Mmm ... Oh Yeah!

Peanut butter is probably the most commonly used food in our house. My son begs for a peanut butter sandwich everyday for lunch and my husband likes an after-work snack of a spoonful PB & CC (peanut butter with some chocolate chips). I'm probably the only one who doesn't care for it that much ... except when combined with chocolate! Here is a delicious recipe that will have peanut butter fanatics jumping for joy:

Chocolate Peanut Butter Passion Bars (modified from the Ghirardelli recipe in Home Cooking: The Costco Way)

1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 pouch Ghirardelli Triple Chocolate Brownie Mix

peanut butter filling
1 1/4 cups (14 oz. can) sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup extra chunky peanut butter

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 13-by-9 inch pan.

In a medium bowl, stir together oil and eggs. Add brownie mix and stir until moistened. Press half of the brownie mixture into the pan, reserving the remainder for topping.

To make the filling, stir sweetened condensed milk and peanut butter in a medium bowl until smooth. Spread evenly over the brownie layer in the pan.

Drop rounded teaspoonfuls of the reserved brownie mixture over the peanut butter layer.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the top is set. Cool thoroughly before cutting. Makes 24 bars.

Darn tootin' irresistible!

I Shan't Quit My Day Job

There is a part of me that longs to be a French pastry chef. The idea of mixing, baking and piping little bits of heaven sounds so ... well, heavenly. My latest fascination has been with macarons, not to be confused with macaroons. I have had one from my favorite little pastry shop in Ashland called Mix; and from the first bite of that hazelnut pastry, I was hooked.

Recently I discovered a charming blog called Tartelette that features enchanting recipes and many of them are for macarons. Inspired, I decided that today was the day for trying out these decadent treats.

The first thing I had to do was convert a lot of her measurements (i.e. grams into cups, because she is a real French pastry chef) and make sure I had all that I needed to get started. I mixed, I measured, I finely ground nuts and I piped the meringue into little rounds.

I failed miserably.

My meringues did NOT come out hard on the outside and light and soft on the inside. They were flat and gooey discs that my husband informed me looked like "sequential puddles of cat yack" (this is the reason I did not post a photo of my catastrophe!) Using salted pistachios was not a good idea as my husband informed me provided "a whole lot of flavor going on in one bite" and not in a good way.

I will not give up. I can see that it will take practice and when I successfully make a batch of these dreamy confections, you bet I will post a photo documenting my triumph. In the meantime, I shall not quit my day job. But I will dream of going to Paris and buying a box of these treats from the world famous Ladurée at Champs-Élysées, and this is what they would look like ...

photo from: http://sushtopia.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/macarons-perfect.jpg

The Italians Have Got It Right

Homemade Italian bread! Crusty on the outside and soft and spongy on the inside, it makes the perfect accompaniment to a hearty bowl of soup, a light salad with vinaigrette or by itself with a pat of real butter. It's easy to make and even makes me look like a gourmet!

Italian Bread (from breadworld.com)

Makes 2 loaves or 4 small loaves.
1-3/4 cups warm water (100 to 110oF)
2 envelopes FLEISCHMANN'S Active Dry Yeast
2 tsp salt
5 to 5-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Additional flour, optional

Place 1/2 cup warm water in large warm bowl. Sprinkle in yeast; stir until dissolved. Add remaining water, salt, and 2 cups flour; blend well. Stir in enough remaining flour to make soft dough. Knead on lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 6 to 8 minutes. Place in greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover; let rise in warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 20 to 40 minutes.

Punch dough down. Remove dough to lightly floured surface; divide in half. Roll each half to 12-inch circle. Roll up each circle tightly as for jelly roll to make loaf. Pinch seams and ends to seal; taper ends by gently rolling back and forth. Place loaves, seam sides down, on large greased baking sheet. Cover; let rise in warm place until doubled in size, about 20 to 40 minutes.

Lightly dust loaves with additional flour, if desired. With sharp knife, make 3 or 4 diagonal slashes (1/4 inch deep) across top of each loaf. Bake at 400°F for 25 minutes or until done. Remove from sheet; let cool on wire rack.

Good Friday Cookies

You may be wondering what cookies have to do with Good Friday. The answer is ... absolutely nothing. This is a day to reflect and to be grateful. But since I have had a strange compulsion to bake lately, I dragged out some cookie cutters and thought it would be a fun project for my daughter and I to make sugar cookies. It was also a good opportunity to talk about each of the cutter shapes and why they are significant to Easter.

I asked my girl about the cross and she said "That is where Jesus died." So far, so good. Then I pointed to the lamb cutter and she had no idea what the significance was. It was difficult to explain how Jesus is the Lamb. How He was the sacrifice. Not fully being able to verbalize it so that a four year-old would understand, we moved on. I explained that the egg represents new life that we were given when Jesus died for our sins. She perked up and said, "I can have new life too when I go to see Jesus in Heaven!" - I just about cried at that one! And then of course the church shape represents where we as believers can go to fellowship with others, praise the Lord, and learn more about His amazing life and death.

So while sugar cookies have as much to do with Easter as chocolate eggs and bunnies do, it was a good learning experience for her and a time to reflect for me.

And as a side note, I have to say they were very delicious!

I'm Just NUTS For These Cookies!

Today as my town was showered with snow - and lots of it - I suddenly had the desire to make cookies. As I looked through my pantry I saw that I had coconut, white chocolate chips, oatmeal, toffee bits and of course the all-American favorite ... semi-sweet chocolate chips! My husband is not adventurous when it comes to cookies. He will have a chocolate chip cookie any day as long as I don't "experiment" with the recipe. Well, don't tell him, but I did just that.

Here is the modified recipe that I came up with today that produced the dreamiest cookies EVER! In fact, I am typing with one hand right now because my other hand is holding a cookie which I am enjoying. I mean eyes-rolling-back-into-my-head good.

Lets start with my secret ingredients (shhhh, don't tell my husband!)

1 cup whole pecans

2 Tbsp quick oats

In a food processor, pulse together the oats and the pecans to create a fine grind.

And now the cookie recipe:

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter (do not use margarine), softened

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 375° F. In large mixer bowl, beat butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar and vanilla until creamy. Add eggs; beat well. Add pecan and oat mixture and blend. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to butter mixture, beating until blended. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop dough by spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely.

These cookies have a gooey and chewy texture. The pecans give it a richer flavor, but since they are so well blended you don't crunch down on big nut pieces. Santa will leave us something really good after we put these out for him on Christmas Eve!