Cookie Dough(n't You Want Some) Frosting?!

For my BFFL's birthday, there had to be dessert.  He's not a cake person (my friend?  NO!!), but he likes cookies and is tolerant of brownies.  My compromise?  Triple Chocolate Ghiradelli Brownies (made into individual cupcakes with an egg-free) Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Frosting.
Ingredients:
3 sticks unsalted butter (1.5 C) at room temp
3/4 C light brown sugar, packed
3 1/2 C confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar)
1 C flour
3/4 tsp salt

3T milk

3 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 C mini chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Beat together brown suagr and butter until creamy.
2. Mix in confectioner's sugar until smooth.
3. Beat in flour and salt until smooth.
4. Mix in vanilla and milk until well blended.
5. Stir in chocolate chips.
6. Chill to make more firm, but just heap it on your cupcakes. There's no need to be pretty about it!
I think these are best a little chilled, but room temp isn't bad, either, they just get excessively gooey!  :)
 

Why yes, that is Scary Spice popping out of his cupcake frosting.  Why do you ask?

 PS - if you take these to a bar, everyone will be your friend if you share!!

200th Post of Love: Salted Caramel Nutella Fudge!!

 Picked up the original recipe over at Doughmesstic, and it's worth every second!

This recipe makes one 9x9 pan, with as many pieces as you want (up to 50 if you plan accordingly!)

Bottom Layer

• 1 cup Semi Sweet or Bittersweet Chocolate Chips
• 1/4 cup Milk Chocolate Chips
• 1/4 cup Nutella

1. Melt the chips in the microwave, stir every 30 seconds until smooth, then add the Nutella.  

2. Spread in the bottom of a parchment paper lined and greased 9x9 pan.

Salted Caramel Layer

• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1/4 cup sour cream

1. In a small saucepan, combine the cream and the salt.  Simmer over very low heat until the salt is dissolved.  Set aside.

2. In a medium saucepan combine the sugar and corn syrup carefully. They will not combine well until the sugar begins to melt. Cook over high heat for about 6 to 8 minutes.  Just pull the sugar off the heat when it is a medium goldish brown – it will continue to cook in the heat of the pan.  Remove from the heat and let cool for one minute.

3. Add the cream mixture and the vanilla to the sugar mixture.  Whisk in the sour cream.  Let the caramel cool to room temp

 Middle Layer

• 4 Tbsp. Butter
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1/4 cup Evaporated Milk
• 1 7 oz. Jar Marshmallow Creme
• 2 teaspoons Vanilla
• 1 cup Chopped Hazelnuts

1. Top caramel with chopped nuts.

2. In a medium pan, melt butter.  Add the sugar and evaporated milk.  Boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly. 

3.  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and marshmallow creme.  Pour mixture evenly over the previous layers.

Top Layer

• 1 cup Milk Chocolate Chips
• 1/4 cup Semi Sweet or Bittersweet Chocolate Chips
• 1/4 cup Nutella

1. Repeat process for bottom layer, and pour evenly over the top of the previous layers.

Refrigerate for 3-4 hours, until firm.  Cut into bite sized pieces.  Caramel layer will be gooey, keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

* Make sure you refrigerate between layers so there is a better distinction between each one when you cut into it. *



It's funny how the first 100 took the longest.  This second set of 100 posts went by in a blink.  Here's to many, many more.

Enjoy!

S'moreful September: S'mores Cracker Candy

Here's something that I hadn't expected to do, but when you've got the ingredients, and you're looking to experiment, what else would you recommend?

This treat is not a candy, as such, but there's really not a better way to describe it.

Ingredients:
12 full sheets of graham crackers
3/4 C butter
3/4 C brown sugar
3 C mini marshmallows
4 Hershey bars, broken into pieces
1 C milk chocolate chips
Non-stick spray

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350, and line a jelly roll pan (or 9"x13" pan) with aluminum foil, leaving at least one inch around the edges to help you lift up the candy later.  Spray the foil with non-stick spray.
2. Arrange half pieces of graham crackers on the foil so that the sides are touching.
3. In a medium sauce pan, melt the butter and brown sugar over medium heat, stirring constantly, until smooth. Bring mixture just to a boil.
4. Remove from heat and pour evenly over crackers.  Use a spatula to gently spread as necessary.
5. Bake in the oven at least 5 minutes, or until bubbly.
6. Remove pan from oven and sprinkle, marshmallows, chocolate chips, and chocolate pieces over the crackers.

