Salted Brown Butter Biscoff Treats

Any time I see Biscoff or brown butter in a recipe, I perk up and my eyes get a little bigger. I love those two ingredients and they're even better when you you combine them to make these Salted Brown Butter Biscoff Treats. Rice Krispy treats are so easy to make and they're perfect to make any time of year and I've never met any one who didn't like them. I've made Brown Butter and Spice Rice Treats for years but decided to try something a little different this time. 

Biscoff, if you're not familiar with it, is a creamy spread very similar in consistency to peanut butter, but it's completely nut free because it's made from crushed up Biscoff (Lotus Brand) cookies. They are lightly spiced, caramelized cookies that are quite addicting. When you make it into a spread and can then shovel it into your mouth with a spoon, it becomes heavenly! Mixed with the earthy, nutty flavors of browned butter and accented with sea salt, these treats become irresistible. Hubby said these were amazing, and he rarely dishes out that compliment. 

Salted Brown Butter Biscoff Treats adapted from Bakerella

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• 10 ounces mini marshmallows
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup creamy Biscoff spread
• 6 cup crisp rice cereal
• 1 cup coarsely broken Biscoff cookies
• fleur de sel salt

Butter a 9x9-inch pan. Place the marshmallows in a large bowl and set aside. 

In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Continue to cook, swirling the pot occasionally until the butter boils and becomes foamy. It will turn golden brown and start to smell nutty. Once the butter stops sizzling and the foam subsides, it is ready. Keep an eye on it because you don't want it to burn. This could take 5 to 8 minutes.

Once the butter has browned, remove from the heat and pour the butter and the browned bits over marshmallows. Stir until the marshmallows are fully coated. Place the bowl into the microwave and heat for one to two minutes, stirring occasionally until the marshmallows are completely melted. Stir in the Biscoff spread until fully incorporated. 

Carefully fold the cereal and the crushed Biscoff cookies into the marshmallow mixture until everything is well coated. Press cereal mixture into the buttered pan and sprinkle the top with sea salt, use as much or as little as you'd like. Allow treats to cool before cutting. 

Last Minute Treats and Handmade Gifts

I am so cookied out! I keep thinking of other cookie recipes I want to make, but in reality, I really don't want to stand on my feet in the kitchen for hours on end, reaching into the hot oven. After baking 22 dozen cookies, I'm looking for an easy way out. And these cookie sandwiches are the golden ticket. 

I found these on my friend, Michelle's blog, One Ordinary Day and they could not be simpler. The hardest part was unwrapping all the shiny gold foil off the chocolate covered caramels, the rest was just easy peasy. You line up your crackers, top them with Rolos, bake for 3-5 minutes, then top with another Ritz and you're done. From start to finish, these took me about 10 minutes, so if you're in need of a quick sweet treat, these are for you. 

Rolo Stuffed Ritz Crackers adapted from One Ordinary Day

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• Rolo Candies
• Ritz Crackers

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

Place Ritz crackers on a cookie sheet face side down, and top each one with a Rolo candy.

Bake for 3-5 minutes to soften (but not fully melt) the Rolos, Remove from the oven and immediately top  the Rolos with a second Ritz cracker. Cool completely before storing in an airtight container. 

NOTE: There are about 55 Rolos candies per bag. 

If you need a last minute gift for the grandparents, these salt dough ornaments are perfect. You only need three ingredients to make the dough, and acrylic paint and ribbon to embellish them. You can make them as fancy or as simple as you want, it's the handprint and the memory of spending time with your child that's important. 

Salt Dough Handprint Ornaments adapted from Once A Month Mom 

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• 1 cup flour
• 1/4 cup salt
• 7 tbsp water
• Round cookie cutter large enough to go around the handprint
• 1 drinking straw
• Craft paint
• Ribbon

Preheat oven to 250°F. 

Mix together flour, salt, and water. Knead for 10 minutes til smooth and no longer sticky. Add a little flour at a time, if necessary.  

Roll out the dough to no more than 1/4-inch thick, then use the cookie cutter (or glass) to make rounds. Press a hand into dough. If you’re doing this with really little ones, you may have to go back and make deeper impressions of their hands with your fingers or a kitchen utensil–the deeper the impression, the better your ornaments will turn out. 

Use a straw to poke a hole in each ornament (this is where the ribbon will go later). Place on a baking sheet and bake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until ornaments have completely dried out. 

