Mandy's Graham Cracker Candy

Mandy has given more thought to her birthday treat than anyone else I know. She's considered a lot of options over several months. Some of possible selections were Baklava, Lemon-Coconut Macaroons, and a Lemon-Coconut Tart. But then the topic of graham crackers came up and how much she loves coconut and then hazelnuts and I got inspired by this recipe I found on Epicurious. She took one look at it and gave me the green light to make it.

I adapted it (as usual) as I found it to be extremely versatile. Here's how I made them:

Graham Cracker Candy
24 plain graham crackers (or any kind of non-savory flavored cracker. Saltines are wonderful)
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
11.5 oz bittersweet chocolate (I used Ghirardelli)
12 oz of semi-sweet chocolate (I used Guittard)
1 cup hazelnuts, chopped
3/4 cup of unsweetened coconut

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 25 x 17 x full sheet pan pan with parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang at each end. (Note: the recipe on Epicurious said to use foil and I ended up peeling tiny pieces from the bottom of the candy. Baaad idea.)

In a separate, smaller pan (a brownie pan works great), spread the coconut out in an even, single layer. Bake, stirring after 5 minutes or so, until the coconut becomes an even golden brown. Remove from the oven and set aside. Increase the oven's temperature to 375F.

Line bottom of pan with graham crackers (it will be a tight fit and you'll need to break a few in half. Set aside.

Melt butter in a 3-4 quart heavy saucepan over moderately low heat, then add brown sugar and salt and cook, whisking, until mixture is smooth and combined well, about 2minutes. Pour over crackers, spreading evenly, and bake in middle of oven until golden brown and bubbling, about 10 minutes.

Scatter chocolate chips evenly over crackers and bake in oven until chocolate is soft, about 1 minute. Remove pan from oven and gently spread chocolate evenly over crackers with offset spatula. Sprinkle nuts evenly over chocolate and cool crackers in pan on a rack 30 minutes.

Refrigerate overnight or freeze for 15 minutes.

Carefully lift crackers from pan by grasping both parchment paper, then peel it from the. Break crackers into serving pieces.

Note: Crackers keep, chilled and layered between sheets of wax paper in an airtight container, 2 weeks...but they'll never actually last that long. One whiff of these babies and they disappear!


The smell of this sweet concoction alone makes it worth making. It seems so incredibly good!

Yield: This will serve several. Depending on how you break up the candy, you could potentially get 50 servings out of it.
Would I Make This Again? Yes! This dessert, in my humble opinion is an All-Star!

Jeremy's "My TMJ hurts" Vanilla Mint Brownie Ice Cream Cake

Jeremy's been talking a bit tight-lipped lately. He has somehow angered his TMJ and opening his mouth too wide or chewing anything too hard causes him to wince in pain. Poor guy! As someone who has also suffered mightily from a ticked-off TMJ, I can definitely empathize. So when he told me that he would like something that had a chocolate and mint combination for his dessert, the choice seemed obvious to me: Taffy! (Only kidding... Ice Cream!)

A few summers ago I was lucky enough to stop at a garage sale of a chap that was selling all of his ex-wife's kitchen appliances for next to nothing out of spite. He told me anything he didn't sell that day was going in the trash so I felt it was my obligation as a earth dwelling citizen to keep perfectly good kitchen equipment out of the landfill. I was able to buy a brand new Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker for $7 (along with a brand new fondue pot and a tart pan)! The ice cream maker has been sitting in a dark cabinet in my kitchen ever since, just waiting for the day when it would be the rock star that I knew it could be. Yesterday was that day!

I followed the Premium Vanilla Ice Cream recipe that came it the recipe booklet (you can find it here). It is essentially a vanilla custard that's then frozen. I added a teaspoon of mint (not peppermint) extract and chopped up Andies Candies, a personal favorite of mine. The ice cream maker did not disappoint. It did a great job and my very first attempt at ice cream was a big success.

