Toffee Bars

Hasn't this year just flown by? I can not believe that it is November already! Now that everyone is beginning to think about the holidays I think that it is time to start sharing some holiday recipes with my readers. I hope to be cooking and baking up lots of delicious treats and sharing recipes from classic Thanksgiving dishes to Christmas baked goods. These bars would definitely go into the Christmas baked goods category.


These bars took about 10 minutes to mix up and called for basic ingredients that any well stocked kitchen should have. I chose to top my bars with almonds because almonds are probably my favorite nut and I think they go very well with toffee.

The taste of these bars varied with how long they sat. The first day they were good but after sitting for a couple days and letting their flavors develop they started tasting much better. I thought they were a little to floury so I would recommend cutting back the flour by a couple tablespoons. Also adding more chocolate is a great idea. The recipe calls for 2/3 cup but I probably used 1 cup by the time I was done. I am going to edit the recipe as to how I made it; click on the Betty Crocker link to be taken to the original recipe.



Toffee Bars
Adapted slightly from Betty Crocker

Ingredients
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg yolk
2 scant cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup toasted chopped nuts, if desired

Directions
1. Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, mix butter, brown sugar, vanilla and egg yolk. Stir in flour and salt. Press mixture into an ungreased, foil lined, 9x13 rectangular pan or baking sheet.
2. Bake bars 25 to 30 minutes or until very light brown (crust will be soft). Immediately sprinkle chocolate chips on hot crust. Let stand about 5 minutes or until chocolate is soft; spread evenly. Sprinkle with nuts.
3. Cool bars 30 minutes in pan on wire rack. For bars, cut into 8 rows by 4 rows.

Bro-WOW-nies

I was looking for something chocolaty and delicious to make. I had not made brownies for quite a while so I figured I might as well make some. My Friend Chelle reminded me how good she thought Dorie's French chocolate brownies were and I decided to give them a try. What drew me to the recipe is the minimal amount of ingredients it called for, the most simple and basic recipes seem to yield the most delectable results.


Besides leaving out the raisins the only change that I made to this recipe is that I used 4 oz. of milk chocolate and only 2 oz. of semi-sweet. I am really glad I used some milk chocolate because I really love milk chocolate and these brownies taste like soothing hot chocolate in solid form. Wow, they are so good. My brownies ended up cooking for much longer than the recipe called for, at least 10-15 minutes longer, but I can assure you they are soft and magnificent! I highly recommend making these brownies because they are nothing short of amazing!


French Chocolate Brownies
(Source: Dorie Greenspan “Baking: From My Home to Yours" pages 92-93)

Makes 16 brownies

Ingredients
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup raisins, dark or golden
1 1/2 tablespoons water
1 1/2 tablespoons dark rum
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons; 6 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into 12 pieces
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar

Getting ready
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 300°F. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with foil, butter the foil, place the pan on a baking sheet.

Whisk the flour, salt and cinnamon together.

Put the raisins in a small saucepan with the water, bring to a boil over medium heat and cook until the water almost evaporates. Add the rum and let it warm for about 30 seconds, then turn off the heat, stand back and ignite the rum with a long match. Allow the flames to die down, and set the raisins aside.

Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir occasionally until the chocolate melts. Remove the bowl from the saucepan and add the butter, stirring until it melts. It’s important that the chocolate and butter not get very hot. However, if the butter is not melting, you can put the bowl back over the still-hot water for a minute. If you’ve got a couple of little bits of unmelted butter, leave them-it’s better to have a few bits than to overheat the whole.

Working with a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until they are thick and pale, about 2 minutes. Reduce the mixer speed and pour in the chocolate-butter mixture, mixing only until it is incorporated-you’ll have a thick, creamy batter. Add the dry ingredients and mix at low speed for about 30 seconds-the dry ingredients won’t be completely incorporated. Then finish folding in the dry ingredients by hand with a rubber spatula. Fold in the raisins, along with any liquid remaining in the pan. Scrape the batter into the pan.

Bake 50 to 60 minutes, or until the top is dry and crackled and a thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool to warm or room temperature.

Carefully lift the brownies out of the pan, using the foil edges as handles, and transfer to a cutting board. Cut into 16 squares, each roughly 2 inches on a side, taking care not to cut through the foil.

Serving: The brownies are good just warm or at room temperature; they’re even fine cold. I like these with a little something on top or alongside-good accompaniments are whipped crème fraiche or whipped cream, ice cream or chocolate sauce or dare I suggest, all three!

