Coconut Almont Fudge

Coconut + Almonds + Fudge = Greatness. There's a little store here in town called G's Dairy. Todd and I use to frequent it quite often. Mainly for their ice cream. They have many different varieties, but the one that I keep going back to is Coconut Almond Fudge. I'm seriously in heaven when I eat this particular ice cream.

While I was looking over a few recipes I came across one called Mound Bars on Allrecipes.com. It screamed "make me, make me". It had very few ingredients, looked pretty simple, and consisted of coconut and chocolate. So I put it in my recipe box with the intentions of making it one day.

Last night Todd had a Vet Club meeting to go to and Everett was fast asleep. What was I to do? Turn on Grey's Anatomy and bake. I pulled up the Mound Bars recipe and got everything together. You start by making a basic graham cracker crust. While I was pressing the crust onto the bottom of my pan I kept thinking "man, I really wish I had almonds. I bet this would taste so good with almonds." Then low and behold I see a can of nuts that we got for Christmas. So I went through and picked out all the almonds wishing I had more.

Once the crust came out I sprinkled what little almonds I had, added the coconut, and then poured the sweetened condensed milk on top. And then it went back into the oven and baked while I went back to the TV to continue watching Greys. For a second I thought how great that moment was. Sitting watching my choice of a tv show, the baby asleep, no channels being flipped, and the gradually increasing aroma of coconut filling the air. Mmmm....

Anyway, back to the bars.... The recipe tells you to bake these for 15 more minutes once you add the coconut and milk. It doesn't explain what it should look like really. Once my 15 minutes were up the bars didn't look too great. The edges were slowly starting to toast. So i decided to leave it in until it looked as though most of the coconut was toasted. It ended up being a little over 20 minutes. Once out the melted chocolate was poured on top and then they were put into the fridge until I took them out this morning to cut.

As I cut, I contemplated whether or not I should try one at 7:00 am. But then what better way to start your morning?! And let me tell you it was worth biting into all that coconutty goodness bright and early!

With my variations I decided to call these Coconut Almond Fudge Bars. In rememberance of a very delicious ice cream. Biting into these you go through a nice thick layer of chocolate, then you get to the gooey coconut filling where you get to taste a tiny bit of almonds, and then you hit the crunchy sweet crust. I honestly don't think you could go wrong with these. Unless you forgot they were in the oven and they burned:) They were simple to make and tasted great. This recipe is a keeper for me!

Coconut Almond Fudge Bars
adapted from Allrecipes.com

2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup melted butter
1 (14oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
2 cups flaked coconut
1-2 cups chopped almonds (depends on your preference)
1 (12oz.) package chocolate chips, melted (you can use whatever you like. Milk, semi-sweet, dark...)Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

1. Combine the graham cracker crumbs and melted butter. Mix and pat into the bottom of one 9x13 inch baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 15 minutes.
2. Once the crust is out sprinkle with crushed almonds and coconut. Pour the condensed milk on top. Slowly spread over the crust (you'll want to be careful because if you are too hard on the spreading the coconut starts to pull up the graham cracker crust). Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 15 minutes, or until coconut is toasted.
3. Spread the melted chocolate chips over the top. Let cool and cut into squares.
   

Baking, Working, & Raising a Kid

I really don't know who all even reads this. I haven't posted anything for 3 months now. I've come to the realization that I can't do everything I want to do! Well, I can, but then writing about it makes it a little harder. I've even neglected my family blog. Working and raising a kid takes a lot out of me. But I'm trying to become better at organizing and prioritizing things. So hopefully there will be new things on here soon. In fact I'm trying out a new recipe this weekend, but maybe, just maybe if Everett cooperates and goes to bed on time, I'll make it tonight.

Plus we invested in a new camera and I'm really excited to test it out on photographing food. Everett's been our tester so far, so maybe I'll give him a little break.

Pumpkin Cookies

What better to make this time of year than pumpkin cookies. Well, anything pumpkin I think. You might as well take advantage of it while you can! I've never made pumpkin cookies so I thought I'd give it a try this year, and I'm glad I did. They're really good!!

I found this recipe on allrecipes.com. It's suppose to have a glaze on top, but I didn't have powdered sugar like I thought I did, and I didn't want to run to the grocery store. So I improvised. I melted some chocolate and drizzled it on top instead. Having done that I'm not sure if I would have liked the glaze topping. I think it might have made it a little too sweet. I honestly liked them plain without the chocolate too. They're very cake like and moist. They're not too sweet like most cookies. The only bad thing is that they're a little addicting. Especially if you're a fan of pumpkin.

