As I was scrolling through Instagram the other day, someone asked us to fill in the blank to this statement. “I am happiest when…..” My quick response was, “when I am finished spin class!” But I got to thinking seriously about this.
I feel deep satisfaction when i create order out of chaos. I think it has more to do with creating beauty where there was none before. I am an acutely aesthetic person and i feel a strong desire to create beauty. Author Alice Walker once said, “Whenever you are creating beauty around you, you are restoring your own soul.”
I choose to express my creativity using the medium of food. When i saw these peanut butter squares on Martha Stewart, I knew I had to recreate them. This is my twist on her version. I swapped out her shortbread crust for a pretzel crust. All that sweetness needed some salt for balance. I created a velvety smooth middle layer with white chocolate, peanut butter and butterscotch chips. A crown of bittersweet chocolate topped these beauties off.
Here’s how it all comes together:
You could of course make these without the mold. Just spread melted bittersweet chocolate over peanut butter layer and chill. But, if you need more beauty in your life, you can order the mold from here.
These classic bar cookies have been around since the 1850’s! They also go by the moniker of Magic Bars, Hello Dolly Bars, Five Layer and even Seven Layer Bars. Essentially, they all begin with a melted butter and cookie crust, typically crushed graham wafers. This sweet base gets topped with more sweetness, usually chocolate or butterscotch chips, sweetened coconut and some type of nuts. A thick layer of sweetened condensed milk acts as the glue to hold everything together.
Whatever they’re called, they have never really appealed to me because they just seemed too tooth-achingly sweet. But last week I saw this charming video and knew I had to try this twist on these bars. In her new book, “Modern Potluck”, Kristen Donnelly solves the sickly sweet problem by swapping out a cookie base with a potato chip base. What??? Pure genius.
I had high hopes for these “potato chip crusted magic bars”. The combination of sweet and salty is my kryptonite. I went shopping for potato chips, because I rarely keep them in my house. Shockingly, don’t have much will power when it comes to salt. By the way, did you know that they sell unsalted potato chips? Chicken and waffle flavoured potato chips is one thing, but I draw the line at unsalted! I mean, salt is the whole point of potato chips, right?
I whipped up a batch of Kristen’s potato chip crusted magic bars. I was so excitedI could barely wait for them to cool.The first bite was interesting. The crust was not as crispy as I thought it would be. Nor did it taste as salty as I was hoping for. The second bite left an almost rancid aftertaste in my mouth. I had eaten a few potato chips out of the bag as I was making the crust, and they tasted great. I suspect that cooking the potato chips a second time caused some kind of chemical reaction that changed the taste. I was so disappointed. I knew that Kristen’s idea of adding a salty crust was a great idea and I wanted to make these bars work.
And then I remembered these pretzel crusted treats I made last year. Why not trade potato chips for pretzels? Why not indeed? I topped mine with bittersweet chocolate chips, unsweetened coconut chips, salted cashews, almonds and macadamia nuts, and chopped vanilla caramels.
Watch the magic happen!
These bars have it all. A perfect sweet-salty balance and great textural contrast. Crunch from pretzels, nuts and toasted coconut, gooey sweetness from sweetened condensed milk, bittersweet from the chocolate, and chewiness from the caramel. A perfect treat.
Oh, and I figured out why they’re called magic bars. Set them out with some cold milk and watch them magically disappear. They are even more delicious straight from the freezer!
When it comes to social media and tech savviness, I must admit I’m not exactly current. I have a twitter account with about 40 followers, but I’m confused about where I’m supposed to be leading them. I do post on Instagram, but not very frequently. I check the spelling and punctuation of every text I send, which makes me a very slow texter. My kids usually abandon our text chats within the first few messages and just pick up the phone and call me because I am so frustratingly slow, compared to their lightening fast thumbs.
I try to keep up with all the cool kids and know the meaning of many internet acronyms. One meme that has been picking up steam as usage of social media skyrockets is FOMO. For the uninitiated, FOMO stands for fear of missing out. The Oxford Dictionary defines it as “Anxiety that an exciting or interesting event may currently be happening elsewhere, often aroused by posts seen on a social media website.” It’s that little pang of envy you feel when you’re looking at vacation photos, amazing restaurant meals or parties of friends and family that you weren’t invited to.
But it looks like FOMO may be taking a back seat to JOMO – joy of missing out. According to The Huffington Post, “the term is a rebellion against saying yes to everything, and is about giving yourself the space to think and experience things without freaking out about what you ‘should’ be doing instead.”
As a proud introvert, I wholeheartedly embrace JOMO! Let’s hear it for staying home, binge watching Netflix and snacking on Crisp Toffee Pecan Bars.I discovered these cookies on The New York Times Cooking website. The dough is baked in a cast iron pan. Baking in cast iron allows for a degree of deep caramelization that just can’t be achieved on a regular baking sheet. If you don’t already have a cast iron pan, maybe this will convince you to invest in one.
Creator Charlotte Druckman gives you the option of adding nuts or chocolate to the dough. Inspired by one of my favourite cookies, Skor Bars, I added pecans, chocolate and Skor bits!Place your empty cast iron pan in the oven while you make the dough.Grease the hot pan very carefully with butter. Press dough into hot pan. Use the bottom of a measuring cup so you don’t burn yourself. Score dough into wedges and let cookies completely cool in pan before removing.The edges will be deeply browned and crispy while the center is still nice and chewy. Pecans and skor bits contribute great crunch and chocolate is always welcome. A glass of milk might just be the best accompaniment to your JOMO experience.
A really good lime square should have more than a whisper of citrus flavour. It needs a big shout-out of lip puckering sourness. The base is usually quite sweet, so the topping needs to be really tart. The key to achieving this balance is not as simple as adding more lime juice. When baking, the juice and zest of citrus fruits react differently. The flavour compounds in the juice are suspended in water, so they evaporate during baking and you are left with only a mild citrus flavour. Zest, on the other hand, contains essential oils that do not dissipate with the heat of the oven, so the pucker power remains strong.
Lime and coconut is a perfect pairing for summer, and these bars pack a serious pop of lime flavour. Citrus squares typically have a shortbread-like base. I decided to mix things up a bit and added some oats to my base. The dough comes together quickly and can be patted into the pan with your hands, no rolling necessary.The filling is mixed in one bowl. Fast and easy.Let it snow!While small in stature, these squares are mighty in flavour. The edges of the crust are crunchy but the center remains slightly chewy. The filling is loaded with tart lime and tropical coconut flavours. A dusting of icing sugar provides just the right sweet counterpart to all that pucker.
As I was scrolling through Instagram the other day, someone asked us to fill in the blank to this statement. “I am happiest when…..” My quick response was, “when I am finished spin class!” But I got to thinking seriously about this.
