Coconut Almond Bars

Howdy friends! How are you this fine, rainy Wednesday evening? I figured you might need a sweet chocolaty pick-me-up! I know I could. I made these quite a while ago and to be honest just never got around to blogging them. But I was flipping through pictures and noticed I had these lovely little shots my hubby took and I just had to share them with you!

This recipe is from one of my favorite baking books - Back to Baking by Anna Olson! I hope you enjoy as much as we did!

Coconut Almond Bars
Minimally adapted from Back to Baking by Anna Olson

Ingredients:

Base:

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup all purpose flour

Filling:

• 1 1/3 cup sweetened coconut flakes
• 1 cup sliced almonds
• 1 300 ml tin sweetened condensed milk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp salt

Topping:

• 5 oz semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 tbsp. butter

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and line an 8-inch square pan with parchment paper so paper comes up the sides.
2. Melt butter and chocolate in a small pan over low heat, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in sugar. Then add egg and vanilla and stir til blended. Add flour and stir. Spread this mixture into the bottom of prepared an and bake for 10 minutes until it loses its shine. Cool while preparing the filling.
3. For the filling, stir the coconut, almonds, condensed milk, vanilla and salt to combine. Spread over cooled base. Bake 25 minutes until light golden brown. Cool to room temperature before adding the topping.
4. For the topping, melt the chocolate and butter in the microwave on low heat, stirring often.  Pour mixture over cooled filling and spread evenly.
5. Chill the pan for about 2 hours to set the chocolate. Cut the squares while chilled, but then store and enjoy at room temp. I used a small round biscuit cutter to cut mine into cute little round shapes for a fun way to present them!

These bars have amazing chocolaty flavour, but they are a little on the sweet side! If you don't like super sweet treats, then these probably aren't the bars for you! If however you love a little sugar hit - get on making these right away to cure your mid-week blues!

Happy Baking Friends!

S'mores bars with Nuttella Marshmallows

I've been meaning to make marshmallows  for quite a while now. Then the other day (national s'mores day) Bon Appetit featured the top 10 s'mores recipes from various food blogs and there was one from Cherry Tea Cakes for S'mores bars where you made the marshmallow layer from scratch. I was pretty stoked to make them right away. I changed the recipe slightly by putting nuttella flavour into the marshmallow layer and putting peanut butter in the top chocolate layer, but other than that I was quite true to the original recipe. They are addictive and delicious and you've got to make them this summer. Its well worth the effort.

Graham Layer

Minimally adapted from Cherry Tea Cakes

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups + 2 tbsp all purpose flour
• 1 cup golden brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp kosher salt
• 7 tbsp cold, unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup agave syrup
• 5 tbsp low fat milk
• 2 tbsp vanilla extract

Method:

1. Add flour, sugar, soda, and salt to the large bowl of the food processor. Pulse a couple of times to combine. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture is crumbly and butter is evenly distributed through the dry ingredients.
2. Whisk together the agave, milk and vanilla until combined. Add to the flour mixture and pulse until just combined.
3. Press mixture into a 9x13 inch rectangle baking dish that has been lined with parchment paper.
4. Preheat oven to 350F. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until semi-firm to the touch. Remove from oven and set aside to cool. Make the marshmallow layer while it cools.

Marshmallow Layer

Minimally adapted from Cherry Tea Cakes

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 packages unflavoured gelatin
• 1/2 cup ice cold water, divided
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup corn syrup
• 1/8 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 heaping tbsp nuttella

Method:

1. Fit stand mixer with whisk attachment. Combine 1/4 cup cold water and the gelatin in the bowl of the mixer and leave to sit while you make the syrup.
2. In a medium saucepan, combine 1/4 cup ice water, sugar, corn syrup and kosher salt. Cover and cook on medium heat for 3 minutes. Don't worry about stirring it.
3. Remove the lid and attach candy thermometer to the side of the pan. Boil for approximately 7 minutes or until the mixture reaches 240 degrees and then remove from heat immediately.
4. Put stand mixer on low speed and churn the gelatin mixture for a couple of turns. Then with mixture still on low, slowly pour in the hot syrup mixture (BE CAREFUL, THE MIXTURE IS EXTREMELY HOT AND CAN BURN YOU).  When all the syrup is incorporated, cover the front and sides of the mixer with a tea towel and turn the mixer up to high speed. Continue to whip until mixture is luke warm - 12 minutes. In the last minute of whipping, add vanilla and nuttella and mix until incorporated.
5. Pour marshmallow cream onto the graham cracker base. Sprinkle lightly with powdered sugar.
6. Let set for 1 hour before topping with chocolate peanut butter layer.



