Toffee Pretzel Chocolate Bark

This is so easy even a caveman can make it... assuming there's access to a working stove and oven. :D I like this recipe because you don't need a candy thermometer!!! I'm so glad to have stumbled onto this recipe. Poor hubby. He's on keto for all of February and has no idea he's missing out!

8 oz mini pretzels (enough to spread out onto a large baking sheet)
1 C butter
1 C brown sugar, packed
2 C semi sweet chocolate chips

I did a half batch and used regular pretzels. I just crushed them a bit before spreading out on a baking sheet lined with foil. I've read that parchment paper works fine too. You'll want to preheat your oven to 375°F first.

This was 6oz of crushed pretzels. (I used a lil more pretzels)

This was the 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup packed brown sugar. 

Bring it to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally to make sure everything is blending together nicely. Once you have a rolling boil going, keep the heat at medium and stop stirring. Let it bubble away for 3 minutes. (Mine turned out a lil darker compared to the original website.)

The butter/sugar mix was poured over the pretzels as best as possible... the gaps were somewhat closed when baked for 5 minutes in a preheated oven. (I probably should've measured out everything proportionally. i.e. 6 oz pretzels, 3/4 cup butter and 3/4 cup packed sugar...)

Sprinkle 1 cup of chocolate chips. Let the chips rest for a minute or two until the chips softens.

Spread the chocolate evenly over the pretzels with a spatula. Then, place it in the fridge for about a 1/2 hour so the chocolate can firm up.

Once everything hardened, I broke them up into handheld pieces. They truly are irresistible! Great for an appetizer, snack, munchies, dessert, you name it! Great sub for dinner... ;D 

Here in SoCal, I kept them stored in a ziploc baggie in the fridge so I don't have to worry about the chocolate melting. But then again, they don't last long!

Disaronno Banana Nut Bread

I've been making banana nut breads for a while now and I'm pretty sure I've got my go-to recipe down. However, this time around, I wanted to add Disaronno to it for an almond flavor. Here's what I used:

Dry ingredients: 2 cups flour, 1.5 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

Wet ingredients: 3 old bananas~ mashed, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup butter~room temp or melted, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup Disaronno

Optional: 1/2 walnuts, chopped, 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chip, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. Mix all the dry ingredients in one bowl. Set aside.

3. Mash your bananas first, then add the eggs, then the butter and sugar and Disaronno. Mix well.

4. Then add your dry mix in stages to your wet mix until all the dry mix is well incorporated. 

5. Fold in your chopped waltnuts and chocolates if you want.

6. Spray your bread pan with Pam or butter it down, then pour in your bread batter.

7. Bake it in the oven for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until done.

This is super delicious and perfectly moist with a hint of almond flavor. Perfect. Mm-mmmmm.

Oreos n Chocolate Swirl Buns

These buns are as tasty as they look and oh-so-decadent. I merely made a modification to this recipe. I used to do this recipe by hand because I did not have a mixer, but (hooray) now I do! So if you currently do not have a mixer, you could try out my version.

This time around I did two batches. When I only do one, they are always gone so quickly. Also, I made two batches because one batch is for a bday celebration this weekend. Yippee!

The first batch is pretty much the original plus 2 handful of walnuts and lots more cinnamon bc this household loves cinnamon and nuts. Also, since the very first batch I made was really sweet, when making the filling, I only added 2 tbs of granulated sugar instead of 1/4 cup (which is 4 tbs).

And for the second batch, I merely subbed some of the chocolate chips with oreos! It turned out to still be 1/2 lb of goodies :D Plus, I also only added 2 tbs of granulated sugar instead of the 1/4 cup.

Can you say SA-WEEET! :o)

Super useful to have these on hand:

Mixer: Kitchenaid Classic Plus 4.5-Qt. Stand Mixer (Google Affiliate Ad)

Kitchen Scale: Salter Aquatronic Electronic Kitchen Scale (Google Affiliate Ad)

Serrated Knife: Wusthof Gourmet Serrated Bread Knife - 8" - Wusthof Gourmet (Google Affiliate Ad)

Banana Nut Bread with Chocolate Swirls

Mmmmm, doesn't that just look scrumptious!?!?!? It was freshly baked and right out of the oven. It smelled sooooooooo GOOD!!!!

