homemade peppermint-white chocolate Nestle Crunch bars

Well that was fun!
Man did I love making these.
Actually had Nestle Crunch copycat recipe on my "baking bucket list" for a couple years.

They were easy to make too.
And you know what would make them a lot easier?
Square molds.
I need to invest in candy making molds: squares, triangle,, circles, etc....
That would have made this recipe fly by.
So, if you want to make these buy some cheap molds--any shape really will do.
Although I'd love to use a square one to replicate the square mini Nestle Crunch bars.
With molds, you can make batches of these with ease and grace.


These bars make the ultimate gift for family, friends and those office parties that have that horrid food.  Bring these and everyone will be jealous of you.  For reals.

Why did I double dip?  Why not!  Seriously I really wanted that "shock factor" of two colors.
Plus I wanted to make sure the rice krispies were not seen, and they looked more like candy bars.
Do you have to use white chocolate? No.
Use whatever you want, but I highly recommend the double dip.
Who doesn't want a double dip candy bar?



See this is where molds come in handy!



Or decorate with sprinkles.

homemade peppermint-white chocolate “Nestle Crunch” bars

recipe by vanillasugarblog.com

print recipe

for the bars:

11 ounces good quality milk chocolate (like Ghirardelli)

¾ - 1 TB vegetable oil

½ ts or more peppermint extract

2 cups rice krispies

for the white chocolate coating:

11 ounces high quality white chocolate (they melt much better)

¾ - 1 TB vegetable oil

½ ts or more peppermint extract

¼ cup (about) crushed candy canes, optional

In a large mixing bowl, place the 2 cups of rice krispies, set aside.

If you have small square chocolate molds I highly suggest using those for this creation. If not, line a small jellyroll pan with parchment paper.

In a small saucepan, over low heat melt the vegetable oil and the milk chocolate—constantly stirring until chocolate is melted.  After chocolate is melted and off the heat, add in the peppermint extract and mix.  Taste test it to see if it has enough mint in it for you.

Pour melted milk chocolate into bowl, and mix with spatula.  Mix until nice and combined, but being careful not to crush the rice krispies. 

Pour mixture over jellyroll pan and flatten as much as you can before it starts to set up.  Don’t make it too thin.  You should get a 10-inch long by 6-inch wide square—roughly.

Let this cool and harden.

Using a sharp knife, slice off the edges for a nice clean square. Then slice into small squares or whatever shapes you want.

Melt the white chocolate with the vegetable oil over low heat, stirring constantly.

Just when it starts to melt is when I take it off the heat and keep stirring.  If I need more then I put it back in, then back off, back on, etc..—this way you can avoid the chocolate seizing up.  The vegetable oil helps to thin the chocolate out and make it easier for dipping.

After the white chocolate is melted and off the heat, add in the peppermint extract and mix.  Do a taste test and see if it’s ok to you.  If not, add in more, in small amounts.

I dunked the chocolate squares into the melted white chocolate using my fingers.  I find it’s the best way for me. Use whatever method works best for you.  Let excess chocolate drip off then place on wire racks or parchment lined pans to set up/harden.

Immediately place the crushed candy cane on the tops of the bars. 

Let bars harden for at least a few hours.

This makes a small batch, about 15-20 bars, depending how you slice them.

double chocolate-walnut cookies

Thin and crispy cookie or soft and chewy?
How can you choose?
Can we add a third option: thick.

This third option, no, let's just call it what it really is: obsession.
This third obsession of mine started when I first discovered Levain Bakery cookies.
Those giant, quarter pound monsters had me at the first bite.
So far I've made:
original chocolate chip cookie
double chocolate with ganache
double chocolate with mint
oatmeal-raisin
sugar cookie (almost a quarter pound!)
What's on the list next is peanut butter with something, carrot cake like cookie--OK this is a healthy version of the quarter pound cookie to see if it can be done.
What else?
Monster?
Coconut?
Cowboy?
And for those of you that are thin and crispy lovers?
Try these cookies I made from past Top Chef contestant Eric Wolitzky.
You may remember that episode where he made those flat, thin cookies from Season 1, Episode 7.



Choose whatever size you want to make these, just adjust the baking times according to size.

double chocolate-walnut cookies

print recipe

3 sticks unsalted butter (24 TB), room temp

¾ cup granulated sugar

¾ cup packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

3 TB half & half (or cream), might need more

1 ½ ts pure vanilla extract

3 cups all purpose flour

¾ cup dark double dutch cocoa powder (regular dutch ok too, but flavor isn’t as intense)

½ ts cinnamon (I used Vietnamese cinnamon for a deep intense flavor)

Oversized ¾ ts sea salt

1 ½ ts baking powder

½ ts baking soda

1 ½ cups of 60 % (or higher cocoa) dark chocolate chips or chopped chocolate

1 cup of toasted walnuts, rough chop

In a mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, or by hand beat butter and both sugars just until creamy. Don’t overbeat. Add in the eggs, vanilla, and half & half and beat just until incorporated.

