Let's just kick things up a notch ok?
I'm tired of pumpkin bread--we have so much at the house.
Why do I keep making it? Why do people keep ordering it?
Don't they know I'm sick of it already? :-)
I'm already ready for summer; for blueberries, raspberries and warm salty ocean swims.
I know, that's not going to happen--just carry on with the pumpkin making because I know
there are a lot of my readers who love pumpkin and are still just getting started with pumpkin
recipe making.
So this one is for you!
Sea salted pumpkin bread bark.
Well, you can also call it leftover pumpkin bread, or pumpkin cookie bark.
Crazy easy to make too.
I don't do hard recipes, so never worry about that from me; just creative & tasty ones.
Take melted white chocolate, pour on parchment lined baking sheet, drizzle with some pumpkin
butter, take chopstick or other stick thingee, spread and make swirls of said pumpkin butter.
Then drizzle with crumbled pumpkin cookies or pumpkin bread.
Gently push the crumbs into the bark.
Sprinkle the top with a tiny amount of sea salt.
Trust me on the sea salt?
The sea salt goes really well with the butteriness of the white chocolate and the sweetness of the pumpkin butter.
Let sit at room temperature for a while to harden or throw in fridge.
Done and done.
Easy right?
And pretty, so people will think you're an absolute genius in the kitchen.
sea salted pumpkin bread white chocolate bark
from vanillasugarblog.com
print recipe
11 ounces white chocolate, melted
1-2 ts vegetable oil (for melting the white chocolate, optional)
1-3 slices of pumpkin bread or pumpkin cookies, crumbled
1-2 TB pumpkin butter
sea salt, for the top of bark
I melted the white chocolate with a teaspoon or two of vegetable oil (up to you).
Take melted white chocolate, pour on parchment lined baking sheet.
Drizzle with some pumpkin butter, take chopstick or other stick thingee, spread and make swirls of pumpkin butter in the chocolate.
Then drizzle with crumbled pumpkin cookies or pumpkin bread.
Gently push the crumbs into the bark.
Sprinkle the top with a tiny amount of sea salt.
Let this sit at room temp for a bit, then into the fridge to harden up.
10/13/13
sea salted pumpkin bread bark
3/6/13
what to do with melted chocolate that has seized up?
What to do with melted chocolate that has seized up?
Make bark!
There has been a few times when I rushed the melting process, or had just the smallest amount of water left in the pan to cause a nice, fast, quick seize of the chocolate.
And the part I hate the most is throwing that chocolate in the trash.
Last week I had a nice (expensive) batch of high quality chocolate that seized up on me because I left the stove for a mere minute.
Cursing the whole way to the trash barrel to toss it, I saw a bag of salty cashews on the counter and instantly thought "hey, why not make a quick batch of bark?"
It worked!
You have to work fast though; move that seized chocolate to a jelly roll/cookie pan, place down some parchment paper, spread out the chocolate (you might have to use your hands depending on how thick or hard the seized chocolate is), then adorn with nuts, candies, fruit or whatever you wish.
The only downfall (if you want to call it that) it's not a smooth bark.
Seized chocolate after all is funky looking, but tastes just fine.
Unless you've burnt the chocolate then it might taste off.
Why throw away that perfect (and in most cases expensive) chocolate away?
12/12/12
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:
12/2/12
homemade gingerbread bark
Not truly a big fan of white chocolate.
I think it may be stem from childhood when I ate one of those white chocolate bunnies during Easter.
Remember those? Nice waxy, chemically aftertaste, inability to melt, stayed in little pocket piles on your back teeth?....
All the other kids were chowing them down, while I sat there inspecting the insides for evidence of falsehood, thinking how is this chocolate? Why is this chocolate--
Chocolate is dark, rich, melts in your mouth.
White chocolate doesn't melt in your mouth and tastes just like those wax lip candies. Remember those? I never got that rage either.
Thankfully the appearance of high quality white finally made its appearance in my life, and I "kind of" grew to "love it".
Experimenting with it, mastering the art of tempering with it grabbed my attention
It's one of those chocolates in my opinion, that needs texture; a crushed Oreo, a nice salty chunk of Cheez It crackers, pineapple & coconut, peanut butter cups, .....
Easy peasy to put together. Prebake gingerbread cookie & butter mixture til crisp.
