Super Easy Sunday: Hot Chocolate

Okay, so its Tuesday! I worked the weekend. On the plus side I also got a cookie press this weekend, so you can expect some recipes involving that in the next few weeks.

This particular recipe I hold no claim to. I've been sorting through Christmas craft and cooking books lately, gearing up, if you will. I found this recipe in Christmas with Martha Stewart Living: Parties and Projects for the Holidays. It looked so darn easy, I thought I'd give a test run.  I'm now spoiled for that powdered gunk. And really, this recipe is so easy why bother with packets ever again?

The original recipe served 4, but I switched it up a bit since it's just me and the boyfriend around here. The recipe can easily be doubled or tripled or quadrupled or.... you get the point.

What You'll Need

Supplies

Cutting board                                                                     Whisk

Knife for chopping                                                              2 mugs

Small-medium saucepan

Ingredients

1 4.4 oz chocolate bar                                                        2 peppermint sticks

2 cups sweet acidophilus milk

Now Let's Make Hot Chocolate!

Unwrap your chocolate bar and place it on the cutting board. I used a Hershey's milk chocolate bar, but I suppose any brand would do. I wouldn't got too dark on the chocolate, since this recipe relies on the sugar already in the chocolate bar to sweeten it and darker chocolate tends toward bitter. Chop the bar into fine pieces. I pretty much minced my chocolate bar: cutting it into strips across the width, turning those strips and cutting them into small squares.

Scrape the chocolate into the saucepan and turn the heat to medium (that's straight down and a 5 on my stove). Add the 2 cups of milk and whisk frequently as the chocolate melts to prevent burning. Your milk should not bubble, so reduce heat if this begins.  

Once the chocolate melts whisk well to combine with the milk. Continue to heat, whisking occasionally, until the hot chocolate reaches the desired temperature (I used the oh-so-technical finger dip method. Hey, my hands were clean). 

Pour evenly into mugs and add a peppermint stick as a stirrer. This will add a nice peppermint flavor, but can be skipped if you'd rather. A cinnamon stick is also nice. Serve and enjoy!

   

Raspberry Upside-Down (Pan)Cake

I mean, really, what other title do you need?  This recipe came about one night after a batch of pancakes went very wrong. I've no idea what happened, since directions were followed to the T, but the pancake batter turned out runny. So runny it couldn't go onto the griddle (at least not without also making its way to the floor).  But, I didn't want to waist a bowlful of potential pancakey goodness, so I poured it into a casserole and baked it. Nom.

What You'll Need

Supplies

Medium mixing bowl                                                  9 x 9" casserole

Measuring cups                                                          Knife

Whisk

Ingredients

Stick of butter                                                            Water

Pancake mix                                                               8 oz package raspberries

Now Let's Make Raspberry Pancake Cake!
The great thing about this recipe is its simplicity. Start by preheating your oven to 350F. Grease your baking dish by peeling the wrapper away from the stick of butter and rubbing the stick against the bottom and sides of the dish (Kinda like coloring, but with butter). Rewrap your butter and put it away; set the dish aside.

Prepare your pancake mix in the medium bowl according to the directions on the box. I use the one for 12-18 pancakes (and when does it ever make that many?), which called for 2 cups mix to 1 1/3 cup water. Find the comparable amounts on your box, measure, and mix! Use your whisk and make sure all the lumps are gone, but do not overmix or you'll have a really tough cake.

Rinse off the raspberries and pat them dry with a paper towel very gently.  Layer the bottom of your casserole dish with raspberries, making sure to space them as evenly as possible.

Next, pour the pancake batter on top of the raspberries, making sure to pour evenly across the dish. If any of your raspberries are uncovered, push a little batter over the top of them.

Bake at 375 F for 20-25 minutes, depending on your oven.  Start checking at about 18 minutes, but do not check too frequently or the warmth will escape the oven. Remove from oven when top is just starting to turn golden and an inserted knife comes out clean.

Cut the cake into squares. Dust with confectioner's sugar or the topping of your choice and serve. There's a lot of toppings that go well with this: whipped cream, cream cheese, maple syrup, raspberry preserves, honey, caramel etc. This cake relies on toppings to sweeten it, so don't skimp. Pick one and enjoy!

   

Super Easy Sunday: Poor Boy Cake

As usual on a Sunday I've worked, the last thing I wanted to do tonight was get in the kitchen.  Time to pull a easy recipe out of my hat.  This one is so easy, it hardly qualifies as a recipe really (but hey, I'm shameless).  Tonight, I made a Poor Boy Cake.  I've been making this cake with only small alterations since I started cooking; it was one of the first things I learned to make (aaaahhhh, nostalgia *tear*).  A little online research reveals a lot of variation for this cake, so let's just call this my version and leave it at that.