Chocolate Peanut Butter Layer
Minimally adapted from Cherry Tea Cakes

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
• 4 tbsp peanut butter
• 1 tbsp corn syrup
• 1/4 tsp vanilla

Method:

1. Combine all ingredients in microwave safe bowl. Microwave on low heat at 30 second intervals stirring well each time until mixture is completely melted. Pour over marshmallow layer and spread evenly.
2. Allow to set for a few hours. Enjoy!

So, these are a little bit of work, but they're delicious. I highly recommend making them as a dessert for one of your end of summer get togethers with friends and family. It makes a nice big pan of squares that will feed lots of people.

Happy Baking my Friends!

Homemade Snickers for SRC!

Good Morning friends! Its been a while. :) It is time for our SRC reveal and this month I was assigned a challenge - I was assigned Heidi's blog which is in Danish. I didn't have the proper internet browser (she recommends google chrome) to automatically translate her page so it was quite labour intensive to translate her page manually using google translator, however, it was well worth it. The snickers bars I made were delicious - so delicious in fact that my family devoured them!!

Lets get started -

first make the chocolate bottom

Ingredients:

• 250 g. good quality milk chocolate
• 1/2 cup peanut butter

Method:

1. Melt chocolate in saucepan over low heat. Stir in peanut butter until combined.
2. Pour mixture into a square pan (I used 8x8) lined with parchment paper. Spread into an even layer. Let the mixture harden in the fridge.

Next make the nougat layer

Ingredients:

• 50g salted butter
• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup evaporated milk
• 2 1/2 cups marshmallow fluff
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 2 1/2 cups salted peanuts, roughly chopped
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

1. Melt butter in sauce pan over medium heat. Once butter is melted, add sugar and evaporated milk and bring mixture to a boil. Stir constantly. Heat through until sugar has dissolved.
2. Add fluff, peanut butter and vanilla and stir until fluff and peanut butter are melted and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and fold in chopped peanuts.
3. Let cool slightly and pour over chocolate base. Place in fridge to set up competely.

Next up, make the caramel layer.

Ingredients:

• 400g toffee/ caramel (the kraft caramel squares work well here)
• 1/2 cup whipping cream

Method:

1. Melt toffee and whipping cream together in saucepan over medium heat until mixture is completely smooth. Remove from heat and pour over hardened nougat layer. Place in fridge to harden completely.

Finally, make the chocolate top:

Ingredients

• 250 g good milk chocolate
• 1/2 cup peanut butter

Method:

1. Melt chocolate over low heat in a medium saucepan. Add peanut butter and stir until melted and mixture is smooth. Pour over hardened caramel layer. Place back in fridge to set up completely.

Once bars have hardened and set up in the fridge, remove from the pan and cut into squares. Enjoy!

My family enjoyed these so much that I didn't get a chance to take any photos, so I borrowed a photo from Heidi's blog. Here's what they look like -

Photo not my own - used from Heidi's blog

I am planning to make them again to photograph them and will update this post with my own photos when I have a chance!

Can't wait to see what all the other group C bloggers came up with this month!

Happy baking my friends!

Mr. Big Brownies

My hubby was just in Winnipeg visiting his lovely Grandparents. They're the sweetest people and like his mom, they just love to give you little "gifties". Little gifts that don't really cost much and don't seem like much, but they're a little something to brighten your day, often for trivial occasions, or no occasion at all. This time Scott's Grandpa gave him a box of Mr. Big Snack Cakes that he had picked up last time he went to town. I laughed so hard when he brought them back home and thought, oh geez, what are we going to do with these? Well, inspiration struck! Might as well put them in a brownie. So that's what I did.

For this recipe, I adapted one of Anna Olson's recipes from her newest cookbook Back to Baking. Which is a pretty spectacular book (if you haven't already heard my praises for this cookbook, check out my post about me attending a cooking class hosted by Anna that demonstrated recipes from her book here)!!

