This Week's Concoctions Ending 5/27

Here are some highlights of items that I made this week other than the "Weekly Cookie"

I had my recipe exchange program this past week and the theme was "breakfast". I only had a couple of people signed up so I wanted to make something on the smaller scale. I also had a bunch of very ripe bananas so...this was made.

It was one of my co-workers birthdays this week and he wanted a yellow cake with mocha frosting. I knew that Duncan Hines had a flavor of its "frosting creations" that was mocha...however, I couldn't find it in the store. So I had to make it from scratch. I didn't think it had a strong coffee like flavor though.

May 22: Maple Nut Triangles

Maple Nut Triangles

Ingredients:
Base and Topping
4 tablespoons (2 oz) unsalted butter
1 cup dark chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup lightly salted peanuts

Filling
4 tablespoons (2 oz) unsalted butter
2 tablespoons evaporated milk
2 tablespoons cook-and-serve vanilla pudding mix
1 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon maple flavoring

1. Line a 9-inch square pan with nonstick foil, or line it with regular foil and spray the foil with flour-added baking spray.
2. Make the base and topping: In a large, microwave-safe mixing bowl, microwave the butter on high for 30 seconds, or until melted. Add the chocolate chips and butterscotch chips and toss to coat with the butter. Microwave the chips and butter at 50% power stirring every 30 seconds until melted. Stir in the peanut butter. Spoon half of the mixture into the bottom of the pan and spread all the way to the edges. Chill for about a hour, or until set and very firm. Add the peanuts to the remaining mixture and set aside.
3. Make the filling: In a small, nonstick saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat, but do not bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the evaporated milk and pudding mix. With a wooden spoon or heat-resistant scraper, stir over medium-low heat for about 1 minute, being careful not to let it boil. It should look like thick vanilla pudding. Remove from the heat and gradually stir in about half of the confectioners' sugar and the maple flavoring. Stir in the remaining confectioners' sugar. The consistency should be that of thick frosting or soft fudge. Let cool for about 10 minutes. Remove the firm chocolate layer from the refrigerator and spoon the filling over the chocolate, spreading evenly. Chill for 1 hour or until very firm.
4. The remaining chocolate mixture will be a little stiff. Microwave at 50% power for about 30 seconds; stir well and spoon over the pudding mixture. Return the pan to the refrigerator and chill for about 2 hours, or until fully set. Lift from the pan, set on a cutting board and, with a chef's knife, cut into 16 squares. Cut those squares on the diagonal to make 32 triangles.

Base and topping ingredients

Adding the chips to the butter

Addition of the peanut butter

Base

Addition of the peanuts

Set aside

Filling ingredients

Addition of the evaporated milk and pudding mix

Addition of the maple flavoring

Addition of the confectioners' sugar

Filling

Topping

Thoughts: The stores that I went to only had imitation maple flavoring. I hate using imitation anything but it's what they had so...ugh. Once again if I had to do this again, I would make more of the filling. I had a hard time covering the base. It's kind of weird because this is a advertised maple thing but the taste was overwhelmingly chocolate peanut butter.

This Week's Concoctions Ending 5/20

Here is the highlight of an item that I made this week other than the "Weekly Cookie"

It is "Mexican" week at work so I wanted to make a dessert since there was no hot food item that looked appealing to me. Unfortunately, there weren't many options. So I went with a Tres Leches cake. It is a lactose intolerant's nightmare. It contains whole milk, evaporated milk, condensed milk and heavy cream. It is also a really heavy cake weight wise because it is a normal cake with all these milks dumped in the crevices of the cake.

