Lucky Charms Bark

It’s funny how sometimes the simplest treats are the best and most popular. Bark is just melted chocolate covered with whatever you want and then smashed into pieces. Simple. 

To be completely honest I used to think bark was a stupid idea. I mean it’s just melted chocolate covered in whatever. It’s like why go through all that to make your own chocolate bar? 

But now, now I get it. Making your own chocolate bar is awesome! You can make it literally whatever you want! Because it’s so versatile it makes a great gift!

My friend has a love, which is somewhat un-natural, for Lucky Charms. Instead of just wrapping a box of Lucky Charms up for her birthday I thought I would try to be creative with them!

I had thought of a few over complicated things and instantly dismissed them because time hasn't been on my side recently. Then I thought, “keep it simple stupid” as the guys on Fast and Loud always say.

That’s when I thought about bark and then I made it for her a week late and then it took me two days and a lot of hand slapping before I got it to her. Hand slapping because I had to keep my husband from stealing it!

Lucky Charms Bark

150g of Lucky Charms cereal

50g of Lucky Charms marshmallows

400g white chocolate

200g milk chocolate

In two separate heat proof bowls gently melt the chocolate. In a tray bake tray lay out the Lucky Charms cereal. Once the chocolate is melted pour over the cereal in any way you like, but so that it covers the cereal completely. Then sprinkle over the marshmallows and gently press down. Leave in the fridge for at least an hour or so to cool before breaking up with a knife. Then bag it up fancy or just bag it up if you’re not giving it away.

notes: I used Chocolate Lucky Charms that I bought at a little newsagents under the parking garage in the Oracle, Reading. They sell lots of American treats and in a pinch that’s where I go! 

Double Decker Pillow Cookies {Cadbury Week}

Today is the second day of Cadbury Week here on United Cakedom!! Today features the Double Decker.

The Double Decker is the chocolate bar we buy in bulk before we fly back to the states for a visit. It’s just that good that we feel we have to share it with everyone we love. They are obviously missing out on a great treat.

Maybe it’s a bit rude to share it… as it’s not readily available to them nor do we get back often. It’s like giving them a taste of something and taking it away again. Ah well.

I saw Pillow Cookies on Bakerella’s site ages ago and when thinking about how I wanted to use the Double Decker in baking it’s the first thing that came to mind. So, I made Double Decker Pillow Cookies.

I adapted the recipe to better fit a UK audience using grams instead of cups. However when scooping out the batter I use a ½ cup so not completely UK friendly. I did my best!!

The cookies turned out amazing!! I wish I had followed the instructions a little closer when it came to chilling the prepared cookies before baking. These spread a little more then I would have liked, but no harm done. The are still amazing!!  

Cadbury Double Decker Pillow Cookies

3 Double Deckers

230g  butter, room temperature
275g light brown sugar
2 large eggs, plus 1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
360g cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
handful of rice cereal

Cut up the Double Deckers into 1 in squares, you will have about of bar left. I made 9 cookies, but I could have made 10.

Beat butter with a mixer until creamy. Add brown sugar and beat until smooth. Add the lightly beaten eggs gradually. Then add the vanilla. Beat until smooth.

Combine flour, baking powder, soda and salt in a medium bowl and stir together with a wire whisk. Add flour to butter mixture and beat until combined. Gently fold in the rice cereal. Let dough chill covered in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 170C/350F about 10 minutes before taking out of the fridge. Use a ½ cup measuring cup to scoop out the batter. It might be a bit tough to get out as it’s chilled so pack the cup with a spoon. Work quickly so the dough remains chilled or make one cookie at a time so the rest of the dough remains cold. I didn’t stick to this rule too closely and I think that’s why mine spread so much. I should have stuck them in the fridge for a few minutes before baking. Which is what you can do to stop the spreading.

Make an indention and place a 1 inch square Double Decker in the center. Press down gently and work the remaining dough around the candy bar piece. You can use your hands to shape the dough into a ball. Prepare 5 or 6 cookies at a time using a large baking sheet (15 X 20) and bake at  170C/350F for about 18 minutes. Return the remaining dough to the refrigerator until time to bake the second batch.

Cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes and then cool completely on a wire rack. Then enjoy!!

notes: Bakerella’s Brownie Pillow Cookies; as I said in my previous post these are not sponsored by Cadbury in anyway! Just me having a bit of fun with one of Britain's favorite brands. 

Monday: Picnic - PicnicDoodle Salad

I {heart} peanut butter!!

If you saw my last post you’ll know that I've acquired yet another book that mostly has to do with making sweet things. I had two things booked marked as I’m going to make these like right now. The first of the two were these Peanut Rice Krispies Squares.