Mr. Big Brownies
Recipe adapted from Anna Olson's Back to Baking

Ingredients

Brownies:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 4 oz semisweet chocolate chips
• 3 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
• 1 tbsp instant coffee granules
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract 
• 2/3 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 4 Mr. Big Snack Cakes

Frosting:

• 3 oz milk chocolate chips
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp instant coffee granules
• 1/2 package cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup icing sugar

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8 inch square pan with parchment paper so it hangs over the edges slightly.
2. Melt the butter, chocolates, and instant coffee in a medium saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly until melted. Remove the pot from the heat.
3. Stir in the sugars, then add the eggs one at a time, stirring well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla.
4. Stir the flour, baking soda, and salt into the chocolate mixture, mixing just until blended.
5. Pour half the batter into the pan (just until the bottom of the pan is covered). Top with the Mr. Big Snack Cakes. Pour remaining batter to cover the snack cakes. Smooth top.
6. Bake in preheated oven for about 35 minutes, until the top of the brownies take on a dull finish. Cool completely in the pan before frosting.
7. To make the frosting, melt the chocolate, butter, and instant coffee in the microwave, being careful not to burn the chocolate. Beat the cream cheese to soften in the bowl of a stand mixer. Pour in the melted chocolate mixture and beat until blended. Add icing sugar and blend. Remove the brownies from the pan and ice the top of the entire brownie. Let set for an hour before slicing.

These are some seriously delicious brownies! You've got to try them. :) Would probably work well with Wagon Wheels too!! Yah, I'm a little weird, but it works. :D Hope you've got lots to look forward to this weekend. I know I do! Its my Birthday and Mothers' Day on Sunday. So its going to be a good weekend. Wish I lived closer to my Momma though.

Happy Baking my Friends! Enjoy the weekend.

Macaroon Madness Bars

After yesterday's "healthy" post, I have to catch up by posting something extra un-healthy today! Just kidding! I'm trying to post one healthy recipe per week going forward as I've had a number of requests from my readers for healthy recipes including - low fat, low sugar, diabetic friendly, gluten free and dairy free! I'm going to do my best to try to post a variety of these recipes over the next year. If there is anything you'd like to see me make, or you have a healthy recipe you'd like me to feature, by all means, please leave me a comment or send me an email.  I would love to hear from you!

I found this recipe on Jen's blog Food & Whine. She has a great online recipe box full of amazing recipes - so if you haven't already, do check her out. She doesn't post every day but whenever she does post I'm always excited to see what new recipe she is sharing because they're always good!! I made these macaroon madness bars and they're so delicious I just have to share them with you. If you love coconut, you'll fall hard for these little beauties. Jen notes that you should leave them overnight in the fridge before slicing them and she's right. I let them soften a bit to room temperature prior to slicing and they were a little messy to slice.

Macaroon Madness Bars
Recipe minimally adapted from Food & Whine

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
• 2 cups flour
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup salted butter, melted
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 can sweetened, condensed milk (14 oz)
• 2 cups sweetened coconut flakes
• 2 cups quick cooking oatmeal
• caramel syrup (I used store bought, but you can find a good recipe on Jen's post)
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Method:

1. For the base, line a 9x13 inch pan with parchment paper and spray lightly with cooking spray. Leave an overhang of parchment on each end to lift out of the pan easily after baking. Combine butter, flour, cornstarch, and baking powder in a medium bowl. Mix until mixture is well combined and crumbly. Press into bottom of prepared pan (use the bottom of a glass to really pack in the crust). Set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 350F. For the filling, over low heat, combine the butter, brown sugar, vanilla and sweetened condensed milk. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and stir in eggs. Fold in coconut and oatmeal until well combined. Pour over crust in prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes until golden brown (center will still be a bit jiggly). If the center is too wobbly, cook for another 5 minutes.
3. Cool completely. Cover, refrigerate overnight.
4. Drizzle bars with caramel syrup. Place back in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes. Then melt the white chocolate and drizzle over the bars. Refrigerate another 10-15 minutes. Finally, melt the chocolate and drizzle over the bars. Refrigerate another 10-15 minutes or until chocolate is firm. Remove from pan and slice into squares or triangles. Keep left over bars in the fridge, or freeze for later use.

Hope you enjoy these bars! I know we sure did. I've actually saved some of the leftovers in the freezer (and by freezer, I mean my patio - its -8 again today, so no need to take up valuable freezer space when I have a big one outdoors!!) for a girls get together I'm having at my place on Sunday. Oh its going to be a good time - we're going to get a valentines card making tutorial from one of the ladies and what kind of girls get together would be complete without a friendly chocolate tasting competition?! I'll let you know how it goes and obviously give you the DL on what kind of food I make next week.

This post has been linked up with Whatcha Baking Wednesdays over at Cajun Sugar Pie. Head on over to check out what other delicious desserts have been whipped up this week by fellow food bloggers.

This post has been linked up with Jane Deere's Fusion Fridays! Please stop by the Fusion Friday's link party to check out what everyone else was cooking up this week.

Happy baking my friends!