What You'll Need

Supplies

Large mixing bowl                                                        13 x 9" casserole dish

Mixing spoon                                                                Fork

Cooking spray

Ingredients

Box chocolate cake mix                                                 Water

Eggs                                                                               14 oz can sweetened condensed milk

Vegetable Oil

Now Let's Make Poor Boy Cake

Preheat your oven according to the directions on the box. Yep, that's right: boxed cake mix.  Choose your favorite chocolate variety, or if you have a basic chocolate cake recipe, use that.  

Prepare the cake batter according to the directions on the box. Most basic box mixes call for a combo of eggs, water, and vegetable oil, so that's what I listed above. Use the amounts indicated on the box.

Pour the batter into the 13 x 9" casserole dish, scraping the bowl. Tilt the casserole from side to side and corner to corner to force the batter to spread out thoroughly. Bake according to the time listed on the back of the box. Do not overcook. Cake is done when a knife inserted comes out clean.

Allow cake to cool slightly, about 5 minutes.  Take your fork and stab the cake until it is covered in holes (make like a senator in Julius Caesar). Open the can of sweetened condensed milk and pour over the top of the cake. 

 Et tu, Brute?

Allow the milk to settle into the cake and the cake to cool. Serve and enjoy! It goes great with vanilla ice cream.

It's not a pretty cake, but it's a tasty one!

   

These Blondies Are No Joke

My sweet tooth is calling (I should probably have that thing pulled...); naturallly, it's time to raid the pantry and see what I can throw together.  So, I've decided to adapt my Brownie recipe for Blondies with dates and walnuts. Nom? Yes. Also, I've added a new feature to the right sidebar that allows readers to follow The Book Pantry by email. Don't be shy!

What You'll Need

Supplies

Large mixing bowl                                                      Measuring cups
Butter knife                                                                 Measuring spoons
Small mixing bowl                                                      13 x 9" casserole dish
Whisk                                                                          Cooking spray

Ingredients

2 sticks butter                                                             1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs                                                                          1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup light brown sugar                                              1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 1/4 cups flour                                                          1/2 cup chopped dates
2 tsp vanilla

Now Let's Make Blondies!

Preheat your oven to 350 F (175 C).

Cut the 2 sticks of butter into chunks into the large mixing bowl.  Microwave, until butter is melted, but not so long that it begins to sizzle and pop.  If a few chunks are barely melted that's okay.

While your butter is melting, crack 4 eggs into the small mixing bowl, removing shell if necessary. I used a mix of medium and large eggs and saw no difference in size or amount of egg (was is the difference, anyway?). Using your whisk, beat the eggs until as much of the white as possible is blended.  Pour the beaten eggs into the butter and mix.

Measure 1 cup light brown sugar (dark brown will result in brunettes), packing it tightly into the measuring cup.  Add to the large mixing bowl and mix thoroughly. Make sure that the sugar is completely blended into the eggs/butter mixture. Brown sugar likes to stay clumped and you don't want any dry lumps in your Blondies (I mean, seriously, how gross does that sound).

Next, measure and add to the bowl 1 1/4 cups flour, 2 tsp vanilla (which I realized I didn't add to my brownies last time. Oops!), 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp baking powder.  Mix the dry ingredients in, making certain to blend completely.  Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl routinely as you mix to avoid any dry pockets from forming. Do not overmix as this will result in a tougher texture.

Now that you've created your batter, it's time to add the goodies.  I've chosen a combination of walnuts and dates, but I'm sure you can get creative with it. Just make sure you add a total of 1 cup and you'll be fine with whatever combo you select. Measure and add 1/2 cup chopped walnuts and 1/2 cup chopped dates. Mix them into the batter until you've got a fairly even distribution.

Use your cooking spray and spray the bottoms and sides of the 13 x 9" casserole dish.  Pour the batter into the dish; don't forget to scrape the bowl as much as you can.  Spread the batter evenly throughout the dish. Bake at 350 F for about 30 minutes, until the top of the Blondies are golden and the edges are golden brown. An inserted knife or toothpick should come out clean.

Allow to cool completely (or as completely as the delicious smell allows you to). Cut the Blondies into squares and serve.

   

Super Easy Sunday: Christmas in July Chai Milkshakes

Mmmmmmmm. I'm drinking my milkshake now and relishing the fact that it took all of 5 minutes to make.

What You'll Need

Supplies

Blender

Spoon

Measuring cup

Two glasses

Ingredients

3 cups vanilla frozen yogurt

1 1/2 cups milk

2 scoops Trader Joe's Spicy Chai Latte Mix

Now Let's Make Christmas in July Chai Milkshakes

Now, I know I don't usually call out brand names here on The Book Pantry, but trust me, the Trader Joe's is perfect. If you can't find it, use something comparable.

