Recipe: Fudge Dream Bars

This was something that I made my mom for Mother’s Day. I chose to do an easy dessert partnered with the Iced Oranges, so I decided to make brownies!

I was a little skeptical when I first started to make these. I thought they were going to turn out really cake-y and dry, but trust me, I was in for a shock. The finished product was extremely fudge-y. In fact, at first I wasn’t completely sure that they were done.

Aside from their extreme fudginess, I have to say that they were also really, really sweet, which means that I wasn’t as crazy about them as I thought I would be. I love fudge-like brownies, but the sugar content in these was astronomical, even for me. I definitely think that was the biggest down side to these, and in fact we didn’t finish all of them because of that. My guess is that the icing may have put these over the top.

They were pretty easy to make. They were pretty much like your standard brownie except you didn’t use unsweetened baking bars, but rather unsweetened cocoa.

That being said, don’t take my word for it. Try them yourself! Below is the recipe.

“Fudge Dream Bars” (from Chocolate Treats)

1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

4 eggs

2 cups granulated sugar

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon salt

For bars, preheat oven to 350. Grease 13x9 inch pan. In medium saucepan, blend 1 cup butter and 1/3 cup cocoa. Cook over low heat, stirring until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

In large bowl, beat eggs with mixer on medium speed until blended. Add granulated sugar, flour and cocoa mixture; beat until well blended. Beat in vanilla and salt.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Transfer pan to wire rack to cool completely.

¼ cup (1/2 stick) butter or margarine

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

4 cups powdered sugar, divided

2 to 4 tablespoons milk

For frosting, in medium saucepan, combine ¼ cup butter and 1/3 cup cocoa. Cook over low heat, stirring until melted and smooth. Transfer to a medium bowl.

With mixer on medium-low speed, gradually beat in 2 cups powdered sugar until blended. Beat in 2 tablespoons milk. Gradually beat in remaining 2 cups powdered sugar and enough remaining milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until frosting is smooth and spreadable.

Spread frosting over bars in pan. Cut into 32 bars.

Rating: C

Recipe: Quick Oatmeal-Chocolate Chip Bars

I’ve been trying to find recipes lately that would start utilizing some of the left over ingredients that I had purchased before for other recipes. When I saw this recipe I thought this would be great since it seemed that it would turn out to be delicious, easy, and as I panned through the contents, I noticed I had most of what it called for.

On a separate note, I will warn you that this isn’t a recipe that is for people who are dieting or are conscious about corn syrups and sugars since it does call for dark corn syrup and a lot of other sweet things (sugar, sweetened flaked coconut, chocolate, etc.).

Now that the background story and the precautions are out of the way, here’s what I thought.

Baking

The preparation for this dessert was extremely easy. Because it uses Bisquick, which is practically instant cookie dough, putting everything together was a snap. It took about 10-15 minutes. The “most difficult” part was melting the butter (or, in this case, margarine) with the dark corn syrup on the stovetop.

There was little clean-up (a saucepan, a bowl, a measuring cup, and 2 spoons).

It took 40 minutes in the oven. I set the timer to 35 and I probably could’ve taken them out then, but I left them in for a couple more minutes for extra measure.

Finally, I liked that the bars didn’t have to be removed from the pan that I used. I simply cut the bars, left them in the glass dish, and put a cover on it.

I definitely give this an A+.

Taste

I was very eager to try these seeing as how I love the combination of oats and chocolate. I wasn’t disappointed. They were very chewy, and a little on the tough side. I attribute this to leaving it in the oven a couple of minutes longer than it should have. I also felt the taste was really oat-y, which I enjoy, but I probably could’ve cut back just a little. The coconut flavor wasn’t overpowering. In fact, it added a nice background flavor to it. The peanuts were the strangest dynamic to this. In retrospect I probably should have chopped the peanuts a little bit since it was weird and a little bit much on my palette when I encountered a cluster of peanuts in my bar.

Over all, I give the taste an A. I loved how chewy they were and I loved how all of the tastes blended together.

