Low Country Bars

Ok, usually, I can make a batch of cookies and get away with eating 2-3 of them before I’m sick of them. (When I say 2-3, I’m of course not including the additional 2-3 cookies worth of cookie dough that I’ve scarfed down as well…but those calories don’t count… cause it’s raw, right? Yeah, that’s what I thought).

But these cookies… these simple, sugary bits of goodness are like crack. They should actually be called Crack Cookies. Because once you taste them you know you are headed towards an all day sugar headache.

I’ve made them twice before… once as a test run and then again for my friend April’s Bridal Shower. And each time, I ate so many that I actually went into a diabetic coma and woke up 4 days later with the icing crusted around my finger tips and my name on the pancreas donor waiting list. It’s bad. Very Bad. They are really sweet though, some people might think they are too sweet. (As if anything could ever be too sweet. Hmph).

What I’m saying folks… is that these cookies should come with a warning label. Proceed with caution…

This is another recipe from Paula Deen. God Bless Her.

I don’t like the way she wrote the instructions for this recipe, so I’ve changed them to make it easier to follow:

Low Country Bars (or as I like to call them Sugar High Bars).

Filling:
1 14.4 ounce box of Graham Crackers *You wont use whole box
¾ cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup coconut
1 cup pecan pieces
½ cup milk
1 egg

Topping:
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
3 tablespoons milk

First, line the bottom of a 13x9 inch baking dish with graham crackers (I usually use 7 whole graham crackers for both the top and bottom.

Crush one cup worth of graham crackers into crumbs and place in a bowl, add pecans and coconut to bowl and set aside.

Measure your ½ cup of milk into a bowl and crack egg into the bowl and gently mix together; set aside.

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and add sugar. Stirring constantly (so as not to scramble the egg) add the milk and egg mixture to the pan and bring all to a bowl while you stir constantly. This takes about 10 minutes, because you want to start out a lowish heat and then work your way up (again, so as not to scramble the egg… you could also temper the egg mixture before you add it in, if you like, but I usually don’t).

Once boiling, take off the heat and add the pecans, graham crackers and coconut. Stir to mix well, then pour over the graham crackers in the pan and spread evenly. Top with another layer of graham crackers.

Prepare your icing: Combine all icing ingredients and stir well. You want it to be thick but spreadable. Add extra milk if you need to thin it out. Pour on top and smooth over the whole pan. Chill and cut and serve.

They taste great both chilled and at room temperature, but for storing you need to keep them in the fridge.

World Peace Cookies

When I first starting reading food blogs, I noticed a bunch of entries devoted to this cookie: The Korova Cookie a.k.a. World Peace Cookie. Most people raved over it. It never really looked like something I would be into, so I never printed the recipe out.

This weekend, I had every intention of making Oatmeal Creme Pies. I bought all the ingredients, was ready to go. But when Sunday rolled around, I just wasn't feeling them. I wanted something chocolatey... so, I decided to try this cookies once and for all.

I made a special trip to the grocery to get Fine Sea Salt and Unsalted Butter (I typically use salted butter... I'm a salt fiend). And I got to work.

These cookies are tasty. Especially when still warm (not hot). They have a GREAT texture that you don't often find in cookies. A sandy, yet soft texture. But, my palate isn't very sophisticated. I like sweet chocolate, not bittersweet chocolate. So, I think I'll try these again with a couple of changes to the recipe:

1. I think I will actually use more salt. Maybe 1/2 tsp instead of just a 1/4.
2. I think I'll mix some milk chocolate along with the bittersweet chocolate. Just to give the cookie more sweetness for my palate.
3. I'll add a touch more vanilla. (Have I mentioned I love vanilla?).

These are very good cookies, but not the worlds greatest cookie as I've seen it referred to before. I'm still searching for that :)

Korova Cookies a.k.a. World Peace Cookies Recipe

Also, a note on the picture. I've found that taking pictures of chocolate chocolate chip cookies is a difficult task. Hopefully this picture looks appetizing, because my last blog entry that featured chocolate chocolate chip cookies prompted my friend Jeff to say that they looked like dog turd cookies.

The Snickerdoodle.

So, Saturday morning, I ran an Oktoberfest 5k here in town. It was a cool crisp fall-like day for once. So, when I got home, I decided that I'd make something homey tasting. Homey to me, always equals cinnamon. There is just something about the smell and flavor of cinnamon that is comforting. It's like a warm quilt.

