Chewy Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

Dear Jess,

We need to Skype soon! I want to hear everything about your honeymoon(s), and how co-habitation is going! Again... I am so excited for you!

I am almost as excited about these granola bars... but obviously not quite that excited. I have tried a couple different recipes over the years, and some have been rather tasty, but usually they are either too dry, too moist, or not yummy enough to bother making them again. This one, however, has won me over! If you are part of a 'peanut-free' school these will not due. I'm sure you could substitute the peanut butter for whatever you're allowed to use instead. Is it true that someone came up with an entirely nut free peanut butter twin but it tasted and looked so much like peanut butter that some schools banned it too in case it was mixed up?! Anyways... the point is: these are delicious.

I found it somewhere on the internet, but for the life of me I cannot find it again... good thing I printed it out!

Chewy Chocolate Chip Granola Bars
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2/3 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup liquid honey
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup craisins
1/2 cup wheat germ
2 tbsp sesame seeds
1 cup dark chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease 13x9 inch baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine brown sugar, peanut butter, honey, melted butter and vanilla and blend well.
3. Stir in remaining ingredients and mix well.
4. Press mixture evenly into prepared pan.
5. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until light golden brown.
6. Cool pan completely on wire rack (or in fridge)
7. Cut bars into desired size and shape.

Oh man. So tasty. Especially as an 'energy-boost' snack. I will be making these again for sure!


Love,

PB&J Wedding Cake

My Dearest Sally,

What an amazing day! I could not have imagined it more beautiful than it was and I am so blessed that you were there beside me. Jesse and I cannot thank you and Jason enough for your love and support. We love you very much.

I can hear the many voices along the way telling me that I was crazy to try and make my own wedding cake. This is true. But everyone knows I am a little crazy so they really should not have been surprised. It was a process and a journey that was stressful and OH SO MUCH FUN at the same time. The hardest part was not scraping my oven clean after I did a trial run and filled the pans too full. Nor was it trying to cut the layers perfectly flat or the dowling just right. Nope, nope, nope. The most difficult part was getting Jesse to approve the icing flavour. We tried various forms of buttercream to no avail. They just didn't taste the way icing should apparently! Finally I found a simple recipe for vanilla frosting. Jesse liked vanilla alright but wanted to experiment. I put peanut butter in one small batch and chocolate in another. He loved both of those options but his favorite was the combination! In the end we had peanut butter vanilla frosting with a strawberry rhubarb vanilla filling. Three tiers and many hours later BAM! Wedding cake. The final product was a 10" chocolate pound cake followed by an 8" vanilla pound cake, topped off with a 6" simple white cake. I used three dowling pieces in the bottom two layers for support and I am glad I did. The cake was heavy!

Peanut Butter Vanilla Frosting

(adapted from Wedding Cake Art and Design - Toba Garrett)

1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
1 pound (4 cups) icing sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 - 1 cup peanut butter (determined by flavour)

1. With an electric mixer, beat butter on medium-high speed until pale and creamy, about 2 minutes.

2. Reduce speed to medium. Add the confectioners' sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed; after every two additions, raise speed to high and beat 10 seconds to aerate frosting, then return to medium. This process should take about 5 minutes. Frosting will be very pale and fluffy.

3. Add vanilla, and beat until frosting is smooth. If not using immediately, frosting can be refrigerated up to 10 days in an airtight container. Before using, bring to room temperature, and beat on low speed until smooth again, about 5 minutes.

Simple Vanilla Pound Cake

(adapted from Wedding Cake Art and Design - Toba Garrett)

4 3/4 cups cake flour
4 cups white sugar
1 1/2 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 pkg. cream cheese
2 tbsp vanilla
5 large eggs
1 cup whole milk

1. Preheat oven to 350. Spray or line the cake pans.

2. Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Mix for 2 minutes on stir speed with the paddle attachment to sift and blend in the ingredients.

3. Add the butter, cream cheese, and vanilla and beat on low speed for 1 minute. Stop and scrape the bowl. Beat for 2 minutes on medium-high speed. Stop and scrape the bowl. Beat for another minute.

4. Whisk the eggs and whole milk together. Add the batter in 3 increments on low speed. Stop and scrape the bowl; then increase the speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes. Stop, scrape the bowl, and then beat for 1 minute longer.


5. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  

I cannot thank Rebecca enough for volunteering her advice and her amazing cake pans. Jesse has decided that I need to make cake more often. Oh what have I done! Jesse and I will begin to tear apart walls next week and plan to have you and Jason over a visit before the summer is out. What is summer without your people?

