Chewy Toffee Bars

 I don't bake much but I just love bars or slices, besides it's something I can actually bake. I saw this one from Jamie Deen, and I just had to try it. I used Heath Bar pieces that I had pick up and have not  used yet, and some chocolate chips instead of just the toffee pieces. I didn't use as much brown sugar as it called for...and I used a lot less pecans just because I don't like too many...or any nuts in my bars.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
• 2  cups light brown sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• Pinch salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup pecans (the recipe calls for 3/4 cup)
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1 cup Heath milk chocolate toffee bits

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare an 8-by-8-inch baking pan with nonstick spray.

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan and stir in the brown sugar until melted together. Let cool for 5 minutes. ( I cooled a little bit longer so the chocolate won't melt so much)

While the mixture is cooling, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.

Toast the pecans in "tiny" skillet over medium heat. Remove to a plate once toasted.

Stir in the eggs, one at a time, and vanilla extract into the cooled sugar and butter mixture. Add the dry ingredients into the saucepan until combined. Fold in the toffee and chopped pecans; the batter will be very thick.

Spread the mixture into the prepared pan. Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before slicing into squares.

Strawberry, Banana, and Nutella Crepes

After the savory crepes, which we enjoyed very much BTW...now we had to try some dessert or breakfast crepes...

So I have some Nutella in the cupboard (always) fresh fruit, and left over crepes...perfect!!

 

Spread some Nutella on half the crepe, slice up some bananas, and strawberries, lay them carefully in place, then fold it in half then half again...

I pulled out the Ghiardelli chocolate sauce to drizzle on top and yum, yum...I actually did have this for breakfast!

Lemon Curd Parfait with Ginger Whipped Cream

For years I have been making this lemon cream pie, mostly because I get too many lemons off my tree at one time I thought how perfect to make a lemon pie each year. Now you know I am very fussy when it comes to sweets, and I do not like meringue, so I had to find one that didn't have it. The recipe I found is a lemon cream pie, made with lemon curd which is quite sweet, but then with whipped cream folded in it cuts the so so sweetness some.

You have to let it set in the fridge for at least three hours and it can stay over night. The first one I made I used a graham cracker crust I like that flavor better than the cookie crust...it didn't set up all the way, but it sure did taste good! In the reviews some users added a thickener, and some stated if you waited long enough it should set up....but when I spotted these cute little cordial/dessert cups...

...I thought (bing! - that is supposed to be a light bulb going off) what about a layered dessert in a cup, like a parfait! This is kind of like a deconstructed lemon cream pie... you take some of the lemon curd, then the graham cracker crumbs (mixed with sugar and melted butter then toasted) whipped cream, all in layers...adding dome fresh strawberries for color. I wanted to use raspberries, but couldn't find any fresh ones, so strawberries it is. Either one would work well here, gives it that sweet-tartness that I love.


Lemon Curd somewhat adapted from Lemon Cream Pie recipe Epicurious June 2002

Ingredients:
6 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces

- Combine the eggs, sugar, and lemon zest in a heavy medium-size saucepan and whisk the mixture until it is smooth. Add the lemon juice and butter and cook the mixture over medium heat, whisking constantly, until it is thickened, 7 to 9 minutes. Do not allow the mixture to come to a boil.

- Pour the lemon curd through a fine mesh strainer into a glass bowl. Cover the surface with plastic wrap. Refrigerate the lemon curd until it is cold and thick, at least 3 hours and up to 3 days.

For the whipped cream I decided to add a little ginger to it instead of some vanilla, and I used it to layer with the lemon curd instead of folding it in with the curd.

Ginger Whipped Cream
ingredients:
1 cup heavy cream, chilled
2 tablespoons sugar (optional)
1 teaspoon powdered ginger

- In a medium-size mixing bowl using an electric mixer, whip the heavy cream, sugar, and ginger until soft peaks form. You can make it plain if you opt for that!

Graham Cracker Crumb Crust
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups crushed graham crackers (about 8 graham crackers)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 stick or 1/4 cup butter, melted

Mix all the ingredients and then lightly toasted in a skillet on low heat, you could do it in the oven too if you like. It came out crunchy and a nice flavor added to the dessert. Use a little sprinkled on top for garnish.


But, the first one I made I used some of my homemade granola, and no fruit. Again this was a big hit, the sweet - tart thing still going on and flavors and are so good. This is really a fun dessert to play with.

