Archive for December, 2008

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Christmas Bark

Back on Halloween Sara made some terrific Halloween Bark, with white chocolate, pretzels, oreos, candy corn, and sprinkles. The salty/sweet combo, as you may already know, is one of my all time favorites. I fell so in love with this bark that the following night we all went out to a bar and I brought my own little bag snack on… don’t judge. Last weekend Sara made another version of the bark, but for Christmas, and included Christmas peppermint candy corn. Again, unbelievable. I brought a bag to the Celtics game the following evening. Ha!

So for my family Christmas this week, I decided to give this whole bark thing a try on my own. I wasn’t really following a recipe, which, I think, is the cool thing about this. You can sort of toss in what you want or whatever makes sense to you and your taste buds, next time I’m experimenting with bacon. Obviously.

Here’s what I used:


White chocolate melting wafers. After searching high and low for these bad boys (apparently they’re quite popular around the holidays) I ended up calling iParty and they had a 5 pound bag they so nicely put on hold for me. From what I hear, when making bark you should use these wafers, they melt and pour a lot better than just a regular bar of chocolate. You can buy them at most craft stores or any baking type of store that sells candy. I also used pretzels, Oreos, m&ms, green and red sprinkles, and candy cane peppermint Hershey kisses.


On a baking sheet I broke some pretzels up and tossed some seasonal m&ms in.


Now for the oreos.


The white chocolate wafers melted. I popped them in the microwave for a minute or so and stirred until they melted nicely. I sort of eyeballed the amount, maybe a couple cups or so.


Pour the melted chocolate over the candy mixture on the baking sheet. After that I added the peppermint Hershey kisses and sprinkles, just so they would sit nicely in the chocolate. It looks like Christmas exploded on a baking sheet and I loved it!


Pop the baking sheets in the fridge until hardened. I was surprised at how quickly they hardened, maybe a couple hours or so, but I left them in overnight.

Once hardened break into small pieces.

I wish every morning I could wake up to something this cool! Not only is this bark really easy and quick to make, but I love that it can be taken from season to season just by getting creative and playing around with some fun candy… or bacon ;)

I hope everyone has a very happy, safe, and blessed holiday!

[Chels]

Related Posts: Cadbury Mini Egg Scones, Make Your Own Rock Candy, Butterfinger Cheesecake, Peppermint Cheesecake Brownies, Sparkling Peppermint Sugar Cookies,
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Monday, December 22, 2008

Peanut Butter S’mores Bread Pudding

As you probably have already noticed, I’m kind of obsessed with peanut butter. More specifically, I’m a huge fan of Peanut Butter & Co. peanut butter. So, when Sara (my fellow peanut butter obsessor) told me about a holiday recipe contest Peanut Butter & Co. was holding, we immediately decided to enter. Now, what to make? Something unique and delicious. Somehow, while walking to my apartment, Sara came up with the ultimate idea: Peanut Butter S’mores Bread Pudding. It’s still a mystery how exactly this just popped into her head, but I’m pretty sure this sets her future as an expert recipe creator.

The only rule of the contest was that the recipe must include at least a 1/2 cup of Peanut Butter & Co peanut butter; any flavor. Obviously not a problem. Sara and I chose the Dark Chocolate Dreams peanut butter.


Neither of us had made bread pudding before, but we knew the basic ingredients involved, so we just jumped in to see what we could come up with.

Here’s what else you’ll need to make our Peanut Butter S’mores Bread Pudding:

  • 10 slices of hearty bakery style bread, slightly stale (we used a thick honey oat bread from When Pigs Fly)
  • 9 standard size graham crackers
  • 2 cups mini marshmallows (we used big ones and cut them up, but mini would be better)
  • 1 1/2 cups Dark Chocolate Dreams Peanut Butter and Co. peanut butter (obviously we used more than the 1/2 cup guideline)
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1 12 cups whole milk
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 egg yolks
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 t vanilla extract

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Then, in a 8×8 baking pan, layer your bread to cover the bottom of the pan. We used 5 slices, but it obviously depends on the size of your bread. You may need to cut pieces to fit.

Then layer your graham crackers to fit over the bread.

Spread 1 cup of your mini marshmallows over the graham crackers.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, heat your peanut butter over low heat to liquify it, taking care not to burn it.

In a separate mixing bowl, whisk cream, milk, eggs, egg yolks, sugar, and vanilla extract until combined. Then slowly add the liquified peanut butter to the mixture, while whisking. Don’t worry if some lumps form.

Pour half of the liquid mixture over the pan with bread, graham crackers, and marshmallows.

Now create another layer of bread, graham crackers, and marshmallows.

And pour the remainder of the liquid on top of this.

Put in the oven at 350 degrees and bake for about 45 minutes.

When it’s done, cut the bread pudding into square and serve. We were pretty impressed by our first bread pudding efforts. It was perfectly gooey and chocolatey, with a nice little unique touch of peanut butter. We had to restrain ourselves from eating the whole pan.

And guess what? Sara and I won the recipe contest!! Considering neither of us have won anything of note in our lives, we are pretty excited about this. Now, not only do we have an amazing bread pudding recipe, it’s also award-winning. Can we write this on our resumes or something? Yes?

Here’s what the fabulous people over at Peanut Butter and Co. sent us for our winning recipe:

Now we have enough peanut butter to last us another few weeks at least.


I think my next goal will be to create an entire meal using all 8 of Peanut Butter & Co’s peanut butters. Sara, I think I’m gonna need you to help me out here.


[Sues]
Related Posts: Key Lime Bars with Cinnamon Graham Cracker Crust, Peanut Butter Toffee Cookies, Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies (The Best!), Reese's Pieces Peanut Buttery Brownies, Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes,
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