{twd} Caramel Crunch Bars

This weeks Tuesday with Dorie recipe was Caramel Crunch Bars. Which sound {and look} fantastic.

But once you look at the recipe and see that it involves toffee.. then you know its heavenly.

I could have just ate the whole bag of toffee pieces and been fine. And I think I pretty much successfully did do that.

I made mine with coffee and a mix of bittersweet and milk chocolate. I think they were really good. Different than anything I have had before. The little amount of coffee/espresso added makes it a really rich flavor. And its a bonus that you dont have to actually make caramel to do these!



I also did the ice cream bars since thats what she had in the cookbook. I think they were good but I honestly think they were better without making them an ice cream bar. Perhaps if I make them again I will just eat them topped with a scoop of ice cream instead... and lots of extra toffee pieces for sure!

Note: this is posted a little late since our internet was down last night after I made them.

White Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter WheatThins

A new year.. and hopefully lots more new posts to share. Im crossing my fingers that I find time to sit down & do it.

So here is the most easy.. simple.. yummy.. snack ever. Its especially perfect for holiday parties or snacks when you have friends over. I took these to our Tacky Sweater Christmas Party. I had a lot going on that day and didn't have time to make too much so these were perfect. I love watching people try to figure out what they are too! You hear the most random guesses! To me they taste like Butterfingers candy bars. I feel like my mom always made these when we were growing up. Otherwise I have never had them before. But I love them.


Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Wheat Thins
Also known as a wheat thin sandwich on crack.

All you need is:
- 1 box of Wheat Thins
- Peanut butter
- 1 1/4 lbs. bark or white chocolate

Then all you do is:

Spread peanut butter fairly thick on Wheat Thins and cover with another Wheat Thin:

Melt small amount of chocolate on low heat so it doesn't get too hot (it runs off otherwise):

Drop the wheat thins into melted chocolate and then shake excess chocolate off (a fork works well to dip them):

Place on wax paper on a cookie sheet, set in refrigerator to set up faster:

And youre done!

Just like that. Enjoy.

My favorite cookie: Peanut Butter-Oatmeal Rounds

This is our most favorite cookie in the world.

I make them all the time... and for pretty much everything we do. The first time I had these a friend brought them to our house. I ended up eating pretty much the entire plate all myself! Thats when I knew it was a recipe I was going to become very familiar with.

These are the perfect mix of chocolate, peanut butter, oatmeal, and yummy-ness all in one.

My favorite thing is the recipe makes a bunch of cookies. So I always make the entire recipe and then put half of it in the freezer.. for those times that you have random guests over, or when you forget dessert, or when its been one of those days and you just want to eat something sweet.

Oh and the dough - I could just eat the entire bowl of dough itself.

So without further ado - here is our most favorite cookie in the world.

Peanut butter-oatmeal rounds
from the bh&g cookbook

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup butter, softened (make sure its really soft or the cookies wont be as yummy)
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup chopped cocktail peanuts or semi-sweet chocolate pieces (i use the chocolate chips)
  

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and peanut butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed about 30 seconds or until combined.
2. Add granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking powder and baking soda. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally.
3. Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in any remaining flour. Stir in rolled oats and peanuts.
4. Drop dough by rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in a 375-degree oven about 10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.
5. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool.

*Makes about 48 heavenly cookies
*Ive used all natural peanut butter from our local store before & I dont think they turned out as good. So I always use Peter Pan or the other store bought brands
*Like I noted above, make sure the butter is softened before starting. If not the PB and butter dont mix as well .. or you will end up over beating .. and the cookies will either be flat or harder than they are supposed to be.

Gimme S'More ..

Its just that time of year. I find myself wanting smores everyday!

I dont know if its just the weather.. or because I can smell fireplaces all around our neighborhood.. or because I wish we were camping.. or just because its another excuse to eat sweets!

But I love smores.



a while ago Adam & Camille came over for dinner.

Freeland & I decided it was time to whip out the graham crackers, mellows, and chocolate.



We dont have an actual backyard where we can build a fire or have a fire pit .. so we always resort to using our grill.

It works great if you are in the same situation.



We used our kabob sticks this time. We also use hangers sometimes.

But I really enjoy using a branch or a stick .. it just feels more like you are actually camping if you do it that way.



Im more of a lightly roasted mellow.

Freeland lights his on fire and somehow gets the perfect roasted marshmallow without it being black or burned.

But I know some people are more of a light it on fire and get it as crispy as possible. That works too.



I have also noticed that I tend to eat half of the marshmallows while Im waiting for other people warm theirs up.

I think its my favorite part of doing smores.

Happy Fall.

*Note.. once winter kicks into full swing.. dont worry! I plan on doing smore cupcakes or the Inside Out Smores since we wont be hanging out on the porch like we used to.

Caramel Peanut Topped Brownie Cake

So the other main reason I finally started up this blog was because I wanted to join Tuesdays with Dorie.. its this little group of people who are going through the entire Baking From My Home to Yours cook book by Dorie Greenspan. They pick a new recipe every week and then post it on Tuesdays. I love the cookbook and wanted to start baking things I had never tried before - so I figured this was a great way to start.

This was my first week trying something new - The Caramel Peanut Topped Brownie Cake.

It looked easy enough. The only thing I didnt already have was the bittersweet chocolate & peanuts. Freeland & I both decided we didnt want the peanuts on top of ours so really I only needed 1 ingredient. I will say that the cake looks amazing in the book with the peanuts on top. I will try it at some point - we just werent in the mood for it this time.

I made the cake today & I had so much fun finally baking again. The recipe is really straight forward. When you combine all the ingredients you get a gorgeous silky batter.

I was interested to see how it was going to turn out. I read other peoples comments and they all had a variety of turn outs. The one thing I knew for sure is that it would sink in the middle some.. thankfully I knew this going into it or I would have been so sad that it didnt turn out. And - it did sink - but really not that much.

The recipe she uses for caramel is different than the normal caramel I make. I tried it out just to see the difference. Dorie's caramel taste more like the caramel that you buy at the store - which some people probably love. I actually preferred the other kind that I normally make. It has a creamier taste to it. I will post the recipe on here some time. I just drizzled the caramel over the cake since we didnt use the peanuts.

The overall cake was really good. It turned out really moist. I do think it tasted more like a german chocolate cake or a Texas sheet cake than a brownie cake. But we both liked it!