Since I spent so much time on the ice cream, I decided to use a boxed brownie mix (I used Duncan Hines Family Size Brownie Mix). I followed the "cake" style method which uses three eggs instead of two. I also added a half of cup of dark cocoa, a half a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips, and a half a teaspoon of mint extract. I baked them in a 9x13" pan for about 20 minutes and let them cool completely.

I had this elaborate plan to create a checkerboard pattern out of the ice cream and brownie but the ice cream was so soft, I just wasn't sure how that would be possible. I ended up just putting the brownies in a big, long, Tupperware container and topping them with the ice cream.

This turned out pretty much as I had hoped it would. Yey!

Happy Half Birthday Jeremy!

Yield: I made a double recipe so I hope it will feed about 20.
Would I Make This Again? Yes! The ice cream was so yummy and fresh tasting and the brownies pretty good too. Both have a lot of room of experimentation. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Craig's Banana Chocolate Strudel

I kept things simple for Craig and I really think that the simplest recipes make the best food. Craig wanted something chocolate and really loves bananas. Last year I made him black bottom banana cream pie so I needed to think outside of the pie tin this year.

I stumbled upon the recipe for Banana Chocolate Strudel on Epicurious. The only change that I made was to use semi-sweet chocolate chips instead of bittersweet chunks. I thought it would be well, too bitter and chips melt just as well as finely chopped chocolate. This dessert was very easy to prepare and is reminiscent of baklava. It also travels well. I just wrapped each strudel in tin foil and it arrived to work intact.

Banana Chocolate Strudel

4 (17- by 12-inch) phyllo sheets, covered with 2 overlapping pieces plastic wrap and then a damp kitchen towel
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 firm-ripe bananas
2 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), finely chopped
1 large egg, beaten with 1 teaspoon water
Confectioners sugar for dusting
Accompaniment: lightly sweetened whipped cream

Preheat oven to 425°F.
Arrange 1 phyllo sheet on a work surface with a short side of phyllo nearest you, keeping remaining sheets covered, and brush with some butter. Top phyllo with 3 more sheets of phyllo, brushing each with butter. Arrange bananas one above the other, horizontally, on lower third of phyllo, leaving a 1-inch border on both sides (trim bananas if too long). Sprinkle chocolate over bananas, then fold sides of phyllo toward middle (over ends of bananas). Fold bottom edge of phyllo over bananas and roll up bananas in phyllo.

Transfer strudel, seam side down, to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or to a buttered baking sheet, then brush strudel with beaten egg. Cut 4 (1/2-inch-long) steam vents diagonally along top of strudel with a sharp knife. Bake in middle of oven until golden, about 12 to 15 minutes. Cool slightly on a rack, then dust with confectioners sugar.

Yield: About 5 per strudel (one-half package of phyllo was enough to make 5 strudels)
Would I Make This Again? Yes..the possibilities are endless. This would be great for a dinner party! 4 stars out of 5

Bake Sale Caramel Chocolate Pretzels

I made these for a fund raiser to help raise money for the Breast Cancer 3 Day Walk over the weekend. Homemade caramel with Belgium milk chocolate and white chocolate... Yummmm!

If you ever need a unique idea for a bake sale, these might be the perfect thing to make. I kept it simple and only created one variety. But if you wanted to get fancy, you could make some with crushed nuts (cashews are perfect), M&Ms, or even S'Mores with crushed graham crackers, chocolate, and mini marshmallows. I did something similar with caramel apples late last year and these were a lot faster and easier to make. The only caveat is that the caramel and chocolate got a bit soft in the heat. These might be better suited for a winter fund raiser.

Jamie's Strawberry Rhubarb Pillows

Jamie said he especially liked desserts that contained fruit and that rhubarb-strawberry pie was one his all time favorites. So I decided to come up with something "pie-ish" but that wouldn't be something he'd necessarily had before.