Lime Bars - Martha Mondays

It was Megan's turn author of Megan's Cookin' and she chose Lime Bars for us to make this week for Martha Mondays. This was great! She chose lime bars from the St. Patrick's Day recipes, and I know it was supposed to be green and all, but....I still have some lemons left on my tree and I was looking for a lemon bar recipe so I thought I would make a slight change...
After all key lime pie doesn't turn out green...unless you add green color to it. I just used lemons instead of limes (I do love key limes so I'll try it that way later) I added a pinch of salt and a dash of vanilla extract that is all the changes I've made...not so bad for me!

Lime Squares with Pistachio - Graham Cracker Crust - Martha Stewart Living


I found this vintage juicer at a tag sale, I have a fancy electric juicer, but for small jobs this works best.

I also had this box of graham cracker crumbs already in my cupboard (I had planned on making lemon bars and a lemon cream pie). This is so nice, you can measure a cup if that's what you need, no fuss, no muss! Not that tossing them into a food processor is difficult, but these were on sale so cheap I couldn't pass up the ease.

So since I didn't have to pull out my food processor I just chopped the pistachios in a mini chopper that I have and after this I decided to get rid of it. It doesn't do that good of a job and it takes up space. I left the nuts a little big so you would know they were in there.

See...now you can even see them in the crust
I did use the parchment paper as she suggested to make it easy to pull out of the pan. You could probably use a tart pan with a removable bottom as well.


They were very good nice and creamy, sweet and tart, kinda like key lime pie would be. Yummy, but these pieces were rather large.


but we still ate it, right before lunch...no, just kidding we at it for dessert after lunch! The rest of them were cut smaller and I think I'll dust them with some powdered sugar.

My daughter gave it a thumbs up too.
We are on spring break this week so I have plans to get all sorts of things done.
We'll see...

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Squares - Martha Mondays

My choice this week for our Martha Mondays hosted each week by Brette with Martha and Me and let me tell you she participates in each one every week! One time she missed a week because she was sick, and then she apologized for it! She's amazing, and an author of several books, a new one just out The Parchment Paper Cookbook one of her other blogs is No Pot Cooking. Check it out for some good no mess cooking ideas and recipes. If you would like to join us for Martha Mondays just let her know. There is no pressure to do it every week and you get some good feedback and meet some great people.


Oh yeah,...back to my pick...Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Squares I chose this because of my daughter...she has been wanting me to make her some pumpkin something for her birthday...she loves pumpkin every thing So this was great, Martha had a wonderful pumpkin bar recipe, and what better time to try it...two birds, you know!



Pumpkin Chocolate-Chip Squares
Martha Stewart Living Special Issues, 2006

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour, (spooned and leveled)
1 tablespoon pumpkin-pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 package (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line bottom and sides of a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with foil, leaving an overhang on all sides. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, pie spice, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
2.With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar on medium-high speed until smooth; beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Beat in pumpkin puree (mixture may appear curdled). Reduce speed to low, and mix in dry ingredients until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.
3.Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. Bake until edges begin to pull away from sides of pan and a toothpick inserted in center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely in pan.
4.Lift cake from pan (using foil as an aid). Peel off foil, and use a serrated knife to cut into 24 squares
Tip: If you can't find pumpkin-pie spice, substitute 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon, 3/4 teaspoon ginger, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, and 1/2 teaspoon each allspice and cloves (all ground).

It was a two bowl, (most baking recipes will have you use one bowl for dry and another for the wet ingredients), straight forward recipe.The only different thing I did this time was add a little more cinnamon, and used half chocolate chips and half cinnamon chips.

I sprinkled some extra chips on top of the batter after it was spread out in the pan. I like the looks of them sitting on top like that...maybe more next time!


This is definitely a keeper. It was moist and delicious, the texture was kind of like between a cake and a muffin. The pumpkin held up well to the spices and chocolate was not too much, of course I used half the amount of chocolate, but used cinnamon chips to compete the amount called for in the recipe. I didn't have a 9x13 pan, the pan I used was a little smaller so they came out a little tall. I can't believe I don't have a 9x13 glass baking dish...Christmas wish list!

My family actually finished them all up...I didn't have any to bring in to work.

Edited to add the Tip: after the recipe, for those of you who can't find pumpkin pie spice. This was the first time I had used it, I happened to run across it.