Recipe

Quick Oatmeal-Chocolate Chip Bars (taken from Creative Recipes with Bisquick vol. II, 1986)

1/3 cup margarine or butter

¼ cup dark corn syrup

1 ½ cups Bisquick baking mix

1 ½ cups quick-cooking oats

½ cup sugar

½ cup flaked coconut

½ cup salted peanuts

1 package (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

1 egg

Heat oven to 300.

Mix margarine and corn syrup in 1 quart saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until margarine is melted; reserve. Mix remaining ingredients except egg in large bowl; stir in corn syrup mixture and egg until moistened. Pat in ungreased rectangular pan, 13x9x2 inches.

Bake until light golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes. Immediately cut into bars, about 3 x 1 ½ inches; cool in pan 20 minutes. Remove from pan; cool completely.

Makes 40 bars.

Recipe: Velvet Crumb Strawberry Dessert

I made this over the weekend, and I have to say I was very pleased. Once again, it is more of a summer dish, and was a nice little pick-me-up instead of the typically February dreariness. It was a light dessert in the sense that there wasn't a lot of it, and it wasn't too heavy on the sugar.

Taste: Wonderful. I loved how all of the tastes of the strawberry, the cake, and the cream cheese blended together into one smooth, delightful taste. It particularly worked out because the strawberries that I had were slightly on the tart side, so the dessert wasn't sickeningly sweet. The cream cheese, which I was skeptical about, gave it a great twist.

Grade: A

Cooking: For a cake, extremely easy. The recipe calls for a baking mix, which takes a lot of the mixing out of the picture when you're making the cake. In fact, the glaze was the hardest part. It comes together really quickly.

Grade: A

This is a great dessert for the summer or even spring during Easter.

Here's the recipe:

Velvet Crumb Strawberry Dessert (Summer Fresh Fruits and Vegetables, 1989)

1 1/2 cups baking mix (Bisquick)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk or water
2 tablespoons shortening
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
Strawberry glaze (recipe below)
2 packages (3 ozs each) cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1 1/2 cups strawberry halves

Heat oven to 350. Grease and flour round pan, 9 x 1 1/2 inches. Beat baking mix, sugar, milk, shortening, vanilla, and egg in large bowl on low speed, scraping bowl frequently, 30 seconds. Beat on medium speed 4 minutes. Pour into pan. Bake until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool 5 minutes; invert on serving plate.

Prepare strawberry glaze; cool. Mix cream cheese and lemon peel; spread over top of cake. Arrange strawberries on cream cheese mixture; pour strawberry glaze over strawberries. Refrigerate until set, at least 1 hour. Refrigerate any remaining dessert.

Strawberry Glaze

1/2 cup strawberries
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
3 or 4 drops red food color

Mash strawberries. Mix sugar and cornstarch in 2-quart saucepan. Gradually stir in strawberries and water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir one minute. Stir in lemon juice and food color; cool.

Recipe: Greek Chocolate Mousse Tartlets

I was also very disappointed in these. These little buggers were a b*%&# to put together. It was an hour and a half from hell, and quite frankly, for results that were average at best. There was a lot of clean up, a lot of waste, and a lot of work in making these. All I have to say is- lesson learned.

Cook grade: D+

They were horrific to make. The only thing that I can say is that I learned what "baking beans" are and I earned a little bit of experience with pie dough.

Taste grade: C

I thought the taste was average at best. I just was not impressed at all. Even after I had gone through all of the trouble of making them, I had a strong feeling that this was going to be the case. I think I also over worked the pie dough since the crust was pretty hard when I tried them. Also, the yogurt in the filling makes it taste like liquor is in it, which I did think was pretty cool.

My mother suggested these should actually be made into bite-sized tartlets rather than the 4 inch ones that I made/was suggested in the recipe. If that's the case, I would serve these at a party after dinner with coffee. They could be served at a small party even as 4 inch tartlets with coffee, but for all of the trouble, I again stress small party.

If you really want to torture yourself, here's the recipe:

German Chocolate Mousse Tartlets (Appetizers, Finger Foods, Buffets, and Parties, 2009)

Crust:

1 1/2 cups (6 oz) plain (all purpose) flour
2 tbsp (unsweetened) cocoa powder
2 tbsp icing (confectioners') sugar
1/2 cup of butter

Filling:

7 oz white chocolate
1/2 cup of milk
2 tsp powdered gelatine
2 tbsp caster (superfine) sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs, separated
9 0z or generous 1 cup Greek (US strained plain) yogurt

Preheat the oven to 375. Sift the flour, cocoa, and icing sugar into a large bowl.

