Butter Pecan Praline Bars or Why I'm a butter groupie...

Butter is just one of those things... that I love... which may be the reason I so often find myself perusing the Land O Lakes butter website. I think I may be a butter groupie, butters biggest fan, I just really really like it. Ok, so now that I sound like a complete crazy. Let's get to the recipe. Buttery, brown sugar shortbread base, covered by a layer of pecans, covered by a layer of homemade brown sugar caramel, covered by decadent swirls of creamy white chocolate. These bars are SWEET, cut em small folks. They will knock that sweet tooth right out of the park. That said, they are kinda fabulous.

Crumbly shortbread, buttery sticky caramel... the PECANS... oh man.. must. resist. eating. whole. batch...

Caramel Pecan Praline Bars

Adapted from here

Crust

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup Butter, softened

1 cup pecan halves

Caramel Layer

2/3 cup Butter

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 cup white chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350°F.

Combine all crust ingredients except pecans in large bowl. Beat at medium speed until mixture resembles fine crumbs.

Press onto bottom of ungreased 13x9-inch baking pan.

Place pecans evenly over unbaked crust.

Combine 2/3 cup butter and 1/2 cup brown sugar in 1-quart saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until entire surface of mixture begins to boil. Boil 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Pour evenly over pecans and crust.

Bake for 18 to 22 minutes or until entire caramel layer is bubbly. (DO NOT OVERBAKE.) Remove from oven.

Immediately sprinkle with chips; allow to melt slightly (2 to 3 minutes).

Swirl chips leaving some whole for a marbled effect.

Love.

Cool completely; cut into bars.

TIP: Store at room temperature in loosely covered container.

What are you all cooking up this week? Anything good??

Brown Sugar Streusel White Chocolate Cranberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

Cranberries were on sale for a dollar a bag at Safeway yesterday! I am not the proud owner of 5 pounds of cranberries.. good thing they freeze well! You can expect to see many cranberry recipes in the coming weeks. I am starting off with a brown sugar streusel white chocolate cranberry cream cheese coffee cake. Whew.... longest name ever, but it's so chock full of good stuff! I used a recipe borrowed from Alicia's Homemaking, a lovely blog with lots of good recipes and home making tips. To her recipe, I added fresh cranberries and white chocolate chips. I also decided to try it topped off with streusel. The streusel got a bit browner than I like. But the end result was a crisp, buttery brown sugar coating that goes great with the creamy cake. and OH MAN the cake is good! Super creamy thanks to the cream cheese and studded with juicy cranberries and sweet, milky white chocolate chips. Delicious overload and the perfect way to use up your left over cranberries, right??

White Chocolate Cranberry Coffee Cake (shortened title)

Recipe Adapted from Alicia's Homemaking

Makes 2 Loafs

1/2 cup butter

8 ounces cream cheese

1 1/4 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup milk

1/2 to 1 cup white chocolate chips (depends how much extra sweetness you want)

1 cup cranberries

(I gave mine a quick chop, but you could use them whole too) tossed with 1 tablespoon flour and a sprinkle of sugar (so they don't sink to the bottom)

Streusel topping

1 stick butter (softened a bit)

1 cup flour

1 cup brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream sugar, butter, cream cheese and eggs together in a large bowl. Add vanilla, salt, and baking powder.

Gradually add in the flour, keeping the mixture smooth. Add milk.

Fold in the cranberries and chocolate chips.

Pour into greased, floured or sugared (I sugar my pans) pans, dividing batter in half.

For the topping, mix together butter, flour, and brown sugar until they have the texture of wet sand.

Sprinkle over the batter covering completely.

Put cakes in the oven for 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean.

*Note: The streusel turns very dark brown (I used dark brown sugar), but it caramelizes and gives a lovely crunch to the cake. If you are not a fan, by all means, make the cakes without the streusel and they will still be delicious :)

Happy New Years (I know I'm a little early),

Sugar N' Spice Truffles

Holiday Baking Part II! For the next installment of holiday baking, I present to you... Sugar and Spice Truffles! These really are very simple to make, just whip up a cake, crumble it up with some frosting, shape into balls and cover with white chocolate. Nothing tricky about that! These were my first foray into the world of "cake pops," a phenomenon that has swept the blogosphere a little blog named Bakerella. The key to getting good looking truffles is making sure the cake balls are chilled before dipping in the chocolate, that way they don't fall apart. I recommend checking out the tutorial found on the Pioneer Woman blog.The version that I tried combines the wonderfully Christmassy flavors of ginger and nutmeg (spice cake) with a white chocolate coating topped with a sparkly sprinkle of cinnamon and sugar. Last minute gift? Consider it done.

