Seven Layer Bars with Pumpkin

Those infamous 7 layer bars now made with pumpkin.
Have I lost my mind? No, just really into the pumpkin cooking spirit.
I've been dying to do this for a while now, but weary of how it would turn out because well, now there are 8 layers, so things could get sloppy, not set up, be too sweet, etc...
That buttery graham crust layer was just yearning for a nice layer of pumpkin.
It came out really good.
The pumpkin layer is very gentle in flavor, and adds a nice savory touch.
I went easy on the pumpkin spice flavoring, as I'm not a big fan of it.
I do like extra cinnamon in my pumpkin.
Made this in a 9 or 10 inch cake pan (just for something different).  It should work in a 9x13 pan, might be "just enough" or "slightly short" on ingredients--I don't know I haven't done this in a 9x13 pan yet.


Seriously?  These were insanely good.  The butterscotch with the pumpkin with the buttery graham cracker crust?  Oh heavenly food combo.






buttery graham layer first

pumpkin layer next--don't spread to the edges

pecans next, or use walnuts

chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, and butterscotch chips

coconut then pour on the sweetened condensed milk

time to bake!




Look at that crust!

Seven Layer Bars with Pumpkin

print recipe

Pumpkin layer:

1 egg

8 ounces of plain pumpkin puree

½ ts pure vanilla extract

a few dashes of cinnamon

a few dashes of pumpkin pie spice

1 ½ - 2 cups crushed graham crackers (depending on how thick you like the crust)

12 tbsp. unsalted butter

¾ cup chopped pecans (or walnuts)

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

½ cup white chocolate chips

½ cup butterscotch chips

¾ cup sweetened flaked coconut, toasted (optional to toast)

1 (14-oz.) can sweetened condensed milk

Preheat the oven to 350° F. 

Heavily spray with nonstick or line a 9 or 10-inch cake pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil.  If using parchment or aluminum make sure to spray that too with nonstick cooking spray. 

Melt the butter over medium heat; add in the graham crumbs, and mix well.

Using your fingers or a spatula spread crumbs into pan, making sure to get all the edges. If you want to prebake this for 10 minutes to help it get crisp then go ahead.  I did not. 

In a small bowl mix the pumpkin puree with the egg; add in the vanilla extract and as much spice as you want. I did about 4 shakes of cinnamon and 2 shakes of pumpkin spice. 

Then place a layer of the pumpkin mixture on top of the graham.  Do not spread the pumpkin mixture to the edges (see photo)—you don’t want it to seep out.

Then add the layer of pecans, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and toasted coconut.  Next pour the condensed milk evenly over the entire dish. 

Bake until the top is golden brown and mixture is set in the middle (no jiggly), about 25-28 minutes. 

Cool on a wire rack for a couple hours.  I then put mine in the fridge to help it firm up to make the slicing much easier. 

Remove the bars from the pan.  Then using a very sharp knife, cut into bars in small pie slices.  If the slicing is sticky, it helps to wet the knife with warm water.

It’s best to store this in the fridge. Keeps about 2 days then it gets soggy. 

black bottom coconut-graham bars

Ever try a recipe and it just does not come out? And you think, hmmm, that's weird, it's from a trusted source. I ran into that with the martha stewart black bottom coconut bars (I added in a layer of graham for texture and flavor--quite good actually).
If you read through my cook notes you'll see where the errors were. Don't get me wrong, I do love martha stewart recipes, and always will; I guess every once in a while it happens.
Of course you don't have to add in the layer of graham, I did solely for the reason of wanting to have some graham with my coconut. Graham and coconut, what a great pair.
I might try this again with a layer of marshmallow. Now that's a a trinity: coconut, graham and marshmallow.









black bottom coconut-graham bars
recipe base adapted from Martha Stewart
print recipe

chocolate base:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for pan
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)

graham center: (I added this in, optional but wonderful)
3/4 cup crushed graham crackers, (I like rough chop, not powder, to keep it crunchy)
4 ounces melted butter

coconut topping:
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar (I used ½ cup)
1/2 ts vanilla extract (I used almond extract)
1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1 package sweetened shredded coconut (7 ounces), 1/2 cup reserved for sprinkling

