Category: chocolate

Gina’s Chocolate-Tar Squares

Ashley Bischoff1 Comment

Roger threw a housewarming party on Saturday — it was a lot of fun and there was plenty of food & beverages. In particular, Gina made what she called “chocolate-tar squares”. From what she tells me, she initially thought about making some brownies but then realized that she didn’t have the necessary accessories to the brownie mix (an egg, oil and so on).

So, she instead decided to make some brownie-shaped bars out of packaged cookie dough. I can only guess that she already had the cookie dough on hand since, if she were going to the store for it, she could have just as easily bought some eggs and oil while she was there ;). In any case, in a moment of recipe freestyling, Gina decided on the tar squares.

Simply, she placed the cookie dough across the bottom of a standard 8x8 pan — it was if she was making brownies, only not really. She baked them for the recommended 15 minutes or so, but found that they were still uncooked after that time. Since she had taken them out of the oven anyway (to test their doneness), she drizzled on some caramel before returning them to the oven (hey, why not?).

Apparently, these pseudo-brownies took almost a hour to cook through. Perhaps when sized into cookies, the dough is heated from all sides and bakes faster that way (?). After cooking, Gina sliced the chocolate-tar into squares for serving. All of this baking & preparation is from what Gina told me — I can only speak first-hand on the eating part ;).

As you may have already guessed, the caramel didn’t really form a layer on top of the squares but rather infused itself into them. And, as the dough is chewy to begin with, Gina coined the “tar” moniker. Perhaps “chocolate goo squares” or even “chocolate chewy squares” would have also worked.

As I can’t resist homemade treats, I soon tried one of the chocolate-tar squares. Sure enough, it was both chewy and square. And, the caramel made for a pleasant sidekick to the chocolate chips. In all, they were very tasty, especially considering that the recipe didn’t exist before that evening.

Being the chocolate aficionado that I am, I wonder if they could be made even better with a layer of chopped dark chocolate to accompany the caramel layer. Or, the chopped chocolate could be substituted for the caramel for an even-chocolatier treat. Perhaps some day I’ll have to give that a try.

Reese’s Inside Out Peanut Butter Cups

Ashley Bischoff16 Comments

I heard about Reese’s Inside-Out Peanut Butter Cups from Supermarket Guru’s New Products page. As you might expect, they’re peanut butter cups, except that the peanut butter bit is on the outside and the chocolate is in the center. But, the review on Supermarket Guru wasn’t so positive:

Here’s what Julie Messerer from Hoquiam, Washington had to say about this product. “The peanut butter is on the outside with a chocolate filling inside. Reese’s is my favorite candy bar (my husband’s, too), and we both agree that it’s too much peanut butter flavoring. We couldn’t taste any chocolate! We’ll stick with the original Reese’s. […] ”

So, on account of the peanut-butteryness, they consider it a “Miss”. But, come on, how could any product have too much peanut butter? Of course, with as much sugar as they probably have, I don’t think I’ll be buying any except perhaps for Halloween festivities (if they last that long). I, for one, welcome our new peanut butter overlords.

Recipe: Chocolate Covered Twizzlers

Ashley Bischoff7 Comments

I made some chocolate-covered Twizzlers for Saturday’s Luau-party and I promised a few people that I’d post the recipe here:

Chocolate Covered Twizzlers

Ingredients:

  • At least one bag of Twizzlers (I used the bags around 12oz)

  • Twice as many bags of chocolate chips as bags of Twizzlers (assuming a bag of around 12oz). For instance, if you have 2 bags of Twizzlers, then you’d need 4 bags of chocolate chips.

Preparation:

The tricky part to this recipe is that the chocolate is melted over a double-boiler — except that a double boiler isn’t that tricky at all :). If you already know how to make a double-boiler, then you can skip the next section.

Setting up a Double Boiler:

A double boiler is simply a metal mixing-bowl set on top of a pot which has barely-boiling water (picture) such that the steam heats the contents of the mixing bowl. First, select a pot that has a diameter no larger than the burner. Then, you’ll need a metal mixing bowl since it has to be heat safe (though heat-safe glass may work as well).

The idea is to have boiling water in the pot — the bowl sitting on top of the pot — and only the steam heating the bowl. So, fill your pot with about an inch of water. Then, while the stove is still off, place the mixing bowl on top of the pot. Then lift the bowl off the put and check if the bottom of bowl is wet — if it is, you’ve put too much water in the pot and you’ll need to empty some out and try again.

Now that you have the right amount of water in your pot, leave the mixing bowl off the pot (for now) and turn the stove to about medium. Once the water is just-boiling, turn it down to about one-quarter heat. You want the water to remain steaming or just-boiling and not reach a rolling boil. Then, put the mixing bowl back on the pot.

After the Double Boiler Setup:

Before we get to melting the chocolate, be sure to set aside some cookie-sheets covered in wax paper. Twizzlers tend to be rather bulky when laid flat, so you may need three or four cookie sheets. The wax paper prevents the Twizzlers from sticking to the sheet after they’ve cooled, so don’t skip the wax paper.

So, your double boiler is setup. Now, pour all the chocolate chips into the bowl. I made my last batch with two bags of chips, and it went fine. In many ways, the dipping-process is even easier with more chips since you can submerge the Twizzlers.

As the chocolate chips heat, stir them with a metal spoon (an everyday flatware-spoon is fine). The melting-process may seem to go slowly at first, but it goes more quickly at the end. Once the chips are melted, you'll need to “whip” the chips: hold on to the metal bowl with an oven mit and whip the chips using the spoon in your other hand (as if you’re beating an egg in a bowl). The idea is to get the chips free of all clumps and evenly melted. (Be sure to leave the stove on during the entire Twizzler-dipping process so that the chocolate remains fully melted.)