Spread white chocolate ganache over the crust.
Sprinkle with gingerbread cake crumbles. That's it!
Easy right?
Do I even need to tell you how tasty this is?
Gingerbread and white chocolate are meant to be together--forever.
And away they go on a field trip.....I shall miss them.
gingerbread bark
print recipe
2/14/12
the best sweet & salty chocolate bark
Quite a title to live up to right? I know. But trust me on this one? I've made a lot of barks in my life and I tell you this one is the best hands down. It's not just me who claims this. I gave a sample of this to a few people who said the same thing.
Why does it taste so good? I'm certain it's the combo of the peanut butter, honey, butter and chocolate. That alone is a creamy good taste--and you could actually just make that alone and it would be fabulous. But I added in toasted coconut (for texture), salty pretzels (for salt), and pecans (for extra crunch).
I know I've said this before to you, but if you make one bark, this is it.
the best sweet & salty chocolate bark
print recipe
the base:
1/2 cup peanut butter (smooth or chunky)
1/3 cup + 1 TB local honey
1/4 cup unsalted butter
¾ cup milk or semi-sweet chocolate chips or chunks
the add ins:
1/2 cup toasted coconut
½ cup salty pretzels, rough chop
½ cup salty pecans (any kind of salty nut)
Cook notes:
You can add in anything you want to this. But keep the add ins to 3-4, as you don’t want too many add ins or it won’t set up right. I found using a thin pretzel works best than a thick one. I think using potato chips would be fabulous for this. Have all your add ins at the ready; you want to add them in fast when the chocolate base is all melted.
Get all your add ins at the ready and lined up ready to go. If you want uniform bars instead of bark, use an 8 X 8 square pan and really grease it up and line with parchment paper. If you want bark, then line a jelly roll pan with parchment paper.
Melt butter, peanut butter and honey in a pot over medium to low heat, stirring constantly.
Add in the chocolate chips and keep stirring—takes a while for everything to incorporate and you want to melt the chocolate slowly (almost like tempering). When all is melted, remove from stove.
Pour in all your add ins, mix well, and immediately transfer to the jelly roll pan or square pan. Using a spatula flatten out bark mixture. Don’t spread it too thin! Let cool at room temperature about 2 hours. When bark has set up, use a sharp knife to cut into chunks.
12/12/11
PMS Christmas Bark: Part 1, 2, & 3
Jokingly on facebook I stated to my friends that years ago I created a Christmas bark that can easily be given as a gift and double as a PMS bark. The agreement was overwhelming by all my female friends; a bark made of salty, sweet, sticky, chewy and a hint of crispy--how could anyone, let alone a female disagree? I mean it covers all the four food groups that females tend to crave while going through PMS. Right?
Part 2 was a whole other kind of creation made to satisfy those wanting milk chocolate instead of white chocolate.
So here is PMS Chrismtas Bark Part 2, or Cheez It Bark. Made with again Cheez It's with a hard caramel middle, covered in milk chocolate then a nice sprinkling of salty pecans.
And now we have a Part 3. The peanut butter and bacon chocolate bark. Bacon of course is a very important food group when creating a PMS bark? So why not.
Part 3 is very easy to make. Just roll out the dough onto a baking sheet. Originally this was done with cookies--my almost flourless peanut butter cookies with chocolate. This dough makes the perfect bark.
As soon as it comes out of the oven place cooked strips of bacon on the top. Gently pushing them in.
When the cookie layer has cooled then drizzle with bittersweet chocolate. You can use whatever chocolate you like; I found that bittersweet was just the right balance as the semi and milk chocolates were just too sweet and overpowered the bacon and peanut butter flavors. Can't have that can we?
peanut butter & bacon chocolate bark
print recipe
1 cup chunky or smooth peanut butter (natural peanut butter works best just not too oily)
¾ cup dark brown sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 egg
½ ts baking powder
1 ts baking soda
2 TB flour
1 ts sea salt
5-7 strips of cooked bacon, in strips or in small chunks
6-8 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips
Cook notes: this dough cooks very fast. It may not look like its done at the 10 or 11 minute mark but it is. Since there is almost no flour in there it cooks very fast. The next time I make this I will drizzle way less chocolate. In my opinion I put too much chocolate on there and it drowned out the peanut butter flavor. I highly doubt this freezes well. Natural peanut butter is best for this, just not one that's too oily.
