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–S’mores Brownies

You ever have one of those days?  I’m having one :( 

I woke up hoping I get more answers about my back and all I got were more questions, so I came hope and made these for my girls.  S’mores Brownies!

From where I come from, s’mores were things that you ate in the summer whilst camping, at least that’s what I thought.  Here in the US, y’all love them 365 days of there year and in all shapes and sizes.  Ok, I can work with that :)

Now my girls love graham crackers and marshmallows, but when we tried the traditional way of making s’mores they were a no go.  Then I thought I’d try a twist and use brownies.  Another one of their favourites and mine too!

So I made a graham cracker crust and pressed it into a 9’x13” pan and then poured the brownie mixture on to the top.  Baked for 30 minutes.  Once cooled I cut into bars and then put onto another baking sheet, topped with a marshmallow and toasted in oven until browned about 3 minutes.

Et voila a new twist on an old classic or for us a new twist on a new classic!

Graham Cracker Crust

• two packages graham crackers
• 1/2 cup melted butter

1. Crush crackers in food processor until fine crumbs.
2. Add butter.
3. Press into baking sheet.

Brownies

• 1 cup melted butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup good cocoa
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/3 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup chocolate chips

1. Melt butter and mix in sugar and cocoa.
2. Mix in eggs until completely combined
3. Add remaining ingredients until just mixed in.
4. Pour into baking dish, bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes.

Thanks for looking!

Treat Day Wednesday–Snow Day Lemon Bars

Today is not only Treat Day but it’s also a Snow Day!!!!  ok, I’m not that excited about it but everyone on our street is uber excited.  They all want to spend all day outside.  I guess after 40 years of 4 months of snow each year, it’s not that big of a deal to me.  The girls are loving it too!

So what do you make on a snow day???? Well lemon bars of course!  I decided to try a new recipe.  It all started with some Nilla wafers and some lemons.  40 minutes later these came out of the oven.

Recipe:

• 1/2 package Nilla wafers crushed
• 1/4 cup melted unsalted butter
• 4 eggs
• Juice of 2 lemons plus the zest of one lemon
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup flour

1. Mix the butter and crushed Nila wafers and press into an 8” square pan.  Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.
2. Combine the eggs, lemon juice, sugar, flour and zest together.  Pour over baked crust and put it back into the oven for 20 more minutes.
3. Let cool and then slice into bars.
4. Enjoy!

These are divine!  Simple, clean and wondrous, just like fresh fallen snow!

Thanks for looking!

Treat Day Wednesday–Salted Caramel Brownies

Guess what?  I’ve jumped on the salted caramel band wagon and I’m so glad I did!  I just decided to use my never fail brownies and then jazz them up a wee bit.  I blame Melissa at The Baked Equation.

So who’s been to Trader Joes?  If you can, go and buy their caramel sauce.  Why try to make it, when you can buy an uber tasty one from there or apparently from Amazon .  I mean, you could make your own but the point of treat day is for fun and EASY treats.  Plus I know my kids like it :)

Once baked and drizzled with caramel, I used this fancy sea salt my mother bought for me and have never used.

Salted Caramel Brownies:

• 1 cup melted butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup cocoa
• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/3 cups flour
• Caramel Sauce (Trader Joes)
• Course Sea Salt

1. In a medium sauce pan, melt butter.
2. Add sugar and cocoa and mix until combined.
3. Stir in eggs.
4. Add remaining dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
5. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes in a 9” x 13” x 1” dish until tester comes out clean.
6. Heat up caramel sauce and then drizzle on brownies while still warm.  Sprinkle with salt.
7. Let cool and serve!
8. Enjoy!

These are divine!!! I had to have a quality control piece ;)

Did you see these, I mean really???  My quality control test subject didn’t last long.

I’m trying to be better about posting the treat day treats.  Life has been crazy.

Gluten Free Brownies!

