S'mores Cookie Bars

I wanted to bake my dad something special for Father's Day, but he's extremely picky. He wanted to make my mom's special Dump Cake from our family camping day, and he was disappointed when I said I couldn't do that because I couldn't recreate a three-hour campfire in my apartment. But, going off of the idea of camping, I decided to try a S'mores Cookie Bar recipe I pinned last week from Cornflake Dreams.  
 

Image via Love in the Oven

Even though my final product wasn't nearly as pretty as Love in the Oven's, it was tasty. And this was not a difficult recipe. Even as I was making it I thought I was doing it wrong because it was so easy. The only thing I would do differently is to take it out of the oven a few minutes earlier. I have a hyperactive, old Chicago gas stove, so they were just a tad overcooked. Other than that, definitely a keeper!

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 king-sized milk chocolate bars (e.g. Hershey’s)
1 1/2 cups marshmallow creme/fluff (not melted marshmallows)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and brown and regular sugar until light. Beat in egg and vanilla. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture and mix at a low speed until combined.

Divide dough in half and press half of dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan. Place chocolate bars over dough. 2 king-sized Hershey’s bars should fit perfectly side by side, but break the chocolate (if necessary) to get it to fit in a single layer no more than 1/4 inch thick. Spread chocolate with marshmallow creme or fluff. Place remaining dough in a single layer on top of the fluff (most easily achieved by flattening the dough into small shingles and laying them together).

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool completely before cutting into bars.

Cadbury Cream Egg Brownies = Heaven

On Monday I bought two dozen Cadbury Cream Eggs, A) because I have a compelling need to buy massive amounts of 50 percent off goodies the day after candy-centric holidays, and b) because I found a link to a recipe I had to try over at Cornflake Dreams.

Cadbury Cream Egg brownies. Holy crap.

The recipe is from Gingerbread Bagles, and I made it last night. Now, I usually don't try recipes I read on these cute cooking blogs because they make it seem so easy, and I can burn just about anything. But I do have to say that I was very successful. (Although I feel I have to give some credit to the new Calphalon bakeware I got as wedding presents. The pieces are amazing!)

Here's the recipe with one minor change from Gingerbread Bagles' original: I substituted the 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder with Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder. I'd like to say it's because I'm so culinarily fancy that I wanted to add extra flavoring, but really it's because I forgot to buy the unsweetened, and it's the only one I had in my apartment. Fortunately, it worked great!

Cadbury Creme Egg Brownies

4 1/2 Cadbury Creme Eggs (total of 9 halves)
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Cut the Cadbury Eggs along the crease. You should have a total of 9 halves. Set aside.
(Note: This was not as hard as I thought it would be. I put the eggs in the freezer the night before, and they cut in half very well.)

Sift together the flour, unsweetened cocoa powder and kosher salt. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl with the paddle attachment (a handheld mixer works too), mix together the packed light brown sugar, sugar, melted unsalted butter and vanilla extract on medium speed.
Add in the eggs one at a time.

Slowly add in the dry ingredients on low speed. Mix until just combined. Take a spatula and fold the ingredients together.

Throw in the semi sweet chocolate chips and fold them in.

Spread the brownie batter into a lightly greased 8×8 inch baking pan. The brownies will bake for a total of 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Once the brownies have baked for 25 minutes, remove them from the oven and carefully press the Cadbury Creme Eggs on top of the brownies. The center of the Cadbury Eggs should be facing up.

Next time I'll space them out better.

Put the brownies back in the oven and continue baking for 5 more minutes.

Cool the brownies and then cut into pieces. Enjoy!



Finished product!

 

I was afraid that it would taste like someone had just plopped one of the eggs on top of a brownie, but they baked together to form absolutely deliciousness.



 I'm thinking this will be an annual Chicago Quirk dessert!

A Kosher-for-Passover Social Life

Passover is one of my favorite holidays, but, let's face it, not being able to eat anything "leavened" until next Monday night pretty much kills any fun dinner plans.

(For my non-Jewish readers, that mean from sundown tonight until sundown next Tuesday you have to eliminate anything that might in some way be construed as bread: pastas, most desserts, Cheeze-its, etc.)

Rather than stuffing a box of Matzo in your purse whenever you go out to eat, check out some of these venues for a much tastier Passover:

Mity Nice will serve a la carte Passover specials for lunch and dinner tomorrow through next Monday. The matzo-crusted Lake Superior whitefish and flourless chocolate cake sound good!

Find an excuse to leave Bubbie's seder early and head over to Joe's to celebrate the exodus in style. Tonight and tomorrow night you can order the pre-fixed seder dinner for $49.95. (Not a bad price for a full meal at Joe's.)

You can always count on The Bagel to not only have Kosher-for-Passover options, but to know exactly what you can and can't eat. Complete with old yentas lining the booths, you'll be overcome with a sense of guilt if you don't eat everything on your plate.

If you still want your cupcake fix, Sprinkles will have flourless chocolate cupcakes all week. I recommend ditching the macaroons and picking up a dozen of these for your seder.

And if you're looking for a few fancy recipes to try yourself, check out GourmetPassoverCooking.com. Me, I'm a walking stereotype: What do Jewish women make for dinner? Reservations!

Mmmmm, Matzo Ball Soup!

Need BaconFest Tickets?

BaconFest 2011 sold out in mere minutes, leaving hundreds of bacon lovers crying into their blood pressure meds. Denny's to the rescue! The (I can't think of a positive adjective) restaurant is celebrating Baconalia, their annual bacon celebration, by hosting a sweepstakes with the grand prize of two VIP tickets to Chicago's Baconfest. Visit www.facebook.com/Denny's to enter.

Unfortunately, if you win second prize, you're stuck with a $100 Denny's gift card. I'm sure you can find someone you don't like to give it to....

I, however, won't be entering the contest because I GOTS ME A TICKET! I signed up early and hit the 'refresh' button a hundred times at 8:59 a.m. the day the tickets went on sale. On April 9 I will don the fat pants for a day o' bacon. Stay tuned for photos.

In the meantime, feast your eyes on this recipe for Bacon Cups. AMAZING!