7. Place back int he oven for another 2-3 minutes until the marshmallows soften and fluff up.


You could also kick on the broiler for a minute (or so) to lightly toast the marshmallows.
8. Let the candy cool completely.  Use foil to lift it out, then cut into bars and enjoy!   

S'moreful September: S'mores Rice Krispies, revisited

I know this is 20 days a bit late, but August contained one of the coolest "national" holidays ever: National S'mores Day!

Now, of course you ALL know how addicted I am to sweet things in general, but s'mores in particular.  There's something about the combination of flavors that makes me proud to be an American.  Especially the first time I made them with my husband, when he was in his mid-20's.  Being from South Africa, he never was able to experience the rich and gooey goodness known as s'mores.

It was almost like that scene from The Sandlot.  Which I also introduced to Thomas... in his 30's...  sigh.  There's so much to life that he missed out on!  I think if he's going to become an American citizen, it's not just about passing the Constitution test, it's about knowing the culture of why the people our age are the way we are, no?

So, before I go off too far on a tangent, this week I'll be presenting some of my favorite s'mores recipes (so far), including revisiting one that I've done in the past: the S'mores Rice Krispies Treat.

I've now done this recipe three or four more times, and I've made some tweaks, corrections, and improvements, so I'd like to clear the air before moving on to bigger and better (not possible?!) treats!

Ingredients (Krispies Layer):
3 T butter (chopped into smaller pieces)
40 large marshmallows (1 Jet Puffed bag)
5 C Rice Krispies
1 C Golden Grahams
1/2 bag mini chocolate Chips
Non-stick cooking spray

Directions (Krispies Layer):
1. Spray a 9"x13" pan
2. In a large, microwave safe, bowl place the marshmallows and butter pieces.  Microwave for 3 minutes, stirring after 2, until butter and marshmallows are melted.  Stir gently.  In order to prevent the marshmallow from sticking to your spatula, just use some non-stick spray on the spatula.
3. Stir in Rice Krispies and Golden Grahams until combined.  Stir in chocolate chips and immediate press into the prepped pan.  (My assistant likes to use a little parchment paper as a barrier between her hand and the sticky cereal.  This way she can keep pressing it down without making too big of a mess on her hands.)




Ingredients (Fudgy Layer):
1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 bag butterscotch chips
about 20-24 graham cracker (square halves)

Directions (Fudgy Layer):
1. Combine both bags of chips in a microwave safe bowl.  Microwave about 2 minutes, stirring every 45 seconds, until melted smooth.
2. Spread fudgy frosting over the Krispes layer.
The more the merrier!
3. Break/cut each full graham cracker into 8 smaller pieces (or each half cracker into 4 pieces).
4. Layout the graham crackers with just a little space in between until the fudgy layer has been completely covered with graham.
5. Chill in fridge until chocolate has set.

Ingredients (Top Layer):
1 bag (or less) of large marshmallows, cut (hamburger style) in half.
1/2 bag of mini chocolate chips
* You'll need one half of a marshmallow for every graham square on the fudgy layer. *

Directions (Top Layer):
1. Cut your treats into squares - you've already set up where to cut by pre-cutting your graham crackers.
2. Remove the treats, and place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.
3. Take your cut marshmallows, and place one (sticky/cut side down) on top of each treat.
4. Turn your oven broiler on high and place treats in the oven.
5. Broil until the desired darkness/crispness of your marshmallows
6. Melt the rest of your mini chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl (1-2 minutes, stirring at least twice).
7. Stir until smooth, then lightly drizzle over the tops of your treats.

I know, this still sounds like a lot, but once you get the hang of it, it's quite easy, and you'll learn little tricks that'll keep you sane in make the process simple.  It's really worth it, and I keep getting rave reviews every time.  It's got a little something summery for everyone!
 

PB Pretzels Dipped in Chocolate

Have you ever just found a recipe and knew (from the very instant you spotted it) that you need it?

Now?!!

That's how I felt about this one.

It has all the ingredients to fulfill my every snacking desire, and the recipe is so simple that you could do it every day.

But we won't.  We're stronger than that, right?

 Right??

Well, okay, maybe not, but this is definitely a great treat to try out.  It makes a lot (50?  100??  Depends on how big you want them to be), and as long as there are no peanut allergies, everyone really loves them.

I made them as an airplane snack for my husband, and left a ton in the work fridge for my assistants.  They all ferreted one out for themselves and then asked permission to try one.

Every single one looked guilty when I immediately asked them how the first one tasted.  No one is that slick, but these are that good.