Place the butter in a pan with 4 tbsp water and heat gently until just melted. Leave to cool, then stir into the flour to make a smooth dough. Cover with clear film (plastic wrap) and chill until firm.*

Roll out the pastry and use to line six deep 4 in loose-based flan tins (tart pans).

Prick the base of each pastry case (pie shell) all over with a fork, cover with greaseproof waxed paper weighed down with baking beans and bake blind for 10 minutes. Remove the baking beans and paper, return to the oven and bake a further 15 minutes, or until the pastry is firm. Leave to cool in the tins.**

Make the filling. Break the chocolate into squares and melt in a heatproof bowl (double boiler) over a pan of barely simmering water. Pour the milk into a pan, sprinkle over the gelatine and heat gently, stirring, until the gelatine has dissolved completely. Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate.

Whisk the sugar, vanilla extract, and egg yolks in a large bowl, then beat in the chocolate mixture. Beat in the yogurt until evenly mixed.

Whisk the egg whites in a clean, grease-free bowl until stiff, then fold into the mixture. Divide among the pastry cases and leave to set.

Drizzle melted chocolate over the tartlets to decorate. ***


*I left the dough in the refrigerator for about an hour.

**Lentils or dried beans can be used instead of baking beans. I used risotto rice, although, I wouldn't suggest this since a bunch of steam/smoke came flooding out of the oven when I opened it after 10 minutes.

***I used semi-sweet chocolate.

Over all grade: C-

Recipe: Chocolate Chip and Banana Pudding

I loved this recipe. First of all, this wasn't a regular pudding. It was a bread pudding. The way it was made was soooo cool. It was baked by being steamed in a double boiler for two hours. It was so neat. I loved how moist it was, too. The banana taste wasn't too strong. In fact, I would argue that perhaps it was too light. I think it would've been better, also, with nuts. The glaze that was used for this was...interesting. I think I would've tried a different chocolate glaze. Over all, I thought this recipe was not only awesome to make, but it was really tasty.

Pros: Too cool. It was delicious. There was also very little clean up.

Cons: It took a very long time to make. I suggest making this first before you start on a main dish for dinner. It needs to steam for two hours on the stove top. Also, the glaze I didn't feel was the best.

I would serve this for a girls' night or an intimate dinner setting.

Here's the recipe (from Appetizers, Finger Foods, Buffets, and Parties, 2009)

Chocolate Chip and Banana Pudding

1 3/4 cups self-raising (self rising) flour
6 tbsp unsalted (sweet) butter
2 ripe bananas
1/3 cup caster (superfine) sugar
4 tbsp milk
1 egg, beaten
4 tbsp plain (semisweet) chocolate chips
glossy chocolate sauce and whipped cream, to serve

Prepare a steamer or half fill a pan with water and bring it to the boil. Grease a 4 cup heatproof bowl. Sift the flour into a bowl and rub in the butter with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

Mash the bananas in a bowl. Stir them into the flour mixture, with the caster sugar.

Whisk the milk with the egg in a jug (pitcher) or small bowl, then beat into the pudding mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips and mix well until thoroughly combined.

Spoon the mixture into the heatproof bowl, cover closely with greaseproof (waxed) paper and a double thickness of foil, and steam for 2 hours, topping up the water as required.

Run a knife around the top of the pudding to loosen it, then turn it out on to a warm serving dish. Serve hot, with the chocolate sauce and a spoonful of whipped cream.

Recipe grade: A

Hershey's Fabulous Desserts: Exit Summary

Before I give my thoughts on this book, I'd like to note that I only made 9 of the 10 recipes that I promised. Reason? For the 10th recipe, I couldn't find some of the ingredients (specifically nut quick bread mix). So between that and I wanted to move on to a different cook book, I decided 9 was enough. Besides, I foresee more desserts in the future!