Cook notes:
The original recipe does not call for a graham center. I wanted to add this in for a nice crunch effect. Up to you if you want to add it in—it does lend a nice flavor and texture.
Also, I ran into a problem with Martha’s original recipe. In Martha’s recipe, it says to pre-bake the chocolate base for 10-15 minutes; I only prebaked it for 7 minutes. On the first batch, I did the 10-15 minutes, it was way too long/much and it ended up being overdone when I had to bake it again. So I highly suggest only prebaking for 5-7 minutes or not even prebaking it at all. The chocolate base is VERY THIN. Maybe if you double the base ingredients, then prebaking would come out fine. Also the original recipe says it makes 24 bars? From an 8-9 inch pan? I only got about 12.

For chocolate base:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a 9-inch square baking pan with aluminum foil, leaving a slight overhang; butter bottom and sides of foil (not overhang).
Place butter in a large microwave-safe bowl; melt in microwave. Add sugar and salt; whisk to combine. Whisk in egg, then cocoa and flour until smooth. Spread batter in prepared pan. Bake just until sides begin to pull away from edges of pan, 10 to 15 minutes (I only prebaked for 5-7 minutes). Let cool slightly while preparing coconut topping. Keep oven on for next sets of toppings.

For graham center:
Melt 4-5 ounces of butter, let cool a bit. Then mix with the ½ cup of crushed graham. Sprinkle this mixture over the chocolate base. Next move onto the coconut topping.

For coconut topping:
In a medium bowl, whisk eggs with sugar and vanilla. Gently mix in flour and coconut (except 1/2 cup reserved for sprinkling).
Drop mounds of mixture over chocolate base; spread and pat in gently and evenly with moistened fingers. Sprinkle with reserved 1/2 cup coconut.
Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in center comes out with moist crumbs attached, 25 to 30 minutes (mine was done at 22-23 minute mark). Cool completely in pan. Lift cake from pan, peel off foil, and cut into 24 bars (mine made 12 bars). Store in an airtight container 3 to 4 days.

toasted coconut-cream cheese bars

Remember as a kid when you made your first batch of chocolate chip cookies from scratch? How hard you worked and how amazing they tasted? Then remember when you found out you could make them into bar form? How cool and fancy that sounded to make them into bar form? Oh I sure do. Then I finally figured out the bar form is a lot easier; just throw it in a pan, no scooping or forming. Then came the add in's, the chopped up candy bars, nuts, etc...and you still thought how cool is that? Thinking I'm going to add in something that nobody else has ever added in before? Then you found out everyone was actually adding in peanut butter cups all the time, and you were so bummed.

These coconut bars reminded me of those past days. Long ago I did a cookie post (coconut cream cheese cookies) about 2 years ago, that is still, today, one of the most searched for recipes via google. It's kind of nice knowing there are that many coconut lovers out there. I've always wanted to re-create those cookies somehow, someway, and only came up with these bars. Not exactly the same recipe, this one is more of a crispy crumb cake with a cookie taste. Just as good though.
Lately I've been craving coconut; I do almost every winter.

Curious as to what is in coconut that my body craves, I did a little research and found a coconut research center. LOL How very cool. It seems legit; I did do some fact-checking to confirm their sayings. Apparently coconut is very useful for almost all things related to healthy gut, kills bacteria that cause ulcers, throat infections, urinary tract infections, gum disease and cavities, pneumonia, and gonorrhea, and other diseases. Helps in the absorption of calcium and magnesium, is good for utilizing the blood glucose...the list goes on and on. Read here for all the facts.

