Chewy Granola Bars

Awhile back, I wrote about my experience with another blogger's recipe for Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Granola Bars.  As I noted at the time, I wasn't entirely satisfied with those bars, but my coworkers raved about them, so I planned to eventually tinker with that recipe, to make it more to my liking. 

Well, that eventually happened this past weekend.

When I made the original recipe, I didn't think the result tasted very much like a granola bar, and I was displeased with how much the bars crumbled when I cut them into individual servings.  I resolved to make some changes to the recipe that would provide a bit more flavor and hopefully bind the bars together better.  Toward this goal, I added a bit of molasses and some chopped-up dried fruit (cherries and apples), thinking the stickiness of the molasses and the dried cherries might help the bars hold together.

I think I achieved the first goal - I am much happier with the flavor of these ones than I was the first batch, though Juli still isn't too thrilled by them.  I was less successful in regard to the second goal.  These ones didn't crumble quite so much as did the ones made with the original recipe, but as you can see in the picture above, they were still pretty crumbly.  More than I'd prefer.  So, progress, but not quite all the way there.

I'm happier with this recipe, but I think it still needs some work.   If any of our readers has any ideas how to make the bars hold together better, I'd be quite interested in hearing from you.

Chewy Granola Bars

1          cup chunky peanut butter
1/4       cup honey
1/4       cup maple syrup (not pancake syrup)
2          tablespoons molasses
1          teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2   cups old-fashioned oats
1         cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2      cup dry roasted peanuts
1/2      cup Rice Krispies or similar cereal
1/2      cup shredded coconut
2         tablespoons dried apples, finely chopped
2         tablespoons dried cherries, finely chopped

Prepare a 8"x8" baking dish by lining it with aluminum foil and spraying the foil with nonstick cooking spray.  Set aside.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

   
In a large bowl, whisk together the peanut butter, honey, maple syrup. molasses and vanilla extract.  Stir in the oats to completely cover them with the liquid mixture, then add in the chocolate chips, peanuts, Rice Krispies, coconut and dried fruit.  Stir to mix thoroughly. 

Pour the mixture into the baking dish and press it into the dish tightly and evenly.  Bake for 35 minutes, then remove from oven.  Let cool completely in the pan before inverting and cutting into bars.

Raspberry Cornflake Cookies (Cookie Contest, Part 2: Prime Time)

Yesterday we wrote about the Better Homes and Gardens State Cookie Contest we were invited to enter, how I developed a starting recipe and the results we got when we tested out that recipe.  That was on Sunday, and based on our taste test and my having given the cookies to coworkers for feedback, I had revised the recipe and was ready to make another batch.

While we were at work on Monday, our Better Homes and Gardens 15" x 10" Baking Sheet arrived in the mail.  We got this free for entering the contest, with the condition that we use it to make our contest entry and show it in one or more of the pictures we submit with the entry.  My first impression was that this was an awfully small baking sheet.  It has a lot smaller cooking area than most baking sheets.   However, in using it, we found some pretty neat things about it.  First off, the nonstick surface worked like a charm, as the cookies came off the sheet with no problem, and without having to use cooking spray or parchment paper.  Second, it heated very nicely and very evenly, resulting in our cookies being really nice and crisp and evenly golden-brown. 

Based on our own impressions and my coworkers' feedback, I made two changes to the recipe I started with.   Flavor-wise, the most significant change was to add some vanilla extract.  This added another dimension of flavor to the cookies, and it also balanced out the salt and baking soda flavors.  The other change didn't impact flavor much, but it did impact texture. By using butter-flavored shortening in place of the butter I used the first time around, the cookies spread less while cooking, making for a thicker cookie, and they were a lot less greasy.  These were both positive changes.

My experiments the first time around had helped me figure out how to bake these cookies for best result, so with those couple changes, I was ready to go.

The cookies turned out great!   They had a great initial crunch, due to the ample amount of cornflakes used in the dough and the big pieces of cornflake that resulted from carefully hand-stirring the flakes into the dough.  After the initial crunch, the cookies had a great chew, thanks to the coconut and oats.   They had a great buttery flavor with a rich vanilla undertone, and the raspberry jam and fresh raspberries added a delightfully contrasting tart-sweet flavor aspect.    These were definitely cookies I could proudly enter into a national contest.

