Cookie Bars & A [Somewhat] Related Story

Let me tell you a story.  I once had a roommate.  A wonderful, beautiful roommate.  Her name was Emily.  We became great friends.  We enjoyed dancing around in our living room; cleaning our kitchen with our Swiffer Wet Jet; watching episodes of Grey's Anatomy; and having discussions over a mixing bowl of brownie batter.  In those days, the brownies were out of a box.  There is nothing wrong with a good ol' boxed brownie mix, but if we had known that the recipe I'm about to share with you existed, we may never have stuck a spoon into boxed brownie batter ever again.  As many of you know, I have a new roommate.  His name is Dan.  He married me in June of 2009.  We occasionally dance around our living room; we use our Swiffer Wet Jet, but we don't have any inside jokes about it; we generally prefer TV comedies to medical dramas; and Dan has a serious thing for peanut butter and chocolate.  This is awesome because I, too, have a serious thing for peanut butter and chocolate.  What's that?  You don't?  Get out of my blog.  Seriously, doesn't everyone love peanut butter and chocolate?  This is why they make Reese's Peanut Butter Chips.  And that is where my story truly begins.  On the back of the bag of Reese's Peanut Butter Chips is a recipe for Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies.  I stirred up a batch last night.  I'm lazy when it comes to cookies, though, and I don't enjoy making 12 at a time.  So instead of scooping the dough into cookies, I spread the dough in a bar pan and made cookie bars.  Oh yes.  Ohhhh yesssss.

Want one? Of course you do.  Here's how you can accomplish chocolate, peanut butter bliss:

Beat 1-1/4 c. softened butter and 2 c. sugar until fluffy.  Add 2 eggs and 2 t. vanilla.  Beat well.

In a small bowl, mix 2 c. flour, 3/4 c. cocoa powder, 1 t. baking soda, and 1/2 t. salt.  Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture.  Stir in one package of Reese's Peanut Butter Chips.

Spread batter into a bar pan.  (If you don't live in the midwest, you might call this a "jelly-roll pan".) It would be prudent of you to try *at least* a few spoonfuls of the dough.  You never know, something could have gone terribly awry in your baking process... ;)  Your roommates/friends/neighbors/significant others might like to try a few spoonfuls of the dough as well.  I'm just sayin'...

Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.  The goal here is to underbake them slightly so that they stay incredibly chewy.  Chewy = awesome.

I dare you not to try these.

ENJOY!!

Nutmeg Cupcakes

My husband is in the Twin Cities.  I am in Duluth.  When left to my own devices, I have a few traditions: I watch bad chick flicks, I order 2-fisted burrito bowls from Burrito Union, I stay up too late and sleep in too late, and I bake.  Yesterday I made these:

Delicious.

I don't remember where (who?) the recipe came from, but here it is:

Nutmeg Cupcakes with Caramel Icing

CUPCAKES

3 eggs

1/2 c. butter, softened

1 1/2 c. white sugar

1 c. buttermilk (or 1 T. lemon juice in 1 c. milk)

1 t. vanilla

2 c. all-purpose flour

1 t. baking powder

1 t. baking soda

2 t. ground nutmeg

1/4 t. salt

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line cupcake tin with cupcake papers.

2. In a small bowl beat eggs well.  In a large bowl, cream butter and white sugar until light and fluffy.  Mix in the beaten eggs and stir until well combined.

3. Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, ground nutmeg and salt.  Add the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk combined with the vanilla to the creamed mixture in three parts, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. 

4. Using a 1/4 c. measuring cup, spoon batter into the cupcake liners.  Bake at 350°F for 25-30 minutes.  Let cakes cool and then ice.

CARAMEL ICING

1/2 c. packed brown sugar

3 T. half and half

1/4 c. butter

1 1/2 c. powdered sugar

1. In a medium saucepan, heat brown sugar, cream and butter until it boils.  Let boil for about 2 minutes and then remove from heat.  Let cool.  Stir in powdered sugar and beat til smooth.  Add more cream or powdered sugar as needed to reach desired consistency.

ENJOY!



Donut Muffins

I woke up this morning with only two things on my mind: my blog and a warm donut muffin.  Donut muffin? you ask.  It's a delightful little concoction that I have read about on this fabulous blog.  I woke up this morning needing one.  Or 12.  They are baking in the oven now.  I will post pictures once I have had my donut muffin fix.  I can't stop saying it: donut muffin, donut muffin, donut muffin, donutmuffin, donutmuffin, donutmuffin, donutmuffindonutmuffindfosdpodgmufisdfiug....