Okay, that sounds really lame.

Anyway, so, I was thinking cinnamon and I decided to attempt to make Snickerdoodles. Now, my only experience eating snickerdoodles has been from Mrs. Fields in the mall. And I think the only reason I had one, was because they were giving them away free. (Normally, I opted for white chocolate macadamia nut, or chocolate chip). And I really liked it. The perfect cookie texture, nice and chewy... almost caramel-like in texture in the center, with a lightly crunchy exterior.

I searched around for some recipes and came up with a Martha Stewart one. I'm not crazy about this recipe. I expected more chewiness and less cakey-ness. I also feel like they need to be more sweet. They turned out really pretty though. But, the next time I am craving a snickerdoodle, I'll try a different recipe. These are good. Just not GREAT.


*** I did make one change to the recipe, I added a little vanilla. I just can't bake anything without vanilla. It's a sickness.

Whatchamacallit (basically, a scotcheroo)

I left work last night at 6:30 and didn't get home till around 7:30. There were two accidents on my way home. This is a pretty stressful time at work. October 15th is our second biggest tax filing deadline (well, maybe third... March 15, might be the second). Monday night when I get home from work, I'll be a happy camper.

So, last night, I was craving something sweet, but it had to be something easy. So, I opted to make Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats. As I was stirring the sugar on the stovetop, I started to think about a butterscotch and chocolate topping that I saw for one of the peanut butter rice krispie treats recipes... and so I decided to melt some chocolate chips and butterscotch chips to pour on top, sort of like an icing (but better). I ate a couple last night while they were still gooey and warm (YUM), and then also again this morning, after they had firmed up. They remind me so much of a whatchamacallit candy bar, that I've decided to change the name. I'm calling them whatchamacallits.

These are so freaking simple, take about 10 minutes and are so delicious.

Whatchamacallits

This is half batch, I put in an 8x8 square pan.

1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup white corn syrup
1/2 cup peanut butter
3 cups Rice Krispies Cereal
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup butterscotch chips

Measure out the rice krispies in a large bowl, set aside.

Combine brown sugar and corn syrup in a medium saucepan and cook on medium heat till mixture begins to bubble on top.

Take off heat and stir in peanut butter.

Add mixture to the rice krispies and stir until all the krispies are coated, then pour into an 8x8 greased dish. Smooth over with spatula and press down kind of firmly into pan. Set aside.

Melt chocolate chips and butterscotch chips together in the microwave slowly until melted. (Make sure you check on it every few seconds, to keep it from burning). Stir chips together well and then pour onto the rice krispies and spread over like icing.

It will take the icing awhile to set up, but it eventually did (overnight).

Enjoy.

Another Chocolate Chip Recipe

The following post may sound like a paid advertisement for all

things Martha Stewart, but I assure you, as much as I love Martha,

I'm not on her payroll (sadly).

Sara and I met on our 3rd or 4th day as freshman at the University of South Carolina. My roommate and I were at the Student Union checking our mail and noticed a girl having some problems with her mailbox lock. I went over and offered my help to her, turns out, she had been mailed the wrong combination. Anyway, my roommate and I left and went back to our room. Turns out, the girl that I helped lived right next door to me. Literally. Of all the places to meet, not in the hallway, not in the bathroom, but in the student union. We became fast friends and ended up being roommates the next semester when my roommate transferred to UT. We lived together that spring semester and all of our sophomore and senior years.

She’s a great friend. Always there when you need her and she’s one of those friends that you can talk to once in 3 months and neither of you holds a grudge for not being in contact sooner. You just pick back up where you left off.

Sara and I exchanged some emails last week and I decided that she needs a little pick-me-up. So, I made her some cookies.

I wanted to make chocolate chip cookies for her, because when we were in college, anytime that we went to the mall, she ALWAYS went to the cookie store and got one of those huge chocolate chip cookies. You know, the one that is kind of like a cookie pie. And then she would proceed to eat on the cookie for the rest of the week. So, I knew I wanted to make a chocolate chip cookie.

I decided to try a new cookie recipe and flipped through my printed out recipes and decided on this one from Martha Stewart.

I made large cookies (they fit in the cute boxes much better) and they came out soft on the inside and crispy on the outside. Good cookies. Probably my second favorite chocolate chip recipe.

Martha Stewart Cookies for a Martha Stewart Cookie Box.

