nutty cookie butter rice krispie treats

I love the taste of cookie butter.
I use it on almost everything that I would use peanut butter on: cookie butter & banana sandwich,
on my morning oatmeal, in my curry chicken, in my protein smoothie, etc...endless really.
The other day I saw the rounds of holiday rice krispie treats and thought instantly of why not use cookie butter in rice krispie treats.
I mean why hasn't anyone done this?
This batch I made on the fly, last minute and didn't know what would go with it, so I used white chocolate, and a bit of chopped pecans for a touch of texture.
The next time I make this I want to add in a touch of cream cheese for a hint of savory.
So if you make this, keep that in mind.

And for any of you last-minute louie gift seekers, this was made literally in 15 minutes.
Just saying!


Do I even need to stress to you how insanely good they are?
Do you have a last minute party?
Trust me trust me when I say you will wow your friends with this.
They will be saying "oh my gosh, what is that taste?--It's so good!"

nutty cookie butter rice krispie treats

print recipe

6 TB unsalted butter

6 ounces good quality white chocolate chips

use ¾ of an 11 ounce jar of cookie butter

a couple generous pinches of sea salt

10 ounce bag mini marshmallows

5 cups rice krispies

½ - ¾ cup of finely chopped & toasted pecans, optional but wonderful

for the cookie butter drizzle:

½ cup cookie butter

1 TB vegetable oil

Spray a 13 x 9-inch rectangular pan. Or line up with parchment paper.

In a large saucepan, over low heat, melt the butter. 

Just as the butter is almost all melted, add in the white chocolate and cookie butter. 

Keep stirring this and make sure not to let the bottom burn. 

Add in a couple generous size pinches of sea salt.

When this is almost all melted, add the marshmallows and keep stirring!

Once the marshmallows are all melted, take off heat and add in the rice krispies and nuts. 

Working fast, stir till combined. 

Pour mixture into prepared pan, using a spatula or your hands push down to place evenly and into all corners.

Let cool before drizzling with cookie butter drizzle.

If you want cookie butter drizzle, simply melt the ½ cup or so of cookie butter with the 1 TB of vegetable oil over low heat. 

Stirring constantly till all melted. 

Then just drizzle on rice krispie bars using a spoon.

To cut into bars use a sharp knife. 

Should make about 15-20 bars depending on how you slice them.  

chocolate-peppermint shortbread

Every year I, unlike my neighbors, like to wait till the very very last minute to have our lawn cleared of leaves.
When we first bought the house I went ahead like everyone else and had the leaves cleared in late October.  Bad mistake.
My trees laughed at me and proceeded to give me more leaves throughout November.
Having over one and half acres of land and almost all trees, clearing of the leaves is not a feat one can do by themselves unless you have a giant leaf-sucker-upper-thingee or a strong back and non-forming callus hands.
And we always have a storm/hurricane/nor'easter in october or november--been this way for the last three years now.
So the first falling of the leaves happens  mid October, then the seconds happens late November after whatever crazy NE storm comes at us; shaking the trees of their last hard-to-let-go leaves.
I feel smart waiting till late December, not only do I make sure every leaf falls, but I also get the lawn guys when they aren't crazy busy.
I have to give a big thank you to my lawn guys: Hoxie Landscape, every year they do a stellar job.
And a big thank you to Justin who happily (I think) deals with my type-A personality when it comes to my lawn. :-)

This year I surprised the guys with cookies, well actually it was the sweet & salty smore bark.
You should have seen their faces when I gave them the giant plate of bark.
Speechless, motionless--clearly they were not expecting food.
I left them the plate, thanked them for their hard work, got in my truck and drove away.
As I was turning down the road, past the house, I looked in my rearview mirror and saw all the guys, huddled up like a football team, just outside one of their trucks surely noshing on the bark.
It was like a feeding frenzy....
Curious--how long did that bark last?
It didn't have a chance did it?
This is why I love to bake and create, reactions on the faces, and to watch humans inhale my food.

