immediately. So carrying it on a subway for an hour and then being in a pie party for an additional few hours will make it a bit of a gloopy mess. It still tastes good but is just a mess. So unfortunately it had to be dumped post-party. Next pie party I'll venture to make something savory or at least non-refrigerated.

The pies at Pie Party Live were bountiful and it was great to have a mix of sweet and savory. Some people went with the idea, a smart one at that, of having solely savory first and then working their way to the sweet pies. I tried to toggle between both and found myself quite full, quite fast.

There were some heavy duty celebrities at Pie Party Live. I was so excited to meet Allison Kave of First Prize Pies. Her S'mores pie was one of the first I delved into and it was my fave sweet pie of the day. It was a good mixture of sweetness with chocolate and caramel and the lightness of the meringue just made my mouth water. As I offered a bit to my friend Dana we exchanged that knowing nod of appreciation.

Another fave pie of mine was Ken's apple-onion tart. When we asked him how prep went he said he did have a bunch of tears from having to shred the onions so thin for the tart. There was a great balance of sweetness from the carmelized onions mixed with the apple and it wasn't too heavy of an onion flavor. It was a great savory dish to wash the palette as you delved into other foods.

I got to taste Nomnivorous' chicken pot pie made with phyllo dough and had a nice hearty flavor to it. Not too salty as sometimes pot pies can be.

I also tasted Georgiecakes apple dulce de leche pie. She made two batches, one so her husband could get in as well.

There were some tasty empanadas in the forms of beef and chicken. The beef had grapes in it and I recall that beef empanada's I've had from places like Ruben's also add grapes into the mixture. Rodney's spicy chicken empanada had a nice kick to it, but wasn't overly spicy for heat lightweights like myself.

And baker extraordinaire Abby Dodge had some bite sized apple pies!

Chip Chip Hooray also made a S'mores pie that wasn't overly sweet and had a nice pudding center.

I had a heavy-duty chocolate ganache pie from One Tough Cookie and a nice sweet potato pie that reminded me of my mom's by Angela's of Mind Over Batter. I also met Miranda of MorelloBello and Alissa of GlamorousSnacker.

The crowd itself was such a great group of people. All nice and interested in talking pie and baking and an overall love of cooking. It was like being outside of New York City for moment. Everyone was happy and polite and willing to scoot over for you to get your slice of pie. No elbows. No shoving. We kept it classy at Pie Party Live!

About halfway through I have to say stomachs were bulging and we were starting to force stuff into our mouths. There was so much I still had to try! DUB Pies provided several dozen savory pies from steak/mushroom to spicy thai chicken to vegetarian and shepherd's. Must try! Rodeo Bar allowed us to take pictures and taste new items from their menu! Must try! Wait, did someone else come in with empanadas?! And thus it went on until 3pm when the raffle was announced. There were many prizes including cookbooks  by Pie Party Live attendees and baking aficionados, baking utensils, and the big prize was a Kitchenaid food processor. As the raffle went on a bunch of people won great gifts including pie from Ivy Bakery in one case. (Ivy Bakery's buttermilk pie was available at Pie Party Live and had a soft texture, was buttery sweet and perfect if you just wanted to have something light with a cup of tea.)

By the time the winner of the Kitchenaid processor was announced I was in a bit of a food coma and didn't realize at first that I had won it! My first pie party and I won a processor? Craziness! It was the perfect cap to the day. Full belly, great people, and a win! So cool.

I can't wait for the next Pie Party Live and hope I get to meet all these great people again. They are talented in the kitchen and super sweet in-person. I couldn't have asked for a better experience. In addition to the pictures posted here you can see the abundance of them on my Flickr page including close-ups of the ones from Rodeo Bar that I made a collage of below. Jackie has also posted pictures of Pie Party Live on her Flickr page and if you do a keyword search for Pie Party Live I'm sure you'll see many others from attendees.

