Fudgey Oatmeal Bars

Fudgey Oatmeal Bars

Two all time favorites rolled into one. Layers of oatmeal cookie dough filled with semi-sweet, chocolate fudge. Chewy, chocolatey, decadent and delicious!

Fudgey Oatmeal Bars

(adapted from a recipe by Averie Cooks)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick), melted and cooled slightly
1 large egg
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned whole-rolled oats (not quick cook or instant)
1 cup all-purpose flour
pinch salt, optional and to taste
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, for batter
half of one 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
about 1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, for sprinkling

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8-by-8-inch baking pan with aluminum foil, keeping a 2 inch over hang. Spray with Pam cooking spray and set aside.

  1. In a large bowl, mix brown sugar, egg and vanilla. Whisk in cooled, melted butter until smooth. Add in oats and flour, stirring just until combined, being careful not to over mix.
  2. Use a spatula to spread 3 quarters of the batter out into pan to form a crust. Reserve remaining batter.
  3. Add 1 cup chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk to a microwave safe bowl. Heat on high in 30 second intervals until chips are melted. Stir to combine. Quickly pour and smooth chocolate mixture over crust (chocolate sets up quickly).
  4. Spoon remaining batter over chocolate and smooth out with a spatula. For soft bars, bake for 25 minutes, just until top is set. Topping will be pale in color. Baking until golden will result in crunchy bars.
  5. Remove from oven and top with 1/3 cup chocolate chips. Cool in pan for at least an hour. Lift out using foil overhang. When completely cooled, slice and serve. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week.

Easy Chocolate Fudge

Easy Chocolate Fudge

You won’t find a quicker, easier way to make the perfect fudge than with this recipe from Eagle Brand. So creamy, with just the right amount of sweetness. I like to add walnuts for that added crunch.

Easy Chocolate Fudge

from EagleBrand.com

Ingredients

  • 3 cups (18 oz.) semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1 (14 oz.) can Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk
  • Dash salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Instructions

  • Line a 9-inch pan with  aluminum foil, leaving a 1 to 2 inch overhang. Butter the foil.
  • Melt chocolate chips with sweetened condensed milk and salt in a heavy saucepan over medium low heat. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla and nuts. Spread evenly in prepared pan.
  • Chill for 1 to 2 hours or until firm. Remove from pan by lifting edges of foil; remove foil and cut into squares. Store is a tightly covered container.

Double Delicious Cookie Bars

Double Delicious Cookie Bars

Simple to make and simply irresistible.  Peanut butter and chocolate swimming in a sea of sweetened condensed creaminess atop a buttery graham cracker crust and capped with Reese’s Pieces for added crunch in another yummy version of Eagle Brand’s ‘magic cookie’ goodness.

Double Delicious Cookie Bars
adapted from Eagle Brand

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 (14 oz.) can Eagle Brand® Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 cup (6 oz.) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup (6 oz.) Reese’s peanut butter chips
1 cup Reese’s Pieces

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F (325°F for glass dish). Line a 13×9 inch baking pan with foil leaving an overhang on 2 sides. Lightly coat with a non stick cooking spray.

In a small mixing bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs with melted butter and mix well. Press crumb mixture firmly into bottom of pan.

Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over crumb mixture. Evenly spread peanut butter and semi-sweet chocolate chips and press into condensed milk.

Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and top with Reese’s Pieces. Cool.  Lift from pan using foil overhang. Cut into bars. Store in a single layer in an airtight container.

 

Chocolate Silk Pie

Chocolate Silk Pie

This is a recipe I ripped out of a Better Homes and Gardens magazine almost 20 years ago. I’ve made it year after year, during the holidays or any occasion I wanted an especially impressive dessert to serve and it never disappoints. If you want to walk away with rave reviews, you’ll want to give this sweet treat a try. Creamy, dreamy, silky chocolate pie. Not a pudding pie, mind you. This is french silk. Thick, rich, decadent. Topped with freshly made whipped cream, it’s all you’ve ever wanted, and more.

Chocolate Silk Pie

(adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Magazine, November, 1995)

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 – 6 ounce package semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/3 cup butter

1/3 cup sugar

2 egg yolks

3 tablespoons Godiva chocolate liqueur

1- 8 or 9 inch pastry pie shell

Additional whipping cream for topping

Prepare your pie crust. Bake and set aside to cool.

Add 1 cup heavy whipping cream, chocolate chips, sugar and butter to a heavy bottomed 2 quart saucepan over  low heat. Cook, stirring constantly until chocolate is melted and all ingredients are combined.

In a small bowl, beat egg yolks. Remove saucepan from heat. Add about 1/4 cup of the chocolate mixture to the beaten eggs to temper* (see note). Return egg mixture to saucepan over medium low heat. Bring to a low simmer, stirring constantly. Mixture with thicken slightly and start to bubble, 3 to 5 minutes.

Remove saucepan from heat and stir in the chocolate liqueur. If you prefer not to use liqueur, stir in an additional 3 tablespoons of heavy whipping cream.