I promise not to wait quite so long before my next post.  Readers, it is fair to say that I am back!



Butterscotch Rolls

Coming off of a birthday high over here. Holy crazy cow! Birthdays = delicious food(s). I've said it before and I'll say it again: I've never had a BAD birthday dinner.  As you may have seen in yesterday's post, yesterday was my husband's birthday.  We had these for breakfast:

 and turkey burgers and sweet potato fries with home-made aioli for dinner.

Today = the start of my non-birthday food diet. 

BUTTERSCOTCH ROLLS

1 c. chopped nuts of your choice

(I like hazelnuts, but pecans or walnuts would do equally well)

8-12 quality frozen bread rolls

1 pkg. non-instant butterscotch pudding

1 stick margarine, melted

1/2 c. brown sugar

1) Sprinkle nuts on the bottom of your pan.  Place frozen rolls on top of the nuts.

2) Sprinkle dry pudding on top of rolls.  Melt your margarine in a small bowl and whisk in brown sugar to create a thick sauce.  Pour sauce over the pudding mix.

3) Cover with a clean dish towel and leave on your counter overnight.  In the morning, preheat your oven to 350°F and then bake for 25 minutes.  Or until they look like this:

4) It will be hard to do, but you must let them cool for about 5 minutes.  Then invert them on to a serving tray.

5) Break apart. Eat. Then have seconds.

Enjoy!!

Birthday Cupcakes

There's nothing like a birthday to give you the excuse to bring out the cannister of sugar.  Boy do I love birthdays.  No, dear readers, it is not MY birthday, it is my husband's birthday! Happy birthday, husband.  In honor of his 26th birthday and because I am finding myself more and more smitten with Smitten Kitchen, I whipped up a batch of Root Beer Float Cupcakes.  (Recipe here!)

You begin by heating the root beer (I used Virgils, but any kind made with cane sugar should work), cocoa powder, and butter together over medium heat.  Then you whisk in the white sugar and the brown sugar after the butter has melted.

Remove from heat and let cool.  Meanwhile, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt.  In another bowl, whisk eggs until just beaten and then add that to the cooled chocolate mixture.  Fold flour mixture into the chocolate/egg mixture.  Result will be lumpy, but that's ok.  You don't want to overbeat this....DO NOT USE YOUR STAND MIXER!!  Using a 1/4 c. measuring cup, fill cupcake papers.

Bake at 350°F for 15-17 minutes or until tester inserted comes out clean.  (A toothpick works for this if you don't have a tester...)

Also from Smitten Kitchen, comes the frosting.  I used her Seven-Minute Frosting recipe which is exactly as easy as it sounds.  And as delicious as it looks. 

Well, friends, it's been fun, but I have to go eat a cupcake.

And then it's on to dinner.  The birthday boy has requested spicy turkey burgers with sweet potato fries and homemade aioli.  Stay tuned!

Malted Milk Cookie Love

I hate to brag, but...... MALTED MILK COOKIE TART!!!! 

Thank you, Bon Appetit, for the love.

Ok, seriously.  Malted Milk Cookie Tart?  It's chewy and chocolate-y and tastes like love.  Yes, it sure does.  Brought it to a bonfire party last night and it turned normal, personable humans into territorial beasts.  Success!

Here is the recipe.

MALTED MILK COOKIE TART

(adapted from Bon Appetit magazine)

1 1/2 c. flour

1 c. malt powder

1/2 c. sugar

1 t. coarse salt

1 c. unsalted butter, cut into little pieces, room temp.

1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 c. malted milk balls, coarsely chopped

 (I got the ones from the bulk candy bins - bigger than Whoppers!)

Preheat oven to 325°F.  In processor, pulse flour, malt powder, sugar, and salt. Add butter; pulse until moist clumps form.  (Your processor bowl will be full - take caution.)  Transfer dough to work surface; gather into ball.  Press evenly onto bottom of 9-inch tart pan with removable bottom. (If you do not have a tart-pan, a pie plate will work equally well.) 

 

Bake crust until evenly golden brown, about 40-45 minutes.  Scatter chocolate chips over the crust; let stand 5 minutes to soften, then spread melted chocolate over hot crust.

Sprinkle malted milk balls over.  (I chopped mine in the food processor.)  Cool completely. (I put mine in the freezer.)  Remove tart from pan and cut into wedges.  ENJOY!!