Puff pastry was something that came to mind. Since I was transporting it I thought it would a good idea to make a cupcake out of the pastry dough and somehow fill it with a strawberry rhubarb compote. What I didn't consider was how wet the compote was and how it would interfere with the ability for the pastry to do its thing in the oven. So I ended up just cutting the pastry into squares and cooking them alone in the oven and that worked just fine.

After the pastry baked, it puffed up into a hollow pillow shape. I opened each pillow with a butter knife and filled each on with about 2 tablespoons for the compote. I topped each pillow with a tablespoon or so of the glaze and sifted powdered sugar.

Jamie liked it so much he had two servings. The only thing I would have done differently was top each pillow with some lightly sweetened whipped cream. Otherwise it was really good and looked very elegant.

Puff Pastry Pillows

1 package of puff pastry, thawed (takes about 40 minutes to thaw at room temperature)
flour

Preheat oven to 350 F. Unfold the pastry on lightly floured surface.
For smaller pillows: Roll into 15"x12" rectangle and cut into 16- 20 squares.
For larger pillows: Cut into 9 squares.
Bake for about 10 minutes on an ungreased cookie sheet. Flip over each pillow and bake for another 4 or 5 minutes until lightly browned.

Strawberry Rhubarb Compote
This recipe is adapted from the cookbook, Country Breakfasts by Ken Haedrich

1 1/2 lbs of rhubarb
2 cups of warm water
2/3 cup of sugar
Zest of one lemon
juice of one lemon
8 whole cloves or 2 teaspoons dried
4 tablespoons candied ginger, minced
2 pints of fresh strawberries, cleaned, hulled, and sliced
1 tablespoon cold water
1 tablespoons

Put a shallow glass dish in the freezer.

Trim the rhubarb by removing the ends, and leaves. Peel the rhubarb just as you would celery, removing any thick stringy sections. Put the peelings into a nonreactive saucepan with water, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and cloves. Bring to boil, lower heat slightly and cover and boil for 5 minutes. Setup a large bowl with a strainer on top. Drain the mixture into the stainer. Discard the solid remaining but pour the remaining liquid back into the saucepan.

Cut the peeled rhubarb into 1/2-inch pieces; if the stalks are wide, you can cut them lengthwise first. Bring the poaching liquid to simmer and add the rhubarb. Simmer gently, partially covered for 3 to 5 minutes. Ready the glass dish near the saucepan. At the first first sign of tenderness, transfer the rhubarb from the liquid with a slotted spoon to the glass dish. Spread the rhubarb out in the dish and refrigerate uncovered.

While the rhubarb cools, let the remaining poaching liquid come to a slow boil. In a small bowl combine the cold water and cornstarch. Increase the heat of the poaching liquid to a boil and reduce to about a 1/2 a cup. Add the cornstarch and bring to a boil again. Pour the liquid into a serving bowl and add the minced ginger. Cool to room temperature.

Add the strawberries to the rhubarb and add the poaching liquid. Toss gently and refrigerate.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Compote Glaze
1 cup of sifted powdered sugar
3 - 4 tablespoons of strawberry-rhubarb juice
1 teaspoon vanilla

In a bowl, combine the confectioners' sugar, strawberry+rhubarb drippings, and vanilla; stir until combined and smooth.

Yield: About 30, depending on how big you cut the pastry.
Would I Make This Again? Yes. The pillows were light and delicate and the compote was a nice change from the usual fruit mixture. Next time I'll make it with whipped cream and serve it warm. 4 stars out of 5

Esther's Chocolate Chiffon Cake with Penuche Frosting

Esther's cake was a bit of a challenge. It wasn't so much the cake, but the frosting really gave me some trouble. Esther was very specific about the type of frosting she wanted. It had to be Penuche and it had to be from her Betty Crocker Cookbook from 1973 (or there bouts). She gave me a copy so I could make it just right.

