Treat Day Wednesday–Super Simple Easy Peasy Fudge Bars

I know I’m shocked too, two weeks in a row for Treat Day. Crazy!

Now it’ll be hard to follow up after last weeks super successful donuts post, but I’ll try.  The next couple of weeks are going to get pretty crazy around here.  Two very dear friends of ours are getting married on different weekend and in different countries.  One is happening in High Point, NC and the other is in Ottawa, Canada and of course I volunteered to make a little something for each :)  When they are done, I’ll be sure to post.

Anyway, I wanted to make sure I continued my Treat Days, but I also wanted to make sure I made something super simple.  I went to Pinterest for some inspiration and I kept seeing all kinds of different bars.  But they also seemed really labour intensive for the amount of time I had put aside to make today’s treat.  Then I went to the pantry and four ingredients caught my eye.  Chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, sweetened condensed milk and nilla wafers.  OOOOOOH I know fudge but then turn it into a bar with the nilla wafers. Yeah baby!

So here it goes.  Super Simple, Easy Peasy Fudge Bars!

• 10 oz chocolate chips
• 1 cup peanut butter chips
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 box nilla wafers
• 1 stick melted butter

1. In the bowl of a food processor, grind wafers.  Add melted butter.
2. Press into 9” square pan that you lined with parchment paper.  Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.  Set aside.
3. In a medium sized sauce pan, melt chips and milk together until smooth.
4. Pour over wafer crust and smooth out.
5. Drizzle with white chocolate.  Chill for 30 minutes.
6. Cut into squares and serve.
7. Enjoy!

See, super easy!

The girls both gave these a thumbs up!  So that’s pretty impressive since they tend not to like the same things ever.

I hope you’ll give these a go because every one loves easy peasy recipes!

Thanks for looking!

Treat Day Wednesday–Giant Garbage Cookies

Hi there!!!!!

I’m back, for today.  Big news, we are moving.  Nothing drastic really but we’ve decided that we want more outdoor space. So baking and blogging will be sparse for a while.  You know the drill when you are trying to sell a house.  You must live in a home you can’t actually live in.  Good times indeed.

So for some fun, I made these giant garbage cookies.  Meaning they are big cookies with tons of stuff from the pantry thrown in for fun :)  I saw a version on the Pioneer Woman’s show and I liked the concept so I made my own version.  I started with her base and then used what I had.  Her version is awesome too but we are a nut free house, not because we have to be, just because no one but me likes nuts.

Recipe: (inspired by Ree Drummond)

• 2 sticks softened butter
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp vanilla bean paste
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 cups oats
• 1 cup mini chocolate chips
• 2 cups rice krispies
• 1/2 cup m&ms
• 1/2 cup large chocolate chips
• ideas you could throw in: raisins, chopped nuts, dried fruit, different flavoured baking chips (PB, white, caramel, etc), just have fun with it.

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Cream butter and sugars together.  Mix in eggs and vanilla.
3. Add flour, baking powder, soda and salt until just combined.
4. Add the rest.
5. Using a 1/4 cup ice-cream scoop,  place 1 1/2” apart on a parchment or silpat covered baking sheet.
6. Bake for 12mins or until golden brown. 
7. Let cool and enjoy!

I wasn’t sure about the rice krispies but I really like the extra crunch they give.  I may add them to different drop cookies from now on.

So I hope you enjoy these as much as the girls and I do.

Thanks for looking!

Gluten Free Banana Nut Bread

I’m on a GF kick.  Not because anyone in our house requires GF but because my best friend, who is, challenged me to make a good GF Banana Nut Bread.  And I love a good challenge. 

When I first started baking as a teen, I used to love making banana bread.  My only problem was that I could never get the bread to have the little brown flecks synonymous with banana bread.  Mine usually came out of the oven and white as snow.  It tasted great but most people would say it looked nothing like traditional banana bread.  It took me almost 10 years to finally get it with the flecks.  Now I have a great banana bread recipe but decided to tweak it with the request for gluten free.

I took out the butter and buttermilk and replaced with apple sauce and Greek yogurt. So if you take out the walnuts and chocolate chips, this truly would be a non-fat bread.  As it stands now it’s low fat! You could also use stevia or honey in place of the white sugar.