As before, I took most of the cookies to share with my coworkers.  They loved them.  My hope is that some of our readers, and those who vote in the contest, will make some, and love them just as much.

Here's the recipe we entered!

Raspberry Cornflake Cookies

yield = 28 to 30 cookies

½       cup butter-flavored shortening

½       cup (packed) light brown sugar

½       cup granulated (white) sugar

1        large egg

1        teaspoon vanilla extract

½       teaspoon salt

1        cup all-purpose flour

½       teaspoon baking soda

½       teaspoon baking powder

½       cup (packed) sweetened, shredded coconut

½       cup rolled oats

1 ½    cups cornflakes

9        teaspoons seedless raspberry jam

1 ½    cup fresh raspberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Set oven rack at middle position.

Use a stand or hand mixer to cream the shortening and sugars until smooth.  Incorporate egg, vanilla and salt.   Add flour, baking powder, baking soda and mix to incorporate.  Mix in coconut and oats with the mixer, then add cornflakes and stir in gently by hand.

Arrange heaping tablespoons of dough on the baking sheet.  Make a small indentation in the top of each ball of dough (a round ½ teaspoon measuring spoon works perfectly for this).  Add a heaping ¼ teaspoon of raspberry jam into the indentation of each cookie.

Put the baking sheet in the oven.  Bake 10 minutes, then remove the sheet from the oven.  Arrange 3 raspberries in and around the jam.  

Return the baking sheet to the oven and bake another 5 minutes or so or until the cookies are golden-brown and set.  Let cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. 

We would love for our readers to take part in the Better Homes and Gardens State Cookie Contest.  To see our entry and those of the other contestants, and to vote, go to the Better Homes and Gardens LiveBetter Facebook Page.  On the left side of the page, click on "State Cookie Contest."  From there, you can view the entries and vote.  Our entry is the Iowa Raspberry Cornflake Cookie.  You must "like" the BHG LiveBetter page to vote. 

Voting starts tomorrow (Thursday, June 30) at 9:00 eastern time and continues through July 27, with the winner announced July 28.   You can vote once each day.   We would like to win, of course, but we hope our readers will check out some of the other entries as well... and hopefully make some excellent cookies! 

Cookie Contest, Part 1: Experimenting

A few days ago, we got an email from a promoter for Better Homes and Gardens magazine.  They were planning a promotion for their line of cookware, which is available exclusively at Walmart.  We were invited to join BH&G's first-ever "State Cookie Contest," in which we'd be competing with food bloggers from all 50 states.  In exchange for agreeing to take part, we would be sent a free 15" by 10" cookie sheet from the Better Homes and Gardens Bakeware line.  The winner of the contest would get some nice gifts, including a full bakeware set and a second set to give away to one of our readers. 

That sounded pretty good to us, so we replied and said we were interested.  We got word back almost immediately that we'd been accepted.

That meant I had to come up with a cookie recipe that would represent Iowa in some manner, and which would also be good enough to have a chance of winning a national contest.

The "representing Iowa" idea came to me easily enough.   Iowa is known for, among other things, corn, and as it happens, cornflakes make an excellent cookie ingredient.  That said, cornflake cookies aren't a particularly new idea - they go back at least to the 1950s - and there are a lot of varieties out there.  So, I knew I'd have to go beyond that basic idea.

Eventually I decided I'd add a raspberry element to the cookies.   I figured that would add a whole different layer and type of flavor to the basic cookie, but I also went with raspberries for a more personal reason:  our own raspberry bushes are bearing a lot of fruit right now (between a half-pint and one pint per day).  I figured you couldn't get much more of an "Iowa" cookie than one made by an Iowan using ingredients grown in his own back yard.

With those decisions made and a little more thought, I made the following preliminary recipe:

1/2     cup unsalted butter
1/2     cup light brown sugar
1/2     cup granulated (white) sugar
1        large egg
1/2     teaspoon salt
1        cup all-purpose flour
1/2     teaspoon baking powder
1/2     teaspoon baking soda
1/2     cup rolled oats
1/2     cup shredded, sweetened coconut
1 1/2  cup cornflakes
          seedless raspberry jam
          fresh raspberries

I figured this would be a good starting point, from which I could start to experiment and fine-tune the recipe.

