At Least There Was Good Food....

In the wake of last night's depressing outcome, the one thing I will be focusing on is the delicious food Nick and I spent the day preparing.  One of the fun reasons to have some friends over for the Super Bowl is the excuse to prepare some dishes you probably would not otherwise prepare!  So, for the past two weeks I was trolling the internet looking for some inspiration dishes and came up with the following (forgive my Instagram obsession)...

First up was a Cheesey Pepperoni Pull Apart Bread that I adapted from Jen's Cheesey Mushroom Bread, as I have a friend who is not a mushroom fan.  This recipe was easy to pull together and very satisfying to put on the table with the "ooo's" and "ahh's" it received.  With its adaptability to almost anything this will quickly become a go-to appetizer.

Cheesey Pepperoni Pull Apart Bread

Next up was Megan's Buffalo Chicken Stromboli, adapted to add a lot more heat!  I doubled the amount of Frank's Red Hot and allowed the shredded chicken to sit in all of the sauce not taken up during the sauteing to make sure all the chicken was sufficiently ready to burn tongues!  If that were not enough, I picked up this great buffalo Cheddar at Whole Foods that even had bits of jalapenos added to it!  Needless to say the Stromboli had plenty of bite - good thing we had friends over who love spice as much as Nick and I do.

Buffalo Chicken Stromboli

Nick whipped up some Cake Batter Rice Krispy Treats that I had seen floating around on Pinterest, however, I am not sure the extra cake batter made enough of a difference.  Maybe the sprinkles would have made the difference.

I decided to also go ahead and make Joanne Chang's Milky Way Tart from her Flour Cookbook.  I will do a more detailed post on this later, but lets put it this way (spoiler alert!) - the tart was everyone's favorite dish.

Milky Way Tart

I can't say there was much to celebrate at the end of the night for us Pats fans, but at least the food was good and good company....

Chocolate, Salted Caramel and Chocolate Coconut Caramel Pretzel Bark

At work, I am in a very small department - only about 7 people - so at the holidays we don't hold a big office party.  Instead, we started doing a cookie swap, which is a good way to indulge for the holidays and also put together a fun gift for all of the security guards and parking attendants and all of the others in our building to help make things easier.  However, this year the cookie swap was on the Wednesday of a very busy week, so I was at a bit of a loss when trying to decide what to make.  I refused to buy something pre-made but it almost came to that!

Instead, I remembered a recipe I spotted on Pinterest that was for a pretzel bark, which required very little cooking, so at 9:00pm on Tuesday night I started to put this recipe together and was "done" by 9:20.

To get started, I put together my ingredients to make sure I had everything I needed - it was too late to get started only to be missing something important!

The Ingredients

The Necessities (adapted from Legume Loyalist) - I doubled this recipe, but the amounts below are for a single baking pan

• 1 cup of unsalted butter
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• bag of mini pretzels
• 12-oz bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 12-oz bag of milk chocolate chips 
• sea salt
• coconut

This recipe involved making caramel and since my first caramel attempt was a bit rough, I was eager to try caramel again.  This was a bit of a different way to make caramel so I took the tips from the comments in my other post, especially from Megan - she always has some great tips!

I began the caramel by melting the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.

Melting Butter

Meanwhile, I spread the bag of mini pretzels onto a baking sheet that I had lined with tin foil.  I tried to keep it only one layer deep and tuck them into the corners.

Pretzels

Once the butter was fully melted I added the sugar.  You can use light brown sugar as the original recipe suggests, but I love the deeper taste of the dark brown sugar, so that is what I keep on hand in our kitchen.

Adding the sugar

I stirred the mixture regularly, allowing the sugar to fully dissolve.  Once completely smooth, I allowed the mixture to reach an almost boil, but then turned down the heat and let the mixture simmer.  I continued to stir it every 30 seconds and just waited to see how long it would take to come together, really hoping it would not take a full 30 minutes like last time!  Instead, this caramel came together a lot faster, in about 5 minutes.

