Chocolate Rasberry Crumb Bars

These little nuggets are currently my favorite new recipe and the reason I have vowed to start giving away all of my baking results. I made them for a play group and then finished off what was left pretty much single handedly. Yikes. Recipe comes from Nestle's Very Best Baking site:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups (12-ounce package) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels, divided
• 1 can (14 ounces) NESTLÉ® CARNATION® Sweetened Condensed Milk
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)
• 1/3 cup seedless raspberry jam

Directions:
PREHEAT oven to 350° F. Grease 13 x 9-inch baking pan.

BEAT butter in large mixer bowl until creamy. Beat in flour, sugar and salt until crumbly. With floured fingers, press 1 3/4 cups crumb mixture onto bottom of prepared baking pan; reserve remaining mixture.

BAKE for 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are golden brown.

MICROWAVE 1 cup morsels and sweetened condensed milk in medium, uncovered, microwave-safe bowl on HIGH (100%) power for 1 minute; STIR. Morsels may retain some of their original shape. If necessary, microwave at additional 10- to 15-second intervals, stirring just until morsels are melted. Spread over hot crust.

STIR nuts into reserved crumb mixture; sprinkle over chocolate filling. Drop teaspoonfuls of raspberry jam over crumb mixture. Sprinkle with remaining morsels.

BAKE for 25 to 30 minutes or until center is set. Cool completely in pan on wire rack.


Sorry I didn't get any process pics...it actually would be nice to have them for this recipe but I forgot...my bad.

Triple Berry Crisp

I stole this recipe off of a friend of a friends blog that I secretly blog stalk...Morgan Moore. It sounded so great and summery and it was. I think I could have used a bit more butter but other than that it was fantastic.
Tripple Berry Crisp

• 6 Cups of Fruit (I used a combination of blueberries, raspberries & strawberries but you could do all blueberries or whatever combination you like)
• 4 Tbsp Sugar

Mix the fruit & the sugar in a bowl & set aside

• 2 C Flour
• 2 C Oats
• 1 1/2 C Brown Sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp Apple Pie Spice mix (or a combo of cinnamon & nutmeg)
• 1 C Butter

Combine all of the ingredients & cut in the butter with a pastry knife or put it in a food processor. Press 1/2 of the Oat mixture into the bottom of a 9"x13" pan.

Put the fruit mixture on top & sprinkle the remaining oat mixture on top.

Cook at 350 for 45 minutes, or until crisp & bubbly.

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

For Father's Day Easton and I made Rob these cookies- his favorite. I think they turned out fantastic and Rob liked them too. They were the right soft/crunchy balance. I probably added a bit more white chocolate chips and the macadamia nuts than the recipe called for but other than that I stayed true to the recipe. It was the first time I had ever made this kind of cookie and I think it's a keeper!

• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 8 ounces white chocolate, chopped
• 1 (6.5 ounce) jar macadamia nuts, chopped

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Stir in the egg and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt, stir into the creamed mixture. Finally, stir in the white chocolate and nuts. Drop cookies by heaping teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until lightly browned. Cool on wire racks. When cool, store in an airtight container.

Black and White Cheesecake Squares

When Lizzy and the Doug were here a while ago Lizzy brought a recipe from her Martha Stewart mag that we tried out. We totally cheated. Instead of making the brownie part from scratch we used a brownie mix. So while I've posted the original recipe from Martha just know that we took a short cut. They turned out pretty good though.

Ingredients

• Vegetable oil cooking spray
• 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 10 ounces (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 21/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Coat a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Line dish with parchment, leaving a 2-inch overhang on both long sides, then spray parchment. (We didn't do this part)





Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Cream butter and granulated sugar with a mixer until smooth. Add 2 eggs and 2 teaspoons vanilla, and beat until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl. Reduce speed to low; add flour mixture. Increase speed to medium; beat until incorporated.

Reserve 1 cup of dough; cover, and refrigerate. Press remaining dough into bottom of prepared dish. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Bake until base is set and edges are puffed, about 25 minutes. Let cool in dish on a wire rack.

Mix cream cheese, confectioners' sugar, and remaining egg and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla in a medium bowl. Spread over cooled base; crumble reserved dough on top.

Bake until filling is set, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool in dish on wire rack, then lift out using overhang.

Cut into 24 squares. Squares will keep, covered and refrigerated, for up to 3 days.

Muddy Buddies

Some people call these Muddy Buddies and some call them People Puppy Chow. Either way, they are delicious (and quite dangerous. If I don't give them away, I'll eat them constantly until they're gone). Here's the recipe:

9 cups Corn Chex
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Into large bowl measure cereal; set aside.
In medium size sauce pan, melt chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter on medium heat until mixture can be stirred smooth. Stir in vanilla. Pour mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated.









Pour into 2-gallon resealable food-storage plastic bag (I used a paper grocery bag).
Add powdered sugar. Seal bag; shake well until coated.

Spread on wax paper to cool. Store in airtight container in refrigerator.

Banana Chocolate Chips Muffins

These are pretty standard banana muffins that I added chocolate chips to but they're always a hit. Here's the recipe:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 large bananas, mashed
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• I added about 2 cups of chocolate chips
  

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Coat muffin pans with non-stick spray, or use paper liners. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
2. Combine bananas, sugar, egg, and melted butter in a large bowl. Fold in flour mixture (and chocolate chips), and mix until smooth. Scoop into muffin pans.
3. Bake in preheated oven. Bake mini muffins for 10 to 15 minutes, and large muffins for 25 to 30 minutes. Muffins will spring back when lightly tapped.

Apple Crisp

This dessert always takes me back to college. My roommates and I always made it on Sunday's. The recipe comes from Kari and it is just classic comfort food. I made it when Lizzy was here so that we could reminisce about the good ol' days.

Here's what you need:

-lots of apples; peeled
-1 1/2 cups brown sugar
-1 cup flour
-1/2 cup oats
-2/3 cup melted butter
-cinnamon (to taste, about 1/2 tbsp?)

Peel apples


and then cut them into bite-sized pieces


and put into a lightly greased 9x13 inch pan or really whatever pan you have. I just keep peeling and chopping apples until I have enough to cover the pan plus a little more.
Mix all dry ingredients and then add butter a bit at a time.

Easy on the butter...with this batch I added too much butter and it was a bit too gooey and not enough crispy. The batter should be a little crumbly when all is said and done and not totally sticky and gooey.
Crumble mixture over apples

and bake for 25 minutes or until apples are soft and crisp is bubbly.
I served with ice-cream...like I do everything else!