A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

chocolate

Quick to make peanut butter bars are an incredible snack

People who know me know I’ve been losing some weight recently.

And that’s a good thing.

I’ve lost a bunch, too. So much that my pants don’t fit me anymore. I can even see it myself, which I usually don’t. But that’s also a good thing. I still have a long way to go, but this is a good start.

Part of this is trying to eat a bit healthier.

Yum!

I don’t snack as much as I used to and I try and limit certain things. Though, I’ll admit, sometimes it’s hard. I also have to watch my sugar for health reasons, so I’m always trying to find something I can snack on that won’t send my blood sugars into the stratosphere.

A few days ago, I saw a post on my friend Chuck’s Facebook page. It was for no-bake peanut butter bars. Again, if you know me, you know what I think about peanut butter. It’s right up there with bacon. And cheese.

Anyway, I got peeking at this recipe and knew I needed to try it. Not that I’ve become Chef Ramsay or anything lately, but I’ve been pretty successful with trying new things in the kitchen. This seemed like something perfect to try.

But as I read the post at this blog about them, I discovered something else — no-bake peanut butter pretzel chocolate chip granola bars.

Yes, please.

When I go out to play disc golf or geocache, having snacks is a must. And this was something I needed to see how good they were and if it’s something I should have on hand more often.

But I’m only going to cover one of these in this post and the other will come sometime next week. First up are the peanut butter bars, which are amazingly good.

The blog which had the peanut butter bars was Six Sisters’ Stuff. There, they acknowledge they adapted the recipe from another blog. I look at both recipes and I like the adapted one a bit more, so I went with it.

However, I needed to give it a spin of my own — as in trying to make it a little less heavy on the sugar. (Too much sugar, after all, makes my levels go nuts… so what can we do… fix it!)

The recipe, from the Six Sisters’ site, is as follows (my changes are in italics):

Ingredients

  • 1 cup margarine melted
  • 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
  • 2 cups confectioners’ sugar (I made a sugar free version of this, using Equal. It wasn’t too bad, though the measurements I found were off and I needed to use much more Equal than originally called for)
  • 1 cup + 4 tablespoons peanut butter
  • 1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips

Directions

In a medium bowl, mix together the melted butter, graham cracker crumbs, confectioners’ sugar, and 1 cup peanut butter until well blended. Press evenly into the bottom of an ungreased 9×13 inch pan (I don’t think I used a 9X13, but it was close enough). Then, melt the chocolate chips with the peanut butter, stirring every 30 seconds until melted and smooth. Spread over the peanut butter layer and refrigerate for at least one hour before cutting and eating.

This was quite easy to do and it didn’t take too long. I wanted to use sugar free chocolate chips, but the local grocery store didn’t have them. I will make these again and I think I’d look around to try and find those to use.

End result?

Oh. My. God.

Before the chocolate topping is spread all over.

These are fantastic. Quite rich, but if you are a peanut butter fan, well worth it. Keep ’em in the fridge as they taste way better that way. I really like how they came out. And it seems like it’s a bit healthier than some of the other things I like to snack on, so bonus there. I’m really glad Chuck posted this to his Facebook and it’s a recipe that will stay with me, that’s for sure.

I think it might be fun, too, to play with this recipe. Maybe try a different peanut butter. One of the flavored ones, maybe? Or, try something different on the topping with a different type of chips? White chocolate, perhaps? Now that sounds divine.

The best part of this recipe is how easy it is. You don’t have to be some five-star chef to pull it off. Just go at it and have some incredible peanut butter bars as a snack. If you are a peanut butter nut, it’s well worth it.

Fundraiser: I am, again, trying to raise money for the Relay For Life. If you donate to me — a minimum of $5– you will be entered to win a super-sweet quilted lap quilt or pillow. Click here for all the information!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Guinness cupcakes — well worth learning to bake

I have never baked.

Not cookies. Not cakes. Nothing. Not even from a box. Not even with a fox.

I’ve come close to making green eggs and ham.

But I’ve never baked. Not with a mouse. Not in a house. Not even Toll House cookies. And definitely not with Snookie.

See, when I was in college and such, I learned to cook. With some people on speed dial to help me if needed, I played around with things. I learned how to cook protein. I even figured veggies and other sides. Pasta wasn’t my thing, but I could do it if I needed to.

Not dessert. No way, no how.

See, if I wanted dessert I’d go get it elsewhere. I realize making a cake from a box isn’t too hard. Get a thing of icing and, voila, it’s done. Instant dessert. I don’t know why, but I just never have done it.

I might not be able to pipe too well, but these things still tasted pretty awesome!

Until last week.

I was minding my own business and had the Food Network on. During some commercials, Sandra Lee popped on talking about Guinness on St. Patrick’s Day (shocker, I know, that she was talking about a cocktail, right?) She noted some Guinness stew and mentioned going to the Food Network’s website to see what other types of things one could cook with Guinness.

Then I saw this — Guinness cupcakes!

Holy. Crap.

See, now the February blog challenge run by Nicky and Mike over at We Work For Cheese got me into trying crazy things. Remember when I blogged about making blintzes? Exactly. I always look for interesting things to do for a blog post, but trying different cooking things never came to me until that “where can I get a good blintz?” blog prompt.

So here we are, staring at this recipe.

And what does it tell me? It should take about 40 minutes (I want to say it was about an hour and change) and I’d get 24 cupcakes (nope, got 28) out of it. The key part? Easy.

Score!

Anyway, for the most part, this wasn’t too hard to pull off.

