Sunday Dinner

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Shrimp Cocktail

Steak Salad with Creamy Horseradish Dressing

Cheesy Garlic Bread

Fluffer-Nutter Treats

With quite a bit of steak leftover from dinner last night, I am composing it into a simple salad for dinner tonight.   Not only do I have leftover steaks, but I also have half a pan of these yummy treats.  Cue the easy Sunday dinner for me!

These treats are the love child of a traditional Rice Krispies treat and the classic New England sandwich made with peanut butter and marshmallow fluff.  There's the obvious sticky, gooey, crunchy texture of the traditional recipe, but then there is the salty and nutty flavor from the trio of peanut butter chips, peanut butter, and chopped peanuts.  

The recipe calls for an 8-inch square pan, but you can easily double the recipe and press the mixture into a 9-x13-inch rectangular pan, as I did last night.

Spiced Pumpkin Rice Crispy Treats

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Oh my heavens are these ever good!  They are the love child of the classic pumpkin pie and the childhood favorite.  And they aren't just flavored with pumpkin pie spice, they have actual pumpkin purée in the mixture.

With the added moisture from the pumpkin purée, I was a bit concerned about how the texture would hold up.  Then I remembered the trick I used in the pumpkin cream cheese truffles to remove excess moisture.  I also browned the butter to remove even more moisture along with the added nutty flavor element it provides.  I use my standard rice crispy treat recipe, which is different from the classic.  I like my treats big, with extra marshmallow and crispy crunch.  Instead of the traditional 9- x 13-inch baking pan, I use a smaller, 7 1/2 - x 12 1/2- inch one.  That gives me about 15 (2 1/2-inch) squares that are 1 1/2-inches tall. 

I use a good 1/2 teaspoon of the homemade pumpkin pie spice and a nice drizzle of white chocolate.  It is visually appealing and adds another flavor profile that pairs well with the pumpkin and spice. These are excellent treats for Halloween and are well received on the holiday dessert table when you are too full for that slice of pie.  These provide a ton of flavor with a little less guilt.

Homemade "Fun-size" Watchamacallits

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A little over thirteen years ago when I was pregnant with my first child, I picked up a bag of fun-size Watchamacallits from the market.  I ate one, then another, and before I knew it, I had eaten the entire bag.  Hey, I was eating for two, right?!   Every year since then when Halloween candy bags begin to appear on the shelves, I keep an eye out for those fun-size Whatchamacallits.  After twelve years (is it just my town or can somebody tell me what happened to them?), I am tired of looking, so it was time to start cooking:)

I call these Whatchamacallits, but taste-wise and texturally they came out like the love child of Whatchamacallits and 100 Grands (another favored candy bar).  The foundation is a crisped rice base to which I added a bit of peanut butter.  I made a stiff caramel and poured it over the base because I wanted a nice pull when I bit into the bar.  Then I cut them into small rectangles.  Just before coating in melted chocolate, I gave each bar a little squish to compact the bar and round the edges.  To avoid the sheer torture of having to wait for the chocolate to set, I popped a few in the freezer....

Holy jack-o-lanterns are these ever good!!  Just look at that slight pull from the caramel layer.  

Make these and put the fun back in "fun-size"!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Crispy Bars

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Are you are looking for an out-of-this-world treat to serve to family and friends?  Look no further because I have the recipe for you!  There are so many wonderful things about these bars.  We have two kinds of chocolate, peanut butter, and crisped rice cereal.  When brought together, these become the Three Tenors of Yum.  They are also great because they can be stored in the refrigerator for up to four days.  They won't last that long, but it is nice to make them in advance.  The texture is marvelous in the mouth as well.  The bottom layer is a candied, crispy, and crunchy base that is slathered with a smooth and creamy chocolate-peanut butter mixture and then topped with a delicious dark chocolate glaze.  These are something special.

I first made these bars a few years ago for a boy scout troop meeting and a teacher's conference dinner and they were really good, but as usual, I needed to make a few changes to suit my taste.  The original recipe made enough for an 8x8-inch pan, but these bars are so good that you'll want to share them.  And that calls for a bigger pan.  In doing so, I doubled the top and bottom layer, but only made 1 1/2 of the middle peanut butter layer.  I felt it was a better chocolate to peanut butter ratio.  The other change I made was to brown the butter.  Any chance I get to brown butter, I go for it.  It adds such a nice depth of nuttiness to the bottom layer that pairs perfectly with the peanut butter and chocolate.  You can certainly opt to just melt the butter like the original recipe.  Any way you make them they will be good!


*One note-- these are refrigerator bars.  Therefore, they are not good candidates for sitting out on a buffet table on a warm, sunny day.  However, when I took them to the boy scout meeting (inside) and the teacher's dinner (inside as well), I kept them covered and placed a large ice pack under the serving trays where they sat for an hour before being devoured.  

Chocolate Rice Crispies

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My children have spring break this week, so that means I have three more sets of hands in the kitchen. What better way to start the week than with a batch of these Chocolate Rice Cripspies?  This recipe comes from French pastry chef François Payard.  Rice Crispies made by a Frenchman?!?  It was so counter intuitive that I just knew these were going to be good.  He uses Dutch-processed cocoa powder for the best chocolate flavor.  He also uses mini chocolate chips.  Half are added while the mixture is still warm, so they melt and make the mixture even more chocolatey.  The rest are added after the mixture has cooled, adding more taste and texture.   I add a bit of espresso powder and a touch of vanilla extract for a little extra flavor.  And the flavor---think of it in your best "Borat" voice---"Chocolate time explosion!"  Hot chocolate town visits Rice Crispies ville.  An American standard gets a "thumbs up" from a vanguard of the French tradition.  Get into the kitchen and make these.  If you can come up with another description--the taste will inspire it, I promise--please add it in the comment section.  I would love to hear it!