Looking for spice...in homemade snickers bars

Hi, my name is Ronit and I'm a chocoholic. Ok, that's not entirely true, I was just trying to impress some friends this weekend. I threw a bit of a Dexter premiere party, and my guests cleaaaarly needed dessert. Even if they didn't need it, they were going to get it. 

If you're on a diet, like my roommate is, I suggest you close your eyes, ears and mouth immediately. Or continue reading. This is seriously one of the easiest desserts to make. Like had a few drinks easy. The ingredients may sound intimidating, but they're not at all. Trust me. Would I lie to you?

For the snickers bars:

bottom chocolate layer

1 1/4 cups milk chocolate chips
1/4 cup peanut butter

Melt ingredients in a saucepan or microwave, grease a 9x13 baking pan and then pour into dish and spread evenly. Once you'd spread the chocolate evenly throughout the dish, put it in the fridge to allow it to cool. 

nougat layer

1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar (confectioners sugar)
1/4 cup evaporated milk
1 1/2 cup marshmallow fluff
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 1/2 cups salted peanuts, roughly chopped
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add milk and sugar and mix consistently until dissolved and smooth. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook for about five minutes. Add in fluff, peanut butter and vanilla and stir until smooth. Remove the saucepan from heat and fold in peanuts. Pour over chocolate layer and then place back in the fridge to cool. 

caramel layer

1 14-ounce bag of caramels

1/4 cup whipping cream

Melt ingredients in a saucepan/microwave and once melted and smooth, pour over nougat layer. Place in fridge and allow to cool.

top chocolate layer

1 1/4 cups milk chocolate chips

1/4 cup peanut butter

Melt ingredients in a saucepan or microwave, then pour over caramel layer and place in fridge to cool. 

For best results, refrigerate them for about an hour before serving. They can stay at room temperature, but they will get gooey. And melty. And yummy. Aaaaand you will want to eat the entire pan. Don't do it. Seriously. Don't.

The bars are really, really sweet so I recommend you cut them into bite-sized squares. 

Like I said, I made these for my Dexter premiere party and they were a hit! What wasn't a hit was my DVR deciding to stop recording the episode about 5 minutes before it was over. Yes, that's right there is my luck - because EVERYONE knows the last five minutes are always the best. Needless to say, my guests were none too thrilled with me. Oops. So, I had to keep them busy - at which point, I decided to have my friends unwrap all of the caramel squares and see who could unwrap the most, the fastest. 

Yes, all they need are games and beer to entertain them.

P.S they said the snickers bars were worth the wait (and the horrible DVR fail.)

Until my next adventure...

xx,

Ronit

looking for spice...in brown sugar cupcakes with brown sugar peanut butter icing

Sooo, I know this blog was made (with love) for the sole purpose of (a) entertaining me, (b) entertaining you, and (c) learning to cook with different spices and ingredients. HOWEVER, I don't think you'll be complaining when you see these creamy, soft, flavorful, yummmmy brown sugar cupcakes. And I know if I'm looking for spice in these cupcakes, I certainly won't find it. I will, however, find the nearest gym ASAP.

So, let's talk cupcakes. I made these cupcakes on a bit of a whim because I was in the mood for something sweet, but not tooth-ache sweet and these were the ingredients I had on hand. I'm not big on dessert, at least not making my own dessert. I'm more of a buy it and tell everyone you made it but when they realize the crust to your "homemade" pie looks totally store bought...deny, deny, deny. Especially because, well, like I've said before - I'm a mess in the kitchen. And flour/confectioners sugar? Ends up ALL over me - I'm talking head to toe. WITH THAT BEING SAID I'm glad I made these because they were the bomb (dotblogspotdotcom.) 

For the cupcakes (12 of them):

1 Cup loosely packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 Tbs. vanilla extract

3/4 Cup milk

1/2 Cup unsalted butter, melted & cooled

1 1/2 Cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 Tsp. baking soda

1/4 Tsp. salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and in the meantime combine flour, baking soda and salt in a mixing bowl. Set aside, and line cupcake tin with cupcake liners. 

In a large bowl, whisk brown sugar and egg until smooth. 

Add in vanilla extract and milk and whisk until once again smooth. Slowly whisk in the melted butter. Make sure the butter is cooled, as hot butter will cause the batter to thicken quickly and become difficult to work with. Add in the flour, baking soda and salt and mix with a spoon until smooth.

Using a 1/4 Cup measure, add batter to the liners. 

Bake for 16-19 minutes, until tops looks puffy, brown and delicious.