And as Rodeo Bar was kind enough to provide samples of their newer dishes. (Their mac n' cheese is super rich.) I wanted to make sure to provide pictures to make your mouth water so you'll go to Rodeo and partake in these delectable items. Also they have a great happy hour!

Cookies Inspired by Books! (Newest Creations)

As mentioned in my September 30th post, a new project I created for myself this year was to create cookies based on books. Which I have done! Ta da! In the story collection I am writing baking/cooking plays a strong role in some family dynamics and in a YA book I've outlined, centering around one of the characters in my anthology, the main character is a teen preparing to go to culinary school and uses cooking/baking as an outlet for her feelings. So if my writing was inspired by cooking why couldn't it also be the other way around?

As mentioned in my earlier post the two books I created cookies for were Amy Garvey's Cold Kiss and Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone. Both books were published in late September and I had the chance to snag ARCs for both at Book Expo this past May.

Via Twitter and her blog I found out that Amy is an avid baked goody lover! That endeared her to me as much as her lovely book did. Cold Kiss is the story of a teenage girl named Wren who has special powers, of the Wiccan persuasion, and uses them to resurrect her first love and recently deceased boyfriend Danny. The results are not what she expects and it's a tale of a lot of internal conflict in dealing with the decisions she's made and the growing selfishness she feels for what she's done. What's beautiful about Cold Kiss is the way that Amy toggles with Wren wanting to consume herself with memories of Danny while also wanting to move on. It's a tough thing to do but she makes Wren both sympathetic and relatable. I mean, if any of us were in the same situation and had the capabilities would we not think about doing the same thing? Also stay tuned for a sequel to Cold Kiss that I believe is due out next year from HarperTeen.

My first thought for the Cold Kiss cookie was lemon (because I love it). I had suggested lemon or coconut to Amy and she said she had a preference for coconut. This worked because coconut could also represent snow hence cold. 

My goal was to create a cakey-type cookie that had a coconut flavor but not too heavy since I am not a huge fan of the stuff. I also knew I wanted to use sour cream because it helps to retain moisture in the cookie and give it that fluffed up texture I like. Ricotta has a similar effect in cookie dough, but is also quite thick (see my fave Lemon Ricotta Cookies a la Giada DeLaurentiis).

Here's the result and the recipe:

Ingredients

Cookie

¼ cup butter (softened)

¾ white sugar (superfine)

1 egg (can use 2 egg yolks for a lighter consistency)

½ cup sour cream

½ tsp coconut extract

1 1/3 cup flour

¼ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

1/3-1/2 cup of shredded coconut (dependant on your enjoyment of coconut or you could eyeball it)

Glaze

1 cup confectioners sugar

1 tbs milk (or coconut milk for extra coconut flavor)

1 tsp vanilla extract (or coconut extract for, again, extra coconut flavor)

Shredded coconut (optional for ‘snow’ effect)

Cream together softened butter, egg, and sugar. Once mixed add sour cream and extract.

Then combine dry ingredients (flour, baking soda & powder and salt, suggest mixing these together beforehand).

Preheat oven to 375 degrees or higher (dependent on oven as mine is SUPER hot).

As dough will be kind of liquidy you should refrigerate for an hour or longer. Could even do overnight.

Drop 1 tablespoon or smaller bits of dough on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper (a fave of mine). Cookie cookies for 10-15 minutes or until edges are light brown. Try to make sure the tops are a bit firm.

Cool completely on a rack before making glaze. After drizzling glaze atop cookie sprinkle shredded coconut.

The simple glaze can be made with coconut extract but I think vanilla extract adds a nice complement since you have coconut extract and flakes within the cookie and the glaze adds a nice stickiness to have coconut flakes (representing snow) on top which gives it a nice balance. Putting vanilla extract inside the cookie probably would overwhelm any coconut flavor you have so it's best to use coconut extract but not be too heavy handed.

I sent the cookies to Amy and was glad they got to her in two days time. I saran wrapped the heck out of that Tupperware to make sure to retain moisture.