It’s implied in the description part of the recipe that Jamie eats peanut butter out of the jar. I think every peanut butter lover does so. Since I consider myself a huge peanut butter lover I couldn't pass these up!

I also can’t believe I never thought of adding peanut butter before?  They are Peanutbuttery marshmallowey goodness in a bar!

If you love peanut butter as much as I do and have never tried this combination I suggest you do! 

Peanut butter Rice Krispies squares

75g butter

250g marshmallows

150g smooth or crunchy peanut butter

1 tsp vanilla bean paste or 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

130g Rice Krispies

sprinkles (optional)

These are so easily molded into any shape just make sure you line the tin with parchment paper, it all depends on how think you want them!

In a saucepan once the butter has melted add 200g of the marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Take off the heat and mix in the peanut butter and vanilla until smooth. Add the Rice Krispies and the remaining 50g of marshmallows and mix until it’s all covered. Moving fast put in your lined tin and smooth the top with a spatula or as Jamie says with another sheet of baking parchment and use your hands to smooth it down. Leave to sit for 2 hours or more on warm days. Cut into squares. I used my Wilton’s heart cutter, but they don’t look that much like hearts, ah well whatever. Sprinkle with whatever you want! They keep up to 5 days in an airtight container.

Check out Jamie Laing's new book Candy Kittens for extra flavors and ideas!!

I'm not gonna lie the other reason I made these first is because I had everything in my cupboard already! Stay tuned for the second thing I will be making from this book. I am hoping to do so this weekend, but we’ll see depends on the weather! 

notes: My review of Candy Kittens; 

Honey & milk chocolate bars!! & Chocolat by Eric Lanlard {book review}

When one enters the world of baking, chocolate is King. So, when Master Patisserie (King of Patisserie) Eric Lanlard wrote a book on this royal ingredient I knew I was not going to be disappointed!

The book is broken down into 7 chapters. The first few get the reader familiar working with chocolate, and then it goes into From the Bakery; Desserts & Puddings; Truffles & Treats; Drinks, Spreads, & Sauces.

Unless you happen to be a chocolate hater, surprisingly they do exist, there is something for everyone in this book.

The wide variety of recipes available in the book, all including chocolate, are within any level of bakers reach. Some are super easy and some just take a bit more time and concentration.

Here is my list of stuff I would like to try:

Chocolate & Cinnamon Buns

Chocolate Kouign Amann

Chocolate Gateau Basque

Salted Butter Caramel Cake (picture)
Breton Shortbread with Chocolate

Chocolate, pumpkin, & pecan cake

Chocolate petits pots (picture)

Chocolate & tonka bean Crème Brulee

Raspberry & Chocolate Tart

Gateau Opera

Double baked Chocolate Meringue Brownie

Chocolate Coffee baked cheesecake

Proper Black Forest gateau

Iced Berries with white chocolate sauce

Chocolate ‘cassis’ royale (cake on cover of book)

Chocolate covered Cherries

Honey & milk chocolate bars (recipe below)

Chocolate Guimauve aka marshmallow

Soft Chocolate Butter Toffee

Double Chocolate Milkshake

Chocolate Cola Float

With over a 100 mouth-watering chocolate treats I didn't know where to start! So, circumstances helped me choose. As the weather has been brightening up a couple of friends and I decided to take our little ones to the park for a play and picnic. I wanted an easy sweet treat and Eric’s Honey & milk chocolate bars were exactly what we needed.

They were super easy to make and they were a hit with the kids and us moms! I would be careful if you don’t have a cool pac in your lunch box, the chocolate would melt on hot days! If not for a picnic these are perfect for an after school treat too! Enjoy!

Honey & milk chocolate bars

200g/7oz milk chocolate, roughly chopped, plus an extra 25g/1oz for the topping

40g/1 ½ oz unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing

2 tbsp clear honey

2 tbsp condensed milk

75g/3oz crispy rice cereal

25g/1oz desiccated coconut

150g/5oz white chocolate, roughly chopped

&

18cm/7in square shallow baking tin greased and lined with baking paper

~Melt 200g milk chocolate, butter, honey, and condensed milk in a saucepan on a low heat until smooth, and then stir in the crispy rice cereal and coconut.

~Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and level with the spoon. Set in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

~Melt the white chocolate in your preferred way; in a bowl over a barely simmering pot of water or in small bursts in the microwave, but be very careful as white chocolate burns easier then dark chocolate. Leave to cool for a few minutes before spreading over the top of the rice cake. Then return to the fridge to set completely.

