Mars Bar Biscuits

I have a coworker from Northern Ireland (or, "NornIrn", the way her brogue curls around it) who brought in some Mars Bar Biscuits to work one day. After tasting one, my reaction was akin to this:


As she explains it, they're super-popular all over Ireland, and they're ridiculously easy to make. Although they're a Rice Krispie-based treat, they're easier to make than Rice Krispie squares, if you can believe it! Special bonus: you can very easily make this recipe Gluten-Free/Celiac safe*! You can find gluten-free/Celiac safe Krispies at any health food store, like Noah's here in Toronto.

*Although you'd think Rice Krispies are gluten-free since they are rice, they contain Malt (a barley derivative) which is not recommended for those with Celiac disease.

Step 1: Melt 4 Mars Bars together with 4oz butter. Melt on low heat JUST until all the big lumps are gone. Don't over-cook the mixture or you will carmelize your sugar and your bars will be hard instead of chewy. Trust me on this.

Step 2: Scale out 4oz of Rice Krispies, which you will weigh on your super-awesome digital scale. If you do not own a digital scale, well, what are you waiting for? Go! Right now. I'll wait.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
*plays Jeopardy music in head*
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Did you get one? Good. You are now super-awesome just for owning one. Your baking life has just gotten infinitely better, my friend.

Anyway.

Mix the 4oz of Rice Krispies into the melted Mars Bar/butter mixture. Dump the mixture into an 8x8 pan and smooth it out using a spatula.

Step 4: Melt 1 package of Hershey's Milk Chocolate chips (in the microwave or over a double boiler) and smooth them over the surface of your Krispies, like this:

Put them in the fridge to cool and solidify, but make sure you take them out of the fridge at least half an hour before you wish to cut them or the chocolate will crack. Cut them as large or small as you want, but I usually cut 5x5 which gives you over 2 dozen bars. They're smaller, but they pack a delicious punch.

Trust me on this, unless your friends hate chocolate (and why are you friends with those people anyway?), they will LOVE LOVE LOVE these. That is, if you don't eat the whole pan by yourself first!

Thanks to Barb for the easiest no-bake recipe I've ever used!

March 30: Hello Dollys/Magic Bars

Hello Dolly's are most likely the easiest thing I have ever made. There is no mixing whatsoever! All you have to do is layer butter, graham crackers, coconut, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips (optional), nuts, and sweetened condensed milk. Then bake! That's it!

Ooey gooey goodness!

Hello Dollys are traditionally made with chopped walnuts, but I'm not a big fan of walnuts so I used sliced almonds instead. It was still really delicious, but I must say that--despite me using unsweetened coconut and omitting the butterscotch chips--these are very sweet. Best served with a glass of skim milk!

Final Grade: B+. Just a bit too sweet for me (personal preference!), although these get an A+ for ease. If you need to make a dessert fast, this is your go to recipe! You can find the recipe for Hello Dollys/Magic Bars on my Recipes Page. To purchase your own Hello Dollys for a good cause, sponsor me for the Daily Bread Food Bank's Spring Challenge! Make your donation, then email me your order!

March 1: Chocolate Chip Cookies

Who doesn't like a good chocolate chip cookie? It already has a rich, buttery batter, so when you add something as indulgent as chocolate to the mix, your tastebuds were had at "Hello."

As purposefully matched as the flavours seem to be, like most culinary wonders, the chocolate chip cookie was invented by accident in 1933 by Ruth Wakefield. Owner of the Toll House Inn (I think you see where this is going), Ruth was making chocolate cookies one day, and upon discovering that she'd run out of baker's chocolate, she used pieces of Nestlé semisweet chocolate assuming that they would melt into the batter to the same result. Later, Ruth sold her recipe to Nestlé and accepted a lifetime supply of chocolate chips as payment, and her recipe is found on every bag of Nestlé chocolate chips.

This reminds me of one of my favourite "Friends" moments, where Pheobe et al discover that her French great-grandmother's sacred cookie recipe was simply the Nestlé Toll House recipe:




While Ruth's recipe has become the go-to Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, I have never found much success with it. I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong or if I just have a particular idea of how a chocolate chip cookie should be, but I always find the resulting cookies to be less flavourful than I want. Also, I find this recipe doesn't result in a chewy cookie, which I prefer.

However, I have found a recipe that calls for less white sugar, flour, egg white and butter (less butter sounds like it would be a travisty but it really isn't), and more brown sugar, salt and baking soda. The result is nothing short of Chocolate Chip Cookie perfection.

These cookies are the perfect balance of chewiness and crispiness, and because I used Ghirardelli's bittersweet chocolate chips rather than semisweet, they taste more chocolatey than sugary, which means they are indeed MY perfect chocolate chip cookie.

Final Grade: A+. Sweet success! You can find this Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe on my Recipes page. It should be noted that, for the cookies in the photos, I dropped the dough in 1/8 cup measures rather than the called for 1/4 cup. This economized the dough by producing over 2 dozen standard-sized (albeit thinner) cookies rather than 18 large ones. Whichever way you choose, they will turn out great!

To order these "Cookies for a Cause" please click this link to donate at my Daily Bread Food Bank fundraising page.