Remove the tray from the oven, once they're cool enough to handle, place ornaments on a cooling rack and allow to cool before painting. Paint or decorate as you want. When the decorations have dried, thread ribbon through the hole. Hang on your tree. 

Das Ist Gut

Pretzels! Soft pretzels to be exact, or "pretzen" if you're the little boy I nanny for. He loves "pretzen" and he's always asking me if I have any in my purse. Along with cookies or chocolate, sprinkles or marshmallows. ha ha! I did not share these with him but I'm sure he would have loved them.

I got together with the lovely Ingrid of 3 B's- Baseball, Baking Books and Michelle of One Ordinary Day to make these pretzels. Michelle chose this soft pretzel recipe from Alton Brown and they were a winner! Mr. H took his first bite into his cinnamon sugar pretzel and said "to hell with Auntie Anne's". He loved them!

It was helpful to use 2 spatulas to remove them from the water.

They were soft and chewy, yeasty and just so good. They couldn't be simpler either. You whip up the dough in your stand mixer in about 5 minutes then you let it rest and rise for an hour. You shape them, boil them in a solution of water and baking soda for 30 seconds then bake them. In about an hour and a half you can have fresh out of the oven pretzels. Do it.

This is the salt box Mr. H got me for Christmas. I love it! He got it for me since I would keep a pinch bowl on the counter full of kosher salt. This is so much prettier and it keeps my salt clean :-)

I had no problems with these at all and the dough was so buttery soft and a breeze to work with. The recipe makes 8 pretzels so I made half salted with kosher salt and the others were brushed with melted butter and coated in cinnamon sugar. bliss. The only thing I would change next time is to only make half a batch at a time because the next day they were a little tough and a couple made their way to the trash :-( If you plan on eating all 8 in one day then by all means make them all at once.

Salted, Cinnamon Sugar, and Buttered Plain

Homemade Soft Pretzels

from Alton Brown

• 1 1/2 cups warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 22 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 4 1/2 cups
• 2 ounces unsalted butter, melted
• Vegetable oil, for pan
• 10 cups water
• 2/3 cup baking soda
• 1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
• Pretzel or kosher salt

Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. Add the flour and butter and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then oil it well with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper DO NOT USE WAX PAPER- it will smoke! and lightly brush with the vegetable oil. Set aside.

Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan.

In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel. Place onto the parchment-lined half sheet pan.

Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. Don't worry, they will sink to the bottom then float back to the top. If they fall apart in the water, just quickly reshape them when you place them back on the parchment. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula. Return to the half sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with the pretzel salt. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.

Cinnamon Sugar Pretzels: Make and assemble the pretzels as directed above but don't brush them with the egg wash. Leave them plain. When they come out of the oven and are still hot, brush both sides with half a stick of melted butter (for 8 pretzels) and coat in cinnamon sugar.

Be sure to stop by and visit Michelle and Ingrid to see how their pretzels turned out! It was fun baking with you ladies!

Wanna bite?

Savory, Sweet, Crispy, Chewy, Gooey & Delicious

Looks like this week is turning into Honey Week! On Monday, I posted a recipe for Cinnamon Honey Butter, today it's this wonderful Rosemary Flatbread with honey and coming later in the week another honey recipe, so stay tuned!

I found this recipe in Food & Wine Magazine two or three months ago and I was immediately intrigued by it's components. I set out to make it and it was so good. I ate half of it by myself in one night, and the rest of the a day or so later, reheated in the toaster oven. My husband did not like this at all. He walked into the kitchen and said "It smells like funky cheese" then left. He tasted it, but that was enough for him, so I ended up making him a sandwich for dinner. His loss.

I have to tell you, the rosemary flatbread was AMAZING! It had the perfect texture, crisp on the edges, slightly chewy, substantial, but not heavy. It would make a wonderful pizza crust on it's own with a simple tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella and Italian sausage. I will definitely be making the flatbread again and again. I think my husband would like it with different toppings. I happened to like the tang of the cheese, the sweetness of the honey and the burst of the grapes, with the perfuminess of the rosemary in the background. Seriously, bookmark this recipe and make it SOON! You won't be disappointed.

Rosemary Flatbread w/ Blue Cheese, Grapes and Honey from Food & Wine

• 1 envelope active