Give it a shot

Well, I tried this Brownie Pudding from Annie's Eats this evening.

Mine was not nearly so gooey as her's, and I haven't the slightest idea why. I followed the recipe and I even under cooked it. I knew something was wrong before I even put it in the oven as her recipe said pour the batter in the dish and my batter was in no way pourable.

It was okay. VERY rich. My husband liked it. I won't be having a second helping. I can't imagine it without a scoop of ice cream.

Give it a go though.

Daring Kitchen - Nanaimo Bars

About a week ago I signed up for Daring Bakers. I won't get to participate until March. I had a bit of trouble finding something I wanted to make this weekend, so I decided to attempt this months Daring bakers' challenge.

Since it wasn't officially a challenge for me, I didn't use their recipe. I am mildly allergic to coconut, so that had to go. I also wanted mine to have a bit of mint. I thought I'd add mint extract to the filling, but my husband thought that might be a bit much. Instead we ditched chocolate chips for the topping and used Andes Mints baking bits.

My base:

1/2c butter

1/4 cup sugar

5 tbs cocoa powder

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1.5c graham cracker crumbs

1/2c almonds, chopped

My filling:

1/3c butter

1/4c milk

1 pack vanilla pudding mix

3c powdered sugar

My top:

2tbs butter

Most of a package of Andes Mint baking bits

Base Instructions:

Melt butter in sauce pan

Mix in sugar and cocoa

Let mixture cool

Whisk in egg and vanilla

Add crackers and almonds

Mix well

Spread into 9x9 pan

Chill (I did about 30 minutes, the time it took to clean up from the base)

Filling instructions:

Whip up the butter

Mix in pudding powder and milk

Add powdered sugar (I did a cup at a time into a medium bowl)

Spread over the base evenly

Chill (Maybe 15 minutes for me?)

Topping instructions:

Melt butter and mint pieces in double boiler

Pour and smooth over filling

Back in the fridge

I left it in the fridge for an hour or so.

To cut it up I used a tip I read somewhere, though I don't remember where. Fill a glass with HOT water. Stick two thin knives in the water. Pull one out after about 30 seconds, dry and make a cut, put it back, use second knife, switch, and so on and so forth.

It gave me pretty clean cuts. The only issue was that I probably should have let the dish come to room temp. It was so cold and hard that it got some thin cracks over the top.

Here are the bars after step one. Not really pretty. The layer for this mixture was shiny, not real sticky...easy to press into the dish.

Here it is after layer two. This mixture was a bit rough on my hand mixer. I can't even imagine doing this by hand. Again, very easy to move around...a little hard to smooth out. It wanted to go with the spoon.

And the final layer. Just work the chocolate around as you pour so you don't have to move it much. My recipe called for a cup of chocolate and it seem like barely enough to be the top layer, but once it set up it made for a nice solid layer.

And here is the final product. I think the middle and bottom layers could have stood to set up a bit longer. They wanted to fall apart on me (from each other more than anything).

Fabulous! Chocolate Caramel Espresso Chews

Well, I already decided what my baking adventure for this weekend is, but let me tell you what. Had I come across these sooner they would be my weekend treat. They are definitely scheduled for next weekend. I LOVE chewy treats!

Check it out on Culinary in the Desert.

I am jonesing for warm weather!

I am a southern girl. I love warm weather. Driving with the windows down, fresh cut grass, and FRESH FRUIT.

I know that baked fruit is typically a fall treat, but I am making a batch of baked pears as soon as nice ones start showing up in the store.

I think I'll do Riesling Baked Pears

4 ripe pears (Bosc) washed & dried

2 cups Riesling

1/4 cup honey

4 cinnamon sticks

4 bay leaves

4 strips orange zest

1. Preheat oven 400F

2. Cut a SMALL slice off the bottom of the pears so that they stand

3. Arrange pears upright in a baking pan.

4. Whisk together wine and honey and pour over pears

5. Add sticks, leaves, and zest to the pan

6. Roast the pears, basting every 15 minutes

They'll be wrinkled and tender; should take 45 min - 1 hour

7. Transfer to dessert bowls

8. Put wine mix in a pan and boil until thickened

9. Pour over pears

These are great right away or chilled!

Since my husband doesn't like cinnamon I've been looking into options that exclude this ingredient. This simple one does the trick

4 Pears

2 tbs honey

3tbs butter

dash ground ginger

1. Preheat oven to 375F

2. Peel pears and scoop out bottom core

3. Melt butter

4. Drizzle pears with butter and honey and sprinkle with ginger

5. Bake for about 1 hour; baste occasionally

Sweet kisses

Rice Krispie Kisses! I can't wait to give these a shot. They are just too sweet!

Find out how to make them with Home Making Fun!

Perfect comfort food

Today is a day where comfort food is desperately needed...and this is just about perfect. I'm not a fan of cherries, so I think I'll try just a chocolate chip bread pudding.

Check it out with Cookie Baker Lynn

Mmmmmm...

Bake or Break featured this Nick Malgieri recipe for Blueberry Crumb cake that looks pretty fantastic. It includes cinnamon, so typically that would put it on a back burner for me, but she says it's pretty simple, so maybe I'll give it a go this weekend...or maybe I'll wait till I can use fresh blueberries since it won't be something I can do often.

The book this came from is on the top of my Amazon wishlist. I'm trying to avoid getting anymore cookbooks until after the big move though. I wish they would put all these fantastic books on the Kindle. Then I wouldn't have to feel badly about ordering something new when we're trying to declutter!