And for those of you who (like me) love real coconut to nosh on. Try these little gems. Inside are real pieces of coconut, not processed. Dipped in dark chocolate. Really good. I found them at my local natural health food store. I think Whole Foods carries them too.



toasted coconut-cream cheese bars
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dough:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
¼ cup (or more if desired) shredded coconut (not toasted)
½ ts sea salt
1 large egg
1 ts pure vanilla extract

cream cheese filling
8 ounces cream cheese, room temp
1 large egg yolk
½ cup toasted coconut
Pinch of salt

Cook notes: This bakes up very fast, so please check it at the 30 minute mark. These are very crispy bars. I’ve said that you need half the dough for the bottom and the other half for the top (crumb topping) but you may need a little more dough for the bottom than just half. It might be a nice addition to add some toasted pecans or walnuts to the cream cheese mixture.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease up a 8 or 9-inch square baking pan with butter. If you feel safer using parchment paper, then go ahead and butter up your pan then line with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl mix the cream cheese, egg yolk, toasted coconut and salt until well combined; set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, and salt.
With a pastry cutter, fork or your hands, cut up butter and mix in with the flour mixture until you have large coarse-like crumbs. No need to over work.
In a small bowl, beat the egg and vanilla extract. Add this into the flour mixture and mix until it all just comes together.
Divide dough in half. Take one half and place in pan. Wet your fingers to smooth out the dough and make sure to get all the corners.
Take the cream cheese mixture and place over the dough. Keep the cream cheese mixture at least ½ inch away from the edges; this way nothing will seep out as it bakes.

Take the other half of the dough and crumble on the top, do not pat down. Just crumble as you would a crumb cake. Take the untoasted coconut and sprinkle over top (optional but wonderful).
Bake until topping is deep golden brown; which should be about 30 - 45 minutes.
Let cool completely in pan. Run a sharp knife around edges to help loosen it up. Then using a spatula to help you lift it out, place on cutting board and finish slicing.
Should make about 10-12 small bars.

guest post: gooey chocolate chip sandwich bars w/ cranberry

I was delighted to have the creative genius Joanne of the wildly creative with healthy edge to it blog called 'eats well with others'. I am drawn to Joanne and her baking & cooking ways because she, unlike me, has a healthy edge (I need to get my baking-healthy edge on) . When this girl isn't creating amazing healthy yet definitely delish recipes in her nyc kitchen, you can find her exercising; well, exercising to the extremes honestly. I've lost count on how many marathons she's done. I was able to stop counting her marathons this past fall when ironically, she and I were both nursing knee injuries. Jokingly we would tease each other via twitter on who had the worst cabin fever since knee injuries take their own sweet time to heal. Oh did I mention she also is in the process of getting her MD/PhD? Yeah. The woman has crazy energy, and insane passion; I just love that about her!

A couple things I wanted to know:

You seem to have a mainly ‘healthy edge” to all your recipes, where or when did this start?
My family is the quintessential meat and potatoes family so I grew up on absolutely zero vegetables and lots of bread and cannoli. I started eating more healthy my junior year of college. I kind of woke up one day, realized just how overweight I was, and decided I was tired of being “the fat girl” among all my friends. Dining hall food isn’t the best for getting healthy and so I started to cook for myself. Since then, it’s pretty much been history. I fell in love with vegetables and, a year ago, stopped eating meat entirely. I still have a pretty intense sweet tooth so dessert will always be a part of my life, but I try to eat uber healthy the rest of the time to make up for it.

Do you plan out what you’re going to make? Or are they spur of the moment?

I am quite the stereotypical medical student in the sense that I am an organizational freak...however, I use those OCD tendencies to menu plan instead of study plan. It happens. Occasionally when I get a craving or inspiration hits, some spur of the moment cooking gets done, but most of the time there’s a plan and I follow it. Or sushi gets ordered.

When looking at recipes to try or create next, what sparks your interest most?

I definitely have certain flavor profiles that jump out at me. I love very bold, spicy food so anything Indian, Thai or Middle Eastern always appeals to me. I also have a strong and definite penchant for orange vegetables. If you show me a recipe with a sweet potato or winter squash in it, I am about 1000x more likely to make it. If it has celery...then there is no chance in hell it will come anywhere near my kitchen.

What country would you like to visit most for their food?

I would love to go to Thailand, Morocco or India. Although, my roommate just brought an intestinal parasite back with her from India (Giardia) and so my desire to go has declined a bit.

Are there any junk foods you love?

I’m a Reese’s-aholic. And a nutella-aholic. Although, I wouldn’t consider nutella a junk food. It’s more of a food group.

Favorite health foods?

