Smores Cookies

This is the last recipe I made in CO. My fellow singers had a smores night and told me to feel free to make a recipe with the left over smores ingredients.

Yes, please, and thank you.

Well, they were gobbled up at rehearsal for Elixir of Love. People raved about them. I wasn't a big fan of the graham cracker at the bottom, but the cookie was good! I think I'll make it with crumbled graham crackers and melted butter for the base next time.

Smores Cookies (from deliciously declassified)

11 tbsp unsalted butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar, packed
½ cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
2 ½ cups flour
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup mini marshmallows
3 regular sized Hershey’s bars, broken into pieces
1-2 packages graham crackers, broken into squares

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon – set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter with white and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until combined. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixer and combine on low speed. Fold in the chocolate chips and marshmallows. Chill dough in refrigerator for 1 hour to overnight. (Erika's Extras: I chilled overnight and found the dough hard to work with. Maybe it was due to the altitude I was in, but I think 1 hour chill time is fine.)

Preheat the oven to 375°F
Line 2 baking pans with parchment paper. Break the graham crackers into squares and then lay them out side by side on the pans as close as possible (they should be touching.)
Place about 1 1/2 tbsp of dough on graham crackers about 1 – 1 ½ inches apart. Press down slightly with fingertips. Bake for 5 minutes – then remove from oven to press Hershey’s bar pieces on to the top. You can place as many pieces or as little as you want depending how much chocolate flavor you want. Bake for 5 – 7 more minutes or until dough is beginning to turn golden brown at the edges.
Remove to a wire rack to cool.

Bake well and prosper!

Vegan Pie - Old Fashioned Chocolate Pudding Pie

My best friend in France (grant it, I only have 5 friends in France...but she's my best one!) sent me a vegan pie cookbook for a thank you gift. (She made the vegan brownies way back in 2010.) The thanks was due because I shipped her a gift for her boyfriend (and herself) from America which meant I had to drag myself to the post office a week or two BEFORE Christmas and fill out a customs form etc etc. *shudder*

Actually, it wasn't all that bad. Quite easy. And the thank you gift came as a nice surprise.

I should have made something sooner, but making this type of vegan dessert meant being able to go to a specialty grocery store. Seeing I hardly go to my normal grocery store, it took me awhile to go to Whole Foods to get the ingredients. But I got them! Here are some of the special ones I found:

(Really, I only needed to go to Whole Foods for the vegan chocolate chips, but I figured I'd get fancy graham crackers and corn starch while I was at it.)

I must admit that I was a little "meh" about making a vegan pie. 1. I'm a milk type of gal. 2. I'm a cookies type of gal. But I started on the crust and guess what! I made a mess!

I knew from then that this recipe was going to rock! And rock it did! I had one piece and then HAD to have a second piece right away!

(But please don't tell my French vegan friend that I had the second piece with milk. Shhhhh!)

Cette recette était super délicieux! Vous devriez essayer le faire. (Thanks google translate! I hope that translated correctly to "This recipe was super yummy! You should try making it.")

Vegan Old-Fashioned Chocolate Pudding Pie (from Vegan Pie in the Sky)

Ingredients for the crust:

1 3/4 cups finely ground graham crackers

        (made from 10 ounces of whole graham crackers)  

        (Erika's Extras: Mine had oatmeal on it and I thought

          it was a nice flavor added to the crust.)

3 Tablespoons sugar

4 Tablespoons melted hydrogenated margarine, melted coconut oil, or canola oil

   (Erika's Extras: I used canola oil but I think the

    margarine would solidify it better.

    Mine was quite crumbly on the edges.)

1 Tablespoon plain soy milk or almond milk

   (Erika's Extras: I used almond milk because it's part of

    the ingredients for the filling.)

Nonstick cooking spray

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F and lightly spray a 9-inch pie plate with nonstick cooking spray.

2. In a mixing bowl, combine the graham crumbs and sugar. Drizzle in the oil or melted margarine. Use a spoon to blend the mixture thoroughly to moisten the crumbs, then drizzle in the soy or almond milk and stir again to form a crumbly dough.

3. Pour the crumbs into the pie plate. Press crumbs into the sides of the plate first, then work your way down to the bottom, Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until firm. Let the crust cool before filling.

Ingredients for the Filling

3 cups almond milk

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/3 cup sugar

3 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

Big pinch of salt

1/4 cup semisweet vegan chocolate chips

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. In a small (2-quart) saucepan off the heat, combine 1 cup of the almond milk and the cornstarch. Use a fork to whisk it until the cornstarch is good and dissolved. Whisk in the remaining almond milk, the sugar, cocoa powder, and salt. it's ok if the cocoa is a bit clumpy at first; it will dissolve eventually.

2. Bring the mixture to a boil, whisking occasionally. Keep a close eye because once boiling, you need to lower the heat and bring the mixture to a slow rolling boil. Whisk consistently until the mixture is thickened, which should be about 7 minutes. (Erika's Extras: I never found that this "thickened." It became slightly more solid and then once it cools it is fine. Don't expect it to grab on the whisk much.)

3. Add the chocolate chips and mix to melt. Stir in the vanilla extract. Pour the pudding into the prepared pie shell and let cool for about 15 minutes on the counter, just until it stops steaming. To keep a skin from forming, place a circle of parchment paper over the filling when setting in the fridge. Refrigerate and let set for at least 3 hours. 

Bake well and prosper!

Chocolate Eclair Dessert

I make a lot of recipes from my Mom's Best Recipes Cookbook. It's a compilation of all my siblings' and my favorite recipes that she's made throughout the years. I'm sad to think that someday there won't be any desserts in there I haven't posted here. HOWEVER, while I'm still posting them, I still get to call my mom in case I have questions. How cool is it to get to go to the source who has made these recipes over and over?!

(Old picture of my mom's book and my favorite cookies)

For instance, I called my mom to inquire about the 2 squares unsweetened chocolate in the topping recipe below. I asked, "Is that baking squares, chocoalte bark/candy coating, or what?" (I HAVE made this recipe before, but it was 6 years ago!) We had a lovely discussion on how it's Baker's Chocolate Squares and that those were really all one could get back in the days in TX. Then we went on to discuss that if one square equaled an ounce, one could substitute chocolate chips for the squares or candy bars for the squares. (It's a small mother/daughter bonding moment, but allow me to geek out on it, k?)

So, without further ado (and geekiness) here's the recipe I made for a Labor Day party filled with runners. It was a hit!

Chocolate Eclair Dessert (from my Mom's Best Recipes Cookbook)

1 box graham crackers
2 pkgs instant vanilla pudding (and milk)
1 9-oz container Cool Whip

Butter 9 x 13 pan. Line with graham crackers.

Make pudding and mix in Cool Whip. Pour half of pudding mixture onto crackers.

Add another layer of graham crackers.

Pour remainder of pudding mixture over crackers and top again with layer of graham crackers. Spread topping as evenly as possible.

Topping (mix all together)

3 T butter, melted
2 squares unsweetened chocolate, melted (Baker's squares)
3 T milk
2 T white corn syrup
1 t vanilla
1 1/2 C powdered sugar (Erika's Extras: I would suggest sifting the powdered sugar)

Make dessert at least one day ahead and refrigerate. (Erika's Extras: My mom's recipe says 2 days ahead, but I think it tastes best the day after.) Serve cold.

Bake well and prosper!