HOMEMADED TWIX BARS

 

 

Two words:  Homemade + Twix!

If you love Twix candy bars like I always have, then boy are you going to adore this recipe!!!  

These bars are made from 3 deliciously decadent layers.

A layer of shortbread on bottom, creamy caramel in the middle, and chocolate on top.

 

 Bon Appetit, my friends!

 

Thousand Dollar Bars (aka homemade Twix bars)

Source:  King Arthur Flour

Ingredients:

Shortbread Layer:

1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, at room temperature

1 cup confectioners' sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour 

Caramel Layer:

2 cups caramel, cut into small chunks

3 tablespoons heavy cream

Chocolate Layer:

3 cups chopped milk chocolate or dark chocolate, melted

1 tablespoon vegetable shortening (optional)

Directions:

1) FOR THE CRUST: Preheat your oven to 300°F. Spray a 9" x 13" pan lightly with cooking spray, or line with parchment, and set aside. 

2) In a medium-sized bowl, beat together the butter, sugar and vanilla. Add the flour. At first the mixture may seem dry, but will come together as you continue to beat at medium speed. 

3) Take the dough (it will be somewhat stiff) and press it evenly into the pan. Lightly flouring your fingertips will help with any sticking. 

4) Prick the crust all over with a fork. The holes will allow steam to escape and the crust will bake evenly with fewer bubbles. 

5) Bake the crust until it's lightly golden brown on top and the edges are deeper golden brown, about 35 to 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and immediately run a knife around the edges to loosen the crust. Set it aside to cool completely.

6) FOR THE CARAMEL LAYER: Melt the caramel and cream over low heat in a small saucepan. Pour the caramel over the cooled crust and set in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to chill and firm up. 

7) FOR THE CHOCOLATE LAYER: Melt the milk or dark chocolate slowly in a double boiler or over very low heat. If it seems very thick, add a tablespoon of shortening to thin it. Pour evenly over the chilled caramel layer and spread to cover all of the caramel. Return to the fridge until the chocolate is well set. Cut into 2" x 2" squares to serve. It's best to store these bars in the refrigerator.

8) These bars can also be cut and dipped in milk chocolate to resemble Twix ® bars. After the caramel layer has chilled firm, cut down the length of the pan, splitting the bars into two long, narrow bars. Then cut each long strip into "fingers". Dip the chilled bars into melted chocolate and place on parchment paper to set for several hours.

GRANNY SQUARE

I love to learn how to do new things.

Many times I can figure it out by reading the directions.

But I'm more of a visual learner and sometimes,

reading the directions over and over again does not connect with me.

Thank goodness for YouTube.

There are a lot of tutorials and I found this one

that was very helpful and easy to follow.

She did such a great job that the above picture

is of my very first Granny Square.  

I'm going to make several more squares,

enough to make a baby blanket in these colors.

I challenge you to try this out if you've never done one before.

If I can do it, you can do it too!

TUTORIAL

CHICKEN AND SPINACH PASTA BAKE

I am so hooked on Pinterest.

I just love how I can store many ideas

of things that I like without taking space in my house.

This recipe I found on Pinterest and I tried it last night.

This dish has now become one of my favorites.

It's very easy to make and will be great

for whatever occasion you want to make it.

Chicken & Spinach Pasta Bake

• 8 oz uncooked rigatoni
• 1 T olive oil
• 1 c chopped onion
• 1 (10 oz) pack frozen spinach, thawed
• 3 c cubed, cooked chicken breasts
• 1 (14 oz) can Italian-style diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 (8 oz) container Philadelphia chive & onion cream cheese
• ½ t salt, ½ t pepper
• 1½ c shredded mozzarella cheese

Prepare rigatoni according to pkg directions.  Spread oil on bottom of 11×7 in baking dish; add onion in a single layer.  Bake at 375 for 15 minutes or just until tender.  Transfer onion to large bowl, set aside.
Drain chopped spinach well, pressing between paper towels.  Stir in rigatoni, spinach, chicken, & next 4 ingredients into onion in bowl.  Spoon mixture into dish & sprinkle evenly with shredded mozzarella cheese.  Bake covered at 375 for 30 minutes; uncover & bake 15 more minutes or until bubbly.
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I made one change to the recipe.  I did not have a container of Philadelphia chive and onion cream cheese and I really did not want to go out to the store to get one.  So I instead used a regular cream cheese that I softened and added the a small amount of dried chives and onion.  Also, I didn't have the mozzarella cheese, so I used instead colby cheddar mix.  It turned out just fine.

 

SENSE AND SENSIBILITY

I love Jane Austen and her books.

I can so easily transport myself to the era

of the books she has written.

Tonight I was just perusing the internet

when I came upon this website.

I was in heaven because the website

sells patterns for the time period.

I love to sew and seeing those patterns

makes me wish that I had been blessed

with daughters also as I've been blessed

with two wonderful sons.

So for those of you who have daughters

and love this time period,

this website is for you!

