The Baker's Daughter

Kitchen Sink Bars

There are a few things this bars could be called but I've called but I've called them Kitchen Sink Bars because they pretty much have everything but the kitchen sink in them.  This recipe is a loose guide and you can put anything you want in them including nuts, dried fruit, chopped up chocolate bars, whatever you'd like!  Make these bars in a 13 X 9 inch cake pan.  Drizzle the condensed milk over the crust instead of smoothing it with a spatula as doing so will pull the crust up.  Drizzling evenly will allow the condensed milk to cover the entire surface, leaving the crust intact.  The caramel sauce recipe is from Better Homes and Gardens and can be found here.

Kitchen Sink Bars

2 cups graham crumbs

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup butter, melted

1/4 cup white sugar

1 can condensed milk

1 1/4 cups shredded sweetened coconut

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/4 cup walnuts

1 skor bar, chopped

1/2 cup caramel

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Grease a 13 X 9 inch cake pan and line it with parchment paper.

In a bowl, combine the graham crumbs, cocoa powder, sugar and melted butter.  Mix thoroughly.  Press into the bottom of the pan firmly.

Drizzle the condensed milk evenly over the crust (do not smooth with a spatula). 

Sprinkle the coconut over the condensed milk and then sprinkle with the chocolate chips, walnuts and chopped skor bar.  Drizzle with the caramel. 

Bake for approximately 45 minutes or until bubbling and browned all over.

Caramel Sauce

3/4  cup  whipping cream

2  Tbsp.  water

1/2  cup  water

1  cup  sugar

1/4  tsp.  salt

1  tsp.  pure vanilla extract

Directions

 In a small saucepan heat cream and 2 Tbsp. water until steaming hot; remove from heat; set aside.

 Place the 1/2 cup water in a 2-quart saucepan; pour sugar and salt in a thin stream in center of pan to form a low mound. Don't stir; use your fingers to pat the sugar mound down until it is entirely moistened. Any sugar touching edges of pan should be below the water line. Cover and cook over medium heat without stirring until sugar is dissolved and syrup looks clear.

Uncover and continue to cook without stirring until syrup begins to color slightly. Swirl pan gently (rather than stirring) if syrup is coloring unevenly. If syrup gets too dark, it will taste bitter. Use a skewer to drop a bead of syrup on a plate from time to time. When a drop of syrup looks amber (about 13 minutes), remove pan from heat. Holding pan away from you, gradually pour in the hot cream mixture. Stir over low heat to blend the caramel into the cream mixture. Simmer for 1 to 2 minutes.

Remove from heat; stir in vanilla. Let cool until slightly thickened (220 degrees F-222 degrees F). Serve warm with Walnut Cake with Caramel Whipped Cream. Or store, tightly covered, in the refrigerator up to a week.

Mint-chocolate cookie squares

 
These mint-chocolate cookie squares have all the deliciousness of cookies without any of the annoying requirements.  All you have to do is mix up the dough, whap it in a pan, top with squares of mint chocolate, bake for 30 minutes and you will have a divine dessert good for backyard bbq's or fancy dinner parties.  A dollop of whipped cream would put this over the top!  I've used a 70% Mint chocolate, which came in a bar of 10 fairly large squares.  I placed 9 squares on the cookie batter, finely chopped the 10th square and sprinkled it over the exposed bits of batter.

Mint-chocolate cookie squares

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1/2 cup white sugar

1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 eggs

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup cocoa

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 bar of mint chocolate

Directions

Grease and line with parchment paper a 7X7 inch square baking pan.  Set aside

Using a hand or stand mixer combine the butter with both sugars.  Add the egg and vanilla and combine, scraping down the sides of the bowl. 

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa, and baking soda. 

Gradually add the flour to the butter and sugar mixture. 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Spread the dough evenly over the base of the pan.  Top with the squares of chocolate. 

Bake for 30 minutes being careful not to over bake them as they will not show signs of browning. 

Set aside to cool for 5 minutes before removing from the pan to cool completely on a wire rack.  Slice into 9 pieces with each piece receiving a square of chocolate.