Simmering Caramel

I then poured the caramel over the pretzels, attempting to do it as evenly as possible - a bit tough, but somehow it worked!  I just poured a little at a time trying to evenly move the pot back and fourth across the pan.  I put the baking sheet in a 400 degree oven for about 7 minutes.

Covered in caramel

While the pretzels were in the oven, I filled a heat proof bowl with the two different kinds of chocolate chips and placed it over a saucepan with some boiling water, making sure the water was not touching the bottom of the bowl.  I continued to stir the the chips until they were fully melted - probably about 3-5 minutes.

"Double Boiler"

Melted Chocolate

When the caramel was done I took it out of the oven.  It seemed to cook up nicely.

Cooked Caramel

I then poured the melted chocolate over the pretzels.  For this batch I sprinkled some salt over the top and popped the whole sheet pan into the fridge to cool overnight.

Chocolate Covered Pretzels

I made a second sheet pan and for this one I stirred some coconut into the chocolate mixture and poured it over the pretzels baked in caramel.  I topped this sheet off with a bit more coconut for a little flair.  I also placed this completed pan in the fridge to cool overnight.

Mixing in the coconut

Ready for the fridge

While the recipe did not take much time at night, I still had a bit of work to do in the morning before the gym and work.  I pulled each of the pans out of the fridge and broke the bark up into pieces and put them into a tin to bring to work.

I must say, pulling this bark off of the tin foil was not as easy as I thought.  I spent a considerable amount of time peeling off the tin foil.  This was worse on the salted caramel than the coconut, but I think its because the caramel cooked a bit longer with the coconut sheet pan, so really go the full 7 minutes.

Salted Caramel Pieces

Chocolate Coconut Pieces

The pretzel bark was a hit at work - nice to have something a bit different than chocolate chip cookies.  That, and they were one of the only things not bought from a store!  I would make both of these again, since they are super easy with a lot of pay off.  If I were to make the salted caramel bark again, I would add some salt to the caramel as it would give it a better/stronger salty flavor to contrast more with the sweet.

Bacon Bourbon Brownies - Perfect Football Snack

Recently I had seen these bacon bourbon brownies floating around the internet.  It being the AFC Championship Game this weekend, I figured it was the perfect time to put these to the test.  Really, how else could you make a brownie better for football viewing?

Bacon Bourbon Brownie

Jen from Beantown Baker had some great recommendations when she attempted this recipe so I decided to take some of her suggestions and see what happened.  I wanted to take my go-to brownie recipe and adapt it to the fun football (read - manly) additions.  I would recommend that you take your favorite recipe and do the same, it's such an easy adaptation.

The Ingredients

To get going I cooked up about 10 pieces of bacon in a non-stick pan and set it aside in some paper towels for later, allowing it to crisp up.  I also made sure I held onto all the leftover bacon grease to use in the brownie batter.

Cooking Bacon

Between not blogging a recipe for awhile and the game starting earlier than I expected, I was a bad blogger and did not grab too many "step-by-step photos." I started off by combining the sugar and half of the called-for vegetable oil, and rather than adding a 1/2 cup of water, I added a half cup of Jim Beam!  This was much more than the recommended amount but I thought "go big or go home" - it all cooks off, right?!.

Sugar, Bourbon, and Some Oil....

I went ahead and added the remaining ingredients called for in the recipe I was using, and instead of adding the other half of the veggie oil I added about a third of a cup of bacon grease (literally poured out of the pan).  I didn't say these would be healthy!  Once fully mixed and all the flour clumps were gone I poured the batter into a greased, 9 x 13 inch pan.  At this point the bacon was cool and crispy so I chopped it up nicely, scattered it over the top of the brownie batter and placed the pan in a 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes.

Ready for the oven

Extreme Close-up

Right before these finished cooking a lovely brownie smell started to take over and it was amazing!  The brownies were finished right at about 15 minutes - crisp around the edges with a good crackle on the top.  As this is a fairly fudgy recipe, I like to let them cool and set a bit before cutting in.

Cooling....