I love brownies!  I know you know that.  But I’ve just discovered the more dense fudgy kind, thanks to my friends Jill and TJ.  TJ is a chef and caterer at Donovan’s Dish.  He makes amazing fudgy brownies and when I was injured he kept me in chocolate awesomeness.  Well I can’t keep asking them to support my habit, so I decided to try and recreate them.  There have been lots of failures and then yesterday it was so dreary out, I needed my hit!  As I started pulling out ingredients I realized I was low on unbleached flour and had some Cup 4 Cup gluten free.  Since it’s interchangeable, I interchanged!  It’s a bit more expensive because you can only purchase it at William Sonoma around here.  If you go to their website you can see if there is another spot closer to you.

So how did I do????

Oh yeah baby.  TJ’s are still the bomb but these are pretty darn close. Yay me :)  And now I can make them for my best friend, Sapna, who is also gluten free.

So how do they differ from my chewy brownies?

Here’s the recipe:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 6 oz dark chocolate
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup gluten free flour (I used Cup 4 Cup but you could use your favourite GF flour)

1. Melt butter and chocolate over a double boiler.
2. Remove from heat and stir in sugar.
3. Add eggs one at a time with continuous stirring.  Add vanilla.
4. Finally combine with GF flour and pour into prepared baking sheet.
5. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes in a 8” square pan.
6. Let cool completely. 
7. Enjoy

Although there were pretty good with a bit of warmth out of the oven, I think they rocked it cold.  I put mine in the fridge and waited an extra 20 minutes to try them that way and that’s they way I like them (a-huh a-huh) :)

So try these, you won’t regret it!

Thanks for looking!

*This is not a sponsored post, I used Cup 4 Cup on my own accord and loved how it tasted.

Gluten Free Vanilla Custard Bars

I know what you are thinking.  Ugh! Gluten Free equals gritty texture right? Or it goes in the opposite and is very cakey with a gritty after bite.  Basically if you don’t have to put yourself in the world of gluten free, you don’t.

This isn’t my first foray into the gluten free world.  I made a cake for a friend many moons ago and last year I made my best friend sugar cookies for her birthday.  Both turned out pretty good, at least that’s what I was told but I still wasn’t happy.  This past weekend Rowan has a play date with two friends, sisters who were gluten free.  So I decided to have the girls decorate cookies, it’s kind of my standard play date activity for the first time visit (you know hop them up on sugar and send them home LOL).

I’ve also wanted to try the new Cup4Cup Gluten Free flour. As the name indicates, you just substitute this flour for whatever amount flour in any recipe.  Now save your pennies, it ain’t cheap.  It’s $19.95 for 3lbs and can only be found at Williams Sonoma, hence the price.  You can also buy in wholesale in 25lb bags but until you are sure you want to make a lot of gluten free cookies or desserts, I’d go with the small bag first.

The girls loved the cookies and made some pretty awesome cookies! 

But now what to do with the rest.  I know make a cookie bar!

I was cleaning out the pantry and found my Birds Custard Powder and I knew right there what I was going to make.

As a Canadian a common holiday treat is the traditional Nanaimo Bar, so I basically took that idea but used the GF cookie dough as the base et voila!  OH SO GOOD!

Recipe:

• Cookie Dough – use my basic sugar cookie recipe and replace the flour with Cup4Cup flour or use my GF sugar cookie recipe:
• Custard – blend together 1/2 cup softened butter, 2 cups confectioners sugar, 2 tbsp Birds Custard powder (yes it’s GF), 1/4 cup milk
• Chocolate – 1 1/2 cup chopped chocolate and 1/4 cream.  Boil cream and melt chocolate to make ganache.  1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 400F
2. Bake off cookie dough in 8” square pan lined with parchment for 9mins.  Let cool.
3. Layer custard on top of cookie dough crust.  Chill for 30 mins.
4. Make ganache and cover chilled custard.  Sprinkle with mini chocolate chips.  Chill for an hour.
5. Cut and serve
6. Enjoy!

Now you can totally make this with regular flour.  You could totally just eat the custard with a spoon, OH SO GOOD.  And mini chocolate chips always make treats fun!

Thanks for looking!