Ingredients:
1 cup creamy peanut butter
2 tablespoons softened butter
3/4 cup powdered sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
Pretzels (any shape, just relatively small) or Wheat Thins (more crunch, less salt)
1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips


Directions:
1. Cream the butters.  Add the sugars.  Blend well.
2. Make a small ball of the PB mixture, place on one pretzel/WT.  Sandwich it with another pretzel/WT.
(I actually just scooped the mix onto one pretzel and adjusted it as necessary while sandwiching them together.  Whatever works).
3. Melt one bag of chocolate chips in the microwave (about 2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds).

4. Dip PB sandwiches into the chocolate and set on parchment paper to solidify.  I suggest placing a full tray into the freezer for 5 minutes to get to snacking sooner.
5. These keep well in the fridge, but I also sent some in a bag on a plane and they made it out just fine!

S'mores Rice Krispies Treats!

 I don't know what's been up with me lately.  I think it's because summer is FINALLY here.  However, I have been craving s'mores.

Straight off the campfire s'mores.  The problem is that I'm not a fan of camping alone, and my hubs has been traveling a lot for work.  S'mores are few and far between.  So my Pinterest boards have been swelling with alternative recipes for s'mores.  Same great ingredients, just in slightly different formats.

 One recipe that I really wanted to try was from Glorious Treats.  It looked amazing, and I couldn't wait to give it a go.

S'mores Rice Krispies Treats
(bottom layer)

3 Tablespoons butter
4 cups mini marshmallows (or about 40 regular/large marshmallows - 1 Jef Puffed bag)
5 cups Rice Krispies cereal
1 cup Golden Grahams cereal
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
(top layers)
12 oz semi-sweet chocolate
10 full sized graham crackers, broken in half (slightly more or less, depending on the pan you use)
40 large marshmallows (1 more bag)

 Directions
Lightly cover a  9"x13" pan with cooking spray.

In a large microwave safe bowl, place 3 tablespoons of butter (cut into a few pieces), and 1 bag of marshmallows. Microwave about 3 minutes (stirring after 2 minutes) watch the microwave, cooking times may vary. Cook in microwave until butter and marshmallows are melted. Stir gently.
Add rice krispies and golden grahams cereal and stir to combine. (try using a plastic or silicone spatula sprayed with a bit of cooking spray).

Add mini chocolate chips, stir quickly, and immediately pour mixture into prepared 9"x13" pan. Press into pan (with spatula).

Next, melt 12 oz of chocolate chips in the microwave, stirring every 20 seconds until fully melted.  Then, pour the chocolate on top of your rice krispies layer.  Taking a spatula, spread the chocolate out like frosting in an even layer, covering the entire bottom layer of krispies.  This chocolate layer will help hold the graham crackers in place, so work quickly to get into the next step.

While the chocolate is still warm, lay graham cracker squares on top, leaving a tiny bit of space between each cracker.  This space will help you as guidelines as to where to cut, so it only needs to be a knife blade's width.


Now, to help the warm chocolate to cool, helping to set the graham crackers into place, place the entire pan into the refrigerator.  Leave the pan there at least 10 minutes.


For the next step, you'll need a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper, or wax paper (whatever you have on hand).

While killing time, you can also cut your second bag of marshmallows in half.  You'll need four per graham cracker, so make sure to plan accordingly.

When the krispies have cooled, remove them from the fridge and cut between the graham crackers with a sharp knife.  Place the newly cut treats onto your prepared cookie sheet.




Now you'll place your cut marshmallows sticky (or cut) side down onto each graham cracker.

 Place the marshmallows close together, but if you buy the "regular" size of marshmallows, you won't have much of a choice.  They'll pretty much fill the entire graham cracker.

Next you have a choice: if you have a kitchen torch, you can use that to lightly crisp your marshmallows. I wanted more of an "even" crisp, and wasn't so patient, so I kicked my oven broiler on high and placed the pan of treats in there.

 It doesn't take long for your marshmallows to brown.  If you'd like them lighter, take them out sooner, or darker - leave them in longer.  It's your call.  I left them in for about five minutes, but I put the rack halfway down the oven so I could closely monitor them and get them at just a lightly golden color.

Your call, and your timing.

Finally, I didn't think they were really finished, so I melted another 2/3 cup of chocolate chips (more or less, your preference) to drizzle on top.

Fresh out of the oven, and oh so gooey!!

