Peanut Candy Bar Caramel Corn

It was one of those mornings that was really the afternoon when I woke up with a pounding head. As I went to rub my face, as if to wipe away the pain, this inflicted even more pain on my throbbing nose. On the floor beside the bed, two dirty and wet socks were thrown near a pile of last night's clothes. At this point, I reached around for the time. But alas, no phone. 

And nope, it wasn't the morning after New Years so there is no logical reasoning except that my cousin had just arrived to town and a certain friend is very encouraging. Turns out, the pounding is because of a dance battle that involved a head stand. The wet socks are from an evening stroll that was so important that shoes were not. And to add insult to injury, my phone was at the taxi office on the other side of town.

When all is wrong, make some caramel corn. It gives a sense of accomplishment and it softens the blow of a hangover and the jokes being thrown around about last night's dance off. Don't worry, they are clearly just jealous of my mad dance skills.. and popcorn.

 

Peanut Candy Bar Caramel Corn

Adapted from my favourite recipe

3/4 cup butter
2 cups light brown sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda 

2 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 quarts popped popcorn (3 regular size bags of popped smartpop)

2 cups honey roasted peanuts
3 cups chocolate bars chopped (peanut butter cups and snickers are da-bomb)

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (95 degrees C). Place popcorn and peanuts in two very large bowl.* In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in brown sugar, corn syrup and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil without stirring 4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in soda and vanilla. Pour in a thin stream over popcorn, stirring to coat.** Place in two large shallow baking dishes lined with tin foil and bake in preheated oven, stirring and alternating sheets every 15 minutes, for 1 hour. Remove from oven and immediately toss in the chocolate bar chunks. Let cool completely attacking it with your face.

* I didn't listen to my own advice from my own recipe. Two huge bowls are needed and it will still flop over the edges. Think of it as a bonus snack to eat along the way.
** The popcorn won't be completely coated but as it bakes it will melt and coat as it's tossed. So remember to stir it around in the oven for maximum awesomeness. 

Rocky Ledge Re-vamped

Another favourite bar! Every year these come out of the oven at least once. Every year is different too but this is the best yet. Subtle changes make a big difference I tell yarrr. It is a new year, a new me. The new me is pirate. Anyway, these little changes made them better when they were already the best. Such changes like big instead of little marshmallows, additional peanut butter cups and honey roasted peanuts, chopped chocolate instead of chips, more vanilla, more pan space, more more more. In this case, as with most, less is not more.

 

May I present, the bars to die for, Rocky Ledge Bars.

Re-Vamped Rocky Ledge Bars

Adapted from Martha Stewart Cookies

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cups packed dark-brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup large marshmallows, quartered
1 cup milk chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup white chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup mini peanut butter cups, halved

1 cup honey roasted peanuts
1 cup soft caramel-candy cubes, quartered

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter two 8x 8 inch baking pans. Line with parchment paper, allowing a 2-inch overhang on the longer sides. Brush parchment with butter (not overhang). Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Mix butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; mix until well combined. Mix in flour mixture until combined. Fold in half of each of the marshmallows, chocolates, peanuts, peanut butter cups and caramels. Divide and spread batter into prepared pans. Scatter remaining marshmallows, chocolates, peanut butter cups, peanuts and caramels on top. Bake until top is golden brown and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack. Lift out of pan, and transfer to a baking sheet. Refrigerate until set, at least 30 minutes. Remove parchment, and cut each pan into about 16 small or 8 large triangles. Bars can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week. Makes 16 or 32 triangles.

Despite the previous pirate talk, I am not a big new years resolution gal. But I do apologize if these ruin yours.

Birthday and Cake

It's my party and I will cry if I want to. But I won't because it was awesome! The big one nine. Officially legal throughout all of Canada and nearly everywhere else in the world but the good ol' South, also known as the States. Cigarettes, champagne and lottery tickets here I come. Only joking. About the cigarettes anyway.

 My beloved friend, Bo, made me this amazing card. 

Yes, this that Eric à la True Blood, Ryan Reynolds, Jake Gyllenhaal, Leo from Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and, of course, Brad. And that is unfortunately me in the background with moose antlers found in the woods. My other gifts included such things as baking goods, books, a typewriter and loads of great stuff.