Another nosh-worthy gift food are these peppermint-chocolate shortbread.
I used the same basic shortbread as the crust only this time made a chocolate-peppermint flavor.
Super easy to make, and tasty.
Because I firmly believe if you're going to give food as a gift make sure it's tasty, and eye appealing.

chocolate-peppermint shortbread

print recipe

for the peppermint shortbread:

8 oz. unsalted butter, softened

½ cup confectioners sugar

2 cups cake flour minus 2 TB

2 oversized TB cocoa powder

a splash or 3 of peppermint extract

¼ ts salt

for the white chocolate drizzle:

½ cup +/- of melted white chocolate with a touch of peppermint extract (add the peppermint extract in after the chocolate is melted, not before)

(see my copycat Nestle Crunch bars for peppermint-white chocolate)

¼ cup finely crushed candy canes for decorations

I used an 8 or 9 inch tart pan with removable bottom; this would work best, if you don't have this

then use an 8 or 9 inch baking pan and spray with non stick spray and/or line with parchment paper. 

In a bowl mix the cake flour and cocoa powder, set aside.

In a bowl (stand mixer or otherwise), cream together butter, sugar, peppermint extract, and salt.

Slowly work in cake flour mixture until well combined. 

No need to overmix, small lumps here and there are fine. This is a very dry dough.

Using wet fingertips, spread dough into pan, making sure to get all the corners evenly.

Place prepared pan into fridge to firm up a bit before baking.  At least an hour.

If you cover this well enough you can leave it overnight.

When ready to bake, preheat over to 350 degrees.

Bake 21 - 25 minutes until edges are LIGHTLY golden brown or just firm. 

Don't look for complete overall doneness; it’s ok if middle is a little soft.

Make sure to rotate pan halfway through baking too.

Let this cool in pan for at least an hour. 

Remove from pan, and slice into bars or sticks, which ever you like.

Place over wire racks with parchment paper underneath.

Drizzle melted white chocolate over the bars and decorate with finely crushed candy canes.

Makes about 20+ sticks, depending on how you slice them.

friday links

 Baked Elements by Matt Lewis & Renato Poliafito

The most amazing cookbook yet.  Baked Elements has homemade Devil Dogs with Malted Buttercream. I am so making these.
You need to own this cookbook!
And if you don't own it....stay tuned, as the Baked Boys and I are teaming up to giveaway 3 sets of their cookbooks.  Yes, 3 sets.
Three people will win a set of their cookbooks: Baked New Frontiers In Baking, Baked Explorations and Baked Elements.
Aren't they the best?  Love them for this.
Stay tuned!!

My Trader Joe finds:

is this good?

This is new.  Sounds like a party planning helper. 

A giant peppermint cake shaped like a cookie.  Great, now I have to buy it. 

This was the free sample of the day.  It was not that good.  Not truffle like at all.

These are new.  Did not buy them for fear of eating entire box.

Had to get these. I am such a peppermint junkie. These are really good!

This sounds so good. Who has tried it?

Can't wait to give these a go.

These are new. Haven't tried them yet.

These were pretty good!

These are really good. Normally you're supposed to grill them, but I experimented and put them in the crockpot (7 hours) with a large amount of hoisin sauce.  Delish!  Try it, you'll love it.

Who tried these? Like?

Afraid to get these, so I walked right by them.  Good thinking, I know I'd eat them all up!

These are fabulous as in a savory cheesecake crust.

And these are also perfect for a cheesecake crust.

Guess what's back??  Finally!

These are new.

Can't wait to experiment with this one!

Are these any good?

Any good?

How cute are these?  12 in a box is a snack to me.  They are small.

I think these are new and just might be dinner!

Around the web:
nice list of creative peppermint cocktails from bliss tree
tea: wellness in a cup from divine caroline
anti-depressants: how effective are they? from divine caroline
historical hair locks selling at auctions from NYTimes
original "blade runner" storyboards from flavorwire
holiday art book (different indeed) from bloomberg
mick jagger love letters hit the block at sotheby's from galleristNY
worlds smallest humidifier? from gizmodo
transcendental meditation, why people love it (do you?) from well & good nyc
how to create a surreal self-portrait that shows you holding you from petapixel
sriracha lip balm! (lol) from the oatmeal
$100 to know everything about your DNA from gizmodo
this is your brain on fatty foods from blisstree
what's really in that gatorade? from NYTimes
the charlie brown school of dance from youtube owen weber
fruitcake ice cream from serious eats
peppermint sugar cookie bars from cookies & cups
eggnog ny crumb cake from culinary concoctions by peabody
snickers fudge from pip & ebby
pomegranate tabbouleh from chow & chatter
gift guide for the pizza maker & pizza lover from serious eats
gift guide for chocoholics from serious eats
classic european nougat from serious eats (I am making this one)
orange & chocolate coconut macaroons from pastry studio
those NY times famous chocolate chip cookies, have you tried them yet?