Cheesecake Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

So I'm pretty sure the first thing you're going to notice about this post is that I don't have any photos of the finished product... I'm pretty sure they disappeared too fast for me to take photos of! Thats my story and I'm sticking to it. For photos of how the dessert looks after its baked, head on over to Tracey's blog aptly named Tracey's Culinary Adventures. On her blog you'll find beautiful photos and all kinds of deliciously yummy recipes. I have a whole list of things bookmarked from her page to bake and cook, but its nearly impossible to get through that list because she keeps adding more and more delicious posts by the day. :)

Now that we've established that, I have to tell you - this recipe is delicious - I mean who wouldn't like a layer of cheesecake sandwiched between chocolate chip cookie goodness right?! Don't overbake these - they're meant to be a little chewy! Make these for that summer BBQ you have to attend or bake them and bring a plate to your neighbor... I promise you'll find yourself making all kinds of friends because of your baking "skills" (even though these bars are so dead easy that you could likely make them in your sleep!!). So? What are you waiting for? Go round up the ingredients and get started!!!

Cheesecake Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Recipe adapted from Tracey's Culinary Adventures

• 1 cup butter


• 1 cup light brown sugar


• 1/2 cup granulated sugar


• 1 tbsp vanilla extract


• 1/2 tsp salt


• 1 tbsp cider vinegar


• 1 egg


• 1 tsp baking soda


• 2 cups all-purpose flour


• 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips


• 8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened


• 1/2 cup granulated sugar


• 1 egg


• 1 tsp vanilla

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a 9x13 inch pan with nonstick spray.


2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, brown sugar, the first amount of white sugar, vanilla and salt on medium speed until fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.


3. Beat in the first egg until well combined. With the mixer on low speed, mix in the flour and the baking soda and mix until just incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips. Divide the dough in half and press one half of the dough into the bottom of your prepared pan. Set aside the other half of the dough.


4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Beat in the second amount of sugar, second egg, and the second amount of vanilla until just incorporated. Pour the cream cheese mixture over the cookie layer in the pan and spread to the edges of the dish so you have one smooth, even layer.


5. Use the second half of the cookie dough (that you set aside earlier) and press in a layer over the cream cheese. The easiest way to do this is to take chunks of the dough, flatten into disks, and layer over the cream cheese mixture. It doesn't matter if the cream cheese part is completely covered, because the cookie dough will spread during baking. See below for a couple pictures of what mine looked like before I baked it.


6. Bake in preheated oven for 35-40 minutes, or until the top is brown and cooked through (the bars will begin to pull away slightly from the sides of the pan). Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in the refrigerator.

Absolute deliciousness! My sister couldn't stop eating them. I think I'll likely make these for the next treat day I do for our office. :) Hope you are having a nice weekend and getting some nice weather.

Happy Baking my Friends!

Chocolate Almond Toffee Bars

What a great long weekend! So relaxing and enjoyable... almost a shame to have to head back to work tomorrow! Oh well, I must have this income to support my cooking and baking addiction... so its a vicious cycle! :)

I made these squares (along with the cupcakes in my last post) for my "treat day" at work. Treat day happens every Thursday in my office and staff members below manager level are required to bring in goodies for everyone. As this day is much anticipated each week, its important to have super yummy goodies for everyone to choose from. I added these Chocolate Almond Toffee Bars to the mix on my last treat day and my co-workers were really excited. I was repeatedly asked for the recipe and there were none left by lunch time.

To top off the great taste of these bars, they're so easy. You can literally whip them up in under 10 minutes (put them together while your oven preheats) and then throw them in the oven for half an hour. Check out the recipe below to see how easy these bars really are! The biggest challenge in making this dish is waiting for the bars to chill enough to slice them into nice squares!! :)

Chocolate Almond Toffee Bars
Recipe from In the Kitchen with Anna by Anna Olson

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups rolled oats


• 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs


• 1/4 tsp fine salt


• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted


• 1 cup skor toffee bits


• 1 cup chocolate chips


• 1 cup sliced almonds


• 1 can (300 ml) sweetened condensed milk

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease and line an 8-inch square pan with parchment paper so that the paper hangs over the sides of the pan.


2. Stir the oats, graham cracker crumbs and salt in a bowl to combine, then stir in the melted butter. Pres the crumbly oat mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Sprinkle skor bits evenly on top, followed by chocolate chips and sliced almonds. Pour the sweetened condensed milk evenly over pan (it will sink in as it bakes) and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the edges are bubbling. Cool to room temperature in the pan, then chill for at least 4 hours before slicing into bars.


3. Store toffee bars in the refrigerator for up to one week. Makes about 25 squares.

Happy Easter to all of you & Happy Baking my Friends!