Sugar and Spice Truffles

1 box spice cake mix (plus ingredients called for on box)

1/2 tub store bought vanilla frosting

4 cups white chocolate candy melts

2 tablespoons white sugar

2 tablespoons cinnamon

Make cake as directed on box for a 9x13 inch pan. When cake is done, put in the fridge a few hours until completely cooled. When cooled, crumble cake into a large bowl. Add frosting and mix until it all sticks together (I used my hands and formed a big ball). Using a melon baller (or a tablespoon) form balls of dough, roll between palms to form smooth balls.

Place on a foil lined baking sheet. Put in fridge to chill for at least two hours.

Once cake balls are firmly chilled, melt chocolate in a double boiler on the stove. Remove cake balls from fridge and drop three to four at a time in the melted chocolate.

Spoon chocolate over top of truffles, when coated, remove truffle from chocolate using a spoon.

Tap against the side of the bowl a few times to remove excess chocolate.

Set on a piece of waxed paper and sprinkle with mixture of cinnamon and sugar.

Let cool until chocolate is completely set. Store tightly covered at room temperature.

Merry Christmas!

Cookie Brittle Revisited

Remember this post about easy peasy cookie brittle? Well, for employee gifts at work this year I tried a few variations on the original that I would like to share with you! First version.... Mint Chip Cookie Brittle.

All I did was switch out chocolate chips for a mix of dark chocolate chips and mint chips. The other type I made involved the addition of dried cranberries and white chocolate chips.

This was my fave! Something about cranberries puts me in the holiday spirit... They just seem so jolly! The lovely thing about this brittle recipe is you could really mix in whatever goodie you have in the cupboard. If it works in a cookie, it should work as Cookie Brittle, nuts, peanut butter, coconut, raisins, oats... other ideas?

Cookie Brittle Two (or more) Ways

1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups flour

1 1/4 cups mix-ins (cranberries, white chocolate, mint chips, whatever!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie pan with parchment paper. Mix the butter and vanilla together.

Add in the flour, sugar, salt and whatever add ins you want, using your hands or a wooden spoon mix it all together until well combined.

The dough will be fairly dry and crumbly. Dump the dough onto lined cookie sheet.

Press it into a thin layer using your hands. Mine didn't completely fill the cookie tray. The thinner you press it, the crispier it will be and the quicker it will cook, so adjust accordingly.

Bake for 20 minutes, check, if edges are lightly brown and center is set, remove from oven. Allow to cool COMPLETELY (this is probably the hardest part, I put the whole tray in the fridge to speed up the process ☺).

Break up into pieces, give gifts!

Vegan Pumpkin White Chocolate Bars

ANOTHER vegan recipe... I am really starting to like this whole vegan thing. It gives me a bit of a challenge, adapting recipes so that they are completely vegan, and I LOVE a good challenge! This one turned out scrumptiously! I was trying to adapt a blondie recipe, but I wouldn't call these blondies, they have a moister, fudgy consistency (thanks to the pumpkin), but they retain that delightful chewiness with caramel undertones that blondies are so famous for. They don't have to be made vegan, so I included tips for making a regular version as well. The pumpkin flavor is just perfect for this time of year and who can say no to a little white chocolate? Not me!

Pumpkin White Chocolate Bars

Adapted from Coconut Blondie recipe by Brown Eyed Baker

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

4 ounces vegan "butter" (I used Earth Balance), softened to room temperature (or for non-vegan, use 4 ounces unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature)

1 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling)

1 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1 1/2 cups vegan white chocolate chips (can buy them here, or use regular)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8x8 pan with parchment paper and mist with non-stick spray (or butter, or grease).

Mix together butter, sugar, pumpkin puree, and vanilla until smooth. Add flour, salt and pumpkin pie spice.

Mix until combined.

Fold in white chocolate chips.

Smooth batter into prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until set but still a bit soft in the middle.

Happy Monday!