The thin and fudgy brownies were the perfect way to set up these added ingredients.  There was a definite bourbon flavor, and while not a strong bacon flavor, I got a nice salty crunch in each bite.  The typical sweetness of this dessert was cut nicely, making it the perfect beer companion.  To get a stronger bacon flavor you probably could mix some of the crispy bits into the batter.  You could also get a little heavy (or heavier) handed with the bourbon to really change the flavor up some more.

Bacon Bourbon Brownies

Regardless, these are a great treat to enjoy with a beer in hand to watch a football game - February 5th perhaps?!?  Go Patriots!!!!

Pumpkin Blondies with Salted Caramel

My brother lives in Charlotte and basically had to work for most of the Thanksgiving holiday (and pay his dues) because he will be home for Christmas and my wedding!  I wanted to send him something homemade because I was not sure how well he would fend for himself.  That, and I wanted him to have a bit of a taste of his New England home.  When trying to come up with something to make I was at a bit of a loss, but my recent obsession in Pinterest really helped me search for just the right fall dessert.  Finally, I settled on a Salted Caramel Pumpkin Blondies recipe from Sing for your Supper.

YUM!

This recipe calls for caramel sauce, and while store-bought is good enough, I thought I would challenge myself and make some homemade salted caramel.  After scouring a bit more on Pinterest I stumbled upon a Salted Caramel Sauce from a A Twist of Kate.  The caramel sauce seemed easy enough so off I went.

Caramel Ingredients

The Necessities...

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/3 cup water
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 vanilla bean, sliced and seeded
• 1 teaspoon sea salt

To begin, I had to figure out how to use a vanilla bean...turns out you slice it open and scoop all the good stuff on the inside - that's the flavor.

Vanilla Bean

I then added the heavy cream, the vanilla bean innards, vanilla extract and sea salt and set it aside for later.

Vanilla bean mixture

Next I added sugar and water to a saucepan over medium heat and brought it to a boil.

Sugar and Water...

Once boiling, I added the cream mixture and kept whisking.

boiling....

I mean, I think I whisked for over 30 minutes before this even thought about coming together.

Getting there...

I was just about exhausted when this came together, and "came together" is a term I use loosely.  The caramel sauce definitely thickened up, but it was missing the rich caramel color I was looking for.  I think I needed to allow the sugar to dissolve in the boiling water longer before I added the cream mixture.  Regardless, it still tasted good, and I only got 1 slightly burned finger in the process.  It also didn't harden completely so I figure this was a pretty good first attempt at caramel making.

Caramel

Once I was done with the caramel, I moved onto the blondies.

The Ingredients

The Necessities...

• 3/4 cup caramel sauce
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt, divided
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/4 cups dark brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup pumpkin puree

Turns out I actually only had a bit of pumpkin pie spice left so I improvised with a mixture of (1/4 tsp) nutmeg, (1/4 tsp) cloves, and (1/2 tsp) cinnamon.  If you have ground ginger that is something that can be added as well.  I did not have any so it was just the three components.

Once the pumpkin pie spice issue was solved, I moved on.  I added the dry ingredients to a mixing bowl, stirred it together and set aside for later.

Dry Ingredients

Next, I went ahead and creamed together the butter (loads of it) and sugar for about 2 minutes, until it was light and fluffy.  I then beat in the eggs and vanilla until it was all well combined.

Butter, Sugar, Eggs and Vanilla

Once together, I added the pumpkin puree and stirred it into the batter on a low speed.

With Pumpkin mixed in...

Finally, I slowly add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and stirred it on a slow speed until all the ingredients were fully incorporated.

Batter is DONE!

Baking these blondies is not straight forward.  To start, I poured about half of the batter into a greased 9 x 9 inch pan and baked it in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes.  I then drizzled the caramel over top of the half of the slightly cooked blondies and topped it off with the rest of the batter and put it back in the oven for another 30 minutes.

Covered in Caramel

In The Oven...

Even with the caramel, the blondies were done when a toothpick came out clean, which it did.  However, I think these could have used a minute or two more.  These blondies were definitely a bit gooey on the inside.

