Rocky Ledge Bars

This week marked the end of an era. The show that reigned as my supreme TV deity for six years has come to an end. What will I do without my LOST?

With an almost religious-like fervor, my friends and I have followed the weekly trials and tribulations of the characters we’ve come to love and loath. As self-proclaimed LOST fanatics, we spent the last four months in a permanent state of anticipation. How will it end? What questions will be answered? What the HECK is going on?!?!

In the end we did get some answers, but true to LOST form, a lot was presented and then left for us to ponder. The last episode left me frustrated yet somehow equally satisfied (as only LOST writers could manage). My friends and I bid farewell to Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Hurley, Sun, Jin, Claire, Charlie, Sayid, and Locke as we did every week – while eating a giant meal together. But this time, a potluck dinner marked The End and served as our Last Supper -
My contribution to the potluck: Rocky Ledge Bars (a Martha Stewart recipe)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2-1/4 cups flour
2-1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups packed brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup mini marshmallows
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips
18 soft caramels, chopped until the size of a chocolate chip


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9" x 13" pan, and then line the buttered pan with parchment paper. Allow 2 inches of the parchment paper to hang over the edges of the pan. Spray cooking spray over the parchment paper and then set the prepared pan aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set that aside as well.

Using an electric mixer and in a large bowl, blend together the softened butter and brown sugar until it's creamy. Next, mix in the eggs and vanilla and continue beating. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture at a time to the wet mixture. The batter will become thick, so you may want to do this by hand. Continue mixing in the flour mixture until it is well combined.

Add HALF of the mini marshmallows, chocolate, white and butterscotch chips and carmels to the batter and mix thoroughly.

Spread the batter in the prepared pan and top with the remaining half of the marshmallows, chips, and carmels.


Bake for about 30 to 35 minutes or until the center is set and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center.

Allow the pan to cool for about a half an hour. Remove the cookies from the pan and set on a cookie sheet. Put the entire cookie sheet into the refrigerator for another half an hour until it is completely cooled. Cut into individual cookies.

Crème de Menthe Brownies

Oh, how I love a good spiked recipe! Especially desserts! Adult beverages make anything just that much better: Irish coffee, beer-cheese soup, um….jello. A personal favorite is crème de menthe in hot chocolate, so deciding to add it to brownies was a no-brainer. This recipe doesn’t shy away from the use of butter (you aren’t surprised, are you?), but the minty flavor stands out. If you’re making this treat for the kiddies, note the substitution for the crème de menthe below - although 2 teaspoons never hurt anyone, right??!!

Ingredients:

Brownie Base:

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened
4 eggs
1-1/2 cup Hersey’s Chocolate Syrup (16 oz. can)

Creme de Menthe Center:

½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons Crème de Menthe liquor*

Chocolate Glaze:

2 tablespoons butter
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9x13” pan with cooking spray and set it aside.

Using an electric mixer, beat together the sugar and butter until it’s nice and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and pour in the Hersey’s syrup. Continue beating while you sift-in the cup of flour. Pour the chocolate batter into the prepared pan and pop it in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes or when a toothpick inserted into the middle of the brownie comes out clean. Remove the pan from the oven and allow it to cool completely on a baking rack.

Once the brownies are completely cool, sift the 2 cups of powdered sugar into a medium-sized mixing bowl. Using a large spoon, mix the softened butter and the crème de menthe into the powdered sugar. Keep mixing until the mixture comes together and becomes smooth and creamy. (This will take a few minutes).

* if you do not have crème de menthe on hand or you don’t want to use alcohol in your recipe (gasp!), you can substitute 1 teaspoon water, 1 teaspoon peppermint extract and 3 drops of green liquid food coloring.

Once the cream is well mixed, smooth a thin layer over the cooled brownies. Cover the pan with foil and allow it to set in the refrigerator for about a ½ hour. Meanwhile, melt the chocolate chips and butter on the stovetop and stir until smooth. After the cream layer is firm, remove it from the fridge and spread the chocolate glaze over the cream. Re-cover the pan and return it to the fridge for at least an hour.

Ham and Cheese Scones

Scones – they’re not just for breakfast anymore.

I know I usually talk about baking with massive amounts of butter and sugar, but I figure it’s about time for something not so incredibly sweet. But have no fear! This recipe still has plenty of butter. I haven’t completely lost my mind!

This is also a great clear-out the fridge recipe. I had some leftover ham and cheese after making omelets this past weekend and half of a tub of sour cream from yesterday’s Cinco de Mayo dinner. I can’t lie - the motivator for this recipe was to use up the sour cream before I went at it with a spoon. Don’t act like you’ve never done it. I love me some sour cream…

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black ground pepper
6 tablespoons cold butter
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded or cut into small pieces
1 cup ham, chopped (I only had lunch meat on hand, but it worked)
3/4 cup sour cream
1 large egg
1 tablespoon whole milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper and set them aside. (The parchment was particularly important for this recipe. The cheese oozes while baking, so the paper was a synch to clean-up! Of course, you could also use a Silpat mat as well).