From there, I also cut the treats into fours, so each treat had one marshmallow.  I found them extremely rich, and more fun to pop in a smaller size, but it's your call.  Hopefully this will help your hankering for some s'mores.  I know it certainly helped me!  You can just put these in a zip lock bag, or other air tight container, and they'll still be good for at least two days.  If they had lasted longer, I would let you know, but I'm sure they'd be good for at least three or four days (if they last that long!!).

S'mores Cookie Bars

"More s'mores!"  You seemingly exclaim at me as I sit to write this post.

"Of course," I reply, calmly.  "It's summer, is it not?!"

There really is an entire conversation that I'm participating in that goes along these lines.

Unfortunately, I'm the only one talking.

On both sides of the conversation.

sometimes you run out of chocolate bars and make due with the chips from the cupboard...

 I can't help it.  I just love s'mores.  I have about 5 more recipes that are vaguely s'morish that I want to still try.  Maybe I'll space them out.  Maybe tomorrow I'll make another one.  There's no way to know for sure what I'm capable of.

Here's my original recipe from Crepes of Wrath, who, of course gets bonus credits for the reference.

The nice thing about this recipe is that there's really not much to it, other than the assembly.

 Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (about 8 graham crackers - I just crushed mine in a zip lock bag)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 king-sized milk chocolate bars +
2 (7 oz) jars of marshmallow Fluff (not melted marshmallows because they harden when cooled)

1. Preheat your oven to 350, and grease your container.  I used a disposable half pan (11.75"x9.5").

2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg and vanilla.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture and mix at a low speed until combined. Divide dough in half and press half of dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan. (Don’t worry if it seems thin; the baking powder will allow it to rise.)

4. Place chocolate bars in a single layer over dough, then spread the marshmallow Fluff over the chocolate bars. Finally, top the Fluff with the remaining dough by forming the dough into sheets with the palm of your hands and laying it down. When you get tired of just palming the dough into flat sheets, just spread the rest of the dough sprinkles over your gaps and press it down.  It doesn't have to be perfect, it'll rise and do it's own thing once you start baking it.

5. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until lightly browned.  Let it cool before cutting.  Or don't, it'll just be crumbly/flaky if it's still warm.

so melt in your mouth, buttery, and gooey...AMAZING!

Fudgy Peanut Butter Bites

 This is such an easy "cheater" dessert.  If you love the chocolate and peanut butter combo, you might just be thanking me with this one (and it's feasibly done within 15 minutes!)  Of course, you could make it more from scratch, but half the fun is how easy this is.

My ingredient list:
1 pkg. peanut butter cookie dough (I could only find it with chocolate chips, but who hates those?!)
1 C sweetened condensed milk
1 C semi sweet chocolate chips
1/4 C of chopped peanuts (more or less, optional)

My cookies were pre-cut into 24 squares.  I chopped each in half and dropped the half into a Pam sprayed mini muffin pan.

Bake at 350 for 9 minutes, or until the edges are lightly browned and the cookie is firm.

The great thing is that in the oven, your squares become circles and puff.  Once you take them out, they cave to make the perfect little cups.

Cool for a minute or so before removing from the pan.

While they are cooling, this is the perfect opportunity to make your fudgy filling.

Fill a 2 C (or more) microwaveable measuring cup with 1 cup of sweetened, condensed milk and 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips.  Microwave from about 1 minute, stopping halfway to stir.  Once the chips are completely melted, stir the mixture and place a dollop in each cookie cup.

Move quickly when filling the cookie cups because your fudge will set fairly firm as soon as it cools.  I would try to do the filling all in one setting so you don't have to reheat the fudge and compromise it's makeup.

I wasn't going to chop any peanuts to put on top, but the cookies seemed so plain, and I really wanted people to realize that there were peanuts in the cookies, so I quickly chopped some lightly salted peanuts and sprinkled them on top.  I lightly pressed some into the fudge so that they wouldn't just keep rolling off.

I had a hard time convincing people that I made them myself.  And I really {kind of} did, so I totally deserve the credit.  As does BHG for the original recipe that I only vaguely modified.

Taste of Sweetness Saturday: Mini Cannoli Cups

For every St. Patrick's day, there's a St. Joseph's day...

Whatever the reason for making them, this is a really easy recipe that people (who like cannolis) enjoy.  I am not one of those people, but from a multitude of people who tried them, I can say they're nice.

 The recipe can be found at this link.  There's also a video if you're lost.

Simple and relatively quick!

 I made up the cups on a Friday, made and filled them on Monday.  Served them through Wednesday.

They preserve well, surprisingly, in the fridge, in an airtight container.

Yeah, check out that doily action!