Ok, that being said, here's my take on this cookbook:

Pros: Most of the desserts are quick and easy. Most of them require cake mixes or bread mixes, which saves a lot of steps when you bake. Also for the most part the clean up was quick and easy. Most of the desserts turned out great. It also didn't make an overabundance of stuff, but just enough for a family.

Cons: Some of the ingredients were difficult to find or they aren't made any more (Cherry cake mix....). Sometimes quality was forfeited for easiness and convenience (in the case of the fudge).

Over all, I thought it was a good, easy mode cook book, especially for someone who is just starting to bake. It's also great for someone who is trying to throw something together at the last minute or who doesn't want to invest a lot of money into something they are making. Most of this stuff came pretty cheap.

The biggest disappointment out of what I made was the Mint and Chocolate Fudge.

The biggest success out of what I made were the cream filled cupcakes.

I think that about wraps this one up! The next cookbook is Halloween Food, Fun, and Crafts (2008).

Recipe: Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake

Well admittedly, I am cheating a little by writing this post...I didn't exactly taste the pie. The truth is I don't like cheesecake (gasp!), however, I did get some testimony on how the pie/cheesecake turned out.

According to guinea pigs/taste testers/parents...it turned out delicious! Very smooth...which was actually a concern for me considering how the batter turned out before I put it in the oven to bake.

*Last night I actually tried it (female testimonial aka mom told me I should always try my own cooking), and I have to say it was quite good (for me not liking cheesecake). It was smooth and creamy. The strawberries were a PERFECT complement to the pie. However, I'm not sure if I was a fan of the semi-sweet chocolate swirl. I thought it was too much...especially without the strawberry. With the strawberry, everything went great together. Without it, the chocolate overpowered the vanilla cheesecake, and I wasn't a fan. I would say definitely garnish the top with a fruit topping. It adds to the flavor and breaks up the chocolate a little bit. (10/11/10)

Pros: It turned out tasting great. *The fruit was an excellent addition. (10/11/10)

Cons: I found myself very skeptical of this recipe. First of all, I couldn't find a 6 oz crust that was 8 inches at the store. All of them were 9 inches. Secondly, my batter turned out lumpy. This could've been because of the mixer I used (I'm still trying to get used to the new one we just got), or it could've been because of the batter itself. Lastly, I pride the fact that the oven I use is ALWAYS on the dot with every recipe I've used (except for cookies). On this one? Not so much. The recipe claimed that you only bake it for 25-30 minutes. I had to bake it for 35. Also, I learned the key here is that you have to take it out when the middle is almost set. Not runny but not completely solid either. Just almost. This is indicated in the recipe, though. Clean up was average-not too much, not too little. Also, the garnish. It doesn't suggest a garnish for you at the end of the recipe. I did the whipped cream and strawberries, but word to the wise- don't use Reddi Whip or any kind of spray can whipped cream ahead of time. It goes flat quickly (whoopssss....). Use Miracle Whip or wait until you are just about to serve it to garnish it.

(Picture to the right is my lumpy batter)

Overall, I'd recommend it for a small get together. The prep was a little bit of a hassle to this one, but I heard the final product is great, so I can't argue with that. Over all I'll rate this as an indifferent/neutral rather than a like or dislike since I feel as though the cons and outcome cancelled each other out.

Here's the recipe if you want to try it out for yourself:

Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake (from Hershey's Fabulous Desserts, 1989)

4 packages (3 ozs each) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup of sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup Hershey's Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips or Mini Chips Semi Sweet Chocolate
1 teaspoon shortening
8 inch (6 ounces) packaged graham cracker crumb crust

Heat oven to 325. In large mixer bowl beat cream cheese and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. In small bowl reserve 1/2 cup cream cheese mixture. Melt chocolate chips with shortening in top of double boiler over hot, not boiling, water; stir into reserved 1/2 cup cream cheese mixture. Pour vanilla mixture into crust. Spoon chocolate mixture by dollops onto vanilla mixture. Using tip of knife swirl for marbled effect. Place filled crust on cookie sheet. Bake 25-30 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool on wire rack. Cover; chill several hours or until firm. Garnish as desired.