Sweet potatoes, winter squash, and apples. I seriously eat an apple a day. Honeycrisp are my favorites!

What was your favorite food to write about?

I love writing about cupcakes. They’re my favorite thing to bake and one of my favorite things to eat. There are just so many cupcake/frosting/filling combinations and you really can’t go wrong with any of them.

Below is one of Joanne's recipes. For more info on her and her recipes check out her food blog: eats well with others.



My mom always used to tell me that you can catch more bees with honey than you can with vinegar.
It was her quaint way of saying, "I know you're thirteen and have an attitude problem, but if you want me to drive you to the mall then you really probably should take out the garbage. And do the dishes. And clean your room."



I just didn't get it though.
Why would anyone ever want to catch bees?
And given how much time my mother spent swatting at them all summer long, why weren't we dotting vinegar below our ears and on our wrists until we smelled like balsamic vinaigrette (yum) to try to keep them away?
She is such an enigma.



However. If she had said, you can make more friends when you sandwich fudge in-between two layers of chocolate chip peanut butter chip cranberry cookies than you can if you try to give them bran muffins?
That, I would have understood.



Nothing against bran muffins. But they don't say "love me always and forever" as much as gooey chocolate chip sandwich bars do. Truth. I speak it.



Gooey Chocolate Chip Sandwich Bars
adapted from Food and Wine
print recipe

Ingredients
• 2 cups AP flour
• 1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 1 large egg yolk, room temperature
• 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup peanut butter chips
• 1 1/2 cups dried cranberries
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 350. Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking pan. Line the dish with parchment paper leaving 1-inch of overhang on either side.
2. In a medium bowl, mix the flour with the oats, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the egg, followed by the egg yolk and vanilla, scraping down the sides after each addition. Beat in the dry ingredients, then add 3/4 cup chocolate chips, peanut butter chips and dried cranberries until just incorporated. Set aside.
3. In a small saucepan, melt 2 cups chocolate chips in the sweetened condensed milk over low heat, stirring constantly, until smooth and thickened, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat. Stir in the vanilla and let cool to room temperature.
4. Press half the cookie dough into the prepared baking dish. Pour the cooled chocolate mixture over the dough and spread evenly. Top with small dollops of the remaining cookie dough. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the top is lightly browned. Let cool completely before cutting.

apple-pecan blondies

I do love a good kicked up blondie. A blondie is the perfect vessel for housing different flavor combo's. The blondie base is the perfect ratio of butter, sugar, flour and eggs, leaving you to fill in the flavor gaps. And I did just that with sauteed apples and pecans. And the best part? It's easy peasy to throw together. What add in's would you use?

Head over to Nescafe Dolce Gusto Facebook Page for the recipe. This Blondie recipe can be found under "recipes" on their FB page. See you there!

chocolate covered pumpkin-walnut bars

I had started out wanting to make pumpkin cookies with no chocolate, but thought you gotta have chocolate chips/chunks when you make pumpkin cookies--I mean they just go so well together. Then I wanted to do butterscotch chips in pumpkin, and then finally I settled on bars. My mind changes so fast. To be honest, I'm not that into pumpkin. Butternut squash I love, just not pumpkin. The only time I made an exception is when I made the pumpkin cheesecake with nutella glaze--Oooo that was good. Just about anything in cheesecake form is good though.
These bars are good, if you like pumpkin. I got the thumbs up from several friends; I was not a good taste tester on this one given my lack of enthusiasm for pumpkin. But I am making pumpkin recipes for you. Ya'll requested them, and I'm delivering. Couple more coming your way soon. Any pumpkin creation requests?

chocolate covered pumpkin-walnut bars
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2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 ts baking soda
1/2 ts baking powder
A scant 1/2 ts pumpkin-pie spice (this gives a ‘gentle’ spice flavor, if you like stronger add in a touch more)
A dash or two of cinnamon
1/4 ts salt + pinch
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup white sugar
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
15 ounces pure pumpkin puree
¾ - 1 cup of rough chop walnuts, optional but wonderful (make sure to toast walnuts before using)
6-8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips or chunks