 



 

Peanut butter and chocolate brownies

 

These were supposed to be peanut butter and chocolate swirl brownies but apparently I am incompetent when it comes to swirling.  I tried twice to get the swirl but it just wouldn't happen.  If you try this recipe and the swirl works for you let me know your technique so I can try it.  I followed the recipe as stated on the Kraft website by sprinkling the 2 oz of chopped chocolate and by placing spoonfuls of peanut butter on top of the hot brownie and then swirling them together with and offset spatula.  This did not work.  I then tried melting the chocolate first and heating up the peanut butter in the microwave in the hopes that it would swirl better.  Didn't happen.  In the end I ended up using double the amount of peanut butter and chocolate topping and it was rich but really good, but feel free to just use the original amount.  I also used crunchy peanut butter, which I think is better but make to your own preference. 

Peanut butter and chocolate brownies

Brownie

4 oz dark chocolate, chopped

3/4 cup butter

3 eggs

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 cup flour

Topping

1/2 cup peanut butter

2 oz dark chocolate

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Grease a 13 X 9 inch baking pan.

Combine the 4 oz of chocolate and butter in a glass bowl and microwave for a few minutes until melted.  Add the sugar and eggs and mix.  Stir in the flour.  Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes.

Immediately after the brownie comes out of the oven, top with dabs of peanut butter and chocolate.  Swirl using an offset spatula.  

 
 

 

 

 

Feeling like a kid - Golden Graham squares

 
I haven't been to a pot luck in awhile but every time I do there are rice krispie squares there.  No matter what other decadent and delicious desserts are also there I'm always drawn to the krispies.  These are a neat little twist on the standard rice krispie square.  I've used super small candy coated chocolates (don't know what the real name for these are) that I found at the Bulk Barn but you could use anything including m&m's.  You can also use any other cereal you'd like, I just liked the combination of the graham, chocolate and marshmallow, which probably has something to do with my obsession with S'mores.   

Golden Graham squares

6 cups Golden Grahams (or other cereal)

40 large marshmallows OR 4 cups mini marshmallows

3 tbsp butter

1/2 cup candy coated chocolates

Chocolate to drizzle

Directions

Place the 6 cups of Golden Grahams in a bowl and set aside.

Grease a 9 X 13 inch pan and set aside.

In a saucepan melt the butter over medium low heat.  Add the marshmallows and stir until melted.  Pour marshmallow mixture over the golden grahams.  Add the chocolate candies and mix.

Press into the greased pan and set aside to cool.

Once cool, pop the squares out of the pan and drizzle with melted chocolate.

Once the chocolate has set cut into evenly sized squares.

Store in an airtight container.

 

Tiramisu Squares

 
The word "Tiramisu" translated from Italian means "pick me up" and these bars do just that.  There are some many flavour elements going on in these bars, from the crunchy crust, to the caramel-coffee flavoured filling and the biting snap of the dark chocolate.  I used a 7 inch by 7 inch pan for this recipe and cut the squares into 2 1/4 inch squares.  If you have the time, make these bars the night before and freeze them.  Cutting them the next day will be much easier when cutting from frozen, just use a sharp knife!  I used espresso but coffee or even coffee flavoured liquor would be equally delicious.  

Tiramisu Bars 

Crust

1/4 cup + 1 1/2 tbsp butter, softened

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla

1 cup all-purpose flour

Filling

10 oz cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup sugar

3 egg

3/4 cup whip cream (35% cream)

1 tsp rum (or other liquor)

1/8 cup espresso, room temperature

1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Grease your pan and line with two strips of overhanging parchment, crossed so each side is covered (allowing the parchment to overhang the sides of the pan will also allow you to pull the bars out easier).

In a medium sized bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, vanilla and butter.  Using your fingers blend the mixture together until a coarse crumb forms.  Press the crust firmly into the bottom of the pan and set aside.

Using a stand or hand mixer, beat the sugar into the cream cheese for about two minutes.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating well in between additions.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again.  Add the vanilla, espresso, rum and whip cream.  Mix well, ensuring there are no lumps. 

Pour the filling over the crust and bake for approximately 35 minutes or until the filling is set (doesn't jiggle in the middle) and lightly browned.    

Freeze overnight.

Cut the Tiramisu bars into 2 1/4 inch squares.

In a bain marie (bowl placed over a pot of barely simmering water) melt 4 oz of dark chocolate.    Spread the dark chocolate over the bars.

To serve, you can leave the bars plain or pipe a bit of whip cream on top and place a piece of chocolate lattice on top.