An Unofficial Pinterest Challenge and Ooey Gooey Goodness

I have been following the goings on over at Young House Love for a few years now.  Along with Bower Power, Decor and the Dog and The Remodeled Life they hosted an unofficial Pinterest Challenge; take something you've pinned, put your own spin on it, blog about it and link up.  Well, I've made a few crafts I've pinned but had only drooled over the recipes.  So, I read the post, took a look at my Favourite Recipes board, had a quick scan of my pantry and 10 minutes later my challenge  began.

I first began by challenging myself not to leave the house in order to make what I wanted - no going to the grocery store to pick up missing ingredients.  That would involve dressing.  And running a brush through my hair.

This was my inspiration:

Image from The Bite Sized Baker

                         
I had the ingredients for chocolate chip cookies - only just.  I had exactly the right amount of flour needed.  Phew.  I made chocolate chip cookie dough.

I also had Carnation Caramel - or so I thought.  I had picked up regular old condensed milk.  The challenge became more intense.  I opted not to boil the can in a pot of water for 3 hours because I didn't want to wait that long and couldn't face the challenge of cleaning condensed milk off the ceiling when said can exploded.  Instead, I stood by the stove, constantly stirring the milk until it became caramel.

After half an hour it still looked the same.

Forty-five minutes later it stated to look like caramel.

An hour later I was satisfied with what I had and a little fed up.  Always, always, read the label carefully and know what you're buying.

How could I put my own spin on this?  Well, I made the bloody caramel from scratch - wasn't that personal enough?!  I really needed to get these made; I was getting hungry and grumpy.  The two feelings go hand in hand.  I grabbed a package of Reese's Peanut Butter Chips I had brought over from Canada on my last visit in October.  And then I began to layer.

I was pretty impressed with myself.  I had completed the challenge and I was still in my pyjamas.  I'm not even going to tell you what time it was.  I still needed to blog about it and link up to the post over at YHL but I'd get to it.  Sure.  I'd get to it.

Then I flew home to Canada for my mom's hip replacement and completely forgot about it (she's doing great by the way).  Challenge not completed.  But, I did make caramel from scratch and gave several people in my neighbourhood a major sugar high when I realised I would make myself sick if I ate anymore and posted a picture on Facebook asking those who wanted some to come and get 'em!

Make these - they're awesome.  Just be sure to have a lot of people around to help you eat them.

Chocolate Chip Cookie and Caramel Peanut Butter Chip Bars AKA Ooey Gooey Goodness
Adapted from The Bite Sized Baker

For the chocolate chip cookies either make your favourite recipe or follow this one adapted from the Joy of Baking:


1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

For the filling:
Carnation Caramel Condensed Milk
Peanut Butter Chips

In a large bowl, beat butter and sugars.  Whisk in eggs one at a time and add vanilla.  In another bowl, whisk dry ingredients together.  Slowly add dry mix to wet mixture until fully incorporated.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Add half of the cookie dough to a square non-stick baking pan (I used a silicone pan) and flatten to cover the bottom of the pan with dough.  Bake at 190 degrees Celsius for 8-10 minutes.  

Remove from the oven and pour the caramel over the cookie base.  Sprinkle peanut butter chips to cover the caramel and add the rest of the cookie dough by placing dollops over the top and gently spreading it out to cover the chips.  Bake for 15-20 minutes or until cookie top is golden brown.  Allow pan to fully cool on a wire rack before slicing into bars.

Option:
If you can't get your hands on peanut butter chips try adding a 1/4 cup of peanut butter to the caramel and top with chocolate chips instead.  I haven't tried this but would have had I not had any peanut butter chips available.

Toblerone Shortbread: A Twelve Step Program

The cafe at my university sold ginormous shortbread cookies with a full piece of Toblerone in the centre.  Absolute heaven!  Kept me going during those 3 hour night lectures.  I haven't seen them anywhere else and always wanted to make my own.  A quick search on "The Pinterest" tells me I'm not the only one - though I didn't see any that were made with a full size Toblerone.  Probably due to the insane amount of sugar and calories in one little bite!  So I too went the mini Toblerone route since having bite sized Christmas cookies are great for a (somewhat) guilt free biscuit buffet.

Step 1 - Get ingredients ready.

Step 2 - Beat butter and sugar and then stir in flour mixture.

Step 3 - When shortbread turns out really crumbly, watch video from The Joy of Baking website (which is where you can find the recipe I used for shortbread) to see where you went wrong and shout "HALF a cup of sugar? What? Really?!"  Then re-read recipe to find out - yes indeed, half a cup of sugar NOT 1 cup.

Step 4 - Run down to Tesco to buy more butter.  I bought 6 because they were on sale and I'm bound to need more at some point.  This won't be the only mistake.

Step 5 - Get ingredients ready (again) and measure out HALF a cup of sugar.

Step 6 - Follow instructions carefully and make sure butter is smooth.

Step 7 - Watch as the dough goes crumbly (again) and cry a little on the inside.