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, pumpkin-pie spice, cinnamon and salt.
Using a spatula or an electric mixer, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add in the egg and egg yolk, mix till smooth.
Next add in half the pumpkin puree, mix. Then add in half the flour mixture, mix till just combined. Then add in the rest of the pumpkin puree, mix till just combined, then add in the remaining flour and mix till just combined. Do not overmix. Add in the walnuts and gently fold in.
Grease up a 9 X 13 baking pan
Spread batter into pan, making sure to get the edges. Using a wet spatula will help spread the batter.
Bake until mixture is puffy and edges are golden, 25-30 minutes. Or until a cake tester comes out clean or slightly clean.
As soon as the bars are done, remove from oven and sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top, let them melt, then spread with spatula. Let chocolate topping harden before slicing into bars.

Makes about 15-20 bars depending on how you cut them.

pumpkin bars w/ cider-cream cheese frosting

Do you remember that show "DoorKnock Dinners" with Gordan Elliot? Almost 11- 12 years ago on food network? Back when food network was just starting out? I do. And I remember the episode when Gordan went knocking on Paula Deen's door. This was waaaay before she was famous. Oh she had such a warm, inviting personality when she answered the door. Surely that was what Gordan was drawn too, her bubbly personality; for he knew she would be great on the show. Smart man. And from there Paula started her journey into food. Granted from interviews with Paula now she states she always wanted to do something with food--just wasn't sure what exactly. She was doing a lot of catering well before she opened her restaurant. Amazing to also find that back in her late 20's she suffered from panic attacks and agoraphobia that literally kept her housebound. After reading that I just find it so hard to believe with her very bubbly personality and tremendous self esteem that shines through on her shows, book events, guest appearances, etc... Apparently it took her a few years to get well, when she then ventured out to have a job as a bank teller, then onto a small catering business, a large catering business, then meeting Gordan Ramsey, and the rest is history. Fascinating how she turned her life around at such a late age and finally realized/accomplished her dream of being int he food business.

Onto the bars. These moist pumpkin bars are from Paula Deen with a kicked up frosting from me. I finally have some of the 'pumpkin baking bug'. Took a while but it's here. While I have you--any kicked up pumpkin requests? Love to hear them!
(sorry the photos are so dark, we've had a ton of rain here on cape cod).
Since I get emailed (a lot) about where do I get the sprinkles from. I all mine from Whole Foods. They have such great colors and varieties of sprinkles and they're all natural too; no chemicals or dangerous food dyes in them.

pumpkin bars with apple cider-cream cheese frosting
bars by paula deen, frosting by vanillasugarblog.com
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Bars:
4 eggs
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
15-ounce can pumpkin
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

Frosting:
1 cup +/- confectioners sugar, sifted
8 oz. cream cheese, room temp (nice & soft)
1 ts ground cinnamon
A dash or three of pure apple cider (apple juice really won’t work here for that full flavor of apple, stick with the cider)

Orange sprinkles, optional

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Using an electric mixer at medium speed, combine the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until light and fluffy. Stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix at low speed until thoroughly combined and the batter is smooth. Spread the batter into a greased 13 X 10-inch baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting.

To make the frosting:
In a medium bowl add in the soft cream cheese with the sifted confectioners sugar, cinnamon, and a couple dashes of the apple cider (in batches--don’t add in all the cider at once; it’s better to add in small doses than larger ones).
Get out the handheld mixer and beat until well mixed, no lumps are present. You can add as much or as little apple cider depending on how thick you like your glaze. I like to place mine frosting in the fridge for a while to harden up before frosting/piping onto the cake. For a decorative cake like mine, you can use a piping bag to frost or a knife. But make sure the cake is cooled before frosting.
Dust with orange sprinkles if desired.

almond joy bites w/ cookie crust

So you've heard this story before....love those almond joys BUT they need to be 'kicked up'. Me and my endless task(s) of making candies, cookies, cakes, muffins, etc... better is a never ending journey people. But have no fear I will prevail and continue on--just for you. :-)
This was on the 'to create' list for some time now: "kick up the infamous almond joy". I can now cross that off the list. Need I say these are just fabulous? They are. They are also very very rich. And I must warn you a little hard to handle; the crumbles fall apart in this shape. So if you were to make these, consider doing so in a tart pan instead. It'll work a lot easier for handling.