All my love to you and Jason. God bless and buckle in for whatever we have coming for us! I can't wait.

Granola Energy Bites

Dear Jess,

Your last post made me salivate! I have been craving Chicken Parmesan for a couple months now! I think I crave these things when it gets cold.

Here is another little fun thing to make. They are from Eat Shrink and be Merry. They're called 'Goody Two Chews' and they're awesome! I made them because I was bored, and it gave me an excuse to visit the new Bulk Barn that opened this passed Friday. Jason has taken a couple of these treats to work in his lunch every day since!

 

Goody Two Chews

adapted from Eat, Shrink and be Merry by Janet and Greta Poldeski

1/3 cup light peanut butter

1/3 cup pure maple syrup

2 egg whites

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 1/2 cups low-fat granola

3/4 cup dried cranberries

(I also added some mini dark chocolate chips!)

1. Preheat oven to 250F. Spray two 12 cup mini muffin trays and set aside. In a medium bowl, beat together peanut butter and maple syrup on medium speed of electric mixer (I just used a fork.) Add egg whites and pumpkin pie spice and beat again until smooth.

2. Stir in granola and cranberries. Divide mixture evenly among muffin cups. Bake on middle oven rack for 45 minutes 

3. Remove from oven and cool completely on wire rack before removing clusters from pan. Store in an airtight container.

Note: I found that mixing wet ingredients in a smaller bowl, and dry ingredients in a bigger bowl and then pouring the wet mixture on top of the dry mixture was easier than the reverse. But to each his/her own!

Also... the book gives you a tip. Don't use overly sweet granola. These babies are going to be sweet enough! I just got the plain low-fat granola from The Bulk Barn with no added dried fruits etc.

I will be making these often for sure! I might even turn them into granola bars... with the possibility of dipping them in dark chocolate and/or peanut butter! The possibilities are endless!

Love,

Cookie Ice Cream Pie

Dear Sally,

Your last blog looked AMAZING! I can't wait till BBQ season when I can cook up some delicious salmon. Unfortunately I know it will not be as good as your dad's famous salmon.

As usual this post is delicious but REALLY bad for you. I feel like I corrupting our followers with these enticing recipes. It is ironic really that I keep making things I can't eat nor would eat if I had the chance. Oh well :)

I'm excited for the party on Friday. I had to change my costume because I haven't had time to shop for anything but I think it will still work out :)

How is your yoga challenge coming? I wish I could be there with you! I'm glad that Rachel is doing it too, not that you would need the extra motivation or anything.


 Lots of love,
Jess

This recipe is a creation of my own and is a mish mash of things I had in the house and ideas that came to me. Don't worry, it has been tested on two very healthy men and they both enjoyed the dessert and survived its consumption. Enjoy!

Cookies Ice Cream Pie
Double chocolate ice cream (approx 2 cups)
Peanut butter (1/2 cup)
Cool whip (2 cups)
White chocolate (shavings)
1 cup (approx) white chocolate macadamia nut cookie dough (or any kind you like)

1. Cover the bottom of a round cake pan with the cookie dough. Cook in a 350 oven for about 8 minutes or until golden. Cool.

2. While the cookie is baking whip the ice cream, peanut butter and 1 cup cool whip. Spoon this mixture over the cooled cookie base. Top with remaining cool whip and white chocolate shavings. Return to the freezer for min 4 hours.


3. Bring out of the freezer just before serving to warm up. Cut and serve!

An American Delicacy

Dear Sally,

How was Easter with the family? I spent most of the weekend in Bradford with the Brickell clan and my parents were in Ottawa. Apparently my brother bought a house on Saturday so my parents went to help with the process.

On Sunday Jesse and I just needed some alone time away from all the bustle so we came
home to my place and made his favorite Ohio treat, Puppy Chow. I will warn you that this should probably be featured in the 'This is Why You're Fat" book but it is apparently delicious.

I can't wait to see you on the 13th!

Love,

Jess

Puppy Chow

1/2 cup butter

1 cup peanut butter

2 cups milk chocolate chips

1 box Crispix cereal

1 pound icing sugar

Melt butter, peanut butter and chocolate in a saucepan. Pour cereal into a large bowl and pour chocolate mixture over. Stir until all pieces are well covered. Divide into two large ziplock bags and pour 1 1/2 cups sugar into each. SHAKE! When all the pieces are covered with powdered sugar place the bags in the fridge to cool. Leave in the freezer and enjoy!