Fudgy Chocolate Chip Toffee Bars

Source- Family Bites via Pinterest

Every once in awhile I get the urge to make a dessert.  We usually have cookies in the house, but sometimes I want something a little different for a sweet treat.  These looked really good and not too hard to make.

Ingredients

• 1/2 C butter, melted
• 2 C graham cracker crumbs (32 squares) 
• 1 8 oz. bag toffee bits
• 1 roll refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough
• 1 12oz. bag chocolate chips
• 1 14oz. can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 T butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Preparation

• Grease 13x9 baking dish and heat oven to 350.
• Have the roll of cookie dough sitting out for around 10 minutes to soften up.
• In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the 1/2 cup of melted butter, 1 1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs and 3/4 cup of toffee bits.
• Pour mixture into the greased pan and press evenly until mixture covers bottom of pan. 
• Refrigerate for around 15 minutes.
• In a 2 qt saucepan, heat the milk, chocolate chips and the tablespoon of butter over medium heat. 
• Stir frequently until the chips are melted and the mixture is smooth. 
• Remove the mixture from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. 
• Spread the mixture over the graham cracker crumb mixture.
• In another medium mixing bowl, break up the cookie dough and stir in the remaining 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs until blended. 
• Crumble the mixture evenly over the chocolate layer and the sprinkle the remaining 3/4 cup toffee bits on top.
• Bake for about 25-35 minutes or until it's golden brown. 
• Cool completely before cutting, probably around 2 or more hours.

Review & Changes- These are super rich.  Of course that isn't a bad thing, but a small piece goes a long way.  They are an amazing combination of chocolate and toffee.  The crust layer doesn't really get hard so they stay nice and chewy.  Definitely amazing, you should make these!

Oreo Truffles

Source- Central Cooking, but you can find the recipe everywhere you turn!

I was surprised at myself to find that I didn't blog about these last year when I made them for my family Christmas.  They were such a huge hit.  My mom is a huge baker, and makes enough treats that no one else needs to bring any desserts.  But after how popular they were last year I knew I needed to make them again.  Of course they were huge again.  

Funny Story- I made these at my house so I didn't have to worry about finding the time when we reached my sister's house.  We get 20 minutes on the road and I realized I had left them in the fridge.  So we had to buy the stuff to make them all over again.  Of course once we got home we had a whole tub of truffles to ourselves.  Not a good thing when they are as good as these are.   Also, after my uncle tasted them for the first time he offered to pay the postage to ship him the tub we had left at home.  

Ingredients

• 1 pkg Oreos
• 1 8oz pkg cream cheese, softened
• 1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips, but you can use any kind of chocolate you'd like
• Sprinkles for topping

Preparation

• Crush all the Oreos.  I use my food processor, but you could do it by hand.
• Cover a cookie sheet with wax paper
• Mix Oreos with cream cheese until well blended.  I use my stand mixer to make sure it is well mixed.
• Form into small balls and place on cookie sheet.
• Refrigerate for 45 minutes.
• Melt chocolate.  I use a double boiler, but you could use the microwave.
• Dip truffles into melted chocolate and cover completely.  Place back on cookie sheet.
• Sprinkle with sprinkles while still wet.  
• Put back in fridge for a couple hours, or until firm.  
• Eat!!

Some Notes

-You can set aside some crushed Oreos before mixing with the cream cheese to use as the topping for the truffles.  

-Two forks work best for working to cover the truffles with the melted chocolate. 

Banana Chocolate Chip Bread

Source- adapted from My Grandma

I changed things up a bit with this recipe.  The original is regular ole Banana Nut Bread.  I decided to change things up a bit by adding some chocolate chips because I was craving something chocolate, and lo-and-behold I was out of walnuts. 

I always use bananas that I've frozen and then thawed out.  If you have a banana going brown throw it in your freezer instead of throwing it out.  Then whenever the mood strikes you for something with mashed bananas, you just have to pull out 1 or 2 of these guys and let them thaw.  

If you want to sub the walnuts for the chocolate chips, make sure they are chopped well and you only need 1/2 cup.  

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup mashed banana, I use 2 full bananas
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup chocolate chips
  

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Mix dry ingredients- flour, sugar, soda,  and powder
• Add wet ingredients- banana, butter and eggs
• Beat until well blended
• Mix in chocolate chips
• Spray bread pan with cooking spray
• Pour mixture into pan
• Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees (My oven cooks faster so mine only needed about 50 minutes)

Next Time- I really liked the addition of the chocolate chips, as did my H.  I'll certainly be willing to make it this way again.  I also want to try it this way with the addition of the walnuts. 

Chocolate-Cream Cheese-Peanut Butter Bars

Source: Betty Crocker

Peanut Butter and Chocolate together, never heard of a better combination! This dessert certainly didn't disappoint. It comes together fairly easily, just takes awhile because of having to cool and refrigerate between steps. But once it is done, AWESOME! LOL!

Ingredients
Cookie Base and Topping

• 1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® peanut butter cookie mix
• 3 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 Tbsp water
• 1 egg

Filling

• 1 1/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1- 8oz pkg cream cheese, softened
• 2/3 cup crunchy or creamy peanut butter
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup whipping cream

Preparation

	Heat oven to 350°F. Spray bottom only of 13x9-inch pan with cooking spray. In large bowl, stir cookie base and topping ingredients until soft dough forms. Shape 6 (1-inch) balls of dough. On ungreased cookie sheet, place balls 2 inches apart; flatten in crisscross pattern with fork.
	Press remaining dough in pan. Bake cookies and base 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 10 minutes. Reserve cookies for topping.
	In small microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate chips and butter uncovered on High 1 minute to 1 minute 30 seconds, stirring every 30 seconds, until melted and stirred smooth. Spread evenly over bars. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
	In medium bowl, beat cream cheese, peanut butter, powdered sugar and whipping cream with electric mixer on low speed until blended. Beat on high speed about 2 minutes or until light and fluffy. Spread over chocolate layer.
	Crush reserved cookies; sprinkle over cream cheese layer. Press in lightly. Refrigerate until set, about 30 minutes. For bars, cut into 9 rows by 4 rows. Store covered in refrigerator.