Prepare a large bowl of ice and cold water large enough to hold the saucepan. Place saucepan in ice water, adding additional ice as needed. Stir occasionally as mixture cools and stiffens. This will take about 20 minutes. Remove saucepan from ice water and beat on high speed with an electric hand mixer for 2-3 minutes. Filling will become light and fluffy.

Spread filling evenly in pie shell, cover and chill at least 5 hours or overnight. Decorate with freshly whipped cream and mini chocolate chips and chill for another hour before serving.

Chocolate Silk Pie slice

For the whipped cream topping:

Pour 1 cup chilled heavy whipping cream to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. (for best results, chill the bowl and the beater before using). Add 1 tablespoon sugar. Start on low and gradually increase speed to medium high. (8 on a KitchenAid stand mixer) The cream will start to thicken and soft peaks will form. Continue until the cream stands in stiff, sharp peaks. This only takes a few minutes; watch the cream closely and do not over whip or you might end up with butter.  Add whipped cream to a piping bag with decorative tip and pipe decorative swirls onto the pie as you wish. I used a large Wilton tip. If you don’t want to pipe the cream and prefer just to cover the top of the pie with it, increase the amount of cream to 1 and 1/2 cups and add another tablespoon of sugar. For best results, do not use ultra-pasteurized whipping cream.

*About tempering: You need to bring the eggs up to a high temperature without cooking them. Take your hot chocolate mixture and add a small amount into the beaten eggs and whisk. Slowly adding the hot mixture to the eggs prevents the eggs from being scrambled.

Black Raspberry Chocolate Bars

Here’s a recipe that a former co-worker shared with me years ago.  This delicious cookie bar has a buttery shortbread crust layered with gooey sweet jam, chocolate chips and an almond crumb topping. Now who wouldn’t like that?

Black Raspberry and Chocolate Cookie Bars

Black Raspberry Chocolate Bars

For the Crust:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup softened butter

For the Crumb Topping:

2/3 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup sliced almonds

1/3 cup brown sugar

4 tablespoons softened butter

For the Filling:

1 cup seedless black raspberry jam

6 ounces milk chocolate or dark chocolate chips

Pre-heat oven to 375 Degrees

Line a 9 x 9 inch baking pan with foil

Combine crust ingredients in a medium bowl with a pastry blender or fork

Press mixture firmly into pan

Bake for 20 minutes- top should be slightly firm

Combine crumb topping ingredients until blended & set aside

Remove baked crust from oven

Top hot crust with jam spread within 1/4 inch from the edge

Sprinkle with chocolate chips, pressing them into the jam

Add crumb topping and chocolate chips, (press chips into crumbs and jam) top with sliced almonds and bake an additional 20 minutes until chocolate chips are softened.

 

Classic Chocolate Brownies

Classic Brownies

This brownie has it all; “cake like” on the outside, fudgy in the middle, fabulous by itself and perfect for a brownie sundae. Put away the box mix and give this a try. So simple to make and simply delicious.

Classic Chocolate Brownies
recipe from Ghirardelli

1/2 cup Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Baking Chips
4 ounces Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Baking Bar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/8 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter and flour an 8-inch square baking pan.

Break up the semi sweet chocolate bar. Add chocolate and butter to a small saucepan over low heat. Melt slowly, stirring occasionally until smooth.
Remove pan from heat and set aside until cooled to room temperature.

In a mixing bowl, sift flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Transfer melted chocolate and butter to another mixing bowl. Stir in the brown sugar and vanilla. Add eggs and mix well. Slowly fold in the flour mixture; mix until well blended. Mix in chocolate chips and pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cool before cutting.

Makes 16 – 2 inch bars.

Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies

Pudding Cookies

I heard about this recipe from my daughter-in-law Laura. She is quite an accomplished cookie baker and she makes these often. The recipe comes from Kraft, but they call them “Not Just for Santa Cookies”. Whatever you want to call them, they will knock your socks off! Made with instant vanilla pudding mix, they are so moist and chewy, they melt in your mouth. The recipe is very versatile. You can add dried cherries or cranberries, use white, dark or semi-sweet chips. Sometimes I like to use coconut oil for a healthier option in place of butter. It also gives a wonderfully subtle coconut flavor to the cookie.

Today I used butter, 6 ounces of white chocolate chips, 6 ounces of dark chocolate chips and a cup of chopped walnuts. I baked half the recipe and froze the rest. To freeze, I roll the dough into balls and place on a cookie sheet and into the freezer until frozen solid, then move them to a freezer bag for storage. They can be baked frozen or thawed.

Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies (Kraft)

2 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup softened butter
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 pkg. (4 oz. serving) instant vanilla pudding
2 eggs
1 package (12 ounces) chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Combine butter, the sugars, vanilla and pudding mix in large bowl. Beat until creamy. Then beat in eggs. Gradually add flour, soda, chips and nuts. Batter will be stiff. I use a small cookie scoop which is about a tablespoon, heaping full. Place about 2 inches apart on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

cookie scoop

Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. Makes about 36 cookies.

Pudding cookies 2

Warm, crispy, gooey. Who could resist?

cookies 2