Cake base

Milk layer seeping into the cake

Frosting layer of heavy cream, sugar and vanilla

May 13: Apple Crumb Bars

Apple Crumb Bars

Ingredients:
Base:
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup old-fashioned oats
1 1/2 cups (6.8 oz) all-purpose flour
3/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
9 tablespoons (4.5 oz) unsalted butter, room temperature

Filling:
2-3 small Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced or chopped
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 cup chopped pecans

1. Preheat the oven to 350 and place a rack in the center. Line a 9-inch square metal pan with nonstick foil or just spray the pan with flour-added baking spray.
2. Make the base: In a bowl or food processor, combine the brown sugar, oats, flour, baking soda, and salt. Cut in or process the butter until the mixture is coarse and crumbly. Reserve about 3/4 cup for the topping; pat the remaining into the bottom of the prepared pan. Set aside.
3. Make the filling: Toss the apples with 1 teaspoon of the lemon juice and arrange in a fairly even layer across the crust. Sprinkle with the cinnamon.
4. In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, cornstarch, and water and stir well. Cook over medium heat, whisking or stirring constantly, until the mixture begins to boil and thicken. It will go from cloudy to translucent. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla, butter, and remaining teaspoon of lemon juice. Pour over the apples. Sprinkle the reserved crumbs on top, then sprinkle the pecans over the crumbs.
5. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until the top is lightly browned. Let the bars cool completely in the pan before slicing. For a cleaner cut, chill before slicing, then serve at room temperature.

Crumb ingredients

Filling ingredients (minus the water)

For the top layer

Bottom layer

Apples with lemon juice

Added the cinnamon

Added the vanilla and lemon juice

Filling

Crumb topping

Half with pecans, half without (before)

After

Thoughts: I never use freshly squeezed lemon juice. I always use the jar. I used probably an extra 1/4-1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon so it would cover the apples completely. The bar was very mushy. This could've been from cutting the bars when they were still warm. The taste was just ok...

This Week's Concoctions Ending 5/13

Here are some highlights of items that I made this week other than the "Weekly Cookie"

I had two co-workers' birthdays this week. The first picture is a lemon cake with lemon frosting garnished with strawberries. The cake and the frosting are NOT homemade. It's Pillsbury :)

The second are standard peanut butter blossoms.

This Week's Concoctions Ending 5/6

Here are some highlights of items that I made this week other than the "Weekly Cookie"

This is an apple sugar cookie cake. The bottom layer is 2/3 roll of refrigerated cookie dough, a middle layer of apple pie filling and cinnamon/sugar sprinkling and the last 1/3 cookie dough chunks on top with more cinnamon sugar.

This is a banana coffee cake. It uses a banana cake mix as a base with all the normal ingredients for a bundt cake including mashed bananas.

May 4: Double Chocolate Raspberry Chipotle Bars

Double Chocolate Raspberry Bars

Ingredients:
8 tablespoons (4 oz) unsalted butter
1 cup (4.5 oz) all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons unsweetened natural cocoa powder
3/4 cup old-fashioned oats
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup extra-dark chocolate chips
3/4 cup toasted and finely chopped walnuts or pecans
1/2 cup raspberry preserves
1/2 teaspoon chipotle powder

1. Preheat the oven to 350 and place a rack in the center. Line an 8-inch square metal pan with nonstick foil, or line with regular foil and spray with flour-added baking spray.
2. Melt the butter in the microwave or on the stovetop over low heat, then set aside to cool to room temperature. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, oats, sugars, salt and baking soda. Stir very well. Add the cooled melted butter and mix until crumbly. Stir in 2/3 cup of the chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of the nuts. Press about half of the oat mixture into the bottom of the pan.
3. Stir together the preserves and chipotle powder, then spread over the oat mixture. Crumble the remaining oat mixture over the top and gently press down. Sprinkle with the remaining chocolate chips and nuts.
4. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until set. Let cool completely, then chill for at least 1 hour. Cut into 16 bars.

Melted butter

Dry ingredients

Addition of butter

Addition of chocolate chips and walnuts (notice I didn't finely chop them)

Bottom layer

Jam and chipotle powder

Middle layer

Top layer

Before the oven...

And after the oven...basically the same picture!

Thoughts: I didn't have a 8x8 pan available so I used a 9x9. I baked it for 30 minutes to make up for the difference but I don't think it would have mattered. If I had to do it again, I would double the ingredients for the middle layer. I definitely didn't cover the middle layer as much as I would've liked to. I actually didn't like the taste of the bars and I only had one before throwing the rest out. It was kind of pastry tasting and you can definitely taste the kick of the chipotle powder. It's also very crumbly and half of the topping falls back into the pan when you go to cut a piece.