For the peanut butter brown sugar frosting

6 ounces softened cream cheese

1/2 Cup creamy peanut butter

1 Cup loosely packed brown sugar

1 Cup powdered sugar (confectioners sugar)

2 Tbs. milk

2 Tsp. vanilla extract

In a bowl, whisk cream cheese until smooth and then add peanut butter and vanilla extract. Add in brown and powdered sugar gradually, whisking the entire time. Add in milk and continue to whisk. 

You can frost your cupcakes by using a spoon/knife/spreading spatula OR if you want to put on your fancy pants, you can use frosting bags. Since I lost my fancy pants in the recession, I opted to use a ziplock bag. Fill the ziplock bag with frosting and cut one of the corners of the bag to use for piping. Let the frosting begin!

Cute, huh?

The cupcakes came out AMAZING! They were a bit dense, but not too sweet. The first time I made these (ok, so we went through the first batch within minutes) the frosting came out way, way different than the second time around. I clearly have no patience and decided instead of waiting for the cream cheese to soften on its own; I'd just zap it in the microwave for a minute. Bad idea. The frosting turned into a strange, gooey consistency and wasn't at all creamy or pretty. Can I get a fail mary? However, the second time around I was smart enough to let the cream cheese naturally soften and it came out perfect. The frosting is pretty sweet, so it compliments the cupcake nicely. I hope you enjoy them!

Until my next adventure...

xx,

ronit

looking for spice...in spicy peanut sesame noodles with chicken

A year after my roommates and I moved into our place, one of my roommates decided it was time to pack up and move out to live the suburban dream. After months of making fun of our little suburbanite, we quickly realized we'd need a replacement ASAP! After weeks of searching, we interviewed a quirky optometrist with a killer smile. And by interview I mean meet up at a diner in Jersey and ask all sorts of inappropriate questions. Yes, it's important that I know just how many chicks my new roommate will be bringing home per week, and if he can change a lightbulb. For the record, I've been blessed with two incredible roommates who have become my best friends, supporters, sous chefs, cleaner-uppers and co-parents to my amazing dog. Any way, Brandon (the killer smile kid) is a pescetarian. What's that mean, you ask? Well, he's vegetarian with the exception of fish. Not only is he pescetarian, but he's also lactose intolerant (lactarded, as he puts it.) This new cooking venture of mine took a turn for the interesting, when I realized I wanted ALL of my friends to try out my dishes and Brandon couldn't try most. I began researching to find interesting dishes that we could all enjoy. What'd I come up with? Spicy peanut sesame noodles........with chicken on the side (for the carnivores. and by carnivores I mean me.)

Now let me just say this dish should really be a staple recipe in everyones kitchen. People will love it! Unless you're allergic to peanuts, in which case...sorry, bro. 

What you'll need:

1 box of linguine 

1 large boneless chicken breast (carnivores)

1 Tbs. sesame oil

2 Tsp. chili oil

1/4 cup tahini

1/4 cup peanut butter

2 Tbs. soy sauce

2 Tbs. red wine vinegar

1/4 cup peanut or canola oil

3 Tbs. water

2 Tbs. minced garlic

3 scallions, chopped (about a cup) 

If you're using chicken in this dish, bring it to a boil in a large pot of water over high heat. When the water boils and the chicken is fully cooked, let it sit for 10-15 minutes and then remove from the water. In another pot, bring a box of linguine to a boil. Once it's thoroughly cooked, drain and rinse the pasta in cold water until cool. Throw the pasta back in the pot and add 1 Tsp. of sesame oil. 

In the meantime, add all of the ingredients except for the scallions in a mixing bowl. If the sauce is too thick, feel free to add more water to create a consistency that's perfect for you. 

As you can see in the above picture, once I mixed the ingredients together and gave it a taste, I realized it could use some more heat so I added another Tsp. of chili oil. Yes, this is what I see when I'm cooking (no, not the smiley face in my bowl. although how awesome is that!? not done on purpose!) Lucy, my kind of useless sous chef. 

Once you've tasted your sauce (don't worry if it tastes too salty, it'll balance out with the pasta) and found it to be absolute yummy perfection, go ahead and put it into your pot of pasta. 

Going back to the chicken, shred it and mix it into the pasta. 

Once you've done that, throw in the scallions and garlic.

Toss to combine and plate this baby, garnishing it with sesame seeds. Brandon ended up loving the dish and I've already packed some away for him to take to work tomorrow. We're cute, I know. I actually ended up doubling the recipe for the sauce, as I thought it was too dry at first. Once I added more sauce to the pasta, it came out to the perfect creamy consistency and was so, so good! 

Lucy won with this dish too, as I had leftover shredded chicken and not much to do with it. Now, as I look over at my sleepy dog and full-tummied roommate; I have to worry about the exceptionally evil looking pile of dishes in the sink waiting for me. 

Until my next adventure...

xx,

ronit