Pumpkin Week 2012–Pumpkin Swirl Brownies

So if you are new to Trilogy Edibles you may not know that our family is crazy nuts for brownies.  I’ve made them several ways.  When thinking up different recipes to use for this years Pumpkin Week, I knew I had to make a brownie.

Sure, anyone can just throw pumpkin in place of some of the butter, but I wanted to make these extra special.

Now after all the raspberry swirl cheesecake bars, I guess the swirl was the way to go.  But my regular brownie recipe has the cocoa incorporated early and then I thought, it’s time for a switch up.  So I kept the cocoa out and when the batter was made, I then split it in half and put 2/3rds the cocoa into one half and 1/2 cup pumpkin into the other.

The pumpkin side was much thinner than the chocolate but when swirled, it came together quite beautifully.  These are moist and light and just fabulous tasting, certainly giving the original a run for it’s money.

Recipe:

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 1/3 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 2/3 cup cocoa
• 1 cup chocolate chips

1. Melt butter and add in sugar, flour, baking powder, salt, eggs and vanilla.
2. Divide into two bowls.
3. In first bowl, add pumpkin puree and mix together.
4. In second bowl, add cocoa and chocolate chips.  Mix together.
5. In prepared 8”x8” square pan, pour in chocolate batter.
6. Pour the pumpkin batter on top of chocolate and then stir to get a swirl.  Since the chocolate is thicker, you’ll need to stir from the bottom up.
7. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes, until knife inserted comes out clean.
8. Let cool and cut into squares.
9. Enjoy!

These were pretty damn good warm (sometimes a girl just can’t wait).  I think I’ve gained all the weight I’ve lost with all these pumpkin recipes.

Thanks for looking!

Raspberry Cheesecake Bars–Two Ways

Here’s a question!  Graham cracker crust or shortbread crust?  As a self proclaimed non-fan of cheesecake, I don’t have a preference.  I mean I’ll eat it but it’s not a dessert I seek out, like so many I’ve learned.  So when a friend asked if I could make some I said yes but then I couldn’t decide which crust to use.  As you can imagine I made both. I also slightly changed the cheesecake part too, so you’ll get both recipe.

Now both bars were quite tasty, for cheesecake, but I still don’t have an answer to which crust is better.  I took them to Rowan’s daycare for the teachers and will be serving them at tonight’s Thanksgiving dinner.  I hope to have an answer by Monday.

Recipe 1: Shortbread crust

• 1 1/2 cup unbleached flour
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp soft butter
• 1/4 brown sugar
• 1 cup raspberries
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 4 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp corn starch mixed in 4 tbsp water
• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1/3 heavy cream

1. Mix together the flour, butter and brown sugar until the mixture is like soft oatmeal, press into a 8” square pan.  Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until it starts to brown at edges.  set aside.
2. In a sauce pan, combine the raspberries, sugar and water. Bring to a boil.  Once the raspberries start to break down, add the cornstarch flurry to help thicken the sauce.  Set aside.
3. Beat together in mixer the remaining ingredients until smooth.
4. Pour cream cheese mixture onto the crust.  Spoon the raspberry compote into the cream cheese then use a spoon to mix.
5. Drop temperature in oven to 300 and bake until set, about 25 minutes.
6. Let cool completely and slice into squares.

Recipe 2: Graham Cracker Crust

• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1/4 sugar
• 1 cup raspberries
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 4 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp corn starch mixed in 4 tbsp water
• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 egg plus 1tbsp egg whites
• 1 tbsp flour
• 1/4 cup Greek yogurt

1. Mix together the graham crumbs, butter and sugar until the mixture is like soft oatmeal, press into a 8” square pan.  Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until it starts to brown at edges.  set aside.
2. In a sauce pan, combine the raspberries, sugar and water. Bring to a boil.  Once the raspberries start to break down, add the cornstarch flurry to help thicken the sauce.  Set aside.
3. Beat together in mixer the remaining ingredients until smooth.
4. Pour cream cheese mixture onto the crust.  Spoon the raspberry compote into the cream cheese then use a spoon to mix.
5. Bake until set, about 35 minutes.
6. Let cool completely and slice into squares.