~Melt the remaining 25g of milk chocolate as you did above and spoon into a piping bag or a small plastic bag and cut a small hole in the tip and drizzle over the top. Leave to set at room temperature. I skipped this step, because I wanted to save my chocolate for another baking project with out having to run to the store again. Sorry! From the picture in the book it really does make it look extra special!! 

~Remove from the tin and cut into bars using a large sharp knife and store in an airtight container or wrap in a cellophane bag for gifts.

Eric notes that kids can help, but would need supervision!

As I mentioned in my review of Tart it Up! I will be visiting Eric’s café Cake Boy in a few short weeks to participate in his Spring Baking Mad course!! It falls on my 30^th birthday and I am super excited!! I am trying not to think about it too much because I wish I were going right now. I am the most impatient person I know!

notes: Chocolate may be King, but Vanilla is Queen. I attribute genders to inanimate objects including food. For instance I think of salt as female and pepper as male and it’s why Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper in Blue’s Clues always freaked me out. Chocolat by Eric Lanlard Amazon UK & USA (out September 2013); Eric Lanlard’s Cake Boy & baking course schedule, Octopus Publishing, my review of Tart it Up!

My week: Froot Loop Cereal Bars & Brownie Fail

My Mini Baker has had a bit of a rough time of it lately. Less then a week ago she had an ear infection. As soon as she stopped the antibiotics she broke out in a spotty rash commonly known as chicken pox. Here in England they don’t vaccinate for chicken pox, believing that the body sets up a better immunity to it after having the actual disease. However as a mother who wants nothing more then to keep her child from any sort of suffering, no matter how impossible that is in reality, I think I would have much preferred her to have the vaccination.

As I have been busy giving out lots of cuddles and every 4 hours topping up on ibuprofen/paracetamol and taking care of a demanding 3 year old its no wonder I have not found time to visit my blog. I am putting essential 2 posts in one because I am short of sleep and lazy. 

Anyway I made these Froot Loop Cereal Bars for Mini-Baker’s lunch box, but they never made it. I found these Froot Loops at a local family discount store and I was a little to ecstatic for a cereal that isn’t all that. It was just because they are ‘American’ and I’m feeling a little homesick lately.

When I opened the box I was a little surprised to see such subdued colors! These are made with natural colors and flavors apparently. Maybe why they were for sale outside of an American grocery store? Who knows and really who cares?

Since there was no way I was going to eat them for breakfast I made them into bars. I can see now why most online recipes add a cup or so of Rice Krispies as well because the marshmallow just goes straight through all the holes and settles at the bottom! Nothing major, they still tasted delicious! There is a link in the notes at the bottom if you would like to make these for yourself! 

Then I was trying to make ‘Easter Brownies’ and I don’t even think I need words to describe this:

I used the wrong sized tin. I have never used self-rising flour in brownies so was not expecting it to overflow the way it did. If I had actually thought of it ahead of time, it makes sense, but I didn't think of it. Over confident baking that is. ;0] Here’s how to make them just use a different size tin! They were still tasty!

Brownies:

225g caster sugar

100g margarine

2 m eggs, lightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

40g cocoa powder

50g self-rising flour

50g chocolate chips or smashed Cadbury Mini Eggs (which you can’t see in any of the pictures as they sunk to the bottom)

Pre-heat oven to 180C; Beat sugar and margarine together until light and fluffy, beat eggs and vanilla together before slowly adding to butter/sugar mixture; sift flour and cocoa powder together into the bowl and gently fold in until just combined. Then fold in chocolate chips or chosen add in, be creative, but be aware that different add ins will change the consistency and will alter the end result. Pour into prepared pan Make sure you use an 8in square pan! Not a 7 in circle….oops! Bake for 25-30 minutes and let cool for 1hr!

Better luck next time right? We all have days like this…. mamma said.

So, that is my week so far. As it’s Good Friday tomorrow I have all my ingredients ready for hot-cross buns… If they are made on Good Friday they will never mold, apparently. It will all depend on how my little ones are feeling. 

notes: chicken pox info; Froot Loops & Froot Loop cereal bar recipes here, here, and here; Mamma Said by The Shirelles; Easter Nests; last year’s hot-cross buns 

Peanut Butter and Blueberry Snack Squares!!

We were going to a friends for a play date and felt I couldn't go empty handed. 

I pulled this recipe out of my box of recipes I've ripped out of a magazine. It was one of the small free ones from Sainsbury's. They were super easy to make and were super yummy! All the kids enjoyed them! Perfect for a snack as the title implies! 

If you don't have a baking tin to hand, use a similar size plastic container; or spoon into mini cupcake cases, put on a tray and set in the fridge! I used pink and white marshmallows so mine turned out a weird pinky color. 