Using our Cuisinart stand mixer, I creamed together the butter and sugars, then added (in stages) the eggs and salt, then the flour, baking powder and baking soda, and then the oats and coconut.  I then stirred in the cornflakes by hand, so there would be big pieces of cornflake in the dough.

Next I scooped heaping tablespoons full of dough and arranged them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Using a round half-teaspoon measure, I made an indentation in the top of each ball of dough, flattening it some. 

I then placed a heaping quarter-teaspoon of raspberry jam into the indentation, then put the baking sheet into the oven and cooked for 14 minutes.

I decided to place a single raspberry into the jam-filled center of some of the baked cookies.   That didn't look so great.  As Juli put it, maybe that look would fly if I was making a cookie for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but since that wasn't the case, I knew I'd have to do something else. 

Juli suggested I skip the raspberries and just go with the jam, especially since when we sampled the first batch, we both noticed the flavor of the raspberries didn't blend well with the other aspects of the cookie, due to the raspberries not being cooked.  I knew I wanted to keep the raspberries, though, so I decided to add a few raspberries to each cookie before putting them into the oven.

Doing that resulted in the raspberries blending in well with the rest of the cookie, but the finished cookies didn't look good.  First off, as the cookies flattened and spread out, the raspberries did the same.  Second, the extra moisture from the raw raspberries resulted in the centers of the cookies looking less-done than the rest, not to mention sort of mushy.   Still, the flavor improvement told me I was on the right track.

With the next batch, I made the cookies as I had with the first batch, but removed them from the oven after about 8 minutes, when the cookies were partly cooked and had started to set.  I then arranged the raspberries in and around the jam centers, then tossed the cookie sheet back into the oven to finish cooking.

Those ones looked great - no spreading, no mushy appearance - and the flavor was great, too.  

There were some problems with these cookies, though.  First off, they spread out a lot more than I'd expected, and as a result, the jam ended up soaking through the cookies.  They also looked a bit greasy, especially on the bottoms of the cookies.  Plus, the flavors of the salt and baking soda were more noticeable than should be the case.  It was obvious I'd need to add some vanilla.

I took the cookies to work, to share them with my coworkers and to ask for some additional feedback.  Overall, they were quite well-received, and the feedback was consistent with what Juli and I had already determined.    With that feedback in mind, I was ready to make some adjustments to my recipe and make another batch of cookies.

(to be continued)

Caramel Brownies

A few days ago I wrote about the recent comparison I did between two recipes for Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins, pitting one from Annie's Eats against one from another site.   The recipe from Annie's Eats came out on top in that comparison.  I've subsequently made another winning recipe from that site:  Caramel Brownies.

The recipe is pretty straight-forward:  Mix up a batch of brownie batter, bake half of it, let the baked half cool, top it with caramel and pecans, then top that with the rest of the batter, some more pecans and some chocolate chips, after which you toss it back in the oven to bake the upper layer.  

The result:  Chocolately, chewy brownies with a delicious layer of nuts and caramel running through the middle of each brownie. 

While the description above is accurate enough, it doesn't come close to capturing how good these brownies are.  Honestly, I'm not sure I can come up with words to do them justice.   Let's start with "incredibly moist."   Next comes "decadently rich chocolate flavor."  And let's not forget "delightfully chewy" or "a delicious caramel flavor that holds its own with the chocolate flavor, with neither overwhelming the other."  I guess I can also mention that I loved them, as did Juli, and my coworkers gave them rave reviews.

Really, the closest I can probably come to capturing how good these brownies are is to recommend you check out Annie's Eats, download a copy of the recipe and make up a batch for yourself.   This recipe gets my highest recommendation, and I'll definitely be making these brownies again. 

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

For awhile there during the fall and winter, I was making a lot of cookies.   That's sort of fallen off, as I've been trying to not cook as much in the way of sweets and as it's gotten warmer, but I decided it was time to make some sort of cookies or bars or some such this weekend.  With that in mind, a recipe posted more than a month ago on one of the blogs we follow, Kaitlin in the Kitchen, caught my eye.   At a quick glance, I thought her recipe for Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Granola Bars looked pretty good, so I decided to make up a batch.

It was only when I was about to bake up a batch that I realized Kaitlin had left out a somewhat important detail, namely the temperature at which these were supposed to be cooked.  I left a message at her blog but got no response, so I checked out some other granola bar recipes, compared the cooking time Kaitlin had listed (25 minutes) and decided on 350 degrees.