Sense and Sensibility

BLACK FOREST PAVLOVA WITH ESPRESSO CREAM

Thanks to the Cook Who Knew Nothing blog, she came up with this recipe.

It looks delicious and I can't wait to make it.

I might just make it for Valentine's Day for my husband.

Ingredients:
For the meringue.
8 egg whites
2 cups granulated raw sugar
2 tablespoons dutch cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
For the topping.
2 cups thickened (whipping) cream
2 tablespoons strong espresso coffee
680 gram (24oz) jar of morello cherries
½ cup chopped walnuts
½ cup dark chocolate curls *
½ cup dark chocolate shavings **
* To make chocolate curls run a potato peeler down the edge of a block of chocolate. ** To make chocolate shavings use an ordinary fine grater or a Micro-Plane.

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 425º F. Place a sheet of baking paper on two large baking tray and draw 20cm rounds.
2. Separate your eggs making utmost care not to contaminate the egg whites with any egg yolk. Any fat in the egg whites will prevent them from beating properly and will weigh them down.
3. Beat your egg whites until they are stiff and add your sugar slowly, one tablespoon at a time and beat until stiff peaks form. Turn your bowl upside down to make sure the whites are stiff enough. If not, beat another minute or so then check again.
4. Sift the cocoa powder into the raw meringue and fold through carefully ensuring you leave streaks of cocoa rather than fully incorporating it.
5. Shape the meringue into the two rounds on the baking paper/trays. Place meringues into oven and immediately turn temperature down to 120 degrees. Bake for 90 minutes then turn off oven, do not remove meringues until oven is cool.

Topping:
1. Drain the morello cherries into a colander with a bowl underneath it to catch the syrup. Give the cherries a shake to make sure the syrup drains out of them. You will want the cherries quite dry so give them a bit of time to drain.
2. Pour the cherry syrup into a saucepan and over medium heat reduce it down to a honey-like consistency (about 5-10 minutes). If you over-reduce you can add a little bit of water and whisk through to make it more liquid again. Set aside.
3. Beat the cream with the coffee until stiff peaks form. With a silicone spatula spread half of the cream over the bottom meringue, place cherries on the cream along with half of the chopped walnuts. Sprinkle half of the chocolate shavings over the meringue.
4. Place the top meringue layer over the bottom. Spread the remaining cream over it along with the cherries, nuts and chocolate shavings. Top  with the chocolate curls. Drizzle the cherry syrup over the entire pavlova.

BRIAN HAGGARD

Today Brian Haggard came and did a presentation

on crazy quilt memories.  He brought his quilts

and shared with all of us his techniques.

He shared how his grandmother was the driving force in his

life-long interest in textiles.  She lived  with his family

and taughte him the process of quilt making from a young age. 

He said that it was a family effort with his

great-grandmother, grandmother, mother, and him

in making the beautiful pieces of art.

He preserves those wonderful memories

in quilting and hand embroidery to

pay tribute to the past generations.

His quilts are absolutely beautiful!

The first book that he published.

There was a long line of ladies waiting to have their books autographed by Brian.

Brian had all of us enthralled

 

Brian helping one of the ladies the best products for what she is planning to make.

Brian and myself.  I really enjoyed his presentation.

If you are interested in seeing more of his work, click on the link below and it will take you to his blog.

Brian Haggard

CHOCOLATE MOUSSE

At my house, chocolate is king!

I like chocolate but the real chocolate lover is my husband.

The darker the chocolate, the happier he is.

Many years ago, he had to travel to France because of his job.

He would always come home with a small suitcase filled with chocolate.

I would tease him and tell him the chocolate was his idol.

Since Valentine's Day is right around the corner,

I decided to share with you two recipes for making mousse.

They are very easy to make and you'll enjoy them on that

special day or any other day you want to make special.

QUICK CHOCOLATE MOUSSE

Ingredients:

1 (1.5 ounce) bar milk chocolate candy bar

1 tablespoon milk 1 1/2 cups plain fat-free Greek yogurt

Directions:

1.

Put the chocolate bar into a microwave-safe bowl and add the milk. Microwave until the chocolate is soft and melted, about 30 seconds. Stir Greek yogurt into the chocolate mixture until smooth.

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GHIRARDELLI CHOCOLATE MOUSSE

Ingredients:

10 ounces Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Chips 2 cups heavy cream

1/4 cup coffee, hot 4 eggs, room temperature 2 tablespoons sugar

Directions:

1.	Whip the cream to form light peaks. Set aside in the refrigerator. Melt the chocolate chips in a large mixing bowl set over barely simmering water. Meanwhile, whip the eggs with the sugar until very fluffy and thick, about 10 minutes.
2.	Stir the hot coffee into the melted chocolate chips. The mixture will start to thicken, so work quickly. Quickly stir in the beaten eggs, then fold in the whipped cream. Pour or spoon mixture into cups or bowls, and chill until firm, about 2 hours.

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 These recipes and many others can be found at All Recipes.  

ENJOY!!!!!!!