These brownies are nummy. The coconut flavor is nice, and the very vanilla-y frosting is delicious. They're the ones I was talking about in my summer mish-mash post where the first time I made them I didn't have graham crackers and so I substituted with honey nut cheerios (painstakingly hand-ground with a garlic press by Jeff). You can make them with cheerios, but they're a little too sweet. I've since acquired graham crackers, but I was still silly enough to crumble all the crackers by hand, only remembering at the end my Aunt Vicky's good advice about making crumbs with a food processor. Sigh...
Anyhoo, here are Nanaimo Bars, from the Sunset Magazine best-ever cookies issue.
Ingredients:
1 cup butter, at room temperature
2 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1 large egg
1 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 cup sweetened flaked dried coconut
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 T. milk
1 T. vanilla
3 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
Directions:
1. In a 1- to 2-quart pan over low heat, melt 6 T. butter; let cool. In a bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat melted butter, 1/4 cup powdered sugar, and the egg until well blended. Stir in graham cracker crumbs, coconut, pecans, and cocoa powder.
2. Press dough evenly into a buttered and floured 8x8-inch baking pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven until slightly darker, about 20 minutes. Let cool completely.
3. Meanwhile, in a bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat 1/2 cup butter, remaining 2 cups powdered sugar, the milk, and the vanilla until smooth. Spread mixture evenly over cooled crust.
4. In a 1- to 2-quart pan over very low heat, stir remaining 2 T. butter and the chocolate until melted. Spread over filling. Cover and chill until the filling is firm enough to cut neatly, at least 2 hours. Cut into 25 squares.
(196 calories, 13 g fat per square).
I find that most baking mishaps I have come from not following the directions exactly. Maybe I didn't have enough time, maybe I thought that direction (preheating, cooling, whatever) couldn't really matter that much. Whatever it was, some silly little thing is what usually messes me up. The first time I made these, I didn't let the brownies cool before putting on the frosting, so of course the frosting melted, and then when I poured the chocolate on top it all melted together. It actually gave it a kind of cool marbled effect, but I like it better the way it was intended.
This next one is for anyone who has been to Hatch's family chocolates in Salt Lake. They sell the most amazing hot chocolate. Jeff and I went there once after I'd made him a birthday dinner before he went on his mission. We split a hot chocolate but we still had to lie on the couch and moan for a while. It's extremely filling. This isn't quite as rich, but it's close, and it gives you an idea of what must be in the real thing.
Simple enough recipe. Jeff made it up, which makes me extremely proud of him (for being such a chocolate lover, not for making up a recipe):
Heat up enough water or milk to make a normal serving of hot chocolate (milk is creamier, of course).
Empty a hot chocolate packet or scoop a serving of hot chocolate powder into a cup. Add a whole Hershey's chocolate bar.
Pour the hot water or milk into the cup and stir until everything is dissolved.
Enjoy!
1 comment:
Yikes! A whole chocolate bar! Now I have to lie down and moan for a while.
Mom
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