What I really like is that they're super easy to whip up. Just your basic ingredients and a cup of pumpkin puree. Pretty simple. The recipe says to bake for 15-20 minutes. I only baked mine for 12 and I think I could have probably done them for 10-11 minutes. Not a bad cookie I'd have to say so myself.

Pumpkin Cookies

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup of butter and white sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls; flatten slightly.
3. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool cookies, then drizzle glaze with fork.
4. To Make Glaze: Combine confectioners' sugar, milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add milk as needed, to achieve drizzling consistency.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cookie

Well, I guess I've decided to start posting again:) It's been a fun, busy last couple of months and I think I'm finally starting to get the hang of having a baby and still accomplishing things. Hopefully I'll keep this up a little better. I have sooo many things I want to bake and try and talk about. But I thought I'd start back up with my all time favorite cookies.

I found this recipe when I was in high school and have been in love sinse. They are dangerous to bake though. I tend to start eating the peanut butter chips, chocolate chips, and peanut butter cups......mmmm.....Anyway.....

They are pretty simple and come out great. It's hard to tell when they're done cause they are a darker cookie, but I usually under cook mine a little cause they come out better that why. I bake them for 9 minutes. They still look pretty soft, but you don't want to cook them for too long. The recipe says to let them sit on the cookie sheet after taking them out and you should. They are really delicate, especially right out of the oven. I also use a bag of miniature Reeses, freeze them, cut them, and then fold them in while they're still frozen. That way they don't smash and you can really taste them when you bite into it.

These are truly the best. But beware, they are also very tempting. I always have to give mine away so I don't get too tempted!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup peanut butter chips
• 10 chocolate covered peanut butter cups, cut into eighths

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, peanut butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, cocoa, and baking soda; stir into the peanut butter mixture. Mix in the chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and peanut butter cups. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Let cool for 1 or 2 minutes on sheet before removing, or they will fall apart.

Dinner Rolls

I wasn't going to post about these rolls. I've been making them forever, but they're just so good and I think I've finally gotten to where I really know how to make them. The recipe comes from one of my mom's cookbooks. I honestly don't know the name of it. We just always called it the "Mormon Cookbook".

If these are made just right they come out so soft and fluffy. Breads are fun to make, but I've noticed everytime I make some sort of bread it's always done a little differently. Sometimes I have to add more flour, while others I don't add quite as much. It's all about the touch I think. You can do exactly what the recipe calls for, but it might not turn out quite right. This recipe calls for 6 cups All-Purpose flour. I usually end up with 7-8 cups, just depending. If you have a scale and are able to weigh out your ingredients you can usually get a more accurate about of what you're suppose to put in. Weighing is better than measuring:)

When mixing dough you want to be able to touch and pick it up after it's done kneading, but you don't want it to be compeltely dry. I like my dough where there's still stickiness to it. If that makes sense. I usaully have to get a little flour on my hands to handle it and form it into a ball and let it rise. If you get it so that it's really easy to handle, then the rolls usually turn out hard and dense, not light and fluffy.

One thing that I loved learning in school was the window technique. A recipe will tell you to knead for 8-10 minutes, but how do you know you're done? The kneading process is done to make your dough elastic and that's exactly what you want. If you take a piece of the dough and slowly start to spread it and it just tears, it's not done. You want to create a "window". I usally roll a little piece into a ball and then slowly start stretching it. If I can get it pretty thin and it hasn't ripped then I usually let the rising process start.

For these rolls I weigh my pieces out into about 3 oz. portions. I'm not good at eyeballing and I like my rolls to look somewhat similar in size. 3 oz. makes a pretty good size roll. For this batch I made 2 dozen rolls with that size. If you have something to cut each roll out it works better then tearing the dough apart. I use a metal bench scraper. After cutting I rolled them, let them rise for about 30 minutes and then I baked them for 10 minutes and once they came out started rubbing butter on the tops. They're so good and make the house small so nice. I love the smell of cooked bread!

Dinner Rolls

2 packages (2T) active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1/4 cup sugar
6 cups flour scooped
1/2 cup nonfat dry milk
1 T. salt
2 cups warm water
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup oil

Soften yeast in 1/2 cup warm water to which sugar has been added.