**Side note: a lot of you have asked why the copyright stamp on all the photos? It ruins the photos to see wording on there. I agree! But I have so much photo theft that I have to put it on there. I wish people would make their own photos and stop using mine, but that doesn't happen. So sadly I have to put these watermarks on there. I hate it too, trust me.
A wonderful friend of mine Deb from tasteandtellblog.com did a fun little interview on me and my blog. Come check it out here.

almond joy bites with cookie crust
print recipe

Filling:
9-10 ounces sweetened coconut
14 ounces of condensed milk

Cookie crust:
10 ounce pack of Lorna Doone cookies (or any other thick butter shortbread cookie is fine), crushed fine
1 stick of butter, melted
Pinch of salt

Coating:
High quality dark chocolate

Garnish:
Smokey/salty almonds

Combine coconut with condensed milk until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and set in fridge.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt the butter and in a bowl combine it with the crushed cookies and salt. Mix well and pour into greased muffin cups or tart pan (with removable bottom).
Bake the crust for about 10 – 15 minutes or until set. Don’t let it brown! Let cool completely.
When cooled fill cups with a nice size scoop of the coconut mixture; making sure to NOT let the mixture touch the sides of the pan. We want the chocolate to drip down the sides (see photo). Cover muffin pan with parchment paper and let set up in fridge for at least a couple hours.
Melt the dark chocolate in a double boiler. Remove coconut bites from muffin pan, and set on wire rack to pour chocolate over. Or you could leave them in the cups and pour chocolate into cups. They should release out fine (I don’t know as I used the wire racks to cover in chocolate). Top with smokey almonds. Let set before devouring.

Notes: you could use a tart pan instead of muffin cups. Make sure to grease your pans well. I don’t know if milk chocolate would work in this. And remember the cookie crust is delicate, so use the coconut as your base when ready to drizzle with chocolate.

chocolate-peanut butter bars w/ bbq pretzels

Girl have you lost your mind?
No I haven't lost my mind...yet.
Yes, I have cabin fever; a bad case of it actually. And yes, these taste friggin amazing.
Does it sound gross? Of course it does! If it didn't then why on earth would I make it?
I used those Snyder-that-can-crack-your-teeth-pretzels. Hubby asked me to buy them for him, I did, they sat there for a couple days. Afraid I would eat them in one sitting during one of our many thousand snowstorms we've had already, I went ahead and used them so I wouldn't eat them, but then ate them anyways because they are in another form now. Makes sense right?

This recipe sounds gross and all, but in all honesty its not. You don't taste the bbq.
What you taste is the twang of the pretzels that pairs very well with the pb and chocolate. I think you could use any pretzel you like, but I doubt ranch flavored would work well.
I did NOT write this recipe down, but I think I remembered everything as I happily went along.
With that said, PLEASE taste-test as you go along just in case I did forget something.

chocolate-pb bars w/ bbq pretzels
print recipe

¼ cup light brown sugar {packed}
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp
1 and ¾ cups creamy peanut butter
A pinch of salt
A handful of salted cocktail peanuts to add into batter, optional
10 ounces high quality milk chocolate chips PLUS ¼ cup, divided
8 ounces high quality bittersweet chocolate chips
About 2 – 3 TB of butter for melting chocolates

For pretzels:
About 2 - 3 cups crushed Snyders BBQ pretzels, loosely crushed we want semi-big chunks (I cannot remember if it was 2 or 3 cups, sorry)
About ½ stick or ¼ cup of butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Grease up an 8 by 8 inch brownie pan (I used non stick spray). Melt the other half stick of butter for the pretzels in a pan. In a bowl mix the melted butter and pretzels. Press them evenly into the prepared brownie pan. Bake in preheated oven for about 15 minutes or until set. Do NOT let this brown!
Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle on the ¼ cup of milk chocolates; let them melt on their own then take a spatula and spread as evenly as you can without moving the pretzels. Let cool and harden.
Combine the brown sugar, confectioners' sugar, 1/2 room temp butter, peanut butter, and pinch of salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Blend until smooth. If you want to add in cocktail peanuts, this would be the time.
Dump the mixture out into the cooled pan & press it down, making it an even as possible.
Melt the chocolates & 2 TB of butter in a double boiler, or in a heat-proof bowl set over simmering water. Stir occasionally to combine and get nice and glossy.
Spread the melted chocolate over the peanut butter base & smooth out the surface. I like to let my pan sit at room temp for about an hour, then put in fridge to finish hardening. Once chocolate is set. Simply run a slim/skinny knife around edges to loosen. Invert the pan onto large plate/platter. You can either serve this pretzel side up or down.
You will need a very sharp knife to cut through the hard chocolate. Be careful.