In another bowl mix the flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt. When thoroughly mixed, add to batter and stir just until blended. Lumps are good.

Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts.

Keep in mind this dough is very hard and thick.  It’s also very sticky, and might be a little dry.

OK to add a dash or two more of half & half to mixture to make it come together only if it’s really dry and too crumbly.

Cover and chill this at least 3 hours before baking; this will help it come together.

When ready to bake:

Always keep the dough cold as you can—this lends a nice tender/flaky cookie that won’t spread much.

Warm dough will yield a flatter cookie. Bake first batch, keep remaining batch in fridge till ready to use. Or shape all cookie dough balls, place on a plate or tray, and keep in fridge as they are ready to bake.

Preheat oven to 385 degrees.

You can either make them into huge cookies (as I did) or smaller ones.

Whichever you choose, keep the dough in balls, do not flatten.

Divide dough into 12-14 big lumps. Mold into HUGE golfballs; do not press flat! 

Keep them as balls on the cookie sheets.  Bake on ungreased cookies sheets (one sheet at a time).

For larger cookies bake 13-16 minutes, smaller cookies 10-15 minutes.

Rotate pan halfway through.

It will be hard to tell when the cookies are done.  Look for crackles on side, cooked/semi-firm tops; they should be a bit soft in the middle.  They will set up as they are cooling (trust me).

Don’t overbake or they will turn into scones.  Once baked don’t try and move the cookies off the pan, they will break apart, let them chill a bit before touching.

Makes 12-14 giant cookies or 22-24 smaller cookies.

homemade double chocolate mint filled Oreo's

I love Oreo's.
I do, BUT....
I cannot take all those chemicals in them.
Sure as a kid I could eat a ton of Oreo's and never have that "crash & burn" feeling.
But now that I'm older,  if I have a few, about an hour later I feel like taking a nap for days.
Always wondered what would Oreo's taste like without all those chemicals?
And, what would they taste like if I used high-quality cocoa powder?
I just always felt as if the chocolate Oreo could use a lot more deeper, darker chocolate flavor.
And I wanted an Oreo filling that did NOT leave a waxy coating in your mouth.
Don't you hate that?
So I made my own....



They look hard to make, but really they aren't if you do them in steps.
Dough and filling made 1-2 days ahead.
Roll and bake next.
The only hard part, if you have to call it that?
The rolling out, as the dough is a bit sticky, so you need patience to roll, cut, and place on cookie sheet.
After that, it's easy. I mean who doesn't like the "filling the cookie" part?
Right?
These cookies look like they are soft, but trust me, they are crunchy. If you look closely at the bitten cookie you will see the "crunch".

This is the best high quality dark cocoa powder.
From King Arthur Flour.
Invest in some. It has so many other uses.


Oh yeah, I always keep Oreo dough next to my healthy green drinks. Ironic?

homemade double chocolate mint filled Oreos
recipe adapted from so many sources online

print recipe

Cookie base:

7 TB unsalted butter, room temp

½ cup sugar

3 TB brown sugar

3/4 ts salt

¾ cup double Dutch DARK cocoa powder (+more for dusting board for rolling dough)

¾ cup all purpose flour

½ ts baking powder

¼ ts baking soda

1 ts pure vanilla extract

2 egg yolks

mint filling:

4 TB unsalted butter, room temp

1 + ¼ cups powdered sugar, sifted

¼  ts  pure vanilla extract

¼ ts (or more) pure mint extract

a pinch of salt

Cook notes:

If you can’t find double dutch dark cocoa powder then use regular DARK cocoa powder but you might need more than ¾ cup; possibly a cup? Not sure since I haven’t made it with regular cocoa powder.  I highly suggest investing in some double dutch dark cocoa powder.  King Arthur Flour sells it.

If you don’t want mint filling then you substitute the mint extract for vanilla extract; use ¾ ts vanilla extract. Do a taste test of filling to see if it needs more mint.

I used 4 inch cookie cutters, feel free to use 2 inch or whatever shape you desire.

Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, baking powder; set aside.

Using a mixer cream butter and both sugars. Add in the egg yolks.

Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl.  Next add in the dry mixture (the flour mixture).  And mix until combined.  It will be a thick, sticky dough. Place dough in plastic wrap, shape into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and flatten into a disc.

Chill dough for at least a couple hours.  When ready to use, let it sit at room temp for 20 minutes or when it’s ready/easy to roll.  Don’t let dough get too warm; we want it to stay fairly cool.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Dust your board and rolling pin with cocoa powder, and roll out dough to about 1/8 of an inch thickness

Cut out circles with a 4” or 2" round cutter or whatever shapes you desire.   Use a thin metal spatula under the dough to move it to the cookie sheet.