Muah Chee - with Chai Spice

I first saw Muah Chee 麻糍 on Anncoo's Journal and of course as I am with anything new I was curious about it and had to try it. Apparently it is a popular street food found in roadside food stalls in Singapore and Malaysia. A glutinous or sticky rice ball rolled in sugar and crushed peanuts...similar to mochi but with the filling on the outside rather than inside. Then I saw Biren make some and post it on her blog Roti n Rice, apparently she missed having this treat a childhood favorite. I already had some glutinous rice flour in the cupboard (I was going to use it for another recipe) and it didn't take much more ingredients, so I was excited to give it a try for myself. I didn't have peanuts or the fragrant oil, but I could use almonds right? I figured since I have never had the original in the countries known for making it I could use a different nut...would it still be muah chee? :D

Then the next day I saw Jeannie post her muah chee on Baking Diary and she used almonds so I was good to go...but I had to change things up and do a few things different just because that's what I do, but that's why you like me right?Makes you want to see how I would do it...to do things my way of course.heheh...

So I tried the microwave way...

Ingredients for the dough:
li>1 cup of glutinous rice flour (easily found in your Asian market)
3/4 cup water
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon cooking oil (normally you use shallot oil, but I didn't have that)


Topping:
1/2 cup chopped nuts I used almonds
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1 -2 teaspoons chai spice mix*


*Chai Spice Mix:
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons cardamom
1 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon white pepper

All spices are in powdered form for this one. Mix all together and store in a spice jar. Add it to tea, coffee, cookies, granola and much more.

For the muah chee mix all the ingredients for the dough mixture in a microwave safe glass bowl. Microwave for 3 minutes...I covered mine with a glass plate but I don't think you have to do this.

Remove from microwave and spoon out in bite size pieces. Then drop them into the topping mixture, it was just sticky enough to grab onto some of the nuts, sugar and spice and everything nice...couldn't resist. Some will dip the dough balls in shallot oil first then stick it in the topping mix, but this way worked good for me.

There you have it...muah chee my way :D I still have to make it to Singapore or Malaysia to try it the right way!


I really liked it a lot, I think better than I thought I would, just because of the texture thing...

I enjoyed the cardamom, cinnamony flavors with the nuts. I think toasted, desiccated coconut with peanuts would be good on it too.


The texture was soft, chewy and didn't stick to your teeth...really nice. I enjoyed it with some Vietnamese coffee, it went well together...mmm so good. I had some for breakfast the next morning and it was okay, but I liked it better fresh made.

I will definitely make this again, especially since it was so easy and good! Thanks girls it was a lot of fun!!

Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake ~ Taste and Create

This is my first time joining in the fun of Taste & Create where we are paired off with another blog and we make something from each other's blog and post about it! My partner in Taste & Create this month was Bizzy B Bakes, when I checked out her blog she has many different and wonderful things going on there. I wanted to bake something and as you all know about my baking skills, but I wanted to try it. Besides Bizzy B started this blog to increase her baking...I thought it only right. I let my daughter help me choose since she was the one that was going to eat most of it! :D

She wanted to make the lemon poppy seed muffins...okay good choice, but since Bizzy B mostly makes gluten free recipes which this was, which is great, but I didn't have the gluten free flour it called for...so we went for something chocolate! Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake ...

Got all my stuff and ingredients ready to go...

Here is Bizzy B Bakes version of the recipe...

Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake (adapted from All Recipes)
Ingredients :
1 cup canola oil minus one tablespoon
1 (8 ounce) package Tofutti cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar, divided
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup Rice milk
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips, divided
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Method:


In a mixing bowl, cream the oil, cream cheese and 1-1/4 cups of sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk. Stir in 1 cup chocolate chips. Pour into a greased 9-in. spring form pan. Combine cinnamon, 1 cup chocolate chips and remaining sugar; sprinkle over batter.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen. Remove sides of pan. Cool completely before cutting

I like how this recipe didn't have any dairy in it, but I didn't have any rice milk so I use coconut milk that I had. I also used some coconut oil and a little less sugar than it called for and I couldn't fit all the chocolate chips on it...so I had about a quarter cup left.

My daughter chose the color sugar to sprinkle on top...and here I used raw organic sugar in the cake. :) Oops where is the cinnamon...I sprinkled it all over the top before it went in the oven.

The other difference was I didn't have a spring form pan so I made it in an 11 inch stoneware baker that I did have. I was worried about it...

...but it turned out great! I did have to cut back on the baking time, and the toothpick did come out clean.