With that decision made, I mixed together the ingredients (honey, maple syrup, chunky peanut butter, vanilla extract, oats, peanuts, peanuts, shredded coconut, Rice Krispies and mini chocolate chips), pressed them into a baking pan lined with parchment paper and tossed them into the oven.   After cooking them the specified time and letting them cool, I attempted to turn the mixture out of the pan, only to have the various ingredients fall out into a loose, gloppy mess.

Rather than give up, I scooped the loose mess back into the baking pan, pressed it down really tightly and cooked it for another 20 minutes.   After letting it cool completely, I was able to turn the cooked mixture out of the pan.  It held together much better this time than it had the first time around, probably because mashing down the still-soft chocolate chips caused the whole mixture to stick together better, but there was still a fair amount of crumbling when I cut the mixture into bars.

Taste wise, Juli and I both thougth these bars were okay, but nothing spectacular.  They didn't really taste much like granola bars, though.  They reminded me a lot of the sorts of no-bake cookies one makes with melted chocolate and oats.  Nothing too exciting, but certainly not bad, either. 

So, we both thought this one was sort of an "eh" recipe, and one I wasn't likely to make again any time soon.  Imagine my surprise, then, when they tuned out to be a huge hit at my office.  I brought most of the bars, along two excellent batches of muffins I made over the weekend, to share with my coworkers, as is my frequent habit after a weekend of baking.   The muffins were also popular, but the bars were what everyone raved about. 

Given how popular they were, my plan is to experiment with this recipe to come up with a version I like better and which will also be popular with my colleague-fans.  I chatted a bit with a coworker who is a pretty darn good cook, and together we came up with some ideas.  I'm definitely going to add a bit more of something to bind the bars together better.  I'm thinking a couple tablespoons of molasses might do the trick.   I would also like to add some fruit to the bars, but I was having a hard time coming up with something I thought would go well with both the peanut butter and the chocolate.   Paul suggested apples, and I think that could work, so when next I experiment with this recipe, my plan is to mince up a few rings of dried apples.

Chocolate-Coconut Crunch Cookies

Most of our regular readers have noticed that I like to make cookies, so it should come to no surprise that I'm constantly looking for new cookie recipes and trying to come up with some of my own.   This time around I'm presenting one of my own creations:  Chocolate-Coconut Crunch Cookies.

These crunchy cookies are loaded up with several of my favorite cookie ingredients:  chocolate chips, coconut, crushed cornflakes and oats.   They're not a typical oatmeal cookie or chocolate chip cookie.  They're buttery and flavorful and quite crunchy, with a bit of chewiness due to the oats and coconut.  Give 'em a try.  I think you'll like them.

Chocolate-Coconut Crunch Cookies

yield = 5 dozen cookies

1 1/3     cup sweetened flaked coconut
1 1/4      cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1            teaspoon baking soda
1/2         teaspoon baking powder
1/4         teaspoon table salt
12          ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
1            cup crushed cornflakes cereal
3/4         cup old-fashioned rolled oats
3/4         cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4         cup packed light brown sugar
3/4         cup white granulated sugar
1            egg
1            teaspoon vanilla extract

Add coconut to a large skillet over low heat.  Cook, stirring frequently, until about 1/4 of the coconut has started to brown.   Transfer coconut to a large bowl and set aside to cool.

Prepare three baking sheets with parchment paper.   Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt to a medium bowl. Set aside.

Add chocolate chips, crushed cornflakes and oats to the bowl with the cooled, toasted coconut.  Stir together, then set aside.

In a stand mixer with a large bowl, dream together butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until smooth.  Mix in egg and vanilla.  Mix in 1/3  of the flour mixture at a time, interspersed with 1/3 of the coconut mixture, mixing until thoroughly mixed.   The dough will be fairly crumbly.

Using a small (tablespoon) scoop,  measure out 12 portions of the dough  in three evenly-spaced rows of four portions on one of the baking sheets.   Press together the portions of dough and flatten slightly with fingers.   Bake for 10-11 minutes, turning the baking sheet halfway through that time.  The cookies should be light brown at the edges and on the bottom.   Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes, then transfer the cookies to the rack.  

Repeat with the other baking sheets until all the cookies are finished, but make sure each baking sheet cools fully before using it again. 

