Monthly Archives: August 2011

apologies to those who are helpless against chocolate and peanut butter combos

It looked a little something like this and I thought about it all weekend.

chocolate pb bars

I really tried to avoid it, the cravings started Friday. Sunday night rolled around and I was utterly helpless. The good news is these bars are so intense, that just one resulted in complete chocolate/peanut butter/heavenly satisfaction.

Chocolate Graham Peanut Butter Bars
{adapted from here}

Yields: 9 big bars
Total Time: 45 minutes (plus an additional hour to chill)
Benefits: No oven(!) and had all ingredients in my pantry

Chocolate Graham Bottom:
1/2 cup salted butter
1/4 cup of sugar
5 Tbsp cocoa
1 1/4 graham cracker crumbs
(the original recipe had 1/4 cups nuts, which I didn’t add)

Freaking Amazing Peanut Butter Filling
1/3 cup salted butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Top Layer
8 oz. semi-sweet baker’s chocolate
2 Tbsp of sugar
1/2 cup of peanut butter

Creating the Chocolate Graham Layer:
Create graham cracker crumbs by placing approximately 10 crackers in food processor.

graham crackersYou can also do the old ziploc bag and hammer trick.

ingredinetsMelt the butter, chocolate, and sugar in a double boiler. Or you can do what I did (at your own risk) and melt the ingredients on the stove top over extremely low heat. Don’t forget the sugar like I did.

melt ingredientsAdd the egg and cook for about five minutes.  The ingredients will get smooth and creamy and thick.

meltedRemove from heat and add graham cracker crumbs.

GRAHAM CRACKERS

Once combined, pour the mixture into an 8 x 8 baking dish lined with parchment paper.

crustSpread the crust evenly across the dish.

Creating the Freaking Amazing Peanut Butter Filling

Combine butter, sugar, and peanut butter in mixing bowl.
pb ingredients

Using an electric mixer, start on low speed, gradually increasing speed to medium until combined and you get a nice whipped look.

peanut butter fillingTry not to eat it out of the bowl, but it is ok to lick the mixer attachments.

Spread the peanut butter layer over the chocolate graham crust.

pb layer

Creating the Chocolate Peanut Butter Topping

Next melt the 8 oz. of semi-sweet chocolate and sugar over low heat. Once it’s almost completely melted, add in 1/2 cup of peanut butter. It will blend quickly then remove from heat and spread the yummy topping over the other two layers.

adding th top layer

Place in the fridge for at least an hour then enjoy.

chocolate pb bars

p.s. linked up here, here, here, and here.

samoas bars and the weekend

This weekend sloth truly overtook me. I spent most of my time watching this,

reading this,

kindle

snuggling him,

watson

and cuddling her.

riley

Somehow, I managed to bake something, but forgot to snap a photo (update, photo added). You’re going to like this one. Are you ready for it?

samoas bar

Samoas Bars

Yes, everyone’s favorite girl scout cookie turned into a bar treat. Recipe adapted from here (she took pictures).

Yields 20, total time 60 min.

Ingredients:
-1/2 cup sugar
-3/4 cup softened butter
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
-3 cups shredded coconut
- One 16 oz. jar of  Caramel Sauce (I used Hershey’s, or make your own)
- 6 0z. chocolate chips (plus a bit of olive oil)

Prep:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 13 inch pan.

The Crust First:
1. In a mixer, blend together sugar and butter until well-combined and fluffy.
2. Add egg and vanilla, blend on medium
3. Switch your mixer to low and slowly add in flour, a bit at a time, until it is all combined. The mixture will be really thick, kind of like a dry cookie dough.
4. Pour the dough into greased baking dish. Since it’s thick, it’s hard to spread. You’ll have to use a spatula to get it to cover the entire dish.
5. Bake for 20 minutes.

Toast the Coconut:
Once your crust is done, let it cool and start toasting coconut.  Here’s how I did it.
1. Start by bringing the oven temperature down to 300 degrees.
2. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper
3. Pour three cups of coconut flakes onto the sheet.
4. Place in oven for fifteen minutes. Remove from oven every five minutes to stir around the coconut.

You want the coconut to be nice and golden, not too brown. Once you take it out of the oven, give it a good stir. It will still toast a bit on the sheet. Depending on your oven or the placement of the baking sheet, these will brown quicker or slower than the 15 minutes it took me. Just keep an eye on it.

Melt the chocolate:
1. You can melt the chocolate any way you please: chocolate melter, double boiler, or microwave. I melted mine directly on the stove top at low heat. Add a tiny bit of olive oil, less than a teaspoon, to help it melt and mix well.
2. Once melted, transfer the chocolate into a pastry bag or a ziplock bag to help with the drizzling.

Put it together:
1. The first thing you’re going to want to do is mix the coconut with the jar of caramel sauce in a large bowl.
2. Pour the caramel coconut mixture on top of the crust.
3. Cut the tip of the chocolate pastry bag and drizzle.

This was a hit. I hope you enjoy.

succulents for the summer

After searching for quite some time, I recently obtained some cute succulents from our farmer’s market.

succulents

The one on the left is a haworthia plant.

The ones on the right are lithops, or living stones. They’re look like rocks and are smooth and firm, but they have roots.

succulents

Unfortunately, after leaving them outside to get some sun, the raccoons thought they’d use my plants as a snack. I really couldn’t believe it. I’ve always been a defender of raccoons, but those days are gone.

The raccoons uprooted all of my plants. I really hope these little guys make it. There are teeth marks all over the lithops.

succulents

You can see a chunk missing out of the furthers one in the back. And they pulled some of the haworthia from its roots. I’m hoping the plants make it through. Why do I get so sentimental over plant deaths?

I guess this is a good time to also confess that the flowers Ryan bought me are dying, through no fault of the raccoons.

hello, i’m here

watson and Riley

I took quite an extensive break from the blogging world. The primary cause for this absence was studying for the ultra-horrible GRE test. But now that I’ve knocked it in the face with my amazing test taking ability, I’m feeling a little bit better about spending my time blogging again.

Other reasons for blog absence:

- Florida’s sweltering heat, the type where I just lay in a bathtub filled with ice, because even the pool water is a warmish 85 degrees.
-Game of Thrones! Specifically the 4-book boxed set I’m blowing through.
- Mad Men on instant watch. Come on, who isn’t drooling over Peggy and Betty’s outfits a second time around?

Thank you, lovely readers, for sticking around.

Also, my blog turned one year old a week ago. Happy Birthday Blog!