cake kitchen paper placemats from west elm

spill proof sippy wine cups from givesimple.com

peppermint-coffee nutella french macarons from design, bake, run

chocolate whoppers from vintage kitchen notes

have a wonderful weekend!

salty smores bark

Now before you go calling the "salt police" (I stole that from Emeril).
Remember when he used to say that?
I love him and dearly miss his show Emeril Live.
He was such a presence, I mean he truly got you into the food, whether you were watching from home
or were live in the audience.
I loved watching Doc watch him.  Ohhh those faces Doc would make when Emeril was putting the
finishing touches on his creations.  Priceless.  The man was hungry!


OK so why the salt on a smores-themed bark?
Simple--it's so needed to balance out the sweetness of the marshmallows, chocolate and graham chunks.
With all those there is just too much sweet going on--we needed salt.
And the bottom of the bark is a nice buttery shortbread crust. Not too sweet not too salty, just right.
You know my love for barks around this time of year, and how I'm always striving to make a really good bark to giveaway to friends and my clients.
Everyone loves my Cheez It bark, but this year I wanted to do something different and something tasty, so that when they took their first bite, they said "oh, ok, this is rich and different--what is that crust...".
And the verdict from everyone that got a sample of this bark?
Thumbs up, can I order more? How long till I get it?
And the best part?  It's easy to make.
A hard part ? (because you always ask me "what's the hard part of this?").
If you have to find a hard part?  I just can't.
We mix the butter shortbread crust, we bake it, we immediately top it it with toppings, and let it set up.  That's it.
So maybe waiting for it to set up is the hard part?
And, trust me on adding a touch of sea salt to the top of the chocolate?
AND!!  If you're thinking of adding nuts to this?  I do think you are a clever little foodie--that sounds
fabulous.
You're gonna love this one--it's perfect for gift giving.


Note: this is when you add on a touch of sea salt!




salty smores bark
from vanillasugarblog.com
shortbread recipe from pastrychefonline.com
print recipe

shortbread:

8 oz. unsalted butter, room temp

½ cup confectioners sugar 

2 cups cake flour 

¼ teaspoon salt

smore toppings:

8-10 ounces good quality milk chocolate chips

3/4 cup +/- mini marshmallows

1/2 - 3/4 cup rough chop graham crackers

pinch or 3 or sea salt

(adding nuts might be a good idea too!)

I used an 8 or 9 inch tart pan with removable bottom; this would work best, if you don't have this

then use an 8 or 9 inch baking pan and spray with non stick spray and/or line with parchment paper.  

In a bowl (stand mixer or otherwise), cream together butter, sugar and salt.

Slowly work in cake flour until well combined. No need to overmix, lumps here and there are fine.

Using wet fingertips, spread dough into pan, making sure to get all the corners evenly.

Place prepared pan into fridge to firm up a bit before baking.  At least an hour. 

If you cover this well enough you can leave it overnight.

When ready to bake, preheat over to 350 degrees.

Bake 21 - 25 minutes until edges are LIGHTLY golden brown.  

Don't look for complete golden brown. 

Make sure to rotate pan halfway through baking too. 

Once it comes out of the oven place the milk chocolate chips on the top, let them melt a bit then spread

with knife or spoon and evenly spread around pan, not getting too close to the edges.

Sprinkle the chocolate with a nice hint of sea salt.

Place on the chopped graham crackers and the marshmallows.   

Using your hand, GENTLY push down the toppings so they sink into the chocolate--

don't push too hard. 

Please let this cool, then harden before slicing into it.

Makes about 15-18 bars; depending on how you slice them.