Tag: candy

No-bake brownies: a good find

Many thanks for the warm welcome I’ve received from the other TWD bakers.  Not only did they reaffirm my participation in this online project, but their sites provided a great way count down a quiet Friday afternoon in the office. I’ve already found some great recipes I am eager to try!

The first one I tackled was the oven-free Oreo cookie treats I found at Baking and Boys! The list of ingredients was short so I threw them together Friday after work.  They likely will not last through the weekend because they are so good! You can find the recipe here.

No-bake Oreo treats

One taster described them this way: if you think of a continuum of chocolate density where chocolate cake is at one end, brownies are in the center, and fudge is at the opposite end, these are somewhere between brownies and fudge. You can definitely detect an Oreo flavor and a breadcrumb-like presence in the batter, but they are not quite as cakey as a brownie.

I took Baking and Boys!’ advice and used a few extra cookies, coarsely chopped, for a dramatic effect when you cut into them, and they look great! For the candy topping, I used a handful of crumbled toffee I had leftover from an ice cream machine experiment as well as one Snickers bar, and it was great – but think of how cute they would be with Halloween candy or gummy worms for a Worms and Dirt dessert.

Also, considering what’s in them and how easy they were to make, I think they look pretty classy in a silver tray.

TWD: Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops

I’ve already revealed that I prefer my cookies cakey, rather than crispy, and now I’ll add this: I don’t like them too chocolatey. I prefer, for example, that my cupcakes be yellow cake with chocolate frosting, and that my oven produce chocolate chip cookies rather than chocolate-chocolate chip cookies. But I tried my best with these uber-chocolate creations and I was pleasantly surprised.

Whopper Cookies: before

First problem: I could not find the recommended malted milk powder in any of the three markets I visited. I used chocolate Ovaltine and it seemed to come out ok, but now I’m not sure what to do with the other 17.5 oz. of mix in the Ovaltine canister.

Then, I had the Whopper dilemma. I ended up buying bulk milk chocolate malted milk balls from an upscale grocer I visited near my office while searching for the malted milk powder, and I think they were a huge bonus to the final product. Far better (and also more expensive) than the box of stale Whoppers I bought at Bed Bath and Beyond a few days later while I was looking for a new mildew-resistant shower curtain.

Would you believe I even got the other eater in my household to help chop the Whoppers? I spent a few minutes bagging the bag of candy with a stainless steel spoon, and nothing broke! Not even a chip! So I had to individually cut the candies into quarters with a paring knife. I think the fruitless banging The Other Eater had to endure won me the sympathy vote and we chopped candy side by side. I am proud to report that no blood was lost (unlike the bloody cheese incident of 2004) on the Whoppers and that we remain friendly.

Finally, the whole milk. I used 1/4 cups. I have a lot more in the fridge. I’m thinking quiche is in order this weekend.

Whopper Drops: After

But, the cookies turned out soft and cakey and perfect with a glass of milk. I’ll totally make them again for a chocolate lover in my life. Any takers?

Me? Not like M&Ms?

I shouldn’t go to Target hungry, I know, but there were these long and skinny boxes of Premium M&M’s, made in fun flavors like mocha, triple chocolate, and something about raspberries. The mocha ones are sparkly, too – kinda bronze-ish. I threw a box in my cart.
I hate them. I mean, not enough to throw them away, but not enough to buy them again, which in my world equates to hate. They are cloyingly mocha-y, and the flavor stay LONG after you stop eating.
First, the shell is not crispy. It’s soft. If you eat M&Ms, you want the crunch. These do not.
Second, the chocolate tastes expensive, where we all know that I prefer cheap chocolate. I would much rather have a peanut butter cup than a box of Godiva. I prefer M&Ms to truffles. I prefer milk chocolate over dark. These failed on all fronts.
Verdict: I’m sticking with the peanut M&Ms.