Perfection.

Cherry Pie

So, while I inherited my dads dark eyes and hair, it was from my mom that I inherited my sweet tooth. Generally, while I would try to save some room for a sweet dessert, my dad would just prefer another helping of dinner to a decadent dessert. He’ll eat desserts, yes, but he doesn’t crave sweets like I do.

But, his favorite dessert is well known in my family and that’s a cherry pie. Growing up we had a cherry tree and my mom would make my dad fresh cherry pies, a lot. She would freeze the fresh cherries to make pies when the cherries weren’t in season. Sadly, the cherry tree died after about 10 years, I think it was too close to the house and just didn’t have enough room to continue to grow, but what do I know? I may have been president of my FFA chapter, but I was never much of a gardener.

Okay, back to the pie. So, my dads birthday is today and I decided to tackle a cherry pie recipe. I perused some pie recipes online and found this recipe at Epicurious. I went off to Wild Oats to see if I could find the ingredients that I needed. They didn’t have any! So, I went to Harris Teeter… and they didn’t have exactly what I needed, but they did have a selection of canned cherries that I thought I could work with.

So, I studied the epicurious recipe and then I looked at the recipe that my mom always used to make her cherry pie and I came up with my own recipe. And this pie turned out delicious! My crust was a little on the dry side, but still tasty. I will definitely keep and use this recipe again! Tart and sweet all at the same time!

Cherry Pie

2 cans of Sweet Pitted Bing Cherries (14.5 oz cans)
1 can of Tart Cherries
3 tbsp cornstarch
½ cup Dried Sweet & Tart Cherries (about 3 ozs)
¼ cup Granulated Sugar
1 tbsp Butter
½ tsp Almond Extract
Red Food Coloring
Cream or milk
Pie crust for a double crust pie

Strain syrup from bing cherries and reserve juice. Strain tart cherries and reserve it’s juice separately. Combine the bing cherries and the tart cherries in a bowl with ¼ cup of the sweet juice (save the leftover juice), 2 tbsps of the tart juice, and the cornstarch; stir to blend and set aside.

Combine 1 cup of the sweet juice along with 1 tbsp of the tart juice with the dried cherries in a large saucepan. Cover and let simmer for 10 minutes on medium low heat to allow the dried cherries to plump up. Uncover and increase the heat to medium and simmer until mixture bubbles thickly and it has reduced to about ¾ cup, stirring occasionally (about another 10 minutes). Add your other cherry mixture to the saucepan mixture along with the butter and heat thoroughly over medium heat until mixture bubbles and thickens (about 3-5 minutes). After mixture has thickened, pull off heat and add almond extract and a few drops of red food coloring. Transfer pie filling to a medium bowl and let it cool completely.

After it has completely cooled, position a rack in the second to the bottom row in your oven and preheat oven to 400 F. Roll our pie disk on a floured surface to 12 inch round. Transfer to a 9 inch diameter pie dish. Trim dough overhang to 1 inch. Put pie plate into the fridge while you roll out your top. Roll the top crust to 12 inch diameter. Spoon pie filling into bottom crust and then cover with top crust. Crimp edges decoratively and lightly brush the top and edges of the pie with whipping cream lightly. (I also sprinkled sugar on top the crust). Make four slits in the top of the crust to allow the steam to escape.

Place aluminum foil strips around the edges of the pie to keep them from browning too quickly. Put pie on a baking sheet with a rim and place into the preheated oven.

After 25-30 minutes, remove the aluminum foil and continue to cook.

Cook for about 50-55 minutes, until crust is golden.

Transfer pie to rack and allow to cool for 2 hours. Serve pie lukewarm or room temperature.
Tip: When transferring rolled pie dough to pie dish fold crust in half or in quarters and then place the dough in position in the pie dish and then unfold it to fit the dish.

Butter Pecan Turtle Bars

So, this is the last of the recipes from the baking date! And it is yummy!! And fairly simple, actually.

I kept calling these cookies, toffee cookies. And I think that would actually be a better name for them, because they are crunchy like toffee... not caramel-y gooey like turtles are.

I found this recipe here and was pleasantly surprised when my bars came out looking almost exactly like theirs! Woo Hoo. Usually my creations turn out looking like the poor, forgotten step child of the originals.

I will definitely be making these again. They hit the sweet tooth trifecta... chocolatey, crunchy yet soft crust, and buttery nut goodness.