Showing posts with label bars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bars. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Marshmallow Turtle Bars #FoodieExtravaganza

Caramel, chocolate and pecans are the key ingredients of those delicious little candies known as turtles. Add a crust and throw a few mini marshmallows in the mix and what you’ve got is marshmallow turtle bars. They are sticky, gooey and more-ish!



This month my Foodie Extravaganza group is bringing you loads of chocolate recipes, both sweet and savory, in celebration of National Chocolate Day at the end of October. I’m not a big sweet eater but I am fond of chocolate when it is either dark, semi-sweet or paired with caramel. A dark or semi-sweet chocolate caramel combination would be ideal, especially with pecans. Which brings us to my recipe.

These guys are sooooo good.

Ingredients
2 cups or 250g flour
1/2 cup or 63g confectioners' sugar
3/4 cup or 85g unsalted butter, chilled
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 14-ounce or 397g can sweetened condensed milk
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup or 115g pecans, coarsely chopped
3/4 cup or 150g semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup or 165g toffee-and-chocolate candy (such as chopped up Heath bars)
1 cup or 50g mini marshmallows

Method
Heat oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your 9 x 13 inch or 23 x 33cm pan by greasing it or lining it with baking parchment. Personally, I'm a fan of the parchment.

Cut the chilled butter into cubes and put it in a food processor with the flour, confectioners' sugar, and salt. Pulse until the dough just starts to hang together.


Use your clean hands to press the dough firmly into your prepared pan.



Bake until golden around the edges, about 12-15 minutes.


In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the condensed milk, egg, and vanilla. Pour the filling over the baked crust.

Sprinkle on the marshmallows first, then the chopped pecans, chocolate chips, and toffee pieces putting some of each until you’ve used up all of them.



Bake until the filling is set, the edges are golden brown, and the marshmallows are melted, about 25 minutes.



Cool completely and cut into bars. If you live in a warm climate, you might want to keep these in the refrigerator.

Enjoy!

How will you celebrate National Chocolate Day? I’d like to recommend making a few of these. Many thanks to our host this month, Kathleen from Fearlessly Creative Mammas.


Foodie Extravaganza celebrates obscure food holidays or shares recipes with the same ingredient or theme every month.

Posting day is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook group Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you!

If you're a reader looking for delicious recipes, check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board! Looking for our previous parties? Check them out here.

Pin it! 

.
Posted by at 3:00:00 AM 0 comments
Labels: , , , , , , , ,

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Whiskey Raisin Oatmeal Bars

Raisins soaked in warm whiskey will plump up nicely, absorbing quite a bit of the liquid, thereby adding a sweet touch of whiskey flavor to every bite of these chewy oatmeal cookie bars. Top them with a glaze made from the leftover raisin-y whiskey for extra oomph. 

The Irish are known for a few things including, wrongly or rightly, the talent and skill to make great whiskey and a propensity drink it in prodigious quantities. Also, Irish oats seem to come up a lot online when one is researching Irish baked goods. When our illustrious Creative Cookie Exchange leader, Laura from The Spiced Life, suggested that we think ahead to St. Patrick’s Day for this month’s Drunken Cookies theme, I decided to find a way to combine the two without just baking drunk. Although that option had the allure of a personal challenge, I was thinking it wasn't quite what Laura had in mind.

My Drunk Kitchen, anyone?  **objectionable language warning for the sensitive**

I promise I did not drink a drop while baking these. The shot that accompanies the photos was purely for quality control. Someone had to do it.

Ingredients
For the cookies:
3/4 cup or 170g unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup packed or 150g dark brown sugar
1/4 cup or 50g granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup or 125g flour
1 1/2 cups or 120g oats
1 cup or 170g raisins of your choice (Optional: extra for decorating)
1/2 cup or 120ml Irish whiskey (I used Bushmill’s. Not a whiskey drinker? Sub apple juice.)

Optional - For the glaze:
1 tablespoon leftover whiskey from raisin soaking
Icing sugar
Pinch salt

Method
Warm your whiskey briefly in the microwave and pour it over the raisins in a small bowl.

Allow to soak at least one hour. If you have the raisins in a microwaveable bowl, you can gently warm them once more during that time. Stir them occasionally. Mine soaked up a little more than half the whiskey. The golden ones plumped up better than the dark ones.



Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.

Prepare an 8-inch or cm square baking pan by lining it with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, blend together butter, sugars, egg, salt, and cinnamon until smooth.

Add in the flour and mix well.



