Bark in a Splendid Variety

I really like writing "Bark in a Splendid Variety." It has the clunkiness of something translated from a foreign film. "Bark in a Splendid Variety." I've got bark in splendid varieties and lots of it! Yesterday I made ten plate fulls of the lovely stuff. It took less than thirty minutes of active work and I didn't wash a single dish. This might just be the easiest treat you'll ever make. If you can spread chocolate chips in a single layer on a foil-lined cookie sheet, then you can make bark.

Put the chips in the oven at 325 for about 2-3 minutes.
If you can find the mint chocolate/dark chocolate chips from Nestle, then you can make Jackson Pollock bark.

Just swirl the melted chips around with a toothpick. It will come out ridiculously gorgeous.

Sprinkle some nuts, if you like. Yep, nuts. They're suprisingly good with mint. After you sprinkle the toppings on, hold the pan a good six inches above your counter and drop it down with a thud. It'll wake the dead and keep your toppings in place. Two good things in one.

Here comes my white chocolate bark with Grasshopper cookies. Kim wrote me a comment to suggest I use Oreos, but I didn't have any and I almost cried bitterly. But then I found these cookies in my cupboard and wiped the tears and forged ahead. It was in high demand from the kitchen scroungers, i.e. the kids and me.

I call this one "Candy Cane Lane" Bark. It's just so Christmas-y. Marshmallows, Candy Canes and Christmas sprinkles deck the halls of dark chocolate. Santa's getting some on his plate this year.

I also made a Candy Bar Cunch bark. It's in the back on the left and consists of a lovely blend of milk chocolate, rice krispies, cornflakes and roasted peanuts. I could have sworn I took a picture of it. Where did it go? Where oh where did it go?

After all the bark has cooled, break it into pieces and arrange on paper plates. I tried putting the bark in pretty boxes, but the bark is too pretty to hide its light under a bushel. Let it shine, baby, let it shine.

See what I'm talking about?

I made four double batches and got ten plates of bark in a splendid variety. Maybe I spent $20. Maybe even a little less. I'm doing a repeat today. For complete instructions, click here.

And one more thing before I go. Here's your chance to do something so easy and good today. Nuskin has developed a product for malnourished children all over the world. Vitameal is specifically formulated to target the nutritional needs of the poorest little people all over the world. Each Vitameal pouch contains 31 child-size meals-enough for a whole month for a hungry little soul. Here's what you can do: like this page on Facebook (click here) and Nuskin will donate a pouch. Easy, right? Spread the word and spread the love.

And one more one more thing before I go. I'm going to a Cookie Swap tomorrow and I don't know what I'm making yet. Any suggestions?

Next Up:

Salted Browned Butter Cookies

The Easiest Bark you'll ever make....

First things first.

The winner of the Nestle gift basket is #25-Jen, who likes it sweet and salty. Congrats! (E-mail me your address at prudencepenny@aol.com)

But wait! Have you made the Magic Mint Bark yet? Do not pass go. Do not collect $200 dollars. Go directly to the kitchen and make some. In betweeen my classes last night, I went to Target and stocked up on Nestle Dark Chocolate and Mint chips last night for $2 a bag. (Your Target should have them on sale this week too.) I bought white chocolate chips, butterscotch, milk chocolate, and semisweet too. That's really about all you need for the bark. So think: For around $2 bucks, you could make nice little neighbor gifts, all wrapped up in cellophane. Easy, fast, and fab. Oh, I know bark has been around forever, but this Nestle recipe is a revelation. No careful melting, no dishes to clean, no worrying about the correct temperature for the chocolate. All you have to do is spread a single layer of chocolate chips on a foil lined cookie sheet. Bake at 325 for about two minutes and then swirl the chips around with a knife. Sprinkle on a topping (nuts, pretzels, peppermint, sprinkles,dried fruits, etc) and then pick up your cookie sheet and wham it down on the counter. Shazam! The impact imbeds the toppings just enough so that they remain visible but stay put. Last night, I tried making some Chocolate-Peanut Butter Pretzel Bark. It honestly took all of three minutes. All I did was spread the chips on a foil lined baking sheet and place them in the oven for two minutes.

West broke up some pretzels for me while the chips were melting.

I sprinkled the pretzels on top of the melted mass and smacked the cookie sheet on the counter. This is what I've got.

I've ravaged a few edges (who could blame me?) and the stuff is sweet and salty and heavenly. It's like an inside out chocolate dipped pretzel only better, since it's more chocolate than pretzel. You better believe there's going to be a few more variations made today. Click here for the original Magic Mint Bark Recipe from Nestle-then use your imagination.