I really wanted chocolate in it, but I didn't want chocolate chips so I took a small handful of semisweet chocolate chips and melted it with a pat of butter in the microwave. I then poured it into the batter and tried to fold it in. I didn't want to stir it in cuz then it'd be a chocolate batter when I really just wanted pretty swirls.

You can't really see the swirls sadly, but it was really awesome! It came out like this:

AD: Metal Bread Boxes, White (Google Affiliate Ad)

Chocolate Filled Pinwheels

Note: Making this cookie requires overnight chilling.

But super delicious so totally worth it!

Ingredients: 2 cups all purpose flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 3/4 cup vegetable shortening, 1 cup granulated sugar, 1 large egg, 1 tbs vanilla extract

Filling: 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, 2 tbs butter, 1 cup minced walnuts (in a food processor), 1/2 tbs vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.
2. Creamt he veggie shortening and sugar in a large bowl. Beat in the egg. Beat in the vanilla extract. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Measure out 1/3 cup of the dough and set aside. Cover the remaining dough and chill for 2 hours.
3. To make the filling, melt the chocolate and butter in the top of a double boiler over low heat, stirring until smooth. Remove from the heat and stir in the walnuts and vanilla extract. Blend in the reserved dough.
4. On a floured surface, roll out the chilled dough to a 16 by 12-inch rectangle. Spread the chocolate mixture over the dough to within 1/4 inch of the edges. Starting on a long side, roll the dough up jelly-roll fashion. Pinch the seam to seal. Cut in half to make two 8-inch logs. Wrap in wax paper and chill overnight.
5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
6. Slice the logs into 1/4-inch thick slices and place 1 1/2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.
7. Bake for 12-14 minutes, until lightly browned. Transfer to wire racks to cool.

Chocolate Swirl Buns #2

This was batch #2. Deeeeeeeeeeee-licious!!!!! Mmmm-scrumptious!!!!!! I just had to make it for the bbq. We only had 8 left by the time the backyard bbq rolled around on 6/30.

In case the original site takes forever to load, these are the ingredients that you'll need:

1/2 cup whole milk (I used 2%)

a pinch of white sugar

1.5 tsp of dry active yeast

1/4 cup white sugar

1 egg @ room temp

3 tbs unsalted butter

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp kosher salt

225grams or 1/2 pound of semi sweet chocolate

1/4 cup white sugar

1-2 tsp cinnamon

3 tbs unsalted butter

crushed walnuts (optional)

My Version of Directions (since I don't have a mixer):

1. Warm the milk in microwave for 20 seconds, stir in pinch of sugar, then sprinkle yeast on top and stir. Let rest for about 5-10 minutes or until foamy.

2. Mix the white sugar with room temp egg. Shave 2-3 tbs of butter into the mixture and stir until only small chunks of butter are left.

3. Pour the milk/yeast mixture into the sugar/egg mixture. This is your wet portion.

4. In a separate bowl, mix flour and salt. Pour 1/3 of the flour mixture into the wet portion and mix well. Do this 2 more times.

5. Stir well and then when it gets too tough to stir, knead the dough for about 5 minutes or until the dough is cohesive... should look like a lump of dough.

6. Place your dough in a buttered bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rest for an hour in a warm place.

7. Meanwhile, place chocolate into a food processor along with the sugar and cinnamon and butter. Process until it's a chocolatey mess.

8. Once the dough is ready, roll it out into a rectangle that's about 12in by 20in. 

9. Spread the chocolatey mixture over and if you're using crushed walnuts, sprinkle over the chocolatey goodness. Roll up the dough starting with the 12in side.

10. Cut into 12 slices and place in a buttered cupcake pan (I used Pam instead).

11. Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees F for about 15-20 minutes or until golden.

Chocolate Swirl Buns

This is super duper freaking delicious! I HAVE to make this again, even though it takes a bit of time. (It's possible it takes awhile for me to make because I don't own a mixer). Totally worth it though!!!

Go here for the recipe.