The oven is cool these days...

...as I renovate my house in order to sell it. I've had several friends purchase their first home recently, and talk about the stress of it all; finding the perfect agent, locating an ideal home, the lawyers, the money, the closing, the moving, the OH-MY-GOD-WHEN-WILL-IT-ALL-BE-OVER?!

Well I'm here to tell you, friends, try doing that, PLUS selling off the house you currently own. Talk about YIKES. And, I don't even own the current house...the manfella does!

You know what though? I'm kind of in heaven. I love renovating; I'm a handy gal who owns her own set of power tools, and am no slouch when it comes to sprucing up the old homestead. Also, the point of this reno is to sell the house and buy a new one that is OURS. This excites me.

This requires sacrifice, however, and as such, my oven has been lonely since we started. No time for baking, no room to do it, and no energy. Sad, but true. *sniffle* Outlook....bleak...


I'm making one special exception this Sunday when I have my (volunteer) Little Sister over for a cookie baking activity; hopefully I will find some time to take and post photos.

Until then, when I'm up to my elbows in drywall putty I'll be pretending it's cake batter or bread dough and dreaming of the new kitchen I'll be baking in sometime in the new year...

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.
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*plays Jeopardy music in head*
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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 4: Nanaimo Bars

I am a long-time fan of Nanaimo Bars, but a first time baker (and I use the term loosely, as these are no-bake bars). I've only made them once before, ages ago, and used a box mix (ew). I have since come to see the error of my ways.

The Nanaimo bar originated in Ladysmith, British Columbia (south of Nanaimo) in the early 1950s. A local housewife named Mabel Jenkins submitted the recipe to the annual Ladysmith and Cowichan Womens Institute Cookbook fundraiser. It became popular, especially in company towns, and was sold in many of the coffee shops on Nanaimo's Commercial Street. Tourists in the region came to refer to these as "Nanaimo Bars".

Not knowing which recipe to use, I defaulted to my go-to website, Joy of Baking. The recipe went rather smoothly, save for the fact that I don't own a 9x9 pan. However, upon looking in my cupboard for a 9x9 pan, I discovered that I own six (count 'em, 6) 8x8 pans, including my latest and greatest addition which I won for free: the Le Crueset square baker in kiwi!! But I digress...

Mise en plus. Most of my baked goods are stuffed into Mason Jars and labelled with a Sharpie. I also got to use the vanilla I picked up in Mexico (the best I've ever used) and the cocoa I bought in the Dominican.

I could have squished the recipe into an 8x8 pan, but this would have resulted in thicker-than-usual bars (desirable for some, not for others), but instead I doubled the recipe knowing the recipe wouldn't pan out (har har) properly, resulting in THREE batches of Nanaimo bars: one for work and two for freezing/selling (Nanaimo Bars freeze very well, as evidenced by the fact that you can purchase them frozen at M&M Meats). YUM!

The harsh light of day. Easier to face with Nanaimos for breakfast!

The recipe turned out well; sweet without being cloying, and though I feel the base crust could have been less crumbly. My suggestion would be to add a bit more melted butter in order to bind it together. Also, I didn't feel like chopping walnuts last night, and since I already had chopped hazelnuts ready to go, I swapped them out, to the recipe's benefit I'd say. It's like a Ferrero Rocher...in Nanaimo form!

Zoom...

More zoom...

MAXIMUM DELICIOUSNESS ACHIEVED.

Final grade: A-. Points lost for crumbly crust (just add more melted butter and you'll be fine!) but overall, a great bar cookie. See the Nanaimo Bar recipe, including my comments and suggestions on my Recipes Page.

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