If all goes well, I'll be back this weekend with Smore's Bark and Peppermint Marshmallow Chocolate Bark and Milk Chocolate Cereal Bark. Somebody stop me before I go too crazy!

Chocolate Oatmeal Almost Candy Bars

Welcome to tempting Tuesdays, the day in which I bake an alluring treat with members of my on-line baking club, Tuesdays with Dorie. Hubba, Hubba-This one's a corker. First you lay down an oatmeal cookie crust, then you top it with fudge-you know that same fudge we were all busy eating during December...

Last, comes aother sprinkle of cookie dough, encasing the fudge in a chewy oatmeal package, just like a candy bar.

And here is where the story ends, or rather begins. Because as soon as I pulled it out of the fridge from cooling, my sister and her six kids showed up for their MLK weekend visit. I couldn't slice these bars fast enough. Poof!-gone, just like that. They are mighty, mighty good.

Are you still on a January diet? Then bookmark these babies for February. Recipe here.

And for the sweet love of Pete, please head over here and vote for WEST in the Jif's most creative peanut butter sandwich. Just take ten seconds to register and then vote for his MORE ROCKIN MOROCCAN PEANUTTY PITAS. There's a hefty $25,000 scholarship as prize.

Next Up:

Muligatawny (Chicken Curry Soup) in the Crock Pot

Peanut Butter Easter Eggs

When I was a little girl, my grandparents would bring each of my siblings a giant See's Easter egg with our name drawn out in beautiful loops of royal icing. This along with the dry roasted peanuts and M and Ms would be the sum total of our Easter candy. It lasted approximately two hours and then it would be weeks before we had candy again. Times have changed. My own charges get so much candy all of the time-sackfulls at birthday parties, rewards after ballet lessons, even lollipops after a visit to the doctor. We have an entire shelf full of Halloween candy, Christmas candy, and Valentine's candy that no one is particularly interested in eating. Instead of buying more candy that would inevitably end up un-eaten, we decided to make our own candy this year. Homemade candy is special, even in this age of plentiful sweets.(Although I confess that I did buy the M and Ms and plain roasted peanuts for nostalgic reasons.) The favorite candy around here, and one that we never have on hand for long, is Peanut Butter Cups. They are so easy, delicious, and inexpensive to make, plus they look adorable shaped as Easter Eggs. You still have time to make some. Whatever candy is in your baskets tomorrow, may your holiday be endearingly sweet. Happy Easter!

Money Saving Tips:

Look for quality chocolate at a good price for dipping. If you are lucky enough to have a Trader Joe's, then buy some of the Belgian milk chocolate. I used melted Hershey bar's since I still have a cupboard full. This makes a big batch, so you'll have plenty to share.

Form the dough into egg shapes and freeze. You can also make fudge centers, if you like.Dip in chocolate. You can use milk, dark, or white chocolate. I like to use all three. Chill to set. Decorate as desired.

Peanut Butter Easter Eggs

Estimated Cost: about $7.00 for 30

1/2 cup softened butter

1 cup peanut butter

about 1 and 1/2 cups powdered sugar

generous pinch of salt

1-2 cups crisp rice cereal

about 12 ounces milk chocolate

In a medium bowl, combine butter, peanut butter, powdered sugar and salt. Add more powdered sugar if needed to form a very soft dough, like the texture of playdough. If desired add rice cereal for crunch. Form into egg shapes and freeze for at least two hours. Melt chocolate in a medium bowl. I melt mine very slowly in the microwave. Dip eggs in chocolate to coat. Place on waxed paper and chill until set. Decorate with melted candy melts if desired.

Next Up

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

Love Thy Neighbor...with Fudge

Here's the easiest way to express gratitude for those with whom you share a fence: in a word, fudge. And I've got the skinny on the easiest, silkiest, dreamiest fudge that you could ever whip up in five minutes. It's so easy, in fact, that my five year old made a batch for his Sunday school teachers. Other than pushing the buttons on the microwave, he was a lone, proud cowboy of candy making. Tomorrow we'll be back to Christmas Around the World. I think. In the meantime, I've been churning out cookies, candies, cakes, not to mention dinners galore, and I haven't really even shared them at all, thanks to this month's international Christmas crazy bonanza. But this one, dear readers, this one I just couldn't keep to myself. If you haven't made anything for your neighbors, your hairdresser, your spiritual advisor, your mailman, youre genealogist, your recently unemployed financial advisor....this is it. I'm off to rush around madly in circles with the rest of America. Just five more days till Christmas!

