chocolate & peanut butter cake w/ ganache & reese's pb cups

Calling all peanut butter & chocolate fans! This, my friends, is the ultimate cake for you. If you are a huge PB & C fan then you must make this extremely decadent cake. This cake has PB & C in every pore of its being: in the cake, in the frosting and as a edible garnish.
I have been craving this cake for a while now, and I finally made it a reality. To be honest I ate so much of the ganache that I barely had room for a slice a cake, but don't worry I made room, I'm not dumb. You really need to have a tall glass of ice cold milk at the ready when you have a slice of this PB & C masterpiece, as it really is that rich, and makes you really thirsty. All good cake creations, if they are made right, they leave you thirsty.

peanut butter & chocolate cake w/ chocolate ganache & reese's pb cups
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for the cake: 1 box (18.25 ounces) devil's food cake mix
3 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
Good pinch of salt
2 cups mini Reese peanut butter cups, chopped, plus 1 1/2 cups more for garnish (about 2 - 12oz. bags) 

ganache:
12 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
4 TB of confectioners sugar

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Coat two 9-inch round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray.
Line with waxed paper; coat paper. In a large bowl, beat cake mix, eggs, buttermilk, vegetable oil and salt on low for 30 seconds. Increase speed to medium-high; beat for 2 minutes, scraping down side of the bowl after 1 minute. Fold in 2 cups of the chopped peanut butter cups.
Divide batter between prepared pans.
Bake at 350 degrees F for about 34 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let layers cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes.
Turn out cakes onto wire racks and cool completely. To make the PB ganache place chopped dark chocolate in a medium-size bowl. Bring cream just to a boil and pour over chocolate. Whisk until chocolate melts. Add peanut butter and confectioners sugar, whisking all till nice and smooth.

To frost the cake, you can first trim the tops of you cakes (with a serrated knife) first to make them flat, I didn't do this. Put one cake layer on cooling rack and place on a baking sheet. Pour some ganache on top; spread evenly with a spatula.
Then place remaining cake layer, and pour remaining frosting over the top, allowing it to spill over the sides. Smooth top and sides with spatula (see Note below). Refrigerate 1 hour to set. Transfer cake to serving plate and garnish with the chopped Reese's PB Cups.

cook notes: I saved a bit of the ganache to put on the cake just before adding the chopped Reese's PB Cups to act as a glue, making sure everything adhered correctly, then chilled it again to let it set. So basically, frost the cake, then chill, then add a thin layer of ganache again, add the garnish, then chill again.

strawberry-pecan crumble bars

I love any kind of dessert or sweet treat with strawberries in it. When strawberries are in season I make special trips to Whole Foods just to buy their organic strawberries. The Whole Foods I go to (in Hingham, MA) has from the end of May, to end of June these giant, organic sweet strawberries from Driscoll. In my opinion they are the sweetest strawberries ever; known for having the very best color, taste, and texture. Driscoll farmers have one of the best reputations for producing the very best crop of strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, etc.. Look for the Driscoll name next time you grocery shop, I bet you'll notice a difference in taste; sweeter, juicier and by far way more appealing.
So, when I'm at Whole Foods I always buy three container of strawberries, two to take home, and one to eat on the way home. With one of the batches of strawberries I made this delicious little dessert treat. These bars taste really, really good with vanilla ice cream on top.




strawberry-pecan crumble bars
recipe from vanillasugarblog.com
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2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 + cup pecans, toasted & finely chopped (I used 1 1/2 cups)
1 cup butter, room temp
1 large egg
3/4 cup strawberry puree (see below)

strawberry puree:
1 large container (bigger than a pint) of fresh strawberries, chopped into ½ inch pieces
2 TB lemon juice
1 TB cornstarch
1/8 ts cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar

For the puree, in a medium heavy saucepan over medium heat cook strawberries, sugar, cornstarch and cinnamon. Stir frequently until mixture comes to a boil and thickens, about 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and set aside to cool. Let it cool for an hour or longer; it will thicken over time.
Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a 9-inch square baking pan with aluminum foil and lightly grease.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, salt and pecans, then stir in the butter and egg until mixture is crumbly, like coarse and wet sand.
Put a half the layer of the crumb mixture on the bottom of pan, make sure to press it in good and get all the corners. Recipe by dawn finicane of vanillakitchen.blogspot.com Then add the strawberry filling, and then put remaining mixture on top; placing it as chunks or lumps.
Put the mixture on loosely, and evenly, No need to press down on this, we want it thick and airy like a crumb cake topping.
Bake for 40-45 minutes, until lightly browned.
Cool bars in the pan before slicing. The jam filling is hot, please let it cool.
Makes 12 bars.