But one of the best parts of birthdays are making my own birthday cakes. Last year, it was the sweet and salty cake and this year was the peanut butter cake. While I made something similar for Pumpkin's birthday last year, changes were made to the frosting, a different cake and filling. It sounds completely different but it's the same concept.

Notice the knife, plastic wrap and open door.

Yum, yum, yum.. go find milk.

Peanut Butter Cup Cake
Cake from Barefoot Contessa and frosting from several places

cake

1 3/4 cups flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup natural cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 extra large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee 

icing

1 1/2 cups smooth peanut butter

1/2 cup butter

2 tsp vanilla

2 cups confectioner's sugar

1/4 cup cream

assembly

1/3 cup chopped, honey roasted peanuts

2 cups quartered mini peanut butter cups

cake Preheat the oven to 325º. Butter two 8 inch cake pans. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Butter the parchment paper and coat in cocoa. Tap off the excess. Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. In smaller bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla. Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry until just combined. Add the coffee and stir just to combine. The batter will be quite thin, don't worry! Divide the batter amongst the two pans. Bake for 35-40 minutes, alternating halfway through. Cool the cakes completely before removing them from the pans.

*If making this ahead of time, wrap the cakes completely in plastic wrap overnight. 

frosting Beat the butter, peanut butter and vanilla together. Sift in the confectioner's sugar. The frosting will be quite thick so slowly add the cream until the desired consistency.

assembly Unwrap the cakes from the plastic wrap. Cut the cakes across the top so that the tops are even. I used a huge, jagged bread knife to get the top even. Place one of the cakes on a cake stand. Spread about 1/2 cup of the peanut butter frosting on the cake. Top with the honey roasted peanuts. Place the next cake on top. Frost the rest of the cake. Don't worry about a crumb coat. With the peanut butter cups, cover the cake. Cover the cake loosely with plastic wrap. Put it in the fridge until serving, preferably within the day of assembly.

Peanuttiest Blondies

My little baby brother turned the big one four the other day. It is so hard to believe. For some odd reason, I group people into age categories and they seldom change. Ben is still ten in my mind, my little cousins are all about five years old when they are all nearly fourteen as well. The whole family has this age number that doesn't change as they do. But let's just look at how bloody cute my brother is.

This was his twelfth birthday, hitting up that cheesecake. I really need to stop bragging about how cute he is. Let it be known though that this is the only time I admit that he is cute and talented. Normally the little butthead is, well, a butthead. And I could never tell such a boy that he is actually not that bad. Got to keep him from thinking I'm going soft. 

And the other day when I was thinking of what to bake, I remembered that he and I have something very important in common. Love of peanut butter. Peanut butter cups in particular. These blondies are the second good I have baked from my new Dorie baking book. She did not disappoint again. Even though I undercooked them, they were still tasty. How have I gone so long without Dorie Greenspan?

Peanut Butter Blondies

Adapted from Baking: From My Home To Yours

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon*
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter, not natural
5 tbsp unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup coarsely chopped honey roasted peanuts
16 mini peanut butter cups

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spray a 9 inch square baking pan with non stick spray and line with parchment paper. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Set aside. Cream the peanut butter and butter together until smooth. Add the white sugar and then the brown sugar and continue creaming. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for one minute after each egg goes in. Beat in the vanilla extract. Slowly add the dry ingredients. Stir in the nuts, do not over stir. Scrape in half the dough and evenly place the peanut butter cups so there is one for each bar. Smooth on the rest of the dough. Bake the blondies for 40-50 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out mostly clean. Check halfway through, you may need to cover the pan with foil if the blondies are browning too fast. Cool the blondies completely before removing from the pan and slicing. 

*Another reason I love her, she understands the importance of cinnamon! 

Dorie's Chocolate Oatmeal Almost Candy Bars

Dorie Greenspan's cookbook 'Baking: From My Home to Yours' is quite the rage. I mean there is an entire group of food bloggers dedicated to it. I am not part of this group but I have seen the weekly recipe on foodgawker all the time. Everyone was going on and on about this amazing cookbook and how great she is, and I just had to buy this book. Recently, I have been on a kick with buying new cookbooks so this was perfect timing. Mind you, I hadn't seen this book anywhere for months. But my luck changed when last week I came across it in the local bookstore.