It was moist and delicious and I loved the texture...I was so surprised! Yay! Still a little sweet for me, but my family loved it. There is still a piece left... anyone?

I bet you can't wait to see what else I might bake up!

Plum - Ginger Granita ~

It was my turn to choose for Martha Mondays I chose granitas, this was something I have always wanted to try, and Martha has many to choose from. The one I decided to make was calling my name right from the start.... Plum Ginger Granita ...we loved it, but now there are many more I would like to try...like the espresso one or some that had the prosecco in it, you can make adult version or kid friendly. My daughter wanted me to make her some ginger lemonade again, and I thought hey I'll make it into a granita!! :D I did cut the recipe in half due to the fact I don't have a glass 9x13 pan so I used a 9x9 glass baker that actually fit in my freezer better. I didn't find it hard to stir the granita every so often, a lot easier than I thought...I don't think I stuck to a tight schedule though.

I didn't have 2 pounds of plums either....I will show you her recipe then let you know what I did a little different...

Here is Martha's recipe...

Ingredients
2 inches peeled fresh ginger
2 pounds ripe red plums, halved, pitted, and coarsely chopped, plus thin wedges for garnish (about 9 plums total)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Directions
1.Pulse ginger in a food processor until finely chopped. Transfer ginger to a large saucepan. Add plums, sugar, salt, and 5 cups water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until sugar has dissolved and plums have broken down, about 15 minutes.

2.Pour plum mixture through a fine sieve into a 9-by-13-inch shallow nonreactive dish; discard solids. Stir in vanilla. Chill in freezer until edges are frozen, about 1 1/2 hours. Remove from freezer; scrape with fork tines, pulling from edges into center. Return to freezer. Repeat process every 30 minutes until mixture is the texture of shaved ice, about 4 1/2hours. Spoon into serving bowls, and garnish with plums

What I did is a rough chop on the plums and put them in a sauce pan then grated the ginger right into it (I really didn't see the need to use a food processor just to chop the ginger) I used less sugar and added a little pomegranate molasses, mmmm... I wanted to make sure it didn't taste like frozen juice, so this had plenty of flavor a good plum with a nice ginger bite. I think granitas are so versatile and a nice refreshing dessert, really good for me because I don't like things too sweet...a perfect summer treat...a lot easier than popsicles (especially since I don't have the molds).

Please be sure to check out the other Martha Monday participants. I will link them when they come available!

Okay so far here is:

Pru's Espresso Granita

Brette's Strawberry Granita

I had planned on making it yesterday, but for Father's Day Wade wanted to go to a Tampa Bay Ray's game! So that's what we did and it was an exciting game against the Florida Marlins....

I am so thankful it is in a domed stadium, because it was plenty hot outside and very comfortable inside!

Johnny Damon has joined an elite group of athletes that has over 500 doubles, 2500 career hits, 100 triples, and 200 home runs. He is one of 11 and the other 10 are in the hall of fame and no longer playing. Wade is into all the stats like that. I had to ask him again, then just write it down and I still hope I got it right. :D

They won and our left fielder Sam Fuld made 2 fantastic diving catches to stop any runs scoring in one inning. I didn't catch a photo of that. I need my new camera with a long zoom! :D

Ooo...maybe I'll make a granita using rose water...so many choices....you should try making one!

Strawberry Shortcake ~ Martha Mondays

This week was Pru's turn to pick what we all made for Martha Mondays , Pru writes Perfecting Pru and she chose Strawberry Shortcakes. Florida strawberries peak in March, and are about over by the end of April...mmm love the fresh local strawberries, but I was able to pick up some California strawberries, that worked for this recipe.

I am very picky about my shortcake, I don't like it too sweet, or too spongy, but these are just right. They smelled so good while baking with all that butter. For a Martha Stewart recipe it was pretty simple and you only used the food processor and the bowl to hold the strawberries...uh that's unusual for her, but nice.

The only problem I had was I didn't have any whipped cream...and I didn't want to run back to the store to get any...so I had to use sweetened condescend milk (which I usually have in the pantry). Oops I put too much on top you can't see the shortcake.

There I'll put one next to it so you can see it...

Well I must say...this was good, the shortcake reminds me of the ones my dad makes, so they are good to me. The sweetened condensed milk was the light version so it was just right and very tasty. Good choice Pru! My turn to pick next weeks, we a making granita!! Come along and join us, just let Brette know and we'll see you next week!