Place a couple inches apart on cookie sheet. They don’t spread much, but if your dough is too warm they might.  If you think your cookie dough got too warm then just pop them back in the fridge before baking.

Knead the scraps of dough together, re-roll and cut out until all or most of the dough is used.

Bake 10 - 12 minutes, or until almost firm.  You need to let these cool on the cookie sheet (about 8-10 minutes); they need to set up.

Mint filling:

Using a hand or stand mixer cream together butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, mint, and salt on medium speed 5-7 minutes until light, creamy and fluffy.

I found that using a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip worked best.  But you can use a ziploc bag with a hole in the corner or simply use a spoon/knife to place filling into center of cookie.

Should make:

12-14 (4 inch cookies)

22-24 (2 inch cookies)

Store in airtight container. Keeps 2 days if that.

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. 

key lime meltaways

I remember years ago (dare I say decades?) when I had my first taste of a rum meltaway cookie.
What a great texture, great flavor--and it bothered me to no end what made it so smooth.
Since I was still fairly new at the in's and out's of baking and cooking, I would have never guessed it was cornstarch.
Funny because back then I always thought it was something unique, wild, a rare faraway spice or herb. HA!
Here it was just cornstarch.
Recently, I had another "ah ha baking moment" find when I discovered how to get the perfect popover: cold oven.
And boy does it work. (I learned this from chef john over at Food Wishes).
The best part of learning and creating new recipes, all the new tips and tricks you find along the way; makes you eager to continue on learning all you can in cooking and baking. And for me, helps build confidence in the kitchen.

What are your baking "ah ha" moments?


Aren't these so pretty?
Make sure to decorate the chocolate dipped edges with lime zest.
I completely forgot. But trust me when I say the lime zest green color looks stunning against the white chocolate.


Every great recipe starts with lots of butter doesn't it?






See my tips on tempering the ever difficult white chocolate in the recipe.
Low heat and constant stirring for melting chocolates perfectly.
Remember: you can easily fixed undermelted, but cannot fix overmelted, so go slow.


Decorate the edges with lime zest to make them even more stunning!
(I completely forgot this part)



key lime melt-aways with white chocolate
print recipe

13 TB unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup powdered sugar
Grated zest of 2 regular limes (I used about 2 TB zest, use whatever your lime zest taste level is at)
2 TB of fresh key lime juice (regular will work too)
½ TB pure vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups + 2 TB all-purpose flour
2 TB cornstarch
1/4 ts salt

white chocolate dipping:
1 and ¾ cups good quality white chocolate chips
a couple dashes of heavy cream

extra lime zest for sprinkling (I forgot this part)

Cook Notes:
I used key limes for the juice part and regular limes for the zest. The key lime juice is much sweeter and tastier, and the skin of the key lime isn’t that great so that’s why I used regular limes for zest.
Keep in mind the thinner you cut/slice the cookies the more fragile they become, so I stuck with ½ inch thick. If you’re not dipping them in white chocolate then go ahead make them thinner if desired.
The tops of the cookies do not brown, but the bottoms will—you should not bake cookies past the 15 minute mark.

In a medium bowl, sift the flour, cornstarch, and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl beat butter and sugar on medium high speed until light and fluffy. Add the lime juice, zest and vanilla and beat the mixture until fluffy. Reduce speed to low and add the flour mixer to the butter. Mix until just combined—once you add the flour do not overmix.
Ready a two 8"x12" pieces of waxed paper or parchment. Divide the dough into two equal portions and roll into two 1.25" diameter logs. Wrap the dough tightly in the waxed paper or parchment. Chill for at least an hour before baking.

Heat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment. Slice the cookies ½ -inch thick and place on the baking sheet.
Bake for 15 minutes, rotating halfway through baking, until the bottoms take on some color. The tops of the cookies will not brown, but the bottoms will.
Let cookies cool completely before dipping.
Temper the white chocolate chips with the heavy cream over a double boiler or whatever method you prefer and works. I do not recommend melting white chocolate in the microwave.
What I do is heat up (barely warm means heat up in this case), over very low heat, the heavy cream, in a small heavy duty sauce pan; add in the white chocolate chips and keep stirring with a spatula. As I’m stirring I take the pan on and off the heat and look for almost all the chips to be dissolved then I take it off heat. Keep stirring till I get a nice glossy, almost thin, taffy like texture. Best thing to do if you’re not sure about tempering white chocolate? Keep stirring and take off heat frequently. You can easily fixed undermelted, but cannot fix overmelted.
Dip one end of the cooled cookies in the white chocolate, place on wire cooling rack to let chocolate harden and excess drip off. Sprinkle them with lime zest for decorations if desired.

Should make 25-35 cookies depending on how thick/thin you slice them.