homemade payday bars

Payday candy bars are a favorite.  I like the combination of sweet and salty.  These couldn't be easier to make. 

the finished candy bars

bottom layer--dry roasted peanuts in a buttered pan

pb chips and butter melting

in goes the sweetened condensed milk

marshmallows

marshmallows and chip mixture

middle layer--marshmallow peanut butter chip mix tops the nuts

top layer--peanuts pressed onto the middle layer

Homemade payday bars

16 ounces dry roasted peanuts

2 cups peanut butter chips

3 Tbsp butter

14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk

10.5 ounce bag mini marshmallows

1-2 Tbsp flaked sea salt

Butter a 9x13 cake pan.  Place 1/2 of the dry roasted peanuts in the bottom of the pan.  Melt the peanut butter chips and the butter in a microwave or double boiler.  If using the microwave heat in 30 second intervals at 50% power, stirring after each until melted.  Add the sweetened condensed milk.  Microwave on high for one more minute and stir until smooth.  Fold in the marshmallows until the marshmallows are coated with the peanut butter mixture.  Pour over the nuts and spread out pressing the remaining nuts over the top surface.  Top with flakes sea salt and chill for one hour.  Cut into squares.

Source: here

homemade butterfinger bars

I am serving supper for a meeting and wanted to have a trio of bite size desserts to serve to our meeting members.  I decided on homemade candy bars.  This is a recipe that I had pinned quite a while ago but have not tried yet.  I am a Butterfinger fan.  This recipe uses only three ingredients.  Two are melted together and patted into a glass baking pan.  Once they have cooled they are coated in the third ingredient and allowed to set.  The three ingredients?  Candy corn, peanut butter and milk chocolate chips.  The original recipe called for melting the candy corn in a microwave.  My microwave is not working right now and I am trying to decide before I repair it if I really need one as I rarely use it.  So I used a double boiler.  It seemed to take forever for the candy to melt but once it does, the peanut butter is added.  I left my pan on the stove while the peanut butter melted and was incorporated into the candy corn as it seemed that the melted candy needed a little more heat to melt the peanut butter. 

candy corn and peanut butter

 Once it was incorporated I placed it in a parchment lined glass 8 inch square pan and pressed it into an even layer.   When I got to actually dipping the centers I was thinking that my pieces were thicker than a true butterfinger and I cut some of them in half.  Next time I will try a 9 inch square pan to see if that is a nicer thickness for the center.  `

the cooling center mixture

The original recipe called for allowing it to cool and then using a pizza cutter to cut into bars.  I let it cool for a while but while it was still warm I lifted the parchment out of the pan and used my bench scraper to cut it into pieces and then let it finish cooling. 

I used my chocolate melter to melt the chocolate chips and then I dipped the cool centers into the chocolate, coating all sides and allowing most of the excess to drip back into the pan.  I them placed the coated centers on parchment to allow the coating to set. 

finished candy bars

Homemade butterfinger candy bars

Centers

3 cups candy corn candies

1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter

Coating

2 cups milk chocolate chips or candy melts

Melt the candy corn.  This took a long time in the double boiler.  Add the peanut butter to the warm melted candy and the heat of the candy corn should melt the peanut butter but if it does not put it back on the heat or in the microwave for a little longer.  Stir to thoroughly combine.  Press the center mixture into a parchment lined square pan and allow to cool.  While still warm cut into bars.  Once the centers are cool dip them into the melted Chocolate. 


source: here

homemade twix cookies

I found these candy bar cookies on facebook and they couldn't be easier.  The base is a shortbread cookie cut with a cookie cutter.  I used a circle but they could just as easily be cut with a pizza cutter into strips and then the strips cut into shorter lengths to make a shape more resembling the candy bar.  Once baked and cooked, caramel candies are melted with a little bit of evaporated milk and applied to the cookies.  There was a little bit of a learning curve.  I was thinking that I could apply  the correct amount to the center of a few cookies and come back later to spread it into a nice circle but it started setting up immediately.  I will next time do one cookie at a time.  Once the caramel is set chocolate chips are melted with a small amount of shortening.  The melted chocolate is placed on top of the caramel and allowed to set up.  If you are in a hurry you can place the cookies in the refrigerator to set the chocolate but mine set up just fine at room temperature.  I am thinking that a squeeze bottle for might work for both the caramel and the chocolate to apply neatly on the cookie as long as you could keep it warm and free flowing.  Might be worth a try. 

the finished product

baking the cookes

melting the caramels

applying the caramel layer

Homemade Twix candy bar cookies

Shortbread cookie layer

1 1/2 cups butter (3 sticks)

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

3 cups flour

1/4 tsp salt.