Using the markings on your blender (or, you know, a measuring cup), measure out 3 cups of vanilla frozen yogurt. Pack it down into the blender to make sure you're getting 3 whole cups.  You can also use vanilla ice cream, but you really won't notice a difference once it's all blended, so why not be healthy?

Next, measure out 1 1/2 cups milk (again, I used nonfat). Pour into blender. This makes a pretty liquidy, drinkable milkshake. If you prefer yours a little thicker, I recommend using only 1 cup milk.

Using the scoop that comes with your Trader Joe's Spicy Chai Latte Mix, add two scoops of the mix to the blender. 

Put the top on (please, God, put the top on!) and blend until all the ingredients are mixed and it looks like a milkshake.  

Serve in two tall glasses and enjoy the taste of Christmas!

This photo needs fancy-pants straws.

   

Oh, Martha, Lemon Bars

I've been wanting to try my hand at lemon bars for a while now, and since the weather has been a tad cooler of late, I no longer actively dread my kitchen. I've never attempted anything even close to lemon bars before, so I figured I'd better be safe and go with an established recipe.  And so, I turned to my handy-dandy Martha Stewart's Cookies cookbook, page 266.  I used the amounts listed in the recipe, but added an ingredient and followed my whim on the instructions (in other words, I blatantly ignored the instructions offered). Result? Tasty.

What You'll Need

Supplies

Large mixing bowl                                                       Liquid and dry measuring cups

Whisk                                                                           Measuring spoons

13 x 9 inch baking dish

Ingredients

Crust:                                                                            Filling

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter                                         4 large eggs

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour                                          1 1/3 cup sugar

3/4 cup confectioner's sugar                                        3 Tbsp all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp salt                                                                   1/4 tsp salt

                                                                                      1/2 tsp vanilla

                                                                                      3/4 cup lemon juice

                                                                                      1/4 cup milk

Now Let's Make Lemon Bars!

Start by preheating your oven to 350 F. Grease your casserole dish with butter or cooking spray. (I accidentally forgot this step, but it didn't seem to matter much).

You're going to start with the crust, which is essentially a shortbread.  Soften your butter slightly if it's not already.  While the butter softens (do not melt! I forgot my butter and did this today, too), measure out 1 3/4 cup flour, 3/4 cup confectioner's sugar, and 3/4 tsp salt and add it to your large mixing bowl. Whisk the dry ingredients together until they are thoroughly blended and have no large lumps left (alliteration! Sorry, couldn't help myself).  

Add the slightly softened butter to the flour mixture. Using your whisk, cut the butter into the flour. Do this until all the butter clumps are broken up and no larger than pea sized (as pictured).  This can take a while. The butter tends to clump in the whisk, so you'll need to stop periodically to shake it back out. I find that rolling the whisk over stubborn butter clumps helps break them up quickly. 

Pour the dry ingredients into the casserole dish. Don't freak out! I know it doesn't really look like dough.  Spread the flour/butter mixture out until it is evenly distributed across the bottom of the casserole. Now, using your hands press the mixture so that it packs down tightly on the bottom of the dish.  Continue until the entire surface is a hard packed dough, with no loose floury bits.  Put the casserole in the oven and bake at 350 for 20 minutes, until the dough is a light golden color.

Remove the crust from the oven and set aside. Turn your oven down to 325 F.  

Rinse and wipe out your large mixing bowl (no sense dirtying another dish).  Crack 4 large eggs into the bowl and lightly whisk them together. Then, measure out and add to the bowl 1 1/3 cup sugar, 3 Tbsp all-purpose flour, and 1/4 tsp salt (Martha calls for course salt in her version, but I sensed no difference when I used regular). Mix the ingredients together completely; it's kinda gloppy so make certain all the dry ingredients get blended in.  

Next add 1/2 tsp vanilla, 1/4 cup milk, and 3/4 cup lemon juice.  Carefully stir everything together, until it's well mixed and you have a smooth liquid filling.  Be careful; this is really easy to slosh out of the bowl as your mixing. I found that the egg mixture really resisted being mixed with the liquids. To combat this I started out by using a folding motion, then switched to a regular stirring motion when it started mixing.

Pour the filling over the crust evenly. Bake at 325 F for between 18 - 25 minutes.  Martha's original recipe called for 18 minutes, but I found that mine was still liquid at that point.  I wound up cooking mine for a little longer than 25 minutes. Start with the recommended 18 minutes, then add time as needed, watching the lemon bars closely.  You'll know they're down, when the very edges are golden brown and the top appears solid and springy.  Let cool.

Once cool, cut into bars and dust with confectioner's sugar. Serve and enjoy the lemony bite!