Next Time- Can't really change much in a dessert. These are great as they are!

Toasted Marshmallow S'mores Bars

Source: Bella's Bistro

So this past weekend was my annual family reunion. We have to bring a dish to pass and dessert. Just a few weeks ago I spotted this recipe in my Google Reader. So when deciding what to take this immediately came to mind. We camp for the weekend, and s'mores go hand in hand with camping, so why not a dessert that tastes like them!?

Ingredients

• 1 Pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix
• 1C. Graham cracker crumbs
• 1C. Butter or margarine, melted
• 3C. Chocolate chips (18 oz)
• 4 1/2C. Miniature marshmallows (used full 6 cups in pkg.)
  

Preparation

• Heat oven to 375 degrees.
• In large bowl, stir together cookie mix and crumbs. Stir in melted butter until soft dough forms. Press into ungreased 13×9-inch pan.
• Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until set. Immediately sprinkle chocolate chips over crust. Let stand 3 to 5 minutes or until chocolate begins to melt. Spread chocolate evenly over crust.
• Set oven control to broil. Sprinkle marshmallows over melted chocolate. Broil with top 4 to 5 inches from heat 20 to 30 seconds or until marshmallows are toasted. (Watch closely; marshmallows will brown quickly.) Cool 10 minutes.
• For bars, cut into 6 rows by 4 rows. Serve warm. Store any remaining bars tightly covered.

Next Time- So I did the first 2 layers ahead of time, and tried to do the marshmallow layer in my grandma's trailer. They had melted a bit, and were a pain to deal with. I think I might try marshmallow fluff next time, since that may be easier to spread. But of course marshmallows not melted should work fine too. These tasted great, so I definitely plan on making them again!

Our 1st Anniversary!

Yesterday was our 1st Wedding Anniversary. In a week, we'll celebrate 6 years of being together! While we didn't do much, we did make reservations at The Melting Pot, a fondue restaurant in north Grand Rapids. We got all fancied up, and went out to eat.

This is us before leaving.

The outside of the restaurant.

Just had to take a picture of the spinning door. Pretty cool!

H, sitting at the table, duh!

And myself.
The drink was called Paradise Punch. And punch it was. Holy cow was it strong.
I guess when you pay $9 for a drink, you're getting your money's worth of alcohol!

The best course, dessert!
Cookies and Cream Chocolate Fondue.
Dark Chocolate, Marshmallow Cream, and Oreo crumbles. YUM!!

The chocolate fondue options. Everything was outstanding, but when you put chocolate on it, why wouldn't it be great!

The Happy Couple after dinner!!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies

A fellow May Nestie posted this recipe. It's right up my alley. It's boxed brownie mix plus a package of cookie mix. Doesn't get much easier than that. This were so awesome. With the frosting, you definitely need a glass of milk.

Ingredients

• 1 Package Chocolate Chip Cookie mix
• 1 Box Brownie mix
• 2 Eggs
• 1/3C Water
• 1/2C Butter or Margarine
• 1/3C Vegetable Oil

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Prepare brownies according to package directions. Spread in greased 9×13 dish. Set aside.
• Prepare cookie dough according to package directions. Drop tablespoons of dough throughout the brownie mix. Gently press into pan.
• Bake for 35-40 minutes. Allow to cool at least 30 minutes.
• If desired, frost with chocolate frosting.

I baked!!

I know, I'm impressed too! I've been starring desserts in my google reader, and I decided that it was time to actually make one of them. Ally's Coconut Blondie's got the honor of being my first dessert! I made them the other night, and I'm definitely impressed. I told H that I would try to include a dessert each week when I'm making the menu. We'll see how long this lasts.

Ally made a chocolate ganache for her bars. I had caramel topping left from a dessert I made awhile ago, so I used that. Turned out really nice.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
  
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons double-acting baking powder (I used regular baking powder)
  
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I used 1 cup)
  
• 2 cups sweetened flaked coconut, toasted and cooled (didn't toast them)
• (I added 1 cup toffee chips, same as Ally)
• Caramel topping to drizzle over bars
  

Preparation

• In a bowl with an electric mixer cream together the butter and the brown sugar, beating the mixture until it is light and fluffy.
• Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, and beat in the vanilla.
  In a small bowl whisk together the salt, the baking powder, and the flour
• Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, and beat the batter until it is just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips and the coconut.
• Spread the batter evenly in a buttered and floured 13- by 9-inch baking pan.
• Bake in the middle of a preheated 350°F. oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until it begins to pull away from the sides of the pan and crumbs adhere to a tester.
• Let the mixture cool completely in the pan on a rack and cut it into squares.

Next Time- I think I'll drizzle chocolate over the top. The caramel was good, but perhaps the chocolate could be better.

My Specialty

Brownies from a box! Haha! Tim and I have had our Costco membership for a couple years, and for the longest time he's been bugging me for the box of Ghirardelli Triple Chocolate Brownies. I finally broke down, and bought them.

OMG! They are the best. Why should I bother slaving over a recipe, when greatness can easily come out of a box.

Now I don't feel this way about cooking, only baking.