Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Magic Raspberry Cookie Bars


Call me an aunty, but I love pecans! From butter pecan ice cream to desserts with pecans to salads topped with pecans, I think it makes (almost) anything taste delicious. The pecans and coconut flakes make this the ultimate uncle/aunty dessert.




Ingredients:

2 cups keebler graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup margarine or 1/2 cup butter, melted
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/4 cups red raspberry preserves
1 1/3 cups flaked coconut
1 cup chopped pecans or 1 cup walnuts


1. In a small bowl, combine crumbs and sugar. Add butter, Toss until combined. Press onto bottom of 13x9" baking pan.



2. Evenly drizzle the sweetened condensed milk over crumbs. Refrigerate for 10 minutes. 



3. Spoon preserves over top. The original recipe calls for seedless raspberry preserves, but I couldn't find seedless at the store. I think the seeds added a nice texture and crunch to the bars.





4. Sprinkle evenly with coconuts and pecans. 




5. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until lightly brown.

6. Cool completely and cut into bars. Store, loosely covered, at room temperature.
(Recipe was taken from the back of Keebler's graham cracker crumbs box.)





Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Peanut Butter and Nutella Bars

The original recipe from Ina Garten is called Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars. But I don't even like PB & J sandwiches. So I thought, what goes really well with peanut butter? Chocolate! And what's the perfect gooey chocolate spread that I can use for the center of my bars? Nutella!

Ingredients:

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (you can buy imitation vanilla extract without alcohol)
2 extra-large eggs
2 cups (18 ounces) creamy peanut butter (recommended: Skippy)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 cups (18 ounces) Nutella
2-3 Heath Bars


1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Grease a 9 by 13 by 2-inch cake pan. Line it with parchment paper, then grease and flour the pan.

3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed until light yellow, about 2 minutes. I couldn't find the electric mixer attachment to my hand held mixer, so I just used the blender attachment.



4. With the mixer on low speed, add the vanilla, eggs, and peanut butter and mix until all ingredients are combined.



5. In a small bowl, sift together the flour, and baking powder. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the flour mixture to the peanut butter mixture. Mix just until combined.

6. Spread 2/3 of the dough into the prepared cake pan and spread over the bottom with a knife or offset spatula.



7. Spread the Nutella evenly over the dough.

8. Drop small globs of the remaining dough evenly over the Nutella. Don't worry if all the Nutella isn't covered; it will spread in the oven.



9. Sprinkle with crumbled Heath bars and bake for 45 minutes, until golden brown. Cool and cut into squares.