A couple things I noticed between both recipes.  The shortbread crust held together better after baking and had a nice crunch.  The yogurt gave a slightly tangier flavour, which I enjoyed, and also was lower in fat than the heavy cream, which I love.

So let me know your preference!  I’d love to hear from you.

Thanks for looking!

Pumpkin Spice Bark

There are days where I hate Target and there are days when I love it.  This is one of those days!  I went for toilet bowl brushes and came out with a package of these little devils.

Oh yeah baby!

I immediately thought bark!  The only pain is that they are individually wrapped but oh so worth it.

I melted two cups of good dark bittersweet chocolate and put it into a 9x9 pan that had been lined with parchment.   Then I melted the kisses and covered the dark chocolate. I then took a knife and swirled it around.  Into the fridge for an hour and removed.  I broke it up and it was good to go.  My husband took it to the trade show he was working and just left it on their table.  Needless to say it didn’t last long!

A must try indeed!

Thanks for looking!

Chocolate Blueberry Brownies

Hi, I’m Karen and in true Karen fashion, I broke a rib by coughing.  It’s a true talent, believe me! So what do you do when you are a type A blogger and you’ve broken a rib?  Well you listen to the doctor for the first couple days and don’t move and take your pain meds.  But then eventually boredom takes over.  I finally sucked it up and drove to the store to get something chocolate. Chocolate makes everything better!  Isn’t that what they say????  I bought some sort of iced brownie.  It was such a disappointment that I decided to just do what comes naturally, bake something!

A group of friends of mine online were talking brownies and that did it for me, I had to make them.  I also had lots of blueberries, so I thought I’d try something different and added them to the brownies.  And you know what???? GENIUS!

So because it has blueberries in it, that means it’s healthy right?????  shhhhh please work with me, I’m injured.

Recipe:

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup cocoa
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/3 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup blueberries
• 1 cup chocolate chips

1. Melt butter and add sugar and cocoa.
2. Mix in eggs
3. Add flour, baking powder and salt until combined
4. Fold in blueberries and chocolate chips.
5. Bake at 350 in 8x13” greased pan.
6. 35-40 minutes until knife inserted comes out clean.
7. cool and serve!

These are so moist and chewy and yes, I ate the entire plate :)

Now as I lie on the couch trying to follow doctor’s orders, I at least have some awesomely chocolatey goodness to make me feel better.

I’ve been told it’ll be at least two weeks before I can start to do stuff, like picking things up and then another 4 to 6 weeks before I’ll feel normal again.  So much for getting back into shape.

So when you are feeling down and out, make these brownies.  You can thank me later :)

Thanks for looking!

Chocolate Brownie Fudge Bar with Chocolate Ganache

I have a confession…I love to host dinner parties.  So when Rob bought his birthday present, a new smoker, it was another great reason to have a few friends (or twenty) over to test it out!  I try to say we’ll do the main and everyone else bring sides potluck style but I just can’t stop myself.  You just never know, someone may forget, so I may over prepare.

This past weekend was no exception.  I had hummus with carrots and pistachio's for appys, watermelon skewers with a balsamic reduction and watermelon stars on sticks for the kids as a fresh side and of course we did four racks of ribs and a 10lb pork shoulder as the main. (sorry no pics)

Now you’re probably thinking, ok let’s hear about this fudge bar you teased us with in the post title.  ok ok!

I also believe that every good meal should have an equally good dessert and so do our guests.  When they saw the watermelon they immediately asked where the fattening alternative was.  They know me so well.

So I made this…

It’s a brownie layer covered by a fudge layer and then covered in a chocolate ganache coating.  Can I get a yes please??????  oh me please.  After I cut out the pieces for the pictures, I of course had to give it a taste test.  WELL…

I immediately texted Rob and told him he’d been replaced :)  LOL

Brownie recipe can be found here

Fudge recipe can be found here

Ganache recipe can be found here

Put it all together and enjoy!

Thanks for looking!

Sugar Cookie Fudge Bars

I was making some cookies and had some dough leftover and have wanted to try this recipe for a long time.  I’m sure it’s not new and I’m sure there are better but this is what popped into my head for what would be a good combination.

