Gene’s Bars: Caramel-Coconut Fudge Brownies

I was searching and searching for the perfect recipe that would combine chocolate and coconut.  I happened upon this one which went one step further and added melted caramel!  I had found my bar!!  My pictures are a bit fuzzy…not sure what my issue was with the camera, but here goes…

Ingredients:

• 6 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped (about 1 cup)
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chewy caramel candies (20 candies), unwrapped
• 1 teaspoon milk
• 1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut, toasted

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan and line with a 14-inch-long sheet of parchment paper, allowing the ends to hang over 2 sides of the pan. In a medium glass bowl, combine the chocolate, butter and 3 tablespoons water. Microwave at medium power for 2 1/2 minutes, then whisk until smooth. Whisk in the sugar, then the eggs one at a time. Whisk in the flour, cocoa and salt until smooth.
2. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and spread to the edges with a spatula. Bake until cracked on top, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool completely.
3. In a small glass bowl, combine the caramels and milk. Microwave at medium power for 2 minutes, then stir until smooth. Spread the caramel evenly on top of the brownie layer. Top with the coconut, patting lightly.

Enjoy!!!!

Triple Decker Bars

*ERLA*

This was a very easy bar to make.

Crust

•  1 stick of butter
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cups flour

Filling:

• 1 stick of butter
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons dark corn syrup
• 3/4 can condensed milk

Topping

• 6 oz semi-sweet chocolate
• 2 tablespoons milk

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350.
• Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy
• Stir in the flour
• Work the dough with your hands and knead well together
• Roll out and press into a shallow 8 inch square pan
• Prick well with a fork
• Bake for 25-30 minutes
• Cool in the Pan
• To make the filling, put all the ingredients in the pot and heat gently, stirring until the sugar has dissolved
• Bring to a boil and cook, stirring for 5-7 minutes until golden
• Pour the caramel over the shortbread base and leave to set
• Melt the chocolate and milk together
• Spread evenly over the caramel
• Put in fridge
• Leave until quite cold before cutting into bars

Baklava

NEVE:

Last night I was looking for a tagine recipe and during my search found a recipe for baklava. I love baklava and the image looked like a bar, meaning it would fulfill October’s requirement for the blog – BONUS!

Let’s Tarantino this one…First, the results:

October – Baklava

Baklava

1 lb. phyllo pastry, thawed
1 cup butter, melted
4 cups nuts (first measured, then fine chopped). I used a mixture of blanched almonds, pistachios and walnuts.
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon

syrup
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1 cinnamon stick
2-inch slice of lemon peel
2-inch slice of orange peel
3/4 cup honey

Preheat oven to 350F (approx. 180C) (I don’t preheat until I’m almost done with the assembly).

Mix the nuts, sugar, and cinnamon together, set aside.

Brush bottom of a 9×13 pan with butter. Layer phyllo then butter so that you have 8 sheets/layers. If your sheets are twice the size of the pan, then butter one half, fold the sheet over the buttered half and butter the top half. That counts as two layers.

Sprinkle 1/3 cup of nut mixture over the phyllo in the pan. Set down two layers of phyllo/butter. Sprinkle with 1/3 cup of mixture. Repeat two layers of phyllo/butter and 1/3 cup of mixture until you finish with 8 layers of phyllo/butter on top.

Cut slices in the pan with a sharp knife – either diamonds or squares/rectangles. Bake for 45 minutes, or until a lovely golden brown on top.

Meanwhile, simmer the water, sugar, peels and cinnamon stick for 15 minutes. Add the honey and let boil for 2 more minutes.

When baklava is done, immediately pour the syrup over the hot pan being sure to get in between all the slices. The syrup will essentialy boil when it hits the hot pan causing it to get nicely cooked into the layers of phyllo and nuts.

Cool and serve.  Or, if you’re like me and can’t wait..scoff down three pieces at midnight and head off to bed. YUM!

TIPS:

1) Be sure to cover your phyllo with a damp cloth while you are busy buttering your layers, otherwise it will dry out, crack and become useless.

2) Buy shelled nuts…no explanation needed.

I’m off to the kitchen now for another piece

Gene–Cheese Danish

If Ihad to chose a favorite breakfast pastry it would have to be cheese danish. Love it!  The only downside…lots of fat and calories.  So, i made a few adjustments and made a version with a little less fat.  I will post the orgininal recipe and then my changes.  Here goes…

Ingredients:
2 cans ready to use refrigerated crescent rolls
2 8-ounce packages cream cheese
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg white

Glaze:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:
Preheat oven to 350* degrees and grease a 13X9-inch baking pan.

 Lay a pack of crescent rolls in the pan and pinch the openings together.

