Recipe Recap #22

Hello friends! Welcome to this week's edition of Recipe Recap, when I am strolling back through the archives and remembering the great recipes that I shared one year ago this week!  Here are two tasty treats for you from June 23 - 29, 1012...

So glad it is strawberry season, it's time to make more of...

Strawberry Lemonade

Fudgy Nutella Brownies with Cream Cheese Icing

See you again next week for more great recipes!

S'Mores Rice Krispie Squares

When I say camping, what do you think of?  I bet S’mores was high on that list!  A camping tradition for sure… 

And when I say children, fun desserts, and easy to make…might Rice Krispies Squares come to mind?  My boys all love them, and growing up, I always loved when my Mom made them too. 

So the other day, I was wanting some Rice Krispies Squares, and I was also craving S’mores.  So I figured, there must be a way to combine them.  A little Pinterest search and bang, I found a recipe that met my wish list…and more…it also had Nutella!  Score!  

Here is the recipe I used:

Nutella S’Mores Rice Krispies Squares

 

½ cup salted butter

40 regular sized marshmallows

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

5 cups Rice Krispies

3.5 oz chocolate chips

¼ cup Nutella 

Butter the base and sides of a 13x9 baking dish (I used glass). 

In a large saucepan, melt the butter.  Add in the marshmallows and melt – stirring often.   When the marshmallows are all melted, remove from heat and add in the graham cracker crumbs and rice krispies.  Mix until well combined.  Scoop the mixture into the prepared baking dish, and spread to fill the dish.  Even out as best as you can. 

Put the chocolate chips and Nutella into a small bowl.  Melt in the microwave – heat in short intervals (approximately 15 seconds) – stir after each interval.  Once melted and combined, thinly and evenly spread the chocolate mixture over the top of the base.  Cool and all chocolate to set before slicing into bars. 

VERDICT

This was a great alternative to the usual Rice Krispie treat.   3/4 of our family loved this!  (the toddler wasn’t too impressed, but hey, he isn’t even 2 yet!).

Top 10 Recipes from 2012

It's countdown time!  It's New Year's Eve!  A day all about counting down...and time to add my Top 10 of 2012 into the mix!  What a great year with so many fabulous recipes - both that I found and tried, and all those fantastic recipe at my weekly Scrumptious Sunday Recipe Link Party!  Thank you for helping me maintain my addiction.

Here are my Top 10 Recipes of 2012, as picked by you, my readers! (Click on the recipe name to take you to the full recipe!)

10) Nanaimo Bar Ice Cream Cake

 

9) Carrot Pineapple Raisin Bran Muffins

8) Italian Cream Soda

7) Fudgy Nutella Brownies with Cream Cheese Icing

6) Baked Not Fried French Fries

 

5)  Blueberry Buttermilk Breakfast Cake

4) Chicken Pot Pie Cupcakes

3) Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork Sandwiches

2) Spaghetti Squash Casserole

1) German Apple Cake

 

 

Wishing each and every one of you a very Happy New Year's!  Have a safe, fun-filled evening!

 

Nutella Cheesecake Bites

Recently, we had a surprise 40th birthday party to attend.  I was SUPER excited about it for many reasons.  Not only were we going to see some friends we hadn't seen in a long while, it also meant that hubs and I had an evening out...it's been a few months since we've had an evening out together (crazy, hey?!).  The party was a pot luck, and I was stumped about what to bring for our portion of the pot luck.   I had plans to hit the grocery store the morning of the party (it had been a busy week leading up to the party and I hadn't made it sooner), but then one thing after another happened that Saturday and I couldn't get to the store.  With time dwindling and my brain racing, I opened the pantry and the fridge doors (the two are side-by-side) to see what we had and to think about what I could create. 

First this that caught my eye was a jar of Nutella.  "Hmmm," I thought to myself, "I haven't made anything with Nutella in a while, what can I do?"

A little searching in the fridge and I found some cream cheese.  Nutella and cream cheese...YES, those would go well together!  More thinking..."OK, I mix those up and they will taste good, but perhaps a little thick or too rich?  What else can I add?  What about whipping cream?! Yes, whipping cream!"

Take a look and nope...don't have any.  Thinking, thinking.  Wait a minute!  Hubs bought some Cool Whip a while ago, I wonder if there is any left?...Check the freezer and SCORE, there is most of a container there! 

Nutella, cream cheese and Cool Whip. I'm thinking these three things blended together should be pretty tasty! 

Now what...make it a mousse? Serve in a bowl to scoop?  That's a lot of dishes to do.  Don't want to do that to the hostess and "birthday boy". 

My brain is still working...There's got to be something more.  Back into the pantry.  Hmmm..a crumb pie crust?  I know I have graham cracker crumbs, which would do in a pinch, but I wonder, what about Oreo crumbs? Do I have any? 

Check the baking shelf, and score again! There is a partial box there! 

So...if I put the Nutella, cream cheese and Cool Whip all into the KitchenAid and mix it up well...create a pie crust from the oreo crumbs...voila, a cheesecake type of dessert! 