Cooking Tip:

To crush cornflakes, crackers and similar ingredients without making a mess, measure them into a zipper-lock bag, seal the bag and then smack it lightly with a meat pounder or roll over it a few times with a rolling pin until the contents are crushed to the desired consistency. 

Incredible Cookies

One of our favorite blogs, The Ungourmet, recently featured a cookie recipe that sounded delicious.   The cookies in question were made with oatmeal, dark chocolate, coconut and toffee chips.  She cited the recipe as having come from another blog, one new to me:  Eat at Home.   It's a pretty darn good blog, and now that I'm aware of it, I'll be following it, so hats off to The Ungourmet's Kim, for introducing me to these cookies and a great food blog. 

The Ungourmet isn't the first blog to have noticed these cookies.  Iowa Girl Eats featured a variant version of the recipe on her blog last summer.  So, I'm a bit late to the game.   Better late than never, though.

Tiffany at Eat at Home calls the "Way to a Man's Heart Cookies."  I would think they would be equally attractive to anyone, regardless of gender, so long as that person likes great cookies, so I'm not thrilled with that name.  Iowa Girl calls her version of the cookies from this recipe "The Ultimate Cookies."  It's hard to argue with that assessment, because these really are incredibly good cookies.  They're rich and chewy, sweet and chocolatey.   The coconut adds more texture than flavor, but that isn't much of a problem, because these cookies don't exactly lack for flavor.  They contain the equivalent of a whole bag of chocolate chips, plus a whole bag of Heath toffee bits, plus vanilla and other goodies.  Me, I call them "Incredible Cookies."

The recipe as presented on Eat at Home makes a lot of cookies... five dozen, in fact.  That will keep us stocked with cookies for awhile, but I'm pretty sure it won't be long at all before I make these cookies again.  This recipe has earned a spot among my "go to recipes." 

I should note that I did depart from the recipe as-written in one detail.   The recipe calls for one bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips, but I prefer darker, high-cacoa chocolate, so I used a mix of Hershey's Special Dark chips and Ghiradelli 60% Cacoa Bittersweet Chocolate Premium Baking Chips.  Otherwise I followed the recipe as presented at Eat at Home.   This is the sort of recipe that can stand a bit of customization and still turn out great, so don't be afraid to tinker with it a bit to suit your personal tastes.  As long as you keep more or less within the ingredient ratios suggested, whatever you do should turn out great.

Sweet Repeats

In addition to trying out a fair number of new recipes, or new spins on old ones, we also cook a fair amount of "standard" things.  These tried-and-true, dependable, favorite recipes make up a fair bit of what comes out of our kitchen.    This past weekend, for example, I made two batches of cookies and some blueberry muffins.  All three of these recipes are from Cook's Illustrated, and I've written previously about all three.  You can access the recipes with either a paid or a free trial membership to the CI website.

For Saturday breakfast, I made up a double-batch of Best Blueberry Muffins (two dozen), with the intention of keeping several to warm up for quick breakfasts throughout the week and sharing the rest with my coworkers.  This was the third time I've made these muffins, which are still the best blueberry muffins I've ever had.  They turned out great, as usual, and were a huge hit at work.   Several people raved about them, and they were all gone by noon. 

I also made up a batch of Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies this weekend.  Browned butter is one of the keys to this recipe, as it gives the cookies a rich, butterscotch flavor.   That touch in combination with ample amounts of chocolate and toasted walnuts elevates these cookies above the classic Toll House recipe in terms of great chocolate chip cookies.  I've made these a couple times before, with somewhat variable results, as this is among the more finicky recipes I regularly make.  This time around I made the mistake of trying to cook two sheets at once, rather than doing them one at a time as the recipe recommends, and the texture of the cookies suffered a bit for it, with some of them being a bit puffy and others a bit on the dense side.   The third batch, pictured above, came out perfect, though, and they all taste great. 

Finally, I made up another batch of Thin and Crispy Coconut-Oatmeal Cookies this past weekend.   This is one of Juli's and my favorite cookie recipes.    This is probably the fourth or fifth time I've made these reliably excellent cookies, and they turned out great, with a light, crispy texture and lots of coconut flavor. 

I enjoy trying out and developing new recipes, but there's definitely also something to be said for revisiting familiar favorites.   After all, part of why we try new recipes is to find more favorites to enjoy going back to again and again.