Easy Fudge

Estimated Cost: $5.00

Use your big bag of Costco chocolate chips and you'll save a fortune.

3 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

4 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup add ins-such as crushed peppermints, frozen marshmallows, chopped nuts, dried fruits, chopped cookies, etc...

Line a 8 by 8 inch square pan with foil. Place chips, milk and vanilla in microwaveable medium bowl. Zap for one minute. Stir. Repeat until chips and butter are melted. Stir with wooden spoon until shiny. Add vanilla and any optional add ins. Pour into prepared pan. Chill for at least two hours.

For White Oreo Fudge:

Follow above directions, using white chocolate chips and reducing butter to two tablespoons. Generously grease foil lined pan. Leave out vanilla and add 20 crushed oreos.

My Sailor-girl made chocolate fudge in mini loaf pans to give out to her music teachers. You can get 3-4 little fudge blocks. Wrapped in cellophane with a plastic knife, it doesn't get much cutie-patootier than that. Unless you want to put it in a polka dot ribbon-tied box. That's purdy too.
Up Next:

Hanukkah and hopefully latkes....

Christmas Around the World: English Toffee

When I was a first grade teacher in California, a group of us put together a month long social studies unit on Christmas Around the World. It's bit of a misnomer really, because Christmas Around the World was really a unit on celebrations in Europe, North America and some information about Hanukkah. But misnomer, or not, it was a big hit with the first graders, and I learned to associate the customs of other countries with my own holiday celebrations. The two charges are especially anxious to celebrate Christmas throughout the entire month of December. This month, I'll tell you a little bit about the traditions that we associate with the various countries, as well as leave you a recipe or food idea to compliment our studies. This year, it has particular meaning for me, with my European travels so fresh in my mind. First stop on our Christmas celebration is jolly old England. England was the first country to send Christmas Cards, so you have England to thank for your full mailbox this season. (Although, I suspect the catalogue companies have more to do with that.) Many of our Christmas Carols come from England, such as Holly and the Ivy, Deck the Halls, and God Rest ye Merry Gentlemen.

And of course, Charles Dickens, the writer most associated with the Christmas Season, has left us not only The Christmas Carol, but also Chimes and The Cricket on the Hearth. "It is a fair, even-handed, noble adjustment of things, that while there is infection in disease and sorrow, there is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good-humour."- A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens

Also, Dickens wrote a new testament for children, carefully guarded during his lifetime and even during the lifetime of his children. The Life of our Lord, which was not published until 1933, tells the story of the birth of Christ in a tender and touching manner, with very simple accessible writing. All of these Dicken' offerings will cost you no more than an hour or two to read, and his writing embodies all of the ideals of the season: peace, kindness, mercy, and charity for all.

And between reading Dickens, writing Christmas cards, and listening to carols, you may get a wee bit hungry. You could always have a cup of tea and a scone, but some homemade English Toffee would also be perfectly in line with the season.

Happy Christmas!
Money Saving Tips: Save the pricey nuts for the top of the toffee where they'll have the added benefit of a beautiful presentation. Don't try to use margarine here-it won't work, but you don't need an expensive butter either. I've used Walmart, Albertsons, and Costco brands with good results.

English Toffee

Notes: My cooking contest friend and toffee champion, Ruth Kendrick, just had her award winning recipe published in the food section of the Deseret News. She recommends cooking the butter and sugar over low heat until the sugar is completely dissolved. I tried her technique with this batch and it worked perfectly! Thanks, Ruth!

Estimated Cost for an 8 by 8 inch pan: $3.50

1/2 cup butter (4 ounces, or one stick)

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon water

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 or 3 ounces semisweet, dark, or milk chocolate

2-4 tablespoons sliced almonds, or other nuts

Lightly coat an 8 by 8 inch pan with cooking spray. Melt butter in medium saucepan over low heat. Add sugar and water and stir constantly until butter is melted and sugar is completely dissolved and no longer grainy (about 10 minutes). If sugar granules stick to the side, wipe them down with a wet pastry brush. When sugar is completely dissolved, turn the heat up to medium and stir constantly until toffee becomes a medium caramel color. (I don't use a candy thermometer, but just go by the look and smell. Ruth recommends waiting till the toffee gives a puff of smoke. I did that yesterday and it worked like a charm.) Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Pour toffee into prepared pan. Wait 7 minutes. Sprinkle toffee with chocolate and let stand a few minutes. Smooth chocolate with spatula and sprinkle with nuts. Wait until chocolate cools to break into pieces.

Next Up:

Christmas in Holland

Leave your shoes out tonight (Dec. 5) for Sinter Klaas!