Carmelitas Recipe - Chewey and Gooey

 Crust
2 cups flour
2 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups margarine or butter, softened

Filling
1 (12.5-oz.) jar (1 cup) caramel ice cream topping
3 tablespoons flour
1 (6-oz.) pkg. (1 cup) semisweet chocolate chips

Directions
Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 13x9-inch pan. Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level off. In large bowl, combine all crust ingredients; mix at low speed until crumbly. Reserve half of crumb mixture (about 3 cups) for topping. Press remaining crumb mixture in bottom of greased pan. Bake at 350°F. for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in small bowl, combine caramel topping and 3 tablespoons flour; blend well.

Remove partially baked crust from oven; sprinkle with chocolate chips and nuts. Drizzle evenly with caramel mixture; sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture.

Return to oven; bake an additional 18 to 22 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 1 hour or until completely cooled. Refrigerate 1 to 2 hours or until filling is set. Cut into bars.

Mint Sticks Recipe

My mom always makes these for Christmas so I made them myself this year for work. The recipe is very easy despite the three different steps. Just don't forget to grease the pan like I did . . . oops.

Ingredients
2 eggs
1/2 C. butter
1 C. sugar
2 sq. unsweetened chocolate
1 tsp. Peppermint extract
1/2 C. flour

Frosting:
1 C. confectioners sugar
2 T. butter, softened
1 tsp. Peppermint extract
Enough cream or milk to make into smooth consistency

Topping:
1 1/2 sqs. Unsweetened chocolate
2 T. butter

Directions
Melt chocolate and butter together. In medium bowl, beat eggs, add melted butter,
sugar and chocolate. Mix well. Add peppermint extract and flour. Pour into well greased
9x9” pan. Bake 350° for 20-25 minutes. Cool.

Frosting: Cream 2 T. butter, conf. Sugar and 1tsp. Peppermint extract. Moisten with
cream or milk. Add 1 drop green food coloring. Spread on cooled cake and place in fridge for 15 mins. Cover with topping.

Topping: Melt 1 1/2 sqs. Chocolate with 2 T. butter. Spread evenly over frosting.
Let it stand in fridge until firm. Cut into 16 small bars. You can double this recipe
and bake in 9 x 13 pan. These squares taste best made a day ahead.

Cook Book for Boys and Girls . . . and anyone else with a limited attention span

I hate it when you find an “easy” recipe but you read through the instructions to discover there’s quite a bit of chopping, mincing, sifting and mashing to be considered “easy” to anyone except a Julia Childs reincarnate. With Betty Crocker’s Cook Book for Girls and Boys however, everything really is easy and it just so happens to be online for your viewing pleasure http://www.archive.org/stream/bettycrockerscoo00croc#page/46/mode/2up. It’s a neat book to flip through if nothing else.

I was planning on making apple crisp for a Halloween movie night I am going to this Saturday and was looking for a recipe since I’ve only made apple crisp with the box mix you find at grocery stores. I was expecting that making apple crisp from scratch was going to be a project but then my office mate, Heather, said her Betty Crocker recipe is excellent and very simple. That’s when she found this cook book online.

Red Velvet Mini Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

So what's so special about red velvet cakes? The food coloring. That's it. I found a recipe from the Food Network and altered it a little. I used substituted some healthier ingredients but you can just use the basics. The cake is very light and fluffy and the frosting is sweet and creamy. They're are very tasty. They didn't turn out very red but that may be because I didn't add the vinegar. WARNING: This makes a ton of frosting that isn't necessary. You can half the frosting ingredients listed below.

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:

• 15 1/2 ounces all-purpose whole wheat flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 3 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 13 ounces granulated sugar
• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
• 3 eggs

Directions

2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons red food coloring

• 1 1/4 teaspoons vinegar (I forgot this. Maybe they would have turned out more red if I did.)
• 1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/8 cup water

For the cream cheese frosting:

• 1 1/2 pounds cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 pound (2 Cups) Smart Butter, room temperature
• 2 pounds powdered sugar, sifted
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

For the cupcakes:

Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder into a bowl and set aside.

In a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix oil, sugar, and buttermilk until combined. Add eggs, food coloring, vinegar, vanilla and water and mix well. Add the dry ingredients a little bit at a time and mix on low, scraping down sides occasionally, and mix until just combined. Be sure not to over mix, or the batter will come out tough. I hand mixed the batter towards the end.

Line cupcake pan with paper liners, scoop the batter into the liners and bake at 350 degrees F for 12 to 15 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean. Let cool.

For the cream cheese frosting:

Whip the butter and cream cheese together in a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until creamed. Gradually add powdered sugar to the mixture and scrape down the bowl as needed. Add the vanilla and mix until combined.

The frosting can be used right away, or stored in the refrigerator up to a week.

Frost cooled cupcakes with the cream cheese frosting. You can just smear it on but I used a tip_ with a frosting bag which I think was easier. It might be messy though because the frosting is runny.

Fruity Rum Popsicles

Fruity and refreshing! This was purely an experiment but my rum popsicles turned out to be somewhat of a hit. I was searching for fruity popsicles that contained alcohol for a BBQ but they all involved making sweet syrup and putting fresh fruit in a food processor, neither of which I felt like dealing with. So this is the recipe I made up:

- one part Malibu coconut rum
- three parts pineapple orange banana juice
- mix and pour into mold (and insert sticks if necessary)
- let sit in freezer for 6-8 hours depending on freezer temp

I'm sure actual popsicle molds work best but it is late summer so I had to make due with ice cube molds from Home Goods and candy sticks from Michael's Arts & Crafts.

Cake Course 4: Fondant & Gum Paste

The final cake class! Intense but fun. I'll miss it but it's time to find something else to do with myself.

Pomegranate Cosmo: Great Cool Summer Drink

Pomegranate Cosmos

by Ina Garten, Foodnetwork.com

Ingredients

• 2 cups (16 ounces) good vodka (recommended: Stolichnaya or Finlandia)

• 1 cup (8 ounces) orange liqueur (recommended: Cointreau)

• 1 cup (8 ounces) pomegranate juice (recommended: Pom Wonderful)

• 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (3 limes)

• Lime peel strips, to garnish

Directions

Combine the vodka, orange liqueur, pomegranate juice, and lime juice in a pitcher and refrigerate until ready to use. Pour the

mixture into frozen martini glasses with a twist of lime peel and serve immediately.