Step 8 -  Get a brain wave (they sometimes happen, infrequently yes, but they do) and place the crumbly dough in a re-sealable bag and add little water.  Gently smoosh everything around in the bag until the dough looks more like the dough in the video.  Form dough into a ball, place in plastic wrap and flatten into a disk shape.  Refrigerate for an hour or overnight because you're going out for dinner and you can't spend all your time baking in the kitchen.  Note the difference:

Step 9 - Roll out dough and cut into shapes using a cookie cutter.  Halfway through, when your black jeans are covered in flour, remember to put on your apron (this should really be step 1).

 

Step 10 - Taste test Toblerone triangle.  If determined to be of good quality (it might take a couple to be sure) place one triangle in the centre of each cookie, place on a baking tray and stick in the fridge for 15 minutes.

Step 11 - Bake in the oven while crossing your fingers that they taste okay when done.

Step 12 - Give yourself a good ol' pat on the back when they come out looking  beautiful and tasting absolutely fantastic.  Pat, pat, pat.

Orange and Cranberry Chocolate Mousse

Last week I received a little request from a friend.  Could I write about the chocolate mousse she'd had at my house because she wanted to make it over the holidays.  I had made a simple (like 2 ingredient simple) hazelnut chocolate mousse for her but since she wanted to make it over the Christmas holidays, I thought I would Chrismasfy - Christmassify - Chris... ugh make it taste like Christmas?

Tesco is selling their own version of various flavoured chocolate spread so last week I picked up the orange flavour.  It's like a smooth Terry's Chocolate Orange.  Very dangerous because I could eat it by the spoonful.   I haven't.  Yet.

I thought it might go nicely paired with cranberries in some way so I bought some fresh ones and got them on the stove.  Very simple - I put equal parts cranberries and sugar (about 150 grams), a spoonful of marmalade and a splash of water into a pot and brought it to a boil.  Once the cranberries began to split, I turned the gas down and simmered for about 10 minutes.  In the meantime, I started on the mousse.  Last time I made this I melted the chocolate spread in the microwave, whipped the cream and then folded both together.  This time I tried blending both ingredients in a bowl, and so I put a half cup of orange flavoured chocolate spread and a cup of whipping cream and blended!  Worked like a charm!  When the cranberries were ready, I scooped out a small amount and allowed it to cool before putting a little in the bottom of each glass, then poured the chocolate mousse on top.  Allow it to chill for at least four hours or overnight.

I would have garnished this with a slice of chocolate orange but then I would have had to eat it all so I went with fresh.  You could use candied orange slices too.  I used martini glasses but shot glasses would work well to include this in a little dessert buffet.

The garland in the photo should tell you that I have spent the last couple of days turning my house into Santa's Grotto.  And everytime I think I've finished, I find something else to sprinkle a little Christmas magic on ie: tinsel and glitter.  Better get cracking on the rest of that baking!

Going Bananas

Yesterday, a friend asked me: "What can I do with bananas?"  Hers were starting to go off so I suggested she stick them in the freezer and I'd write this post.  Coincidentally, I had made banana bread last week as I had about 8 bananas cluttering up my freezer.  Anytime a banana starts to look like this in the fruit bowl:

I pop it into the freezer to be dealt with a later date.  They're great frozen just as they are - taste just like ice cream.  Or in a smoothie - add some yogurt and a handful of berries (fresh or frozen) and blend.  But my favourite thing to make with them is banana bread.

When the stash of bananas starts to overtake my freezer I take it as a sign, stick em in a bowl to thaw and get cracking on the rest.

They'll just slip right out when thawed or you can peel them with a knife if you can stand the cold!

Or messing up the rest.  I tossed in a cup of flour into the wrong bowl.  There is not enough counter space in this kitchen people!

I wanted to add some chocolate but I didn't have any chocolate chips so I used a portion of this giant chocolate bar we got as part of a wedding present (it accompanied a cherished Hudson Bay blanket that my aunt brought over from Canada and lugged around to several hotels - but funnily enough, the tag says it's made in England!)  Anyway - I broke it into chunks and stored it in the freezer back in August and remembering that I had it, took a few chunks out, placed them in a plastic bag and broke them up using a hammer. (Place a towel underneath and do it on a surface your not too worried about - I had visions of my counter top splitting in half so I broke them up on the laminate floor - maybe place them on a wooden chopping board)

 

I doubled the recipe and made 24 muffins.  Both the bread and muffins can be frozen (I wrap the bread in foil and store the muffins in a tin).  The muffins are great for lunches; just take one from the freezer and pop it into a packed lunch and it will be thawed by the time lunch rolls around.

 Recipe (makes enough to fill 2 bread tins)

Ingredients 

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda 
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt 
1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup white sugar 

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs, beaten 

1/4 cup butter, melted

4 bananas, mashed 

1/2 cup walnuts (optional)

1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional) 

1.  Grease and flour 2 loaf pans (I prefer to use wax paper bread tin liners) and preheat oven to 350°F or 175°C.

2. Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and sugar in a large bowl.  Mix in slightly beaten eggs, vanilla, melted butter and mashed bananas.  Stir in nuts and chocolate chips if using.

3.  Divide between 2 tins and bake for 45 minutes to an hour or until toothpick inserted in the middle of the loaf comes out clean.

Any other ideas for using old bananas?  Or any other favourite banana bread recipes out there?  Please share!  This isn't my great-grandmother's grandmother's recipe or anything, I adapted it from one I found on All Recipes, so if you have any tried and tested versions of your own, I'd love to hear about them!