She said and I quote: "They came! And oh my GOD, are they delicious. Like a tiny coconut cake in my mouth! Thank you so much!" And quote: "And Sara, seven and very picky, calls them the 'best cookies ever.' SCORE!" Score indeed. :-)

The next cookie was one I got a quick idea for which was the Karou Chocolate Hazelnut Cookie in honor of the protagonist of Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone. I knew I wanted to do chocolate because Karou and her best friend Zuzana are fans of the stuff and pastries galore as they study in Prague when the story begins. Hazelnut seemed perfect because this is a huge flavor for coffee and with the story taking place in the colder months and winter approaching here in NYC it seemed like it'd be a perfect pairing. And then I thought cinnamon! So that's a bounty of flavors right there.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone is most often referenced as the story of an angel who fell in love with a devil and it not ending well. Which is true. To say too much more would give away the crux of the story of Karou and her mission for the next two books as Smoke and Bone is the first in a trilogy. Karou has a nice life living with said devils who are very humane and kind in raising her like a daughter. But mayhem happens and Karou learns more about her origins realizing she was right in feeling something was missing. Laini is a master of words. Her writing is fluid and engaging and fun and I am in awe. She's also quite sweet and has an awesome artist husband in Jim who's a major talent himself and the most adorable little girl!

So in creating this cooking I knew I didn't necessarily want it to be cakey per se, just chewy.

Here's the result and the recipe:

Ingredients

1/2 cup of butter (softened or near melting)

1 cup dark brown sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp of baking soda

1/2 tsp of salt

2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 cup nutella

blue sugar for sprinkling

Mix dry ingredients together and set aside (may want to sift if you have clumps in cocoa powder). Cream together butter and dark brown sugar then add egg then nutella. Mix together well but make sure not to overmix. Fold in dry ingredients in two portions until mixed well. 

Scoop out 1 inch balls with your hands or spoons onto a cookie sheet with parchment paper. (I'm all about parchment! Less cleaning!) Sprinkle blue sugar atop dough. 

Depending on your oven these can bake pretty quickly. At least 10 minutes or at most 15. For my oven at 350 degrees these were done within 10 minutes. You can tell they're done by how brown they get around the edges and if they are somewhat firm to be scooped up with a spatula. Try not to overbake as they will get hard on the exterior. 

Cool on a rack and enjoy. And watch out for the sugar! I suggest putting a towel or paper towels under cooling rack to catch rogue blue sugar bits.

(Also depending on how big or small your scoops are these can make a little less than two dozen cookies or a little more. Size will also affect baking time.)

As you can see I added blue sugar on top in honor of Karou's blue hair which is a signature physical trait in this book. I was thinking of adding a blue colored frosting or glaze but the blue sugar seems to work well and adds a nice boost of sweetness. Also, the beads in the picture are meant to poke fun at the small trinkets she makes wishes on from her adopted father of sorts, Brimstone.

This is a work in progress for me. My landlord and her husband enjoyed it. I like the cookie but feel like I may have overdone it. I was struggling with whether to use hazelnut spread (nutella) or crushed hazelnuts. In the end I used hazelnut spread and I like the flavor but feel the cinnamon got a bit lost in the mix and that perhaps it should come out more with the chocolate. I could also add chocolate chips because the unsweetened cocoa powder doesn't necessarily give you a high octane chocolate flavor if you're a chocoholic. Again, a good cookie, but I aim for greatness, people.

I brought these to work and got overly positive results. Mainly because people are nutella lovers and since the flavor is there it became a fast fave. But I'll see, since baking/cooking is all about experimentation right?

So those are my two cookie/book creations so far. Any further suggestions? Should I make one based around Libba Bray's Beauty Queens or my fave YA series The Hunger Games? Maybe Eugenides' new title The Marriage Plot or Bonnie Jo Campbell's latest? We'll see.

[Recipes © Jennifer Baker-Henry, 2011]