Drain the raisins, reserving the leftover whiskey, and add them to the bowl, along with oats. Stir until just combined.



Spread the soft dough out into your prepared pan. I like to put a piece of cling film on top and use my hands to get the dough nice and even, even into the corners.



Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs attached.



Cool the bars completely in the pan and then remove the whole square with the parchment paper. Use a great big knife to cut it into 18 bars.



If you want to make the glaze, put your whiskey in a small bowl and add a tiny pinch of salt. Add icing sugar a few spoonfuls at a time and stir well after each addition, until you are happy with the consistency.

Put a spoonful on each of the cooled cookie bars and spread it around a little with the back of the spoon.

Decorate with a few more raisins while the glaze is still soft.  Allow the glaze to set before trying to stack or transport them.



Wouldn't these be great with a tot of whiskey or, if that's not your cup of tea, perhaps a cup of tea?



Enjoy!



If you are looking for a great way to add alcohol to your baked goods - and, really, who isn’t? – check out these great cookie recipes.





If you are a blogger and want to join in the fun, contact Laura at thespicedlife AT gmail DOT com and she will get you added to our Facebook group, where we discuss our cookies and share links.

You can also just use us as a great resource for cookie recipes--be sure to check out our Pinterest Board and our monthly posts (you can find all of them here at The Spiced Life). You will be able to find them the first Tuesday after the 15th of each month!




Posted by at 6:00:00 AM 0 comments
Labels: , , , , , , ,

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Raspberry Lemon Blueberry Bars #CreativeCookieExchange


Lemon bars with cream cheese are the cheater’s way to cheesecake in just a couple of easy steps. Add seasonal fruit to fancy them up.

This month’s Creative Cookie Exchange theme is red, white and blue and we were free to interpret that any way we wanted. I love it when the themes are wide open like that! Since it’s summer and juicy bright berries are all over the markets, I couldn’t resist using blueberries (Texas grown, naturally) and raspberries (Californian, I believe) for my blue and red. The white was a little more challenging. Can we all just pretend that the fresh lemony cream cheese is whiter than it appears, please? Thank you! In return I will promise you that these bars have the seal of approval from my family and you won’t regret making them for yours.

Ingredients (for 18 bars)
For the base:
1 1/2 cups or 175g graham cracker crumbs
6 tablespoons salted butter, melted
1/4 cup, tightly packed, or 50g light brown sugar
Zest of one large lemon
Pinch fine sea salt

For the top layer:
2 large egg yolks
5 oz or 150ml (190g) sweetened condensed milk
4 oz or 115g cream cheese, at room temperature
1/3 cup or 80ml fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup or 50g sugar
2 teaspoons lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
3 1/2 oz or 100g fresh raspberries
3 1/2 oz or 100g fresh blueberries

Method
Preheat the oven to 350°F or 180°C and line an 8x8 inch or 20x20cm or equivalent volume baking pan with parchment paper. As you will see, mine is actually rectangular.

Combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, salt and lemon zest in a medium bowl and pour in the melted butter. Stir until completely mixed.



Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and press the crumbs out evenly, being careful to make sure they go into the corners as well.

Bake for 10 minutes in your preheated oven. Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature.

Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks, condensed milk and softened cream cheese in another bowl until well mixed.

Stir in the lemon juice, sugar, salt and lemon zest. Whisk again until completely combined.

Gently fold in the raspberries and the blueberries. Gently now. You don't want to break the berries.



Pour the lemon raspberry blueberry topping over the graham cracker bottom and spread it around evenly with a spatula. Redistribute the berries if you need to. But, once again, gently.


Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until just set.



Cool to room temperature, then chill for at least one hour before serving. Cut into bars and serve. Bars can be kept in the refrigerator for up to five days, but they'll never last that long.



Enjoy!


This recipe was adapted from Two Peas and Their Pods' lemon raspberry bars.


If you are looking for red, white and blue inspiration for the upcoming Fourth of July holiday, I’ve got a great list of links for you!

Want to join the Creative Cookie Exchange? 
If you are a blogger and want to join in the fun, contact Laura via email (thespicedlife AT gmail DOT com) and she will get you added to our Facebook group where we coordinate events.

Need more creative cookie recipes? 
You can also use us as a great resource for cookie recipes. Be sure to check out our Pinterest Board, and our monthly posts. You will be able to find them the first Tuesday after the 15th of each month!

Posted by at 4:00:00 AM 0 comments
Labels: , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts ( Atom )