Chicken Kabobs

I have been craving these bad boys for a while, ever since Spring started actually. I've finally come around to making them. And I have to be honest, they were fab! They satiated my craving completely.

I did not grill them, although from the pics it looks like they were grilled, but in fact they were broiled in my oven. Yes, you can get these fab char marks from your oven if you experiment a bit. I have mixed thoughts on grilling poultry on the grill--some experts even say you should never really grill poultry on the grill because it does not cook evenly. The middle of the chicken might not get cooked through. I kind of agree with that statement. This broiling method I did in the oven came out great. It was my first time in the oven, normally I do the grill. I served these with baked sweet potatoes (I was going to do rice, but I'm not allowed rice on my diet unless it's brown rice and brown rice does not go with this dish.

Grilled Chicken Kabobs
Serves 4–6

Marinade
½ cup orange juice
½ cup pineapple juice
¼ - ½ cup olive oil
¼ cup freshly squeezed lime juice, (about 3 - 4 limes)
1/3 cup soy sauce
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 ts honey or sugar
2 ts ground cumin
2 ts ground black pepper, or to taste

Note: you might have to adjust the above measurements according how much you are making.

Kabobs
4 - 6 skewers, 10- to 12-inch
Assorted vegetables cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces (zucchini, yellow squash, red and green bell peppers, red onion, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms
1 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast or thigh meat, cut into 1-inch pieces

To prepare the marinade: In a large bowl whisk together the orange juice, olive oil, lime juice, soy sauce, garlic, cumin and pepper until well blended. Set aside.

To marinate:
Use heavy duty plastic bags for marinating. Place all vegetables into one or two bags. Marinate all protein selections in separate bags. Divide the marinade equally among the bags, seal, and marinate in the refrigerator, turning the bag occasionally, for about 3 hours, or overnight.

Soak wooden skewers in water to cover for at least one hour before grilling.

Assemble the skewers as you like. I do piece of chicken, 2 or 3 pieces of veggie, then chicken, then 3 veggies, etc.. Throw away the marinade. Also, it’s good to wrap the ends of you skewers with foil before placing them on the grill. (I did not do this when I broiled in the oven).

Just before grilling I put salt & pepper (lightly) everything.

Grilling method:
Preheat the grill to 375°F (a medium-hot fire). Grill the chicken until just cooked through and slightly charred, turning often, about 8- 10 minutes.

Oven method:
Preheat the oven to 425 F. (mine was at 500 F). Arrange the skewers on a large rimmed nonstick baking sheet in a single layer. (I used the actual oven rack with a pan underneath to collect drippings; the poultry cooks better with nothing underneath. Cleanup was not that bad if you used a pan to collect drippings.)

Bake the chicken until just cooked through, about 10 - 15 minutes.
Transfer the skewers to a platter and serve.

Levain Bakery CC Cookie Clone

I've always wanted to make giant chocolate chip cookies, but I didn't want large and flat, I wanted big and thick.
Mainly because I'm so inspired by the world famous chocolate chip cookies sold at Levain Bakery in NYC.
Have you heard of them?  Been there?
The owners of Levain did a Throwdown with Bobby Flay.  I loved that one and I watched it with an eagle eye when they were in their kitchen, trying to spot secret ingredients--no such luck!
One of the best cookies I've ever had.