I used a square cake pan with a pop-out bottom and lined it with parchment paper.  I cut out a square cookie the size of the cake pan and dropped it into the bottom of the pan.  The cookie base is baked off first and then I covered it with chocolate fudge and sprinkled with heath chips.

How-to:

1. Make sugar cookie dough (recipe here)
2. Make two-ingredients chocolate fudge (recipe here)  just use all chocolate chips
3. Bake cookie in a pop-out bottom square pan
4. Cover cookie in fudge
5. Sprinkle with Heath Chips
6. Place in fridge and cool completely
7. Slice and serve
8. Enjoy!

These are simple and delicious.

Since Rob’s been travelling a lot with work, I decided to not even chance having them around.  I took them to Rowan’s daycare for the staff and they flipped over them.  YAY!

Thanks for looking!

Strawberry-Rhubarb-Oatmeal-Bars

Another a-ha moment at the grocery store, I was looking for puff pastry and found rhubarb.  I use to love my grandmother’s strawberry/rhubarb pie and when I looked,  it wasn’t in her recipe box.  So I bought the bag of frozen rhubarb and threw it into the freezer.  Now that I’m back from vacation it’s time to think up new treats.  So I grabbed the bag and stared at it for a while.

Time to hit the pantry for some more inspiration.  I pulled out oats because for some reason it made sense to pair oats with rhubarb.  Then I had bought some beautiful strawberries so they needed to make an appearance as well.  So I thought about a bar type treat and this is what I came up with.

Strawberry-Rhubarb-Oatmeal Bars!

For The Streusel

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup oats
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

For The Cake

• 1 cup rhubarb, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 cup strawberries cut in halves
• 1 tablespoon light-brown sugar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup icing sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Make streusel by combining all ingredients in a bowl, set aside.
2. In another bowl, mix rhubarb, strawberries, brown sugar and 1/4 cup flour.  set aside.
3. Cream butter with icing sugar.  Add eggs and vanilla.
4. Combine remaining 3/4 cup flour, baking powder and salt.
5. In prepared pan, pour batter and level with off-set spatula.
6. Cover with rhubarb and strawberries and then cover all with streusel.
7. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.
8. Let cool completely before removing from pan (10”x10”)
9. Slice and enjoy!

This is such a light treat.  Maybe not in calories but meh!  Using the icing sugar instead of granulated in the cake gives the bar a sweeter base and the rhubarb’s tartness balances it all out!  This would be a great finish to a lighter dinner or just paired with a big ol’ mug of tea!  That’s what I did!

So the next time you are in the freezer section looking for puff pastry, grab a bag of frozen rhubarb for an alternative to the standard fruit desserts.

Thanks for looking!

Withdrawal…fixed with a chocolate chip fudge bar!

I’m back in my kitchen!  It’s been a whole week and although it was awesome to be away from the kitchen, I missed it so.

Florida was a blast.  We did a whole lot of nothing.  My parents have a pool and the girls spent almost every minute in it.  Actually the amount of time diminished each day as their energy wore out.  Twelve hour sleeps weren’t enough to recharge their batteries but the constant enthusiasm about everything made the two day drive worth it!

We went and saw Winter the Dolphin from A Dolphin Tale the movie .  The one hour trip up to Clearwater was so worth the drive.  The girls faces when they saw the dolphin were magical.  One tip for those who plan this trip, buy tickets online.  We did and prevented the 1 hour line up wait to buy tickets.  Especially in the heat.  They also make you go through the gift shop in and out, so be prepared! We were lucky and only escaped with a stuffed dolphin each

We got to celebrate Easter with the Bunny himself.  At my parents golf club they did brunch, pony rides, carriage rides, balloon animals and of course an egg hunt!

We also had lunch with friends, where my mother got to speak adult language for a couple hours.

All in all it was a great trip.  Now back to reality!

So with not much in the fridge and pantry (I did come home to a really clean house!) I made you this!

Chocolate Chip Fudge Bar.