Storing: Wrapped well, these can be kept at room temperature for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.

S'more Please

I had the urge to bake something but knew that since it was a weeknight I would not have much time. After searching around my friends blogs I came upon this recipe for Smores Bars and remembered that Carrie had made them recently too. I had all the ingredients at home and it looked really easy to make so I went for it. Plus, who doesn't love the combo on smores ingredients.


I used a mixture of regular and chocolate graham crackers because I did not have enough of each individually. I also reserved 2 full graham crackers of each flavor to coarsely break up and add in at the very end with the remaining marshmallows and chocolate chips.


As one could guess, these little bars are packed full of flavor and taste awesome. I had a fear that the mixture was not really going to set because when I dumped it into the pan it was really crumbly and did not seem wet enough. A few hours in the fridge and to my surprise they had set! Although most of the bars kept their shape they also crumbled easily. That is probably because I used the full 15 graham crackers plus added extra in at the end. By the way, it really broke my heart to eat the crumbs. ;)

S'mores Bars
(Source: Blonde Ambition in the Kitchen)

Ingredients
1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup butter (no substitutions)
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
15 crushed graham crackers (I believe this is to many, 9 would work well)
1 1/2 cups small marshmallows
3/4 cup milk chocolate chips

Directions
- Line an 8x8 pan with foil and spray with PAM.
- In a medium mixing bowl combine the graham cracker crumbs, 3/4 cup marshmallows and 1/2 cup chocolate chips. Set aside.
- In a medium sauce pan over medium heat, combine the egg, butter, sugar and vanilla. Cook, stirring constantly until it comes to a full boil. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
- Pour mixture in bowl with the graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolate chips. Stir to combine. (Marshmallows and chips will melt a bit).
- Fold in remaining marshmallows and chips.
- Press mixture into prepared pan.Cool until set. Remove foil and bars from pan, cut and serve. - Store in airtight container either room temp or in fridge (if during warm months).

Make Mine Blonde

I have been in the mood to bake something, yet strangely enough I did not really want to eat whatever it was that I would be baking, I just wanted to taste it. I had some butter softened on the counter that I needed to do something with. So I turned to the Baking Illustrated cookbook that I received for Christmas and found the perfect recipe for brownies. Of course I did not have enough chocolate for that recipe so I turned the page and decided to try making blondies instead.

I used 1/2 cup of milk chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of butterscotch chips because that just so happened to be what was in my cabinet. This was my first time making blondies and I am pretty pleased with the results. If only I had some vanilla ice cream to make them a la mode.


Blondies
(Source: Baking Illustrated)

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups (7 1/2 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
12 tablespoons ( 1 1/2 sticks), unsalted butter melted and cooled
1 1/2 cups (10 1/2 ounces) packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup pecans, toasted and chopped coarse

Directions
1. Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 13 x 9 inch pan baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Fold two 16 inch pieces of foil or parchment paper lengthwise so that one measures 13 inches wide, and the other measures 9 inches wide. Fit one sheet in the bottom of the greased pan, pushing it into the corners and up the sides (overhang with help with removal of baked bars). Fit the second sheet in the pan in the same manner, perpendcular to the first sheet. Spray the sheets with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in medium bowl; set aside.
3. Whisk melted butter and brown sugar together in medium bowl until combined. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Using rubber spatula, fold dry ingredients into egg mixture until just combined; do not overmix. Fold in semisweet and white chocolate chips and nuts and turn batter into prepared pan, smoothing top with rubber spatula.
4. Bake until top is shiny and cracked and feels firm to the touch, 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely on wire rack to room temperature. Remove bars from pan by lifting foil overhang and transfer to cutting board. Cut into 1 1/2 by 2-inch bars and serve.

Fake-out Reese's

A friend from Arkansas shared this recipe with me last week and suggested that I make it because they were so good. I thought that it would be the perfect addition to my Christmas goodie trays. I contemplated so many different ways to make them but decided on just going with the flow of the recipe and making them into bars. But I think next time I will make them into truffles or cut the PB mixture into little discs and then dip into chocolate for a more peanut butter cup look. These babies are pretty sinful if you are a Reese's lover.


Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Bars
(Source: RecipeZaar.com)

Ingredients:
1 cup butter
2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 1 cellophane package and 3 extra grahams)
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup smooth peanut butter
2 cups chocolate chips

Directions:
- Mix butter, graham cracker crumbs, powdered sugar, and peanut butter. (An easy way to measure the peanut butter is to put 1 cup of water into a measuring cup, and then add enough peanut butter to it that the water reaches 2 cups).
- Press mixture into a 9x13" pan.
- Melt chocolate chips in microwave and stir until smooth (try a minute first, and then check).
- Spread chocolate carefully over peanut butter layer with a spatula. (Having one person to pour the chocolate and one to spread works well!).
- Let the chocolate cool for a while, and then cut into bars before the chocolate is completely hardened (or else the chocolate layer will just crack).

So dreamy

This is the dessert that I chose to take with me tonight when I go scrapbooking. They look awesome and I can not wait to bite into one later and see just how dreamy they really are. I will come back and let you know tomorrow. *update* these were very good and everyone loved them. My only complaint is that it was tricy to tell when I should take these out of the oven. The center was raised and really jiggly after 22 minutes of baking time but I new I had to take them out before they burnt.

And do not forget to head over to Jessica's blog and check it out, she has a great tip for melting the chocolate for this recipe that is so easy and a breeze to clean up.


Chocolate Chip Dream Bars
Recipe courtesy of Betty Crocker: Baking for Today Cookbook

Via Jessica at What's cooking in the orange kitchen?

Ingredients:
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 bag (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips (1 cup)
1 cup milk chocolate chips
Chocolate Glaze
3/4 cup milk chocolate chips
2 teaspoons vegetable oil

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350°F. In medium bowl, mix 1/2 cup brown sugar and the butter. Stir in 1 cup flour. Press in ungreased rectangular pan, 13x9x2 inches. Bake 10 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, in medium bowl, mix eggs, 1 cup brown sugar and the vanilla. Stir in 2 tablespoons flour, the baking powder and salt. Stir in semisweet and milk chocolate chips. Spread over crust.

3. Bake bars 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely in pan on wire rack.

4. In 1-quart saucepan, heat all Chocolate Glaze ingredients over low heat, stirring constantly, until chocolate is melted. Drizzle glaze over cooled bars. Refrigerate at least 1 hour until firm. For bars, cut into 8 rows by 4 rows. Store at room temperature.

Fudgie-Wudgey Brownies

I had the urge to bake and the desire to update my blog. My schedule has been so crazy I have not been able to cook much at all lately. I decided tonight was the night. I am going to bake something no matter how late I have to stay up to do so. I asked my husband to choose between brownies and cupcakes. Before I even got out all of the word cupcakes he said brownies. So brownies it was. And by the way, he even helped me make them!!!

Mu husbands rating of these were... ok well maybe I won't say. He said a bad word. LOL But after that bad word that starts with an f he said "good". So he pretty much downed the piece pictured (minus my one bite) in about 10 seconds. That is how good they are. My reaction was fudge overload.


Outrageous Caramel-Fudge Brownies
(Orignal recipe courtesy of: Betty Crocker Cookies & Bars Aug. 2004)

Ingredients:
1 bag (14oz) caramels, unwrapped
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1 1/4 cups flour
3/4 cup baking cocoa
1/4 tsp salt
1 bag (2 cups) semi-sweet chocolate chips (I mixed white and semi-sweet)
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans (I used almonds, but only on top)
1 tsp vegetable oil (I used canola)

Directions:
1) Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom and sides of rectangular pan (13x9). Heat caramels and milk over low heat, stirring frequently, until caramels are melted and smooth.
2) Melt butter in large saucepan over low heat. remove from heat. Stir in sugar, vanilla and eggs until well blended. Stir in flour, cocoa and salt. Add in 1 1/2 cups of the chocolate chunks and 1 cup of the pecans. Spread evenly in prepared pan.
3) Gently and evenly drizzle melted caramel over batter (try to prevent large pockets of caramel and trying to keep the caramel from reaching the bottom of the pan). Bake 35-40 minutes or until set.
4) Heat remaining 1/2 cup chocolate chunks and the oil in small saucepan over low heat, stirring frequently until smooth. Drizzle melted chocolate over warm brownies. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup pecans; press in lightly.
5) Cool 20 minutes on counter. Then transfer to refrigerator for 1 hour and 30 minutes or until chocolate is set. If refrigerated longer, let stand at room temperature for 20 minutes before serving.