Well, I followed it...including the part that instructed me to put the hot pan I was using to make the frosting into an ice bath. This step occured right as I was trying to mix the powdered sugar into the molten butter and brown sugar mixture. What the heck was Betty thinking?! The frosting turned cold and hard in places and the frosting turned into fudge. It became impossible to mix and was very thick like cookie dough. Since I had never made it before and I didn't have a picture to go by, I figured that was what it looked like so I smeared the thich sludge on top of the cake and called it a night.

The next morning I checked on the cake and the Penuche had turned to hard like shellac. Ick! I just couldn't bring that to Esther! I decided to make it again, this time using the recipe below. It was pretty much the same recipe, except this time I used double the amount of half and half and no ice bath. I couldn't remove the old frosting without distroying the cake so I just poured the molten frosting over the top of the old frosting and hoped for the best. It turned out just fine and Esther liked it. Phew!

Chocolate Chiffon Cake
Courtesy of the Cake Mix Doctor (follow the link to the recipe which is freely available on the web)

5 egg whites
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
one 18.25-oz. plain chocolate fudge or devil's food cake mix
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 egg yolks
2 tsp. vanilla

Place oven rack in center of oven and heat to 325 F. Set aside an ungreased 9x13" pan.

Place egg whites and cream of tartar in a medium-size mixing bowl. Beat with electric beaters on high speed until stiff peaks form--about two to three minutes. Set aside.

Place cake mix, water, oil, egg yolks and vanilla in a large mixer bowl, and with same beaters (no need to clean them), blend on low speed for one minute. Stop and scrape down bowl. Increase speed to medium and beat for two minutes, again scraping down bowl. Turn the egg whites out on top of the batter and fold in with a rubber spatula until batter is light but well-combined. Pour batter into the ungreased pan, smoothing top.

Bake for 30 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly pressed. Remove and turn it upside down over the neck of a glass bottle. Cool for one hour.

Penuche Icing

1/2 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 milk
3 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Melt the butter; add the brown sugar and cook over low heat two minutes, stirring constantly. Add the milk and continue stirring until mixture comes to a boil and cook for about a minute. Add confectioner's sugar until the frosting is of a spreading consistency.

Yield: 12-16 servings.
Would I Make This Again? Yes. The cake was light and not too sweet and a perfect match with the frosting. Now that I know how to make the frosting, I'd definately make it again. It will be a nice back up when I need a recipe in a hurry. 4 stars out of 5

Orlo's Power Bars

For Olro's birthday he asked for either chocolate chip cookies or for something called a Biff Bar. Since I've made chocolate chip cookies a gazillion times, I decided I'd take a stab at the Biff Bar. I had no luck finding a Biff Bar recipe but I did find a recipe called Jo-Ann's Power Bars on Allrecipes.com . Orlo said looked good so I gave it a shot.

I tweaked the recipe a bit (as usual) but accident I left out the eggs which made the bars a bit more crumbly then I would have wanted. But the good news is that they are vegan friendly! Yey!

Orlo's Power Bars

2 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups Nature's Path SmartBran
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2/3 cup applesauce
1/2 cup honey (for vegan bars use maple syrup or agave nectar)
6 tablespoons brown sugar
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup unsalted sunflower seeds
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup of chopped pecans
1 (7 ounce) bag chopped dried mixed fruit

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray a 9x13 pan with Pam. Set aside.

In a large bowl, stir together the oats, flour, cereal, and cinnamon. Add the applesauce, honey, brown sugar, and oil. Mix well. Stir in the sunflower seeds, walnuts, and dried fruit. Spread mixture evenly in the prepared pan.

Bake 30 minutes, or until firm and lightly browned around the edges. Let cool completely then cut into bars or squares, and store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator. Note: The flavor of the bars improves over time. I found that the flavor was much better the next day.

The best part about this recipe is that you can really add anything you'd like. My only regret would have been to use more fruit and to not use one that has any "essence" added. I think the dried fruit I used had a slight orange essence added to it.