Finished Blondies

Gooey or not, these pumpkin blondies were delicious!  I made two batches because they just sounded too good to pass up!  So good, I don't even have a picture to show off the yummy inside!  These blondies had such a great pumpkin and salted caramel flavor - rich and decedent.

While I was sad to part with all of these goodies, I figured these would give my brother a feeling of home.  For those not sure how best to mail baked goods, the key is to actually pack the container with a soft white bread, like Wonder Bread.  Instead of the baked good getting stale, the white bread does - magic!

My brother and his friends with whom he celebrated the holiday loved the blondies!  Lucky for me the wonder bread trick worked!

Have you ever made caramel - any tricks to getting it right?

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Fruit Crisp!

When Nick moved in last year,  Ina Garten also moved into our condo.  He brought along a bunch of her cookbooks and set up the DVR to record her show.  However, she has proven to be a great resource on many occasions.  Even better, her show has taught me a lot of good basics (that I probably should have already known!).  So when I needed a good basic recipe for a crisp, I looked no further than at Ina!

Ina Garten

In our CSA for two weeks we got a ton of plums, ground cherries and apples.  Having already made the Plum Clafoutis and the Ground Cherry Pie, I was looking for something different.  I figured a crisp was a great way to combine a lot of these fresh fruits.  Even better, we had a friend's house to go to that evening with plenty of hungry mouths to feed.

Fruit Crisp

The Necessities (Recipe adapted from the Plum Crunch in  Ina's Back to Basics)


For the inside goodness...

• About 2 pounds of fruit
• Ground Cherries
• Plums
• Apples
• 1 3/4 cup of dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup of flour

For the Crispy Topping...

• 1 1/2 cup of flour
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• salt
• 1 1/2 cup of oatmeal (save the extra 1/2 cup)
• 1/2 chopped walnuts
• 2 sticks of cold butter

Having learned that ground cherries are very liquidy I decided to cook them a bit beforehand.  To begin, I husked the ground cherries.

Ground Cherries

I put the ground cherries on a baking sheet in the oven at about 375 degrees for about 8 minutes - until they softened up.

Ready for the oven

While the ground cherries were in the oven I set to cutting up the plums.  These were the nice little ones - Italian prune plums I believe.  I cut each one into about 6 pieces.

Sliced Plums

Once those were sliced I set out on the apples - I just used a variety of apple types (whatever we had on hand).

Apples!

All Sliced

I combined the apples and plums into a large bowl and gave it a bit of a stir.  I then added the brown sugar and flour to the top.

Sugar!

Using a wooden spoon I stirred in the sugar and flour, making sure that the sugar came into contact with each piece of fruit.  From there I dumped the sugary goodness into a shallow baking dish.  During the cutting, I had taken the ground cherries out of the oven and allowed them to cool for a bit.  They were nice and smushy with plenty of liquid spilling out onto the baking sheet.

Nicely Smushed

Using a slotted spoon I sprinkled the cherries on top of the plums and apples in the baking dish.

Sugary Fruit!

After the fruit was all set, I grabbed a medium sized bowl and combined the flour, white and brown sugars, and salt.  Using a pastry blender I cut the butter into the dry ingredients.

Almost there....

I kept cutting until the the mixture was nice and crumbly - pea sized.  Once it was the right consistency I added the oatmeal and the walnuts and stirred it completely.

Almost there...

Fully mixed

Once mixed up, I poured the topping onto the fruit mixture - making sure it was spread evenly.  I sprinkled the extra half a cup of oatmeal over the top ensuring a crispy topping.

Ready for the oven

Once set, I put the dish in the 375 degree oven and allowed it to cook for about 50 minutes - until the top was nice and crispy and the juices were bubbling.

Hot and Steamy

Bubbling Fruit Juices

I really loved this crisp!  The combination of all the fruits worked so well together.  The apples got soft and tender, the plums were good and mushy, and the ground cherries just added a bit of sweetness to the bite.  The combination of the fruits' textures was delicious with the crispy crunchy topping.  The oatmeal and walnuts were my favorite part of the crispy topping.

A good, warmed, fruit crisp served with a bit of ice cream really does make an evening perfect!