Whisk the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and pepper in a large metal mixing bowl.

Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

In a separate small bowl, stir together the sour cream, egg and milk. Add the wet mixture, ham, and cheese to the flour crumbs. Stir it all together until just moistened.

Transfer the dough to a lightly-floured cutting board. Pat the dough into an 8-inch circle, and using a pizza cutter, slice the dough into eight evenly-sized wedges. Place the wedges on the parchment-lined cookie sheets and bake them for about 20 minutes or until lightly browned.

Enjoy with coffee for a savory breakfast or as quick lunch on the go.

Softest Chocolate Chip Cookies EVER!

If given the choice between thin, crispy cookies and thick, chewy cookies, I’d pick chewy every time! I recently heard it through the grapevine that if you add a packet of instant pudding to your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, you’ll end up with extremely moist cookies. It was worth a try! I dusted off an old favorite – a recipe for chocolate chip- walnut cookies, and massaged the recipe a little. Heck! If I’m adding pudding to it, I may as well as some other ingredients as well, right? So in went some Heath toffee pieces with the butterscotch pudding.

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 (3.4 ounce) package instant pudding
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup Heath toffee pieces

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line your baking sheets with parchment paper and set them aside.

Whisk together the flour and baking soda, and set that aside as well.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the softened butter and both sugars. Add the pudding mix and continue blending. Add the eggs one at a time followed by the vanilla.

Add in the flour mixture in small batches until it is well incorporated. Using a large spoon, stir in the chocolate chips and Heath toffee pieces. Place balls of the cookie dough on the baking sheets you set aside earlier.

Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.

Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Icing

Do as your mama says – eat a good breakfast. Go on. Start your day off right with butter, sugar and plenty of gooey icing. Now that’s my kind of breakfast. You can ride the sugar-high you’ll experience from these rolls right into lunch time.

I’ve been stalking Ree on thepioneerwoman.com for quite some time now. I’ve been eyeing her recipe for cinnamon rolls, but have always been leery of recipes calling for yeast. There’s something about it that’s unappetizing. It kind of grosses me out like the living bacteria in yogurt. Ew. But I decided I needed to suck it up because the end product looked so darn good. So I bit the bullet and then a cinnamon roll. And then another…

Recipe from www.thepioneerwoman.com:

*Note: Ree’s original recipe makes about 7 pans of cinnamon rolls, so I halved the recipe and still ended up with four pans!

Ree’s Cinnamon Roll Ingredients:

2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup sugar
1 package active dry yeast
4 cups (plus 1/2 cup extra, separated) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon (heaping) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon (scant) baking soda
1/2 tablespoon (heaping) salt
1 cup butter, melted
1 cups sugar
Generous sprinkling of cinnamon

In a large pot on the stove-top, scald (bring almost to the boiling point) the milk, oil and sugar. Before it starts to boil, turn off the heat and let the liquid mixture cool for about a half hour. You want it to be luke-warm and not hot.

After about 30 minutes, add the packet of yeast and allow it to get all warm and cozy for about a minute. Then add in the four cups of flour, mix until fully incorporated, and then cover the pot with a clean kitchen towel and allow the dough to rise for at least an hour.

After an hour, add the ½ cup of reserved flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and mix well. You can either use the dough now or cover it and keep it in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 days.

When you are ready to make the rolls, generously flour a very large work surface. Roll out the dough to approximately 30 inches by 15 inches. This may take a while since the dough likes to spring back a little. But once you do have it rolled-out, pour the melted butter all over the dough and use your fingers to spread it out. That’s why God gave you fingers. If for nothing else, for this recipe. Next, over the butter, sprinkle the cup of sugar and the cinnamon.

Starting at the 30” edge, roll the dough tightly toward the other 30” edge. When you are done, you’ll have a 30” log. Pinch the seam together to seal the log. It’s fine if the ends are uneven and the gooey goodness squishes out. It’ll still taste good!

Spray your baking dishes (I used four 7” tin baking pans) with cooking spray. Slice the log into 1” rolls and place them in the pans. You’ll be able to fit about 5 or 6 rolls per pan. Be careful not to overcrowd them. Next, cover the pans with dish towels and allow the rolls to rise for at least 20 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Bake the rolls for about 13 minutes until they are a light brown. Remove the pans from the oven and cover with icing while the rolls are still warm.

Ree makes a maple cinnamon roll icing, but I’m partial to cream cheese icing on my cinnamon rolls. So…

Cream Cheese Icing Ingredients:

16 ounces (2 packages) of cream cheese, softened
1 cup (2 sticks) of butter, softened
5 cups powdered sugar
6 teaspoons of milk
2 teaspoons of vanilla

Using an electric mixer, beat all five ingredients together until creamy. This will be plenty of icing for 4 pans of cinnamon rolls. While the rolls are still warm, spread on the cream cheese icing.

Serve immediately or store the cinnamon rolls in the refrigerator. If storing in the refrigerator, they are delicious after popping them (individually and NOT in a tin pan) in the microwave for about 30 seconds each.