espresso-cream cheese rice krispie treats

Yes indeed another espresso recipe, but I don't think you are going to mind back to back espresso recipes as this is one kicked up treat. I've taken the rice krispie treat added some cream cheese, espresso, toffee bits and a few other things. How many of you out there are coffee junkies? I am too and I just love finding new ways to use espresso in baked goods, and yes we can also say savory goods because espresso is used in sauces isn't it? Can I tell you these treats were absolutely fabulous. If you do make this, be prepared to eat it all. The combination of the espresso with the cream cheese with the added layer of toffee bits will make you keep going back for another bite, then another, and then another, then you wrap it all up and put it all away vowing NOT to eat another bite. But then five minutes later there you are unwrapping the plastic wrap to 'just have a small bite'. Am I right?
As a side note: I don't know if young kids should eat this because of the espresso in it, but you can use your own judgement. I highly doubt you'll want to share anyways.....



espresso-cream cheese rice krispie treats
print recipe

3 TB salted butter
4 oz. cream cheese, room temp
2 Starbuck Via’s (the medium one)
A good size pinch of sea salt
10 or 11 ounce bag of mini marshmallows
8 ounce bag of chopped toffee bits (1 cup used in bars, remainder used for sprinkling on top)
6 and 1/2 cups rice krispies

Spray a 13 x 9-inch pan with non-stick cooking spray.
In a very large 6 or 8 qt. pan, melt the butter and cream cheese over low heat (low heat, do not let the cream cheese burn or cook!). For these next steps, please work fast. Once melted add in both the starbuck via’s, then a good sized pinch of sea salt, stir. Using a rubber spatula immediately add in the marshmallows—all the while keep an eye on the bottom of the pan, don’t let it burn! Ok to take pan off heat for a bit if needed. Once marshmallows are added just keep stirring until melted; you will be stirring a lot. After its melted take off the heat, add in the 1 cup of toffee bits, quick stir, and then add in the Rice Krispies until well combined.
This is when you have to work fast and stir until well combined; making sure to get the bottom well combined as well. (recipe by dawn finicane) Once all mixed then transfer mix to your prepared pan and push down into pan with spatula or water-wet hands. After it’s all smoothed over this is when I like to add a small sprinkling of sea salt to the top, then the rest of the toffee bits. (you might have to push the toffee bits down into mixture to make them stay in place. Place in fridge to set and cool. They need to cool completely before cutting. You will need a very sharp knife to cut these into bars.

Cut into bars or squares with a sharp knife. Depending on how you cut them they should make about 15-20 bars.

espresso bars

What's not to love here people? I mean we have butter, we have sugar, we have espresso, we have dark chocolate, and we have a sugary milk glaze. Breakfast and coffee in a bar--I'm all set. Let's just open a cafe that sells these and those chocolate dipped levain bakery cookies (and some coffee too, I guess), fabulous right?
I can't claim fame to these little gems, but I can say they were tasty with a HUGE side of addictive. You will eat way more than one bar. I would like to experiment again with these with new flavors be it cinnamon, ginger and hazelnut--hazelnut has to be worked in here somehow along with a creamy cream cheese glaze.
The only thing, if I were to make this again, I would use shaved chocolate instead of chips or pulse the chips in the processor to make them teeny tiny. The flavor of chocolate goes very well with the Starbucks Via, but it needs to be in small-meldable (if that's a word) flavors. Please note my changes.