Caramel layer

15 ounce bag of caramels, unwrapped

2 Tbsp evaporated milk

Chocolate layer

2 cups milk chocolate chips

2 tsp shortening

Preheat oven to 350 .  Cream together the butter and powdered sugar.  Add the vanilla.  Add the flour and salt and mix until thoroughly combined.  I used my stand mixer but a hand mixer, food processor and a bowl and spoon would all work.  Roll out the dough rather thickly, 1/4 to 3/8 inch thick and cut into desired shapes.  Place on parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 14-16 minutes.  Once cool, melt the caramels with the evaporated milk in a double boiler or microwave.  Next time I will try my chocolate melter for the caramels and see if that will work.  When the caramel is set melt the chocolate chips and shortening and apply to the top of the caramel and allow to harden.    

Source: here

waffles for the freezer

We like waffles. Lots of kinds of waffles.  My favorite traditional waffle recipe is the rich buttermilk waffle recipe from Smitten Kitchen's website.  But waffles are not very practical when you are cooking for one.  So I have been making a batch of waffles and then freezing the extras and warming them up in my toaster, just like the frozen waffles that you buy at the store.  But homemade.  With no added preservatives.  I have been sharing my homemade frozen waffles with my parents and they are liking them too.  So today I made a big batch (quadruple batch) and spent a couple hours making waffles and now I have a bunch of waffles cooling which will soon be ready to freeze.

They are so easy to mix up.  Here is my great big stoneware bowl with the dry ingredients.

Add in the wet ingredients, which are the buttermilk, yolks, melted butter and vanilla.

And then add in the stiffly beaten egg whites.

I use a waffle ladle to portion out my waffle batter.  Here is a waffle hot off the waffle iron, ready for a little butter and syrup or strawberries and whipped cream or even just a sprinkle of powdered sugar. 

And the best part is next week or next month I can have one just like it out of my toaster without the mess in less than a minute. 

An added benefit is that this makes it a bit easier for portion control.  There isn't a plate of extra waffles tempting you to have just one more.  Since this is that time of year when lots of people are re-energized about eating better I ran this thru a recipe calculator and discovered that this particular recipe made in my round waffle maker makes 32 waffles and each waffle is 220 calories, 28 carbs, 8 fat, 7 protein, 505 sodium and 4 sugar. 


 I usually freeze mine with a sheet of parchment paper between the layers.  One time I had a little bit of trouble with them sticking together even with the parchment and I attributed that to packing while they were still warm so I am letting them cool completely before boxing them up.

This box is the one that will be going to my folks for their freezer. 

Or possibly this one since it is a little bit bigger.

 I will check and see which fits better in their freezer. 

Waffles for the freezer

8 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp salt

8 Tbsp sugar

2 Tbsp baking soda

1/2 gallon lowfat buttermilk

8 eggs, separated

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted and cooled

2 tsp vanilla

Combine the first four ingredients in a large bowl.  Combine the buttermilk, egg yolks, butter and vanilla and add to the dry ingredients.  Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form and then fold into the batter.  Oil the waffle iron if needed, and then preheat and bake the waffles following the instructions of your waffle maker. 

Adapted from this recipe.

pb dog cookies

I found this recipe on the internet for a peanut butter dog cookie and decided to give it a try.  Turns out our dogs love them.  I made them right before Christmas and we had lots of taste testers give them a thumbs up.  I sent some home with Honey and Indiana when they went home and then made some more so that I could send some home with Reese and Greta when they went home.  I also bagged up a few to send home with my daughter Caitlin to take to work.  She doesn't have any dogs that live with her but she has dogs that visit regularly at her work.  It is an architecture firm.  How cool is it that they have dogs that come to work. 

This time I made a triple batch and took a couple of pictures of the process.  Although the ingredients are the same I did alter the process a bit.  I used a mixer instead of a spoon to mix and I did not use a floured surface to roll out the dough but rolled it out on a sheet of parchment paper. 

Peanut butter dog cookies

(single recipe)

3/4 cup milk

1 egg

1 cup creamy peanut butter

2 1/4 cup flour

1 Tbsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 325°.  In the bowl of a stand mixer combine the milk, egg and peanut butter and mix until well combined.  Combine the baking powder and flour and add in several additions.  It should make a stiff dough. Gather up a portion of dough, knead it into a ball and then roll it out so it is 1/4 inch thick   I used a round cookie cutter but any shape could be used or it could be cut into pieces with a pizza cutter.  Place the cut cookies onto a parchment lined baking sheet and place in the oven.  Bake for 20 minutes, turn the cookies over and bake an additional 15 minutes.  Repeat the process with remaining dough in batches.  The original recipe suggested that they could be baked longer for a harder cookie or rolled a little thicker for a softer cookie but my 3 dogs and 4 visiting dogs seemed to like them just fine. 

Note:  Because I had tripled the recipe and had many cookies to bake I tried placing three pans in the oven at the same time.  I have a convection feature on my oven and three racks and I should be able to cook three racks at once but I found that the center pan did not bake as quickly as the others and were significantly softer when it was time to turn them over.  I rearranged the baking sheets so that the center one was placed on the bottom rack when they went back in and still ended up leaving the one pan in the oven a few extra minutes.  When I baked the next batch of pans I only used two sheets at a time.

I used a round cutter 1 1/2 inches in diameter

place close together as they don't spread

ready to turn over and bake longer

Adapted from this recipe.