University Heights is home to some amazing bakers as exhibited at the Great UH Bake-Off that was held as part of the Movies in the Park event on Sept. 26. Thanks to our bakers for making so many awesome treats, and to the judges who purchased ballots to help the Birney Bees Alliance and UHCA! Everything was so tasty, but there can only be one winner, and after the votes were tabulated, these are the winning recipes for each of the categories. Everyone won at this event — most importantly, our Birney students and community!
Cookies Category: Strawberry Pretzel Salad Cookies - Jamie Rapp
BRITTLE: 8–10 min + cooling • BAKE: 12–14 min • COOL: 10 min + rack MAKES: 14 cookies
Ingredients
Pretzel brittle
80g (2 cups) mini pretzels
42g (3 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
40g (3 tablespoons) granulated sugar
Pretzel cookie dough
140g (½ cup + 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
126g (½ cup + 2 tablespoons) brown sugar
100g (½ cup) granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg, room temperature
120g (1 cup) all-purpose flour
120g (2⅔ cups) mini pretzels, for the pretzel flour
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¾ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
240g (1⅓ cups) white chocolate, coarsely chopped
110g (⅓ cup) strawberry jam
Method
Pretzel brittle
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Spread the pretzels in a single layer on the lined baking sheet. Pour the melted butter evenly over the pretzels and sprinkle the sugar on top.
Bake until the butter and sugar have caramelized, about 8–10 minutes.
Remove from the oven and let the brittle cool completely. Break it into large pieces of about 3–5 pretzels each (or more!). You’ll need at least 14 pieces, one for each cookie.
Pretzel cookie dough
Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar on medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute.
Add the vanilla and egg and mix on medium speed until fully incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
In a food processor, grind the pretzels into a fine flour; some coarser pieces are OK. This is your pretzel flour.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, pretzel flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in two batches and mix until just combined, about 1 minute.
Add the white chocolate and mix until just incorporated, about 30 seconds.
Dollop the strawberry jam into the dough and gently fold it in to form ribbons.
Using a standard ice cream scoop, form 14 even balls of dough.
Place the dough balls about 2 inches apart on the baking sheet. If big puddles of jam sit at the edges of a dough ball, use a spoon or spatula to push the jam up onto the ball — jam that touches the pan will burn long before the cookie is done.
Bake for 12–14 minutes, until the edges are browned and caramelized and the centers are just set. For crinkled edges, tap the pan on the oven rack a few times before taking it out.
As soon as the cookies come out of the oven, gently press a piece of pretzel brittle onto each one. Pressing the brittle onto exposed white chocolate helps it stick.
Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Cakes/Pies Category: Key Lime Tart - Carlos Alejandro de Alba
PREP: 25 min • BAKE: About 30 min. • COOL & CHILL: About 4 hours MAKES: One 9-inch tart
Ingredients
Crust
5 ounces graham crackers
2.5 ounces shortbread cookies
2 tablespoons fine granulated sugar
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus more for greasing the pan
1 egg yolk
Filling
5 egg yolks
1 tablespoon lime zest, plus more for serving
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
¾ cup lime juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
Topping
2 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons powdered sugar, sifted
1 cup heavy whipping cream
Method
Crust (5 min active + 10 min baking + 10 min cooling)
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Place the graham crackers and shortbread in a zip-top bag, seal, and crush into crumbs.
In a medium bowl, mix the crumbs, sugar, ½ teaspoon salt, melted butter, and 1 egg yolk until combined.
Grease a 9-inch springform pan with butter, covering the entire bottom and about 1 inch up the sides.
Press the crust mixture into the prepared pan in an even layer, pressing some up the sides to form a short lip above the bottom of the crust.
Bake on the center rack for 8–10 minutes, until the edges begin to brown.
Let the crust cool for at least 10 minutes.
Filling (10 min active + 15–20 min baking + 3 hours cooling)
Reduce the oven temperature to 325°F (165°C).
In a large bowl, whisk together the lime zest, 5 egg yolks, sweetened condensed milk, lime juice, vanilla, and ¼ teaspoon salt until smooth.
Once the crust has cooled, pour in the filling and carefully smooth the surface with a rubber spatula.
Bake for 15–20 minutes, until the filling is mostly set with a gentle wobble at the center.
Cool the tart for 1 hour at room temperature, then refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Topping (10 min active + 30 min chilling)
In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk the softened cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth.
With the mixer running, slowly add the heavy cream.
Whisk until medium peaks form.
Spread the topping over the chilled tart in an even layer all the way to the edges with a rubber spatula.
Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
To serve, top with additional lime zest, then slice and serve.
Brownies/Bars Category: Tahini Swirl Brownies with Sesame Brittle - Carla Altomare de Alba
PREP: 20 min • BAKE: 30–35 min • COOL & CHILL: 5–8 hours • MAKES: One 9-by-13-inch pan
Ingredients
Brownies
250g unsalted butter
500g fine granulated sugar
100g cocoa powder
4 eggs
100g all-purpose flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
200g semi-sweet dark chocolate chips
100g tahini paste
Nonstick cooking spray, for the baking dish
Sesame brittle
200g fine granulated sugar
50g white sesame seeds
50g black sesame seeds
To serve
Flaky sea salt
Method
Brownies (15 min active + 30–35 min baking + 5–8 hours cooling)
Preheat the oven to 355°F (180°C).
Line the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch glass baking dish with parchment paper and spray the sides with nonstick spray.
In a pan over low heat, combine the butter, 500g sugar, and cocoa powder, stirring until the butter has completely melted.
Remove the pan from the heat and let it cool slightly.
Mix in the eggs one at a time.
In a small bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt until combined.
Add the flour mixture to the pan and mix until combined.
Stir in the chocolate chips until mostly melted.
Pour the batter into the baking dish and smooth the surface with a rubber spatula to distribute it evenly.
Pour the tahini over the batter in a zigzag pattern from one end of the dish to the other. Using a chopstick or toothpick, swirl the tahini across the zigzags, marbling it throughout the whole pan.
Bake on the center rack for 30–35 minutes, until a toothpick poked into the center comes out with very few crumbs and very little batter.
Cool the brownies at room temperature for 1–2 hours, until they can be easily removed from the dish.
Lift the brownies out onto a clean cutting board and refrigerate for 4–6 hours.
Sesame brittle (5 min active + cooling)
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set out a second baking sheet and a second piece of parchment of the same size.
Combine the white and black sesame seeds in a bowl or bag and mix until evenly distributed.
Add 200g sugar to a cold pan. Turn the heat to medium and let the sugar melt for about 5 minutes, without stirring, until it is nearly fully melted and smells of caramel.
Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the sesame seeds.
Pour the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet, spreading it across the entire pan.
Lay the second piece of parchment over the mixture, set the second baking sheet on top, and press down to flatten the brittle. Caution: The baking sheets will be hot, use oven mitts.
Let the brittle cool for as long as the brownies chill.
When the brownies are ready to serve, remove the top baking sheet. Using a mallet or other blunt kitchen utensil, break the brittle into small shards, then peel away the parchment.
To serve
Slice the brownies and sprinkle with flaky sea salt.
Top each brownie with a shard of sesame brittle.