Come join my vanilla sugar fan club

espresso bars
adapted from With Love & Butter 
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To get really flat bars, I find it works best to smooth them over with an offset spatula, using gentle pressure, just after they come out of the oven and before you apply the glaze.

bars:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed (I used light brown)
1 TB espresso powder (I used 1 Starbuck’s Via)
1 ts vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups flour (I used 2 cups)
1/2 ts baking powder
1/2 ts salt
(I added 1 ts cinnamon)
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I used 1 ½ cups)

glaze:
2 TB milk (I used half & half)
1 TB butter (I used 3 TB)
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 375 F with the rack at the middle level.
Mix the flour, baking powder and salt, set aside.
Line a 10×15 inch jelly roll pan with baking parchment or grease lightly.
Cream together the butter, brown sugar, instant coffee, and vanilla.
Blend in the flour mixture, until just combined, no overmixing. Then stir in the chocolate chips by hand. The mixture will be very crumbly, with barely enough dough to hold together the chocolate chips.
Use your fingers, palms, and heels of your hands to press the dough evenly into the pan. If necessary, cover the dough with wax or parchment paper and use a small rolling pin to flatten the lumps.
Bake 5 minutes, rotate the pan, and bake 5 to 10 minutes more or until the edges are just starting to brown (watch carefully). Cool in the pan 5 minutes before spreading with glaze.
For the glaze, put all the ingredients in a small saucepan on medium heat. Whisk until smooth and barely bubbly. Drizzle the glaze evenly over the bars and smooth out to the edges and corners with a rubber spatula.
Cool until the pan is just warm to the touch and cut into bars with a sharp knife.
Should make 28-32 bars.

levain bakery cc cookie

Can I share a food obsession with you? Have you heard of Levain Bakery in NYC? To me, they have some of the best cc cookies. They are thick, really thick cookies loaded with chocolate chips and walnuts. A couple years ago I tried to clone their chocolate chip cookies, thought I was pretty close and then closed the book on it. Until now when I tried to clone them again, this time using a different type of butter: European butter. I think I am a tad bit closer to perfecting a clone-like version of this infamous chocolate chip cookie. The European butter did make the cookie taste far better. European butters have a higher butterfat content--so naturally anything with a higher butterfat is good for baking.

What do these taste like? First off, they are huge, can't tell from the photo, but they are about 4-5 inches across and 2 inches thick; they are like a shortbread, but moister cookie dough, a tiny bit dry, very buttery tasting, nice crispy outside, and with the addition of the European butter now it's not so dry.

Also made them into bar shapes (using a pan), then did a step further by dipping them in dark chocolate.
Seriously, it was that good, one could just open a bakery and JUST sell those choco-dipped bars.

levain bakery cc cookie (clone)
inspired from Levain Bakery NYC & CookieMadness.net
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8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted European butter, (cold & shredded like cheese)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 ts vanilla extract
3 cups all purpose flour (13 ½ oz)
3/4 ts sea salt
1 and ¼ ts baking powder
1/2 ts baking soda
12 ounces (2 cups) good quality semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup walnuts

If using dough right away, preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
(It’s best to chill, though; I chilled overnight (note: keep in mind this is a very dry dough, and will be hard to mix once you put the chips and nuts in; I used my hands Take the butter and using a cheese grater, shred the butter into a bowl, put it back in the freezer until ready to use.

In a mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and both sugars just until just combined.
Don’t overbeat. Add the egg and vanilla and beat just until incorporated.
Stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
When thoroughly mixed, add to batter and stir just until blended.
Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts.
Divide dough into 12 big 4 oz lumps.
Mold into giant golfballs; do not press flat!
Keep them as balls on the cookie sheets. Bake on ungreased cookies sheets (one sheet at a time). (I chilled my dough balls for 20 minutes BEFORE baking).

Bake times (how I’ve done it the past few times; pick one if you dare):
Put the cookies in a 375 degree oven and set timer for 8 minutes.
When timer rings, without opening oven or removing cookies, reduce heat to 325 degrees and bake for another 8-10 minutes or until cookies appear set.
OR I did mine at 365 degrees for 18-22 minutes or until done. (Mine were done in 18 minutes) Makes 12 (mine made 13)