Things learned, though, include the idea of letting the Guinness warm up and the melted butter to cool a little. See, I had extreme heat and extreme cold and, well, the butter seemed to turn into curds. It took a little work to get it right, but it worked out in the end.

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

  • 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa, plus more for dusting finished cupcakes
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • Pinch fine salt
  • 1 bottle stout beer (recommended: Guinness)
  • 1 stick butter, melted (I used margarine) 
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 3 large eggs
  • 3/4 cup sour cream

Directions:

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  • In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cocoa, sugar, flour, baking soda, and salt.
  • In another medium mixing bowl, combine the stout, melted butter, and vanilla. Beat in eggs, 1 at time. Mix in sour cream until thoroughly combined and smooth. Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the wet mixture.
  • Lightly grease 24 muffin tins. Divide the batter equally between muffin tins, filling each 3/4 full. Bake for about 12 minutes and then rotate the pans. Bake another 12 to 13 minutes until risen, nicely domed, and set in the middle but still soft and tender. Cool before turning out.

Note that I didn’t use the icing that this recipe calls for. Instead, a sugar-free one was used, a little green food coloring made it festive for St. Patrick’s Day and, in the end, it tasted just as good.

Mmmm… fresh out of the oven.

This recipe got me 28 cupcakes, which was nice as I gave them out to people. I’ve heard good things, so I’m happy about that. I’m no Cake Boss or Sweet Genius, but it’s nice to know my first trip into baking was not from a box.

My review of these cupcakes is pretty simple — if you like chocolate, you’ll like these. It’s a strong chocolate taste. I think part of the Guinness is there, but it’s very, very subtle. (And, obviously, no alcohol as it’s gone in the cooking process!) So if you do this up, I highly recommend a nice, cold glass of milk while eating these.

I will definitely do it again. I’m considering making them at some point and using a bottle of my homebrewed Irish Stout instead of the Guinness. I’ll probably stick to the Guinness, but you never know.

As for doing more with Guinness and cooking — these recipes might be on tap (ha!) for me:

This was definitely a fun process and the cupcakes came out well. I’m glad I took the chance and look forward to playing around to see what else I can come up with.

Even if it doesn’t include Guinness.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Warming up on a snowy night with some real hot chocolate

Hot chocolate, anyone?

With snow in our local forecast for Wednesday night into Thursday, I knew it would be a night of not doing much outside of catching up on some television and maybe some blog posts.

I don’t know what made me think of it — maybe the first significant snowfall we’ve seen in two years — but I got the urge for some hot chocolate. I’ve never been a coffee drinker (I know, odd for somebody who worked in newspapers), so my “cold weather” drinks of choice have always been hot chocolate or tea.

Getting the necessary ingredients.

One thing I miss about not living in a place bigger than my current town is the ability to run to the local Dunkin’ Donuts to grab a hot chocolate. I may not always look to go to those places for the unhealthy (but yummy) food, but I love the hot chocolate. I would rather a sugar free version, but sometimes you have to splurge.

I wasn’t about to brave heading out for a 20-mile ride over curvy and hilly roads for hot chocolate from Dunkin’ Donuts, however. That meant I was looking at the sugar free Swiss Miss I have handy. But I wanted a bit more.

Google saved me.

I did a search for a single-serving of hot chocolate to see what I could come up with. Most of the recipes I saw were quite easy, so I needed to dig around to see what was available to use. It turns out I needed a few things, so off I went to the local grocery store. As I was sweeping off the car, I figured we were just shy of two inches of snow and it was still coming down.

Looks like a little snow this year.

The forecast is calling for anywhere from 4 to 12 inches, depending on the area and the source — the National Weather Service, The Weather Channel or the local television news. Turns out we got about 6 or so inches. At least that’s what it seemed like when snow blowing this stuff.

I intend, at some point in the future when I’m a little more on my feet and back working and such, to do some “foodie” things with this blog. Believe me, it won’t be a food blog by any means — but it will be more along the lines of things I’m eating and such. But that’s in the future.

This post is something along those lines as I want to share this hot chocolate experience and my thoughts.

I ended up buying the Hershey’s cocoa because it was only 40 cents more expensive than the store brand. It also had a similar recipe on the container to the one I had found online.

Score!

When I got home, I opted to use the recipe on the Hershey’s container, with some slight tweaks.

Here’s the recipe:

  • 2 Tbsp. sugar
  • 2 Tbsp. cocoa
  • A dash of salt
  • 1 cup of milk
  • 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

Mix the sugar, cocoa and salt in a mug. They say to microwave the milk on high for 1-1 1/2 minutes or until hot. However, I did it the old fashioned way — on the stove. Then slowly add the hot milk into the mug and stir well. Stir in the vanilla extract.

The finished product.

I used Equal instead of sugar and it was fine. I also probably had 9 ounces of milk, rather than the cup (8 ounces) it called for.

It wasn’t a bad recipe. I think it could actually be good, pending some tweaks. Tasting it, I thought it was extremely chocolatey.  I liken it to a hot chocolate I got at Starbucks a few years ago. It had an extremely strong chocolate taste, almost making it a big stronger than needed.

I will be trying this again soon. The tweaks I will make include:

  • Likely 1 to 1 1/2 Tbsp. of cocoa
  • Likely a cup and a half or so of milk — I want to fill the mug

In the end, it was pretty successful. Using the Equal helped me cut down on the sugar, which I’m always looking to do. I think if it has a slightly lighter taste, it will be a definite keeper.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!