So we are off to a Hawaiian themed BBQ tomorrow and I am to make one of the desserts. The hostess is making a dessert that I taught her and it has pineapple. So that left me with nuts(macademia) and coconut right? Wrong. The hostess does not like either. She is rather picky and since the leftovers will most likely stay with her, I need to be accomidating. I also needed to make something with ingredients I already have since our budget is a tad tight right now :( So I was looking through the Great Canadian Cookies, Bars and Squares book and ran across Famous Caramel Squares....which are not in the least Hawaiian but the hostess doesn't give me much to work with. I couldn't get a good photo of these for some reason, but I tried again today while they were in the fridge(to make it easier to transport) and one turned out. They are much more gooey than they look here. When they thaw out they get a little runny. Famous Caramel Squares Bottom Layer: 2 cups all purpose flour 1/4 … [Read more...]
The Best of Both Worlds
Well I have been craving something both salty and sweet as of late. There has been much talk(with good reason) on two of my favorite blogs,the Canadian Baker and Cream Puffs in Venice, about a cookbook that I own called The Good Cookie by Tish Boyle. It is a great cookbook for cookies. Not just your average run of the mill cookies either. So if you don't own it, you should. I came across a recipe for Crunchy Peanut Bars which were descibed to be like Payday bars....I thought perfect...salty and sweet, the best of both worlds. So even though my husband thought me crazy to be baking again(since I did yesterday) off to the store I went to by peanuts. While I was making this I was a little concerned that the topping was going to be too sweet but luckily for me the flavors married together quite nicely. Chunchy Peanut Bars brown sugar crust: 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup(1 stick) unsalted butter, softened 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown … [Read more...]
Bribes
So from time to time when I score keep hockey I bring treats for the refs. I know quite a few of them and they usually let me know ahead of time that they will be working with me in hopes of receiving treats. So tonight I work with one of my more favorite refs and decided that since he liked caramel, I would make caramel brownies. What an ordeal that turned out to be. Now I had made several versions of caramel brownies through out my life but came across these ones on the Canadian Baker and choose to modify them a bit. Neither my husband or the ref really like nuts so I took those out of the original recipe. Anyway, back to why they were a cleaning disaster. The store did not have regular Kraft square caramels and I had to buy a different kind. I think there in lied the problem. For when I microwaved them with the evaporated milk it immediately boiled up and exploded everywhere. Luckily there was enough caramel salvaged for the brownies but it was a huge pain in the butt to clean … [Read more...]
What is in the cupboard cookie/bar
So my friend Elizabeth and I both realized that we were doing nothing for the weekend. They are recent home owners and were excited to show off thier new home. So we decided to get together, a little last minute. So since I was taught never to go empty handed I had to take a look and see what I had in the cupboard. I remember reading on one of my favorite blogs, the Canadian Baker, about some oatmeal chocolate peanut butter bars. It came from a cookbook I already own so out I went searching for it. They are called Barbs Peanut Butter Squares, but I called them oatmeal peanut butter chocolate things. Barb's Peanut Butter Squares Oatmeal cookie mixture: 1 cup margerine or butter, softened 1 1/4 cups brown sugar, firmly packed 1/2 cup granulated sugar 2 eggs 2 tbsp milk 2 tsp vanilla 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 2 1/2 cups rolled oats 1 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt (optional) Peanut butter layer: 1/4 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup icing sugar 1/2 tsp vanilla 2 … [Read more...]