With the chocolate ready, set the spoon aside on a saucer (you’ll need it again in a moment). Take a Twizzler and hold it by one end in your non-dominant hand. Then, dunk it about two-thirds to three-fourths the way into the chocolate. With your dominant hand, use the spoon to push the Twizzler into the chocolate and spoon-over the chocolate to ensure that the three-fourths (or two-thirds) of the Twizzler is properly coated.

Pull the Twizzler out and, while holding the Twizzler above the double-boiler, use the back of the spoon to smooth out the chocolate and brush off any excess chocolate back into the bowl.

Then, carefully place the Twizzler on the cookie sheet to cool. And, repeat the process (whip the chocolate, dip the Twizzler, set Twizzler to cool) for the remaining Twizzlers. If your mixing bowl is at a perfect heat, the chocolate may stay smooth enough and you may not have to whip the chocolate between each Twizzler-dipping; that’s up to you.

Once you're done, you’ll need to allow the chocolate to cool and harden: I would give this at least an hour, or preferably two or three hours. You may find that, towards the end, there’s not enough chocolate to fully cover a Twizzler but nonetheless some chocolate still left in the bowl — this goes quite nicely when spooned onto some graham crackers and allowed to cool (the chef’s treat — wink wink, nudge nudge).

A quick note on white chocolate vs dark/milk chocolate. Technically speaking, “white chocolate” isn’t chocolate at all (since it has cocoa butter but no actual cocoa). So, it doesn’t behave like chocolate, cooking-wise. I’ve tried both white and dark chocolate and both can work out fine. However, white chocolate tends to not melt as evenly and, if you’re undecided about whether to use white chocolate, I would recommend dark or milk chocolate instead.

Variations:

The classic combination is, of course, dark chocolate on strawberry Twizzlers. However, there’re also chocolate Twizzlers and white chocolate, leading to these possibilities: white chocolate on strawberry Twizzlers, white chocolate on chocolate Twizzlers, dark chocolate on chocolate Twizzlers and dark chocolate on strawberry Twizzlers (the original).

Recipe: Chocolate Peanut Treats

Ashley Bischoff3 Comments

I found this recipe for Chocolate Peanut Treats on the chocolate-recipes mailing list (yes, a list just for chocolate recipes, heh). It sounds simple enough, and I’m tempted to try it sometime. I’m curious about what kind of texture it might have — whether it’d be chewey or more flakey (I suppose that depends on the ratio of graham crackers to peanut butter).

Chocolate Peanut Treats

Ingredients:

  • 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (about 12 squares)
  • 1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
  • 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
  • 1/2 cup chunky peanut butter [I’d probably go with creamy]
  • 1 cup (6 oz) semisweet chocolate chips

Preparation:

In a bowl, combine cracker crumbs and butter; mix well. Stir in sugar and peanut butter. Press into a greased 8 inch square pan. In a microwave or double boiler, melt the chocolate chips and stir until smooth. Spread over peanut butter layer. Chill for 30 minutes; cut into squares. Chill until firm, about 30 minutes longer. Store in the refrigerator.

Recipe: Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Ashley Bischoff8 Comments

I recently ran across this recipe for Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies on AllRecipes. The reviews were positive, so I decided to try the recipe.

It worked out great—soft and rich, but with a delicious chocolate and pecan accent. I’ve added just a few comments as well:

Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

  • 1 roll parchment paper [You aren’t going to eat this, but you’ll need to have some on hand—you can find parchment paper in the same aisle as the wax paper and aluminum foil.]
  • 1 cup (110 grams) of chopped pecans (or chopped walnuts)
  • 2 sticks (227 grams) of butter, softened (Or for a vegan version, I’ve had success with Miyoko’s Vegan Butter, which I found at Target.)
  • 1 cup (198 grams) packed light brown sugar
  • ½ cup (99 grams) white sugar
  • 2 eggs (Or for a vegan version, I’ve had success with Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer, which I found at Target.)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 ¼ cups (178 grams) all-purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons Diamond Kosher salt (or 1 teaspoon table salt)
  • 3 cups (295 grams) quick-cooking oats [These may be labeled as “quick-cooking” oats or 1-minute “instant” oats.]
  • 6 oz (170 g) dark chocolate from 70%+ bars (alternately: 6 oz / 170 g of chocolate chips)
  • Optional: Maldon sea salt, for sprinkling atop the cookies after they come out of the oven (You can find Maldon sea salt at Kroger and Safeway, among other stores.)

Directions—Toasting the Nuts:

  1. Preheat the oven to 375° F (190° C).

  2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the chopped nuts in a single layer. Place the baking sheet in the oven for 5–6 minutes.

  3. Take out the nuts and set them aside to cool. (You can pick up the parchment paper by the sides to form a U-shape to make it easier to transfer the nuts to a small bowl.)

Directions—Baking the Cookies:

  1. Lower the oven temperature to 325° F (162° C).

  2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla.

  3. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended.

  4. Roughly chop the dark chocolate bars. It’s fine (and even preferable) if not all the chopped pieces are the same size—aim to have most of the pieces no larger than around ½ to ¾ inch (1 to 2 cm) on any given side.

  5. Mix in the quick oats, pecans, and chocolate chips.

  6. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper and bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven.

    (They should puff up ever so slightly when they bake; if you take them out of the oven and they’re completely flat, they haven’t baked quite long enough.)

  7. Optional but recommended: Immediately after taking the cookie sheets out of the oven, sprinkle the tops of the cookies with sea salt.

  8. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheets for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.