Recipe:

• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 very ripe bananas
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup non-fat Greek yogurt
• 2 cups GF flour (my fav is Cup 4 Cup)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 3/4 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Prepare two loaf pans and set aside.
3. In bowl of a stand mixer, combine all ingredients excluding walnuts and chocolate chips.
4. When just combined, remove paddle and fold in walnuts and chips.  If you mix too much, the bread gets a bit chewy.
5. Divide batter into two and bake for 30-40 minutes. Or until toothpick comes out clean.
6. Let stand 10 minutes and then remove from pan.
7. Cool.  Keeps wrapped for 4-5 days, or in freezer 3-4 weeks.
8. Enjoy!

This bread is fabulous! I gave one loaf to a friend who just had a baby and ate the other.  Yup all by myself.  Rob doesn’t like nuts baked into things plus he wasn’t here to complain about it :)

You could also use regular all-purpose flour but when Sapna gave me the challenge I was all over it!  So if you have a bakers challenge for me, I’m always up for it!

Thanks for looking!

Treat Day Wednesday–Chocolate Chip Ice-cream Sandwiches

Oh yeah, it’s the coldest it’s been all winter (22F or –5.5) and the girls decided that we should make ice cream sandwiches.  Yes, I know, my kids are strange.

I’ve never tried making homemade vanilla ice cream before for two reasons.  One I’m lazy and it seems s involved and two, it’s my favourite flavoured ice cream and I’d probably eat it all.  But alas my kids asked and I’m weak to their treat day requests, so I made vanilla bean ice cream.

Oh but where to start.  My friend Google never lets me down, so one quick search led me to one of my most favourite blogs. David Lebovitz’s wonderful food blog is oh so witty and has taught me some amazing new things.  So when I saw his ice cream recipe come up first, I didn’t think twice and OMG it is to die for.

Then I made my standard chocolate chip cookie recipe and took two of the cookies and put some of the ice cream between and voila, home made ice cream sandwiches.

Super fun and super tasty!

Recipe: Vanilla Bean Ice Cream as adapted from David Lebovitz

• 1 cup milk
• A pinch of salt
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 5 large egg yolks

1. In medium saucepan, heat the milk, salt, sugar and vanilla bean paste until it starts to boil.  Remove from heat and let sit until cool.
2. Place cream in a bowl and place in an ice bath.  Set aside.
3. Pour milk mixture through a sieve to remove any solid pieces.
4. Whisk eggs and slowly add the milk and continue until completely combined.  Place on medium heat and continue to stir until the custard starts to thicken. 
5. Once thickened, strain into cream and combine. 
6. Place in fridge and chill overnight.
7. Place into ice cream machine and freeze as per machines directions.

Then make  your favourite chocolate chip cookies.  Or use my recipe found here just use chocolate chips instead of white chips.  Place a dollop of ice cream on one cookie and sandwich with another.

These are so so so good and as my sister says, ice cream is a year round treat!

Thanks for looking!

Be Still My Twi-Hard Heart

As the sighs of millions of girls, both young and older than young, come together for the final installment of the Twilight Saga. It’s also time to celebrate the books that brought a generation to read in cookie form. Can you believe it? 

Sadly it’s true :(  Today the final installment of the over acted yet pretty representation of Stephanie Meyer’s grammatically incorrect novels hits theatres today. The English major in me shuttered as I read them, but I did read them all.

Don’t get me wrong, I AM A TWIHARD.  The 14 year old girl in me devoured these books.  I even went to the first four movies and last year I made a cake.

Now the final movie is here and I will totally be going with my awesome friend and sister-in-law Catherine next week when she comes for a visit.  I CAN’T WAIT!

I hadn’t planned on making anything but I had some extra cookie dough and some icing and decided what the heck.  But I also want to share some of the Twilight awesomeness that I’ve seen out there these past few days. Click on their pictures to take you to their posts.

From Callye at Sweet Sugarbelle’s

From Liz at Lizy B’s Bake Shop

and from Alison from Ali Bee’s Bake Shop

Amazing right????

So here are mine.  They turned out way better than I thought they would.

So are you Team Edward?

or Team Jacob?

Whoever you cheer for, I hope your inner 14 year old enjoys the final chapter, I know I will.

Thanks for looking!