 Let me tell you. I have read that puppy cover to cover. How could I not? I had to see if it was all it was hyped up to be. And was it? Well after trying this recipe, it clearly is. When it came time to decide the first recipe, I chose five and let my older brother choose. Pretty sure when he heard candy bars he actually paid attention. My God, these are good. I, too, can now say that you should buy her cookbook and start baking!

Dorie's Chocolate Oatmeal Almost Candy Bars

Adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours

oatmeal layer
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt 
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed 
1 egg 
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2  cups old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup salted peanuts, coarsely chopped
chocolate layer
half of a 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk 
1 cup milk chocolate chocolate chips
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup moist, plump raisins (The raisins made the bars amazing for me)
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp coarsely chopped peanuts, preferably salted

Center a rack in the oven, and preheat oven to 350º. Butter an 8 x 8 inch baking pan, and place the pan on a baking sheet. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. In a large bowl, beat the butter until it is soft and creamy. Add the brown sugar and beat until fluffy, then add the eggs, beating for a minute after the egg is added. Beat in the vanilla. The mixture should be light and fluffy. Slowly add the dry ingredients, mixing just until they disappear. Stir in the oats and chopped peanuts. Set aside a heaping 3/4 cup of the oatmeal mixture, then turn the remaining dough into the buttered pan. Gently and evenly press the dough over the bottom of the pan. Set aside while you prepare the next layer. Set a heat-proof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Put the condensed milk, chocolate chips, butter, and salt in the bowl and stir occasionally until the milk is warm and the chocolate and butter are melted. Remove the bowl from the pan of water and stir in the vanilla, raisins, and peanuts. Pour the warm chocolate over the oatmeal crust, then scatter the remaining oatmeal mixture over the top. Don’t try to spread the oatmeal, and don’t worry about getting the topping even. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the topping is golden brown and the chocolate layer is dull and starting to come away from the sides of the pan. Transfer the baking pan to a rack and cool for about 2 hours. Run a blunt knife between the edges of the cake and the pan, and carefully turn the cake out onto a rack. Turn right side up, then refrigerate for at least 1 hour before cutting. Cut into 16 squares. Store these in the fridge in an airtight container, or even the freezer. I had one at room temperature, refrigerated and from the freezer, and all were amazing but I prefer fridge the best!

Peanut Popcorn

I am kind of bored with cookies today. I mean there are so many I want to make but I just wasn't in the mood. There is a pile of cookie and brownie of recipes waiting but oh well. Cake wasn't calling my name either and pie just wasn't in the cards. 

 

When in doubt, popcorn. I inhale popcorn like none other. Anytime I watch a movie or anything on TV for an extensive period of time, it is required! Have you tried Moose Munch from Harry and David? The Christmas special one with carmel coating, dark and white chocolate with peanuts and peppermint? Heaven. When I was younger, our family friends would usually have this trio popcorn tin during Christmas. It had caramel corn, chocolate popcorn and peanut butter popcorn. These thoughts came to mind and I just had to make one of them. Seeing as I clearly like peanut butter way too much and have an abundance of the stuff, why not? Oh memories. 

Peanut Popcorn 

1/4 cup popcorn kernels

1 tsp canola oil

1/2 cup white corn syrup

Just under 1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup (preferably unsweetened and unsalted, like Kraft Brand) peanut butter

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup coarsely chopped salted peanuts 

Using which ever method you prefer, pop the popcorn kernels and set aside. I put 1 tsp oil in a popcorn pot, on medium heat, and add the popcorn kernels. Stir constantly until the popping is done. Set the popped popcorn aside in a medium sized bowl. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a small pot, stir the syrup and sugar together. Cook on medium heat until boiled which is about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat. Add the peanut butter and salt. Mix until the peanut butter is completely melted and combined. Pour the peanut butter mixture over the prepared popcorn and pour the peanuts in as well. Toss until the popcorn is coated. Spread the popcorn out on the prepared baking sheet and let cool and set.. or just eat right then and there.

Peanut Butter Bombs

Oscars!