50g smooth peanut butter

50g unsalted butter

200g marshmallows

60g porridge oats (I used rolled oats)

75g bag dried blueberries

30g dry roasted peanuts, roughly chopped

75g cornflakes

Line a 20cm square cake tin with clingfilm. Put the peanut butter, butter, and marshmallows in a large saucepan. Warm over a low heat, stirring until melted. Remove the pan from the heat.

Add the oats, dried blueberries, peanuts, and cornflakes to the melted butter mix in the pan, and mix well until combined.

Spoon the mixture into the lined tin, and press down to flatten. Chill in the fridge for 1 hour until set. Cut into squares and wrap in foil to transport. 

Chocolate Easter Nests!!

I think everyone knows how to make these! Coat cereal in chocolate and add mini eggs and you're set! Mini-Baker made one at preschool, she ate the eggs off and left the "nest" which her little sister gobbled up when no one was looking. The chaos that ensued! So, we made our own.

I used a 100g bar of milk chocolate, Cadbury, melted with a few squares of butter to make it smoother.

Once it was melted I just mixed in some corn flakes. I just guessed and didn't weigh an exact amount! You could use any cereal really. Different ones will give you different nest looks. Spoon the mixture into cupcake cases. (Made 4.) Then before it set we added some Cadbury Mini Eggs (I love these!!) and a chic! The chic isn't necessary it's the ones from the preschool I didn't go buy any. Then they take minutes to set, but the girls had to wait until after dinner to eat them!

Simple easy Easter treat!! Enjoy!!

Rocky Road!!

My friend is pregnant and has been craving different things every week. I do wonder, if her excuse is pregnancy, what’s mine!?!?

Anyway she said she really liked the Rocky Road from Starbucks. She took a special trip just to get some and they didn't have any! Since this is a no-bake and it needs to set I wasn't able to help her out right away. But I will store some of this in case of an emergency! 

I choose the recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook (the first book) because it sounded the best packed with all sorts of yummy things!!

This is really a no brainer, take some of your favourite things and cover them in chocolate and you there you have rocky road! This at least gives you a guide line of amounts and what not!

Enjoy!!

Rocky Road

1.4kg milk chocolate roughly chopped (or broken into squares)

8 regular sized chewy, filled chocolate bars of your choice (snickers, mars, musketeers etc…)

100g marshmallows

180g chocolate-covered malt honeycomb balls (Maltesers/Whoopers)

100g dried apricots, roughly chopped

100g raisins

100g cornflakes

100g chocolate vermicelli (chocolate sprinkles or Jimmy’s)

a 33x23x5cm baking tray (I used my 9x9 silicone square tin and just cut back the amounts of some of the ingredients!)  

1. Melt the chocolate in your preferred method- either over water or in the microwave.
2. Put everything else in a large bowl together.
3. Pour the melted chocolate over everything and stir until everything is evenly dispersed.
4. Press the mixture into your baking tray using the back of a tablespoon or a rubber spatula.

notes: Recipe was adjusted from the Hummingbird (bakery) cookbook. 

Puppy Chow!!

Puppy Chow goes by many names suchas dog food, Muddy Buddies, Monkey Munch, People Chow, and Doo-Doo Butter Bites

I haven't ever heard of anyone in the UK talk about Puppy Chow so I'm making it a personal mission to enlighten everyone! 

These were a big hit at Mini-Baker's birthday lunch! I found these nifity little snack bags at my grocery store and lucked out as several of them had a puppy on them!! Then I added pink Smarties (UK MnM's) to the bags. Perfect for party bags!! Enjoy!

Any questions or suggests on how to help me get the word out about Puppy Chow please leave a comment or email me!!

Puppy Chow adapted for the UK:

250g chocolate chips (dark or milk)
1/2 cup of smooth peanut butter (if you don't have US measuring cups just use 2-3 heaped spoonfuls or more if you like peanut butter!)
knob of butter
1 box of Shreddies (500g box)
icing sugar

Melt the chocolate, peanut butter and butter together in your preferred method.
Dump your box of Shreddies into a large bowl.
Pour the chocolate, peanut butter, and butter mixture over the Shreddies.
Stir with a big spoon until all covered.
Pour in some icing sugar and cover the bowl with cling film and shake! If they aren't completely covered add more icing sugar until they are completely coated!

what you need

note: The ingredients list may seem a bit vague, but really it's one of those things you don't need to be precise about.  If you have a bowl big enough with a lid use that instead as the cling film can be a bit tricky. Mine wasn't wanting to stick so I held it shut and close to my body and jumped up and down with it! Fun times.