For the garnish I just used strawberries and Reddi-whip, but like I said, the latter was a poor choice and I'd go with Miracle Whip.

This was the last recipe of this cookbook that I'm going to make! Read the next post for the "exit entry".

Recipe: Cream-Filled Banana Cupcakes

Ok, so once again, I kind of improvised since I couldn't find the proper ingredients for this recipe. Instead of using banana cake mix, I just used yellow cake mix. Also, the recipe originally doesn't call for icing on the top (just sugar and walnuts), but I'm a huge sucker for icing, so I cheated and got the store icing (I know, I know...sorry). Also, instead of putting the walnuts on the top of the cup cake, I mixed them around in the batter.

Ok, so pros: OMG THESE ARE AMAZING. Like, my parents and I ate 2 dozen of these things. They are SOOOO good. Also, pretty quick and easy to make. They are extremely moist. I was skeptical when I put the cream cheese filling on top of the batter before putting them in the oven, however, I thought it was awesome that as they baked, the batter rose above the cream cheese filling and the filling fell into the middle of the cupcake.

Cons: They didn't make as many as the recipe originally anticipated. In fact, it made a dozen less. Also, there was TONS of cream cheese filling left over. I felt like it was a giant waste. I wouldn't call this an easy clean up (although it wasn't the worst, either).

These are great for a party, especially a birthday or graduation party. They would also be great at a bake sale.

Here's the recipe:

Cream-Filled Banana Cupcakes (taken from Hershey's Fabulous Desserts, 1989):

Cream Cheese Filling (recipe follows)
1 package (18.5 ounces) banana cake mix (with pudding in the mix) *Note: I used yellow cake mix, 18.25 ounces, no pudding.
3/4 cup finely chopped nuts
2 tablespoons sugar *Note: I used icing instead.

Prepare Cream Cheese Filling; set aside. Heat oven to 350. Prepare cake batter according to package directions. Fill paper lined muffin cups 1/2 full with batter. Spoon about 1 teaspoonful filling into center of each cupcake. Combine nuts and sugar; sprinkle about 1 teaspoonful over top of each cupcake. Bake 20 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in cake portion comes out clean. Cool on wire rack.

Cream Cheese Filling

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese; softened
1/3 cup of sugar
1 egg
1 cup Hershey's Mini Chips Semi-Sweet Chocolate

In small mixer bowl combine cream cheese, sugar and egg; beat until smooth. Stir in Mini Chips Chocolate.


Enjoy!!

Recipe: Cherry Cordial Cookies

Ok, so I guess the real name of this recipe for me should be "Strawberry Cordial Cookies" instead of cherry. I couldn't find cherry cake mix, so I just went with the strawberry (Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Strawberry Supreme to be exact). As it turned out, they were amazing.

Pros: They tasted great. My parents and even my boyfriend, who typically doesn't like fruity things, like them a lot.

Cons: The batter turned out really gooey, so I had to refrigerate it a little bit. Also, the icing was a little difficult to get on the cookie. Furthermore, I wasn't sure how to put them in the cookie jar because it would wind up extremely messy.

Other than that, though, they were your typical cookie to make, and the outcome was great.

This cookie would be great in the spring, especially around Easter (if you use the strawberry). If you use the cherry, I'm sure they would be great around the holidays.

Ok, so behold the recipe:

Cherry Cordial Cookies (from Hershey's Fabulous Desserts, 1989)

1 package (18.25 ounces) cherry cake mix
3/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 eggs
1 cup Hershey's Mini Chips Semi-Sweet Chocolate
Mini Chips Glaze

Heat oven to 350. In large mixer bowl combine cake mix, butter, and eggs; mix well. Stir in Mini Chiips. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until almost set. Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. Drizzle Mini Chips Glaze onto cooled cookies; allow to set.

Mini Chips Glaze

In small microwave-safe bowl place 1 cup Hershey's Mini chips Semi Sweet Chocolate and 3 tablespoons shortening (not butter, margarine, or oil). Microwave at high 45 seconds; stir. If necessary, microwave at high an additional 15 seconds or until melted and smooth when stirred. Use immediately.


That's it! Enjoy, and stay tuned for the next recipe: Cream Filled Banana Cupcakes.