Yield: 15-20 servings. It really depends on how you cut the bars.
Would I Make This Again? Yes. I want to try it with different fruit, more fruit, and raisins. I'd also like to try it with 2 egg whites too. 3.5 stars out of 5

Kevin's Orange Blossom Angel Food Cake

Kevin asked me to make him something low fat for his birthday treat this year. I wanted it to be simple but unusual and eventually ended up making Sesame Macaroons. While the flavor of the cookies was fine, they lacked the "wow factor" that I wanted.

For the last six months I've had a bottle of Monteux orange blossom water sitting in my cabinet, waiting patiently for just the right recipe. I bought the bottle because one whiff from the bottle and I'm back in the sweet, redolent orange groves of my childhood. So, while I lamented the Sesame Cookies, I decided to search the Net for a more interesting, yet low fat recipe that Kevin would enjoy. It was then that I decided to search for recipes that used the orange blossom essence. The very first recipe I found was the one I decided to make. It was elegant, simple, and low fat. I also thought Kevin, being the foodie that he is, would enjoy it.

I settled upon a simple Moroccan Angel Food Cake that was flavored with both vanilla and orange blossom water. The cake was beautiful as it baked in the oven. It was my first angel food cake and I was terrified it was going to bake up and over the top of the pan! It eventually stopped expanding and baked up to a beautiful golden brown. And just for extra fun, I also prepared a Moroccan Orange Salad to serve over the top of the cake. The recipe for both the cake and the salad can be found here.

Cake and Orange Salad
Yield: 16 servings?
Would I Make This Again? Yes (although I haven't eaten it yet!) 4 stars out of 5

Sesame Macaroons
Yield: About 30 cookies
Would I Make This Again? No. While the taste was just okay, they were just a bit too boring for me. 2 stars out of 5
(pictures coming soon!)

A Cookie with Some Potential...

It's been a while since I posted but the busy birthday season is upon me and I'll be posting a lot over the next few weeks. Between birthdays, B.B.Qs, and other random summer events, I'll be one busy lady. I have another ten recipes to post before the end of the month alone!

These cookies were baked to share at my son's end of season basebaseball potluck. The potluck was fun, but the weather could have been a bit warmer. I don't think I'll ever get used to the fact that 55 degrees is considered normal for June in Seattle. Brr! Everyone seemed to like them, but I thought that they were a bit too white chocolaty. A pound and a half of white chocolate seemed like too much and it was. I should have trusted my instincts but Ina Garten's recipes rarely lets me down. I mean, don't get me wrong, they were good (I ate several) but they were just very, very sweet. The chocolate cookie part was very good and I think the recipe has a lot of potential. Perhaps next time I'll replace the half the white chocolate with pecans, chocolate nibs or semisweet chocolate chips. The possiblities are endless....

Anyway, here's the recipe...

Chocolate White Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Copyright 2001 Barefoot Contessa Parties!

1/2 pound unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 extra-large eggs at room temperature
2/3 cup good unsweetened cocoa
2 cups flour 1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 pounds good white chocolate chips
- OR -
1 cups of white chocolate chips
1 cup of chopped pecans or chocolate nibs
1 cup of semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the vanilla, then the eggs, 1 at a time, and mix well. Add the cocoa and mix again.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt and add to the chocolate with the mixer on low speed until just combined. Fold in the chopped white chocolate.

Drop the dough on a baking sheet lined with a Silpat Mat or parchment paper, using small (1 inch) cream scooper or a rounded tablespoon. Dampen your hands and flatten the dough slightly. Bake for exactly 15 minutes (the cookies will seem underdone). Remove from the oven and let cool slightly on the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely

Yields: approximately 5-6 dozen
Would I Make This Again? Probably not exactly as Ina wrote the recipe, but I because the chocolate cookie base is so good, I'd love to make it again with nuts or nips, semisweet, and and white chocolate. Yes! 3 stars out of 5