In a large bowl stir together flour, dry milk, and salt. Making a well in the center, add 2 cups warm water, yeast mixture, eggs, and oil in that order. Stir until well mixed, adding more flour, if needed, to make a soft dough.

Cover. Allow to rise in a warm place until double. About 1 hour.

Turn out onto a lightly floured board. Knead a few times to make dough easy to handle. Pinch off smooth round pieces about egg size; arrange 2 inches apart, on a greased baking sheet. Cover lightly with a clean towel. Allow to rise 20 minutes. Bake 10 minutes, or until golden brown, at 400F.

Cookies N Cream Cake

If you want a chocolate cake with a little something extra, this is perfect. Especially if you like oreos, or Cookies N Cream Ice Cream. Todd's birthday was last week and I wanted to make him something special, not just a plain chocolate cake. I found this idea on Annie's Eats. What's funny is that she uses the same chocolate cake and icing I always do. It's just the Hershey's recipe you can find on the back of Hershey's Cocoa. I love this recipe. It always turns out so moist.

So I just used my typical cake recipe and then made the cookies n cream filling. It was just whipped cream with chopped up oreos folded in. I was a little leery about what it'd taste like, but I thought it tasted pretty similar to what the ice cream tastes like. My only problem was, was that after putting the filling on the bottom layer of cake and then putting the second layer on it would kinda slide around. I don't know if it was because our apartment was a little warmer, but maybe next time I'll let the whip cream sit in the fridge for a few minutes before putting it on the cake. It might let it chill again and be a little firmer. But that was pretty much my only problem. I thought it was going to me hard to cut into, but it wasn't. It turned out just right! We served it was Vanilla Ice Cream, but I thought with the whipped cream it could be eaten without ice cream and still be good.

Cookies and Cream Cake

Ingredients:
For the cake:
2 cups sugar
1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup cocoa powder
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 ½ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
½ cup vegetable oil
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

For the filling:
1 ¼ cups heavy cream
1/8 cup confectioners’ sugar
¼ tsp. pure vanilla extract
10 chocolate sandwich cookies, chopped

For the frosting:
½ cup unsalted butter
2/3 cup cocoa powder
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:
To make the cake, preheat the oven to 350°. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.

Stir together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.

To make the filling, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the heavy cream, confectioners’ sugar and vanilla. Beat on low speed until all sugar is incorporated; increase speed to high and whisk until stiff peaks form. Gently fold in chopped cookie pieces with a rubber spatula.

To make the frosting, melt the butter in a medium bowl. Stir in the cocoa. Alternately add confectioners’ sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla.

To assemble the cake, place one cake layer on a cardboard cake circle. Pipe a ring of the chocolate frosting around the outside edge of the cake. Fill the area inside the ring of frosting with a thick layer of the cookies and cream mixture. Place the second cake layer on top. Frost the sides of the cake layers with chocolate frosting. Pipe a decorative border of the chocolate frosting on top of the cake. Fill the area inside this border with a thick layer of the cookies and cream mixture. Garnish with extra chocolate sandwich cookies and whipped cream if desired.

(the recipe calls for 10 cookies, I think I used about 15. I kept adding till I got it the way I liked it)

Peanut Butter Truffle Brownies

These brownies were sooooo good. Especially if you're a fan of chocolate and peanut butter. I found these on the Betty Crocker website. You start with your brownie. Make a peanut butter frosting, and then top it off with a nice little chocolate glaze. So easy and oh so good. The recipe calls for a brownie mix. I was going to use my own recipe, but at the last minute decided to be lazy. Plus I think most brownie mixes come out better then brownies from scratch.

The recipe states to either grease your brownie pan, or line it with foil. I lined mine with foil. It made it so much easier to work with. Once the brownies were cooled I just lifted the ends, of the foil, and took em out. Peeled the foil away from the sides and then started frosting it. After spreading the frosting on I let it set in the fridge just to firm it up and make it easier for the glaze. Once I put the glaze on I let that set up in the fridge also. I tried cutting some before it was completely set cause I was trying to go somewhere, but it's best to wait. When it came time to cut the rest I kept running my knife under warm water and wiping it clean so you'd have clean looking brownies, if not the peanut butter comes up and gets in the glaze. Also I made these pretty small which I'm glad I did. They were way rich and easier to eat that way.

(see how the peanut butter came up into the frosting on the middle one. clean knife makes them look much better)

Go here if you'd like to try the recipe out! Beware they are very addicting.

(once again sorry for the poor picture taken. I was tired and in a hurry.)