Beat the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and egg together until smooth.

Spread the mixture over the crescent rolls evenly and then lay the second pack of crescent rolls on top of the cheese mixture and brush with egg white.

 

Bake for 35-45 minutes until the top is golden brown.

 

Top with glaze after cooling for 20 minutes.

Kitchen Notes:
I made this danish using low fat cream cheese and low fat crescent rolls.  I halved the filling using 1 package of cream cheese, 1/2 cup of sugar, 1 whole egg, and a 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract.  It was DELICOUS!  If you use the half filling method, bake for closer to 30-35 minutes.

Baked Chocolate Donut

*Erla*

Since my last recipe really turned out to be a muffin, I wanted to make a donut and use yeast.  This recipe was a bit strange, as I think the author left things out but they turned out pretty good anyway!

Ingredients:

• 2 packs of dry yeast
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 1 1/2 cups lukewarm milk (scalded and cooled)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 1/3 shortening
• 4 1/2 cups flour
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup butter

Directions:

• Dissolve the yeast in warm water
• Blend in the milk, sugar, salt, cocoa, eggs, shortening and two cups of flour
  • Here is the first mix up —- the recipe never told me when to add the rest of the flour!  I added 2 more cups after mixing a bit
• Blend at low speed for 30 seconds, then beat two more minutes at medium
• 
• Cover and rise until twice the size.  This usually takes one hour
  • I let this rise over night.  The dough is very sticky and not dough-like at all
• Flour your surface and rolling pin
• Turn out the sticky dough and roll out until it is 1/2 inch thick
• Cut with a 2 1/2 inch donut cutter
  • I used a pint glass and a frosting tip to cut the centers
  • 
• Life the donuts and place on a greased baking sheet
• Brush your donuts with melted butter
• 
• Cover and let rise for about 20 minutes.  They should double in bulk again
  • Mine did not rise again!
• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees
• Bake for about 10 minutes
• When done, shake them in icing sugar or spread a chocolate glaze on top
  • I made a chocolate glaze out of chocolate chips and butter
  • 

Baked Apple “Donuts”

ERLA

I really wanted to make something with apples in it this month.  I found this recipe because it did not involve yeast (yes…I said it).  I have not worked much with yeast but I have found a second recipe that I am going to try this month and will post the results….so any way.  I wanted to make a donut but did not want to fry them…so here it goes.

• 1 1/2 c. flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 3/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1/3 c. shortening
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 c. milk
• 1 1/2 c. finely diced apples

Directions:

• Sift first 5 ingredients
• Add 1/3 cup shortening; mix until mixture is coarse. Set aside.

• 

  Dry ingredients

• In another bowl combine egg, milk and diced apples.
• Add to dry ingredients just until blended.

• 

  Donut mixture

• Spoon into 12 greased muffin cups.

• 

  As you can see I doubled the recipe

• Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
• While donuts are baking, melt 1/2 cup butter. Set aside.
• Combine 1/2 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon.

• 

  Getting ready for dipping!

• When donuts are done, dip in butter and then in sugar mixture.

• 

  The finished product!

I doubled the recipe from the start – above is the original recipe that yields 12.

I would call these apple muffins rather than donuts but they are delish! 

I just went to the store and bought yeast for the next doughnut recipe…stay tuned!

Clone of a Cinnabon

Neve:

Avoid those fattening, expensive Cinnabons in the food court at the mall and make these instead!

Is this a breakfast pastry? Does it fulfill my September obligation? Undecided on the first point, but a resounding YES on the latter. Let’s cut to the chase.

If you use a bread machine, then the Clone of a Cinnabon recipe at All Recipes.com is the one you need. For those real bakers who don’t need a bread machine and know how to proof yeast, then follow my recipe below:

This recipe is DOUBLE the original. They are so good, it would be a waste of time to only make one batch.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups warm milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 2/3 cup margarine, melted
• 9 cups bread flour
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon and 2 teaspoons bread machine yeast
• 2 cups brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 cup and 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 2/3 cup butter, softened
• 2 (3 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 3 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Warm the milk in a saucepan. If you have a themometer, use it. Otherwise, the milk should be very warm to touch, but not warm enough where you can’t keep your finger in the liquid.
2. Pour the warm milk into a large bowl and sprinkle it with the yeast and a tablespoon of the sugar. Gently stir this mixture and then cover the bowl with a tea towel.
3. While the yeast is activating, melt the butter and sift and measure the 9 cups of flour.
4. Once the yeast is bubbly and ready to rock, add all the ingredients to the yeast bowl and mix. If you find that the dough is sticky, then continue to slowly add additional flour until you have a smooth dough that is easy to work. You may find that it’s easy to work on the counter instead of in the bowl. Feel free to dump the dough on a worktop.
5. Add a tablespoon or so of oil to a large, clean bowl. Place your dough in this bowl and flip it around so the bowl and dough are entirely covered with oil. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and let sit until double in size – approx. 30 minutes to an hour.
6. After the dough has doubled in size turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.
7. Cut the dough in half and work with one half at a time. Roll dough into a 16×21 inch rectangle. Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter (save the other 1/3 for the other ball of dough) and sprinkle evenly with sugar/cinnamon mixture. Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls. Place rolls in a lightly greased 9×13 inch baking pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). REPEAT W/ OTHER HALF!
8. Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 – 20 minutes. It’s tough to tell if the rolls are baked through, so I tend to err on longer time in the oven just to be sure.
9. While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, 1/2 cup butter, confectioners’ sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.