In a small bowl mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside.
In a mixer or by hand, combine peanut butter and sugars until well combined.
Crack egg open in a small bowl and beat. Add egg to the cookie mixture, mix well.
Next sprinkle the flour mixture over the cookie dough, not just depositing it in one large dump. Mix till combined. Cover bowl and let it sit in fridge for about an hour or more.
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Place a parchment sheet on jelly roll pan. Place dough on sheet and spread it out. It will not spread out the whole size of the jelly roll pan only about halfway
If dough is sticky, just wet your finger tips.
Bake for 10-11 minutes, until very lightly browned. As soon as you remove it from the oven, place the strips of bacon on top and gently push down/in. Let cool at least 2 hours at room temperature.
When cooled drizzle with the melted bittersweet chocolate. Let chocolate harden and slice into squares.
Makes about 12-15 bars depending on how you cut them.
And finally the winner of the Nescafe Dolce Piccolo giveaway is Jen of Duluth, GA who was the lucky number 62. Please contact me Jen with your mailing address. Congrats Jen!
12/3/11
crunchy caramel bark
It's that time of year again where we all start making those delish homemade goodies to give away to friends, coworkers and family for the upcoming holiday.
It's so easy to make, you'll see. First off make the caramel sauce, pour over a nice, even, all gaps covered, layer of Ritz crackers.
Put in fridge to set up/harden. Then put down a smooth layer of melted milk chocolate.
Let set up at room temp, then into to fridge to finish hardening.
Don't forget to add the roasted pecans while the milk chocolate is still melted, this way the nuts will stick and stay.
Let harden in the fridge or room temp before cutting into squares. Use a sharp knife as it makes it a lot easier to slice right through the bark without all the caramel oozing out.
crunchy caramel bark
print recipe
caramel filling:
1/2 cup water
1 cup white sugar
1 & ½ TB light corn syrup
Giant pinch of sea salt, optional
1 cup heavy cream
In a sturdy/heavy medium size saucepan, over medium-high heat, heat up the water, corn syrup, sugar and salt. Stir a bit to make sure it’s combined-that's it no more stirring. You will cook this for at least 10 minutes (maybe longer) until it turns a nice golden brown. Once it starts to turn brown, do not leave the stove because it turns dark brown very fast. Swirl the pan, once or twice to confirm color is a nice golden brown, once it is, take off heat and add in the heavy cream. Let it bubble up and do its thing, then stir sauce with a heat proof spatula or whisk, and keep stirring till you get it combined and thickens a bit.
Put off to the side or in a heat-proof glass measuring cup (easy for pouring later) to let cool.
If all went well you should have a fairly thick, pourable caramel. Let this cool at least an hour before using.
bark:
2 sleeves of Ritz crackers (50 crackers? More or less)
1 cup of roasted pecans (I used roasted and salted pecans)
16 ounces of milk chocolate: melted in 2 batches; 8 ounces each (use a good quality chocolate, they melt better)
Line a jelly roll pan with parchment paper. Lay down an even layer of Ritz crackers; add more crackers to cover up any gaps. All gaps need to be covered as the caramel will ooze out.
Take the cooled caramel and pour over the crackers. You probably won’t use all the caramel; I didn’t, so save the remainder for another use.
Place pan in fridge to chill and set up for at least 2 hours.
When set up melt about 8 ounces of chocolate in a double boiler, spread the chocolate over the cracker and caramel. Let cool and harden at room temp for about 20 minutes then into fridge for an hour.
Take out of fridge, and being careful, flip the mixture over exposing the other side. This side will now get covered in chocolate.
Melt the remaining milk chocolate, spread over the bark and then sprinkle on the roasted pecans. Push the pecans down into the chocolate a bit to make sure they stay.
Let this harden for at least a couple hours before slicing. Use a sharp knife to cut this so the caramel doesn’t ooze out.