Clothes.. Kate Winslet is one of my favourites, looked great. How cool was Zoe Saldana's dress? Miley's is my dream dress. She looked gorgeous! 

Olivia Wilde was sporting a vintage like outfit, lovely. Robert Downey Jr. and his wife were a well dressed couple. But..

Jeff Bridges, I would marry him regardless of age.

I was so excited that Jeff Bridges won! It was predicted by everyone that he would win but he completely deserved it. I had to drive a half hour to go and see Crazy Heart the night it was released and it was worth it. His Bad Blake is truly bad and yet he makes you fall in love with him. And when he sings, my heart melts.

For the oscars, I set myself up real nice. On the couch with a thick blanket, diet coke and lime, smart pop and these cookies. It kind of cancels out all the healthy bits but balance is good. I shall describe these. The outside is a peanut butter cookie dough which is pressed into a mix of peanuts, cinnamon and cocoa, then a half of a peanut butter cup is tucked inside, rolled up and baked, then dusted with more cocoa and cinnamon. BOOM.. that would be a bomb.

Peanut Butter Bombs
Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Christmas Cookies 2009

cookie
3/4 cup softened butter
1/2 cup smooth (unsalted and unsweetened, like Kraft brand, if possible) peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
filling
3 tbsp cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon (I really love it)
3 tbsp finely chopped unsalted peanuts
19 miniature chocolate-covered peanut butter cups, halved
topping
1 tbsp cocoa
1/2 tsp cinnamon 

Preheat oven to 375º. In a large bowl, combine butter and peanut butter. Beat until light and fluffy. Add the sugar, baking powder, and salt. Beat until completely combined. Beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Add half the flour mix and combine. Add the remaining and thoroughly mix. If necessary, cover and chill about 30 minutes or until dough is easy to handle. In a small shallow bowl mix the cocoa, cinnamon and peanuts together. Shape dough into 1-1/2-inch balls. Flatten the ball into a disk and press into the cocoa mixture. Place a peanut butter cup half on the cookie and enclose the dough around it to form a ball. Place cookies 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are firm and bottoms are very lightly browned. They may not look like they are done but they are! 10 minutes resulted in a browned bottom with a drier cookie so really make sure you watch them. Transfer cookies to a wire rack; let cool. Once they are cooled, sift the cookies with the cocoa and cinnamon mixture. Makes about 38 cookies. 

P.S. Those top photos were from google

Peanut Butter So-Called Nanaimo Bars

Well hello there. This is my first entry, finally, and here is what we have. I decided that to show my Vancouver-ness I would make a recipe from the local newspaper. Also, from said newspaper I decided to make a local recipe. However, the ingredients in the recipe aren't that similar to regular Nanaimo bars like nuts and coconut in the base. But it did have the classic custard filling and top chocolate layer. Now, here is the breakdown on how it went down.

Peanut Butter So-Called Nanaimo Bars
base:
1 cup light corn syrup
2 cups peanut butter (I used smooth but crunchy would have been better)
2 cups special k
1/2 cup splenda brown sugar blend
2 cups corn flakes
custard filling:
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
4 tbsp vanilla pudding powder or custard powder
6 tbsp milk
3 cups icing sugar
topping:
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
6 tbsp butter
1/3 cup honey roasted peanuts (optional)*

Lightly butter two 8" x 8" pans. In a medium sauce pan, combine the syrup, peanut butter and brown sugar until blended. Remove from heat and add the rice krispies and corn flakes. Divide this mixture into two equal parts and press into the buttered pans. Chill till set, I waited about 45 minutes. Beat together the peanut butter and pudding powder then gradually, alternating, add the milk and icing sugar. Once again divide and spread onto the pans. Chill, again, for another 45 minutes or till firm. Finally, melt together the chocolate and butter in the microwave for about 3 minutes. Once again, chill till set. (At this point I just went to bed.) I woke up in the morning and tried to cut these puppies right from the fridge but I suggest if you leave them in their overnight that you let them sit out for a half hour before attempting to chop them up. Once they are warmed a bit, cut them up into 3/4" pieces like I did or however big you wish.
* I had been cutting and adding so many things to the recipe by that stage in the process that I thought why not? I love honey roasted peanuts so I am biased but it added a great crunch.