Chocolate Chip Crust:

• 1/2 cup butter softened
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup plus 2 tbsp flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup chips

1. Cream butter and sugars together, add egg and vanilla.
2. Mix in dry ingredients and chips.
3. Press mixture into pan like a crust.  Bake at 350 for 15 minutes, or until browned and done.

Fudge:

• 2 cups chocolate chips
• 1 cup butterscotch chips
• 1 can condensed milk
• 1 tsp vanilla

1. Combine all ingredients in saucepan and melt over medium high heat.
2. When smooth, cover chocolate chip base with fudge.  Be quick, it hardens quickly.
3. Sprinkle with icing sugar
4. Enjoy!

So now that I’m back, I’ve got some baby shower cookies this week, bachelorette cookies next week and whatever else comes into the mind, something with rhubarb I think!

Thanks for looking!

Cherry Chocolate Fudge Brownies

I’m going to have a few cherry recipes this week, what with the 11lb tub of pitted tart cherries my in-laws brought me :)

With most of the cherries, I made cherry pie filling and froze seven for future use.  Cherry pie is Rob’s favourite dessert. We had it for dessert last night, of course. After I finished making the pie fillings I had so much cherry juice left over and I don’t want to waste it, so I’m coming up with cherry recipes.

First up, I’m switching up a classic.  I took out half of the butter and replaced it with cherry juice.  I’m not a fan of cherries, it’s a texture thing but using the juice and not the fruit is something I can get on board with!

These brownies are moist and the cherry flavour mixes so well with the rich chocolate.

Recipes:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup cherry juice
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup good cocoa
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/3 cup unbleached flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt

1. Melt butter in saucepan and add cherry juice. 
2. Mix in sugar and cocoa.
3. Add eggs and combine one at a time.
4. Mix in remaining ingredients and once combined pour into prepared 8 inch square pan.
5. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes or until knife comes out clean.
6. Let cool, slice and enjoy!

{Nutrition Date per serving: Calories: 139; Carbs: 23g;  Fat: 5g; Protein: 5g}

By cutting the butter in half you’ve decreased the fat content, yay!

I love plain old brownies but these are a fabulous twist on the original genius!

Thanks for looking!

Linking with:
Mix it Up Monday
Mingle Monday
Melt In Your Mouth Monday
Tea Party Tuesday
Crazy Sweet Tuesday
Hearth & Soul Blog Hop

Meyer Lemon Bars

I never really bought Meyer lemons until I moved south.  Even when I do, it’s usually at Whole Foods and one or two at a time, but when I saw a bag of them at Walmart, of all places, I knew it was a sign to make something.

Meyer lemons are a citrus usually native to China and are thought to be a cross between a lemon and a mandarin orange. So they are sweet and tart!  Lemon, in our house, is one of the most requested flavours.  You could even just eat this type of lemon like an orange, if you are so inclined

So I made these bars and they are so simple and so yummy!  And it got me out of cleaning, which is always a plus because I am a professional procrastinator.

Recipe: Adapted from GroupRecipes.com

Crust:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• Juice of two lemons

Filling:

• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp all purpose flour
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 2 tsp finely grated meyer lemon zest
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed meyer lemon juice

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Butter and line an 8-inch square pan with parchment paper.
2. In food processor, combine flour, sugar, salt,  and butter until it’s like oatmeal.  Then add juice and pulse until it starts to come together.
3. Press into pan and bake for 15 minutes, or until the crust starts to brown.
4. In another bowl combine eggs, sugar, flour, salt, zest and juice.  Mix completely.
5. Once crust is removed from oven, pour egg mixture over and put back into oven for another 15 minutes, or until the mixture is set.
6. Cool completely, dust with icing sugar.  Slice and serve!
7. Enjoy!

Adding the lemon juice to crust really enhances the lemon flavour of the entire bar!

Since I’ve started being good about nutrition, I also started creating nutrition labels.  I hope this helps too :)  The recipe makes about 16 bars, this label is for one bar.  You can do it too with Self Nutrition Data.  You input your recipe and voila, it creates a nutrition facts label!  So Cool!

Thanks for looking!

Linking with:
Foodie Friday