7/11/11
spicy pecan cocada
Literally cocada is the ultimate in coconut bark. It's a Mexican/Latin America candy/cookie that is bark-like--just like what I've made. It's very sweet, very coco-nutty, and I've always wanted to add a nut to it for texture and crunch. I've also wanted to add a tiny bit of heat to it as well, hence the spicy pecan. It is an oven baked goodie that is supposed to be served at room temp for chewy texture. And yes, it is very chewy, almost caramel like texture. If you have any loose teeth or fillings, think twice on chomping down on this one. The bark is a bit difficult to cut, you need a sharp, wet knife. The edges of the cocada are the best part; they get the most caramelization of the condensed milk paired with the coconut. Add in's are endless on this one--whatever would work with caramel flavor and coconut really.
spicy-pecan cocada
adapted from http://scarlettabakes.com/cocada-simple-coconut-bark/
print recipe
2-14 oz. cans sweetened, condensed milk (approximately 3 1/2 cups)
1-14 oz. bag of sweetened, flaked coconut (approximately 5 1/2 cups)
1/2 c. light corn syrup
1 tsp. vanilla extract
5-7 oz of spicy, toasted pecans (optional but amazing)
Preheat oven to 350°.
Line an 11” x 17” baking sheet with parchment paper. This is a very sticky candy/bark; non stick spray will NOT work—use parchment paper. Make sure to completely cover the baking sheet.
In a large mixing bowl, stir the condensed milk, corn syrup and vanilla together until well-blended. Fold in the coconut and spicy pecans. Mix well.
Spread the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet.
Using a rubber scraper or wet fingers, push the mixture evenly across and into the corners of the pan. Bake for 25-28 minutes. Don’t let it burn. Check the cocada at the 25 minute mark.
The cocada will bubble as it bakes and turn a deep golden brown, with the edges becoming especially dark – it is done baking when the top appears golden throughout.
Allow the cocada to cool at room temp for a couple hours. Then I put it in the fridge to harden a bit before slicing.
Using a sharp, wet knife, slice the cocada into squares, carefully remove each piece from the parchment lining, and enjoy straight away or store in an airtight container.
1/15/11
spicy peanut brittle
Peanut brittle is really a great way to dress up any dessert. So keep that in mind when you want to add a little "something something" to your next dessert. You feeling me? :-)
print recipe
room temp butter for greasing up the silpat & spatula (or nonstick spray)
1 cup white sugar
¼ cup water
Pinch of salt
¾ cup dry roasted salted peanuts
Pinch or 2 cayenne pepper (depending on your preference), optional
Spray a silpat sheet as well as the spatula. Place the silpat into jellyroll pan, set aside.
In a medium saucepan over high heat, combine sugar, water and salt.
Cook for 3 minutes without stirring.
Once sugar has begun to melt and turn light golden color (maybe 4- 6 minutes). At this point let is cook but now stir with spatula every once in a while. Do this for another 8 – 10 minutes or if you go by color then when you know its done is by its golden amber color, not dark but golden. Golden amber is the color we want. Take off heat, stir in the peanuts then add in your pinch or two of cayenne pepper.
Now you have to work very fast. Pour this immediately over the greased silpat, and using your spatula spread out the brittle, not too thin, not too thick. Now leave it alone for at least an hour if not more to let it harden.
Notes: almonds, walnut, pecans, pistachios would work great too
12/14/10
white chocolate bark w/ Oreo's and Cheez Its
Let's call this PMS Christmas bark shall we? :-)
Whoa. I mean whoa dude. This stuff is crazy good. Very addicting. I have a bunch of leftovers at my house. Please come get it? It's free to a good home?
I swear I can hear you all now saying "where in the world does this crazy woman come up with this stuff?" My cravings for sweet & salty run high and deep. I am on a never-ending quest to find the ultimate in sweet & savory.
For those foodies in your life (or you) make them a batch of this for Chrismtas. They will swoon.....they will remember you forever and a day.
white chocolate bark with Oreo’s & Cheez Its
from vanillasugarblog.com
print recipe
2 bags or 22 ounces of high quality white chocolate
About 10-12 Oreo's (chocolate filled) cookies cut in half or quarters
2 large handfuls of Cheez It’s cut in half or quarters
2 TB or more of heavy cream
Generous pinch of sea salt
Have all your ingredients chopped up and ready to go as white chocolate does not stay melted long. Place parchment paper on a regular cookie sheet.
Over double boiler melt the white chocolate chips with the heavy cream, add in the salt, stirring a lot until it comes to a nice Ganache. Take off the heat, working fast add in the chopped Oreo’s and cheez its. Mix well and fast, then pour out onto parchment lined cookie sheet. Let harden about 3 hours. Cut into squares.