But wait, still hung up on those dishes...how can I make these "individual"... look in the baking cupboard and there are mini cupcake liners...but they are snowman patterned, do you think anyone would mind?  Hubs convinces me that snowmen will be fine, though I am not sold.  But I do it anyhow.  Make a pie crust base to line each of the mini cupcake cups.  Pop them into the fridge to set.  Make my cheesecake filling.  "Fill" the cupcake cups, sprinkle more crumbs on top for decoration, and everything back into the fridge to set.  And then I think to myself..."Oh man, I hope these turn out, and that they taste good!"  Verdict to follow...

Crust:

1 1/4 cups Oreo baking crumbs
1/4 cup butter, melted

Combine the crumbs and butter, mix well.  Set out 30-35 mini cupcake liners on a tray.  Spoon the crumb mixture  into the mini cupcake liners.  Press the crumbs into the base of the liners to create the "crust".  Put the tray into the fridge so that the crust can set.  Meanwhile, work on the cheesecake filling.

Cheesecake:

1 package cream cheese (softened)
3/4 cup Nutella
1 cup Cool Whip (thawed)

Blend all three together in a mixer.  I blended for a LONG time to ensure that there were no lumps of cream cheese. 

Remove the crusts from the fridge, then spoon the filling into each crust.  I had considered piping the filling into the crust, which I think I will do next time - but due to a lack of piping bags, I didn't try this time.  Once the crusts were filled, I sprinkled a few crumbs on top and put them back into the fridge to set.

Prior to leaving for the party, I took the tray out of the fridge and peeled off all of the cupcake liners.  Partially because I just couldn't go to a birthday party in October with snowmen cupcake liners, and partially because I thought they looked better anyhow without a liner.  I arranged them all on a tray, and we were off to the party.

VERDICT:
These were a HUGE hit.  Being in a room full of people I was able to gauge reaction without being too obvious.  When I saw people taking seconds almost immediately I knew that the recipe was a success!  Yay!  The birthday boy requested the recipe, as did a few others.  Woohoo! It's a keeper :-)

Note:  I did make sure that I made a little sign for the dessert in case there were any nut allergies (and there were...phew!). 

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Fudgey Nutella Brownies with Cream Cheese Icing

A few weeks ago, Amy from One Artsy Mama posted on Facebook that she had never tried Nutella before.  Well, neither had I, and so I commented that I was in the same boat.  Sure, I see lots of recipes with Nutella in the link parties that I host and participate in, but I had just never ever tried it, or thought to try it in some baking.  Well, that all changed when Amy issued a challenge last week, inviting all of us - new and not new to Nutella, to join her at "Go Nuts Day" and to take part in her link party!  Of course I HAD to accept the challenge, and I was off, searching for a recipe for my family!

Over at Averie Cooks, I found this recipe for Fudgey Nutella Brownies with Cream Cheese Frosting.  These sounded divine, so I chose this recipe for "Go Nuts Day"...here is the recipe:

Fudgey Nutella Brownies


4 squares Baker's Chocolate (semi-sweet)
3/4 cup butter
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons espresso or brewed coffee (optional)
1 cup flour
1/2 cup to 2/3 cup Nutella

Preheat oven to 350F.

Foil line a 9 x 13 pan (or in my case, an 8 x 12 pan) with tin foil and spray with cooking spray.

Melt the chocolate and the butter.  You can do this in a saucepan or in the microwave.  I went the microwave route and heated the two for 45 seconds, enough to melt the butter, and then stirred the chocolate and butter until the chocolate was melted and mixed well. 

Stir in the sugar, followed by the eggs and then the vanilla.  If you choose to add in the espresso, do so now (I did).

Stir in the flour until just moistened, approximately 30 strokes. Do not overmix!  Pour the batter into your prepared pan.

Measure out your Nutella and drop/drizzle/dollop along the top of the brownie mixture.  Do not stir it in.  Use a knife to make swirls with the Nutella in the top of the brownie mixture.

Bake the brownies for 25-28 minutes.  Be sure to check at 25 minutes to see if a toothpick comes out clean.

Allow the brownies to cool completely.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 package cream cheese (8 ounces), softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups of icing sugar (or more, depending on your icing preference)

Combine the cream cheese and butter, mix very well.  Be sure to scrape sides of mixing bowl with spatula to ensure proper mixing.  Mix until smooth.  Slowly add the icing sugar until desired consistency is achieved.  When the brownies are cooled, thinly ice them with the frosting.  Too much frosting takes away from the fudgey goodness of the brownies.

Store brownies in an air tight container in the fridge.  These will also feeze for up to three months.

The original recipe notes that this frosting recipe makes WAY more icing than you will need.  Please do take note!  You can cut the recipe in half and still have plenty of icing to frost the brownies.

VERDICT:
At first, I over-iced the brownies, and found that the icing, which is delicious, took away from the fudgey goodness of the brownies.  My husband agreed.  So, I took some of the frosting off of the brownies, and just like that...AMAZING.  Tasty, fugdey, brownies.  Next time I would probably skip the espresso, neither of us noticed the flavouring.  But we did notice the Nutella.  Not overwhelming, but still good.  Oh and we all enjoyed licking the Nutella spoons and measuring cup when I was prepping the dessert.  Our 5 year old just said "mmmmmmm" when he tried the Nutella.  A nice treat!

Thank you Amy for issuing the Nutella challenge and for hosting us at "Go Nuts Day"!