Kitchen Adventures 10.5

Most people tend to have their go=to dish for parties or special occasions. Some people always bring the brownies; others always bring the chips and dip. I can usually be counted on for some type of dessert, no matter the affair, though occasionally I do mix it up. For a recent cookout, I chose to bring a dessert, but since it was a spur-of-the-moment event, I had to go with what I had on hand. Luckily, I had quite a few ingredients. I thought about making brownies from scratch, then found another new recipe while looking for the brownie one. It was neat to try something new, and it was pretty delicious.

As a note, I did not make the original version of this recipe. I made a variation as I knew one of the hosts loves peanut butter and I thought he would really enjoy that variation.

This recipe came from the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook.

Peanut Butter-Chocolate Revel Bars

Ingredients:

6 T. butter, softened
2 c. packed brown sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 c. flour
3 c. quick cooking rolled oats
1 1/2 c. semisweet chocolate chips
1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. chopped peanuts (optional)
1/2 c. peanut butter

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat the butter in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer for 30 seconds. Add the brown sugar and baking soda and beat until combined, scraping the bowl occasionally. Beat in the eggs and 2 tsp. vanilla until combined. Beat and stir in the flour, then stir in the oats.
2. For filling: in a medium saucepan combine the peanut butter, chocolate chips, and sweetened condensed milk. Cook over low heat until the chocolate melts, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and stir in the peanuts and 2 tsp. vanilla.
3. Press 2/3 (about 3 1/2 c.) of the oat mixture into the bottom of an ungreased 15x10x1 baking sheet. Spread filling evenly over the oat mixture and top with dollops of the remaining oat mixture.
4. Bake about 25 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Cool in pan on a wire rack and cut into bars when cooled.

Kitchen Adventures 10.3

Ah, it's good to be back and sharing recipes! Life has definitely been busy over the past month. The parents came to visit in early March, the sister and brother-in-law came to visit a week later, work got crazy busy, and of course there are always social things to be done. I'm going to try and do some catching up today, so we'll see how that goes.

As I have mentioned before, I am more aware of dietary restrictions such as gluten free these days since I have several friends and co-workers that have to follow those guidelines. Hence, I am always looking for easy GF recipes I can share with them. While flipping through some of my Rachael Ray magazines my parents brought me, I stumbled across a GF pie recipe. This was perfect, since I had just been talking with a friend about GF pie crusts and finding a way to make them. I of course had to tell her the secret: use Chex instead of graham crackers. If you think about it, Chex have always been gluten free, but now the product can be advertised that way. I have never thought about using them as a substitute, but it was pretty delicious.

Included with this information was a recipe I just couldn't resist. Chocolate and peanut butter has to be one of the best culinary combinations ever. The timing was perfect, too, since I wanted to make a pie to celebrate PI Day (I told you I had some catching up to do). Even though I'm no longer taking math classes, I remember with fondness celebrating my first PI Day in Mr. Wertenberger's trig class. I had been looking for a great recipe to share at work to celebrate and this one fit the ticket.

This recipe came from the February 2011 Every Day with Rachael Ray magazine.

Double Chocolate-Peanut Butter Pudding Pie

Ingredients:

3 c. Chocolate or Rice Chex cereal, finely crushed
5 T. butter, melted
12 oz. semisweet baking chocolate, chopped, plus more for chocolate shavings
1 1/2 T. unsweetened baking cocoa, sifted
2 c. half-and-half
1/2 c. sugar
1 egg plus 3 egg yolks
6 T. whipping cream, plus 1 c. whipping cream, whipped for topping
1/2 c. white vanilla baking chips
1/4 c. creamy peanut butter

Directions:

1. Stir together the crushed cereal and melted butter in a small bowl. Press this mixture in the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie pan. Refrigerate the crust for 30 minutes or until set. Heat the oven to 350 degrees and bake the crust for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with one-third (4 oz.) of the chopped chocolate after removing the crust from the oven.
2. Meanwhile, in a large heatproof bowl, mix the cocoa and remaining chopped chocolate together. In a 1-quart heavy saucepan, heat the half-and-half over medium-high heat until it is almost boiling. In a medium heatproof bowl, beat the sugar, egg and egg yolks together with a whisk until the mixture is light yellow. Slowly beat in half of the hot half-and-half, then pour this egg mixture into the saucepan. Reduce the heat to medium and heat the mixture just to boiling. Cook this mixture, beating with a whisk, for about 1 minute or until thickened. Pour this through a sieve into the cocoa mixture and beat with a whisk until smooth. Pour this into the crust and refrigerate 30 minutes or until fairly set. (As a short cut, you could just buy instant pie pudding and use that. I realized that after I had made it.)
3. Wipe out the saucepan, then add 6 T. cream to the pan. Heat to boiling over medium-high heat. Place the vanilla baking chips and peanut butter in a medium heatproof bowl and pour the hot cream over them and let stand until chocolate is melted, about 2 minutes. Beat this with a whisk until smooth. Spread this mixture evenly over the chilled pie and refrigerate until firm, about 1 1/2 hours.
4. If desired, serve with whipped cream and chocolate shavings.

Here is a picture of the delicious creation.



For more gluten free recipes, check out chex.com/glutenfree