Proof the yeast

Lovely dough

Roll dough to 16″ x 21″

Spread butter onto dough

Cover dough with brown sugar & cinnamon mixture

Roll up and slice

Mmmm, yummy baked goodness

Clone of a Cinnabon

Gene

Ok…so i wasn’t able to follow the rules for August.  I did get my creation made…however my camera battery died and i haven’t gotten around to replacing it.  i was going to take a snapshopt of my ‘creation’ with my video camera, but none of the four (yes, four) memory cards that i bought have fit.  Instead of waiting, i just decided to forge ahead.

Now, don’t call mom and say i am a copy cat, but i made sangria too.  And the lesson to be learned here is that there is NO need to mess with Erla’s version.  i had a grand idea to try to make it from scratch.  It was horrible!  I used rioja and rum and lots of yummy fresh fruit.  It looked beautiful but tasted like a dirty tennis ball.  Ok, maybe not that bad but pretty bad.  I think if i had used a wine like grandma’s juice  it would have been perfect!!!  That means we need to get back there and make more!  So, for now…if you want delicious sangria, follow Erla’s recipe.  here’s mine:

One bottle Rioja wine

two shots rum

One shot lime juice

Lots of fresh fruit

Mix and enjoy

Maybe i should have tried the white sangria with Reisling.  Eh, live and learn.  On to the September project!

Erla’s Liquid August – Sangria

Well, this month has just about gotten away from me and I still have not posted anything.  Liquid was hard for me…I wanted to be creative but what to make?  I thought really hard and here it is……

Sangria!

Warning – this is a difficult recipe….follow the directions carefully!

• Go to your favorite establishment that sells fine wines
  • We prefer Market Basket in any New Hampshire town/city to avoid the ridiculous sales tax now imposed on delicious alcoholic beverages in Massachusetts
• Once in the store, you will see a variety of options.  Look closely and choose the one best for you.

So many options…so little time

 

• You may be lucky and find a coupon too, so look carefully!
• Purchase your favorite selection along with an orange, a lemon and a lime.  You may also want to purchase a bag of ice
• Once at home, you need to decide if you are making a pitcher of Sangria or if by the glass is the way to go….I guess it depends on if there is a sister around to indulge with you
• Anyway, slice the fruit so it can be squeezed into the glass (or pitcher)
• Now, here is the HARD part…..TWIST off the cap of the Sangria….no need for a cork screw here….just use a bit of elbow grease and TWIST!
• If you choose to buy the box of Sangria…just follow the directions….a little more difficult but the results are just the same….delicious….

• Fill your glass with ice, pour the Sangria into the glass, squeeze a little orange, lemon and lime and enjoy!

• You may get a little excited, but do not do what this man is doing….totally uncivilized!

I don't know who this is but...so not classy! If no one with a camera was around then - to each his own, but NEVER on film!

• So anyway…..drink up ladies and gentlemen and don’t forget to tip your waitress!

Buy the big bottle...it just makes sense!

 

Ta-Da! Melt in Your Mouth Strawberry Muffins

Ruth: June Muffins

OK…I found the pictures on the computer and figured out how to select them.  After that…I don’t know what the hell happened! 

Melt-in-Your-Mouth Strawberry Muffins (taken from Stonyfield Farm yogurt container)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 eggs

1 cup Stonyfield Farm yogurt

1/4 cup butter melted

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup chopped strawberries, fresh or frozen

Preheat oven to 375.  In a bowl (duh!), mix together flour, sugar, and baking soda.  In another bowl (another duh!) mix eggs, yogurt, butter and vanilla.  Toss strawberries into the flour mixture. 

Then pour yogurt mixture into the flour mixture and stir.  Spoon batter into greased muffin tin.  Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until tops are golden brown.  Yields 12 muffins.