How to describe how good they are?
Crisp crust, almost-chewy inside, light in texture but dense (like a light shortbread with a hint of cakeness), very dense in flavor.
No one knows their recipe, it's a best kept secret, but there are some really good clones out there that come very very close to it.
After some research I found a recipe at Cookie Madness.
Someone said, along the way that Levain Bakery does not put the vanilla extract in, I seriously want to try that next time to see what it tastes like, and maybe a hint more salt.
One thing that I noticed, is they (the bakery) have confection ovens, so I know that makes a huge difference in making a really good crisp crust around the cookie.






levain bakery chocolate chip cookie clone
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2 sticks unsalted butter, cold (been rumored Levain uses European butter)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 ts pure vanilla extract
3 cups all purpose flour (13 ½ oz)
3/4 ts salt (I used sea salt)
1 ts baking powder
1/2 ts baking soda
12 ounces (2 cups) good quality semisweet chocolate chips or chopped chocolate
1 cup nuts (pecans or walnuts)

In a mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and both sugars just until creamy. Don’t overbeat. Add the egg and vanilla and beat just until incorporated. (I don't have a mixer so I did this by hand).
Stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. When thoroughly mixed, add to batter and stir just until blended. Stir in chocolate chips.
The dough needs to be chilled, so you can divide cookie balls out now and chill or cover bowl and chill. I made the cookie balls, set them on the baking sheet, and put sheet in fridge for about an hour.
Divide dough into 12 big 4 oz lumps. Bake on ungreased cookies sheets (one sheet at a time). (I chilled my dough balls BEFORE baking)

Bake times (I chose the latter):
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.
Otherwise, you can bake at 350 for 18-22 minutes or until done.
(Mine did 24 minutes, but I have a convection oven)
Makes 12 (mine made 14)

My kind of Chex Mix (full of flavor and goodies)

Ever go to a party and taste the Chex Mix they have out on the table of food and wonder what happened? Did they just throw a box of Chex cereal with some peanuts and pretzels and then throw some Worcheshire sauce on it? Even the stuff they sell in thr grocery stores is not that great. When I eat Chex Mix I want flavor, and I want variety. So, I created my own.

This version has lots of flavor, a variety of crunchy things like: sesame sticks, mini cheese Ritz, pretzels, dry roasted peanuts, roasted almonds, etc.... Try it, I know you'll love it, so will your party guests.

Dawns Tangy Chex-Mix

5 cups wheat chex
5 cups rice chex
5 cups Cheez-Its or other cheese form crackers
2 - 3 cups pretzels (mini size)
3 cups of mini Ritz crackers
3 cups of sesame sticks or oat sticks (can’t find these add what you crave instead)
2 cups peanuts, dry roasted
2 cups almonds, roasted
1 cup butter melted with
1 cup Italian salad dressing (I used Newmans Family Italian)
4-5 tbls. Hot Sauce (optional but gives wonderful zip)
7 tbls. Worcestershire Sauce
Sprinkle with: garlic powder, dried chives, onion powder, and paprika

Salt & pepper

Mix together the dry ingredients in large bowl. Melt together butter, dressing on low heat. Add Tiger sauce, Worcestershire, and remaining ingredients. Stir and turn off heat allowing to cool for a few minutes.

In the meantime, heat up your oven to 250 degrees and spray two or three cookie sheets lightly with a garlic or butter flavored spray (Spray is optional). Or you can use a non-stick cookie sheets.
In a very large bowl or several bowls drizzle slowly (a little bit at a time) the liquid mixture over the dry mixture (you can do this in batches if you don’t have a large bowl—it’s not good to put all of this in one bowl and overcrowd it, since you want all the little pieces to get evenly coated). Stir, drizzle some more, etc. I really take my time mixing so that I don't make anything soggy, and everything gets well coated.

Spread in a single layer on baking sheets, sprinkle with a bit of salt & pepper before baking, then bake about 40 - 60 minutes (mine took about 40 in a convection oven).

Every 15 - 20 minutes I open the oven, stir the mix a little and close it back up. Sometimes I reverse which oven racks the pans are on.

When done, shut off the oven and open the door slightly. I leave the pans in the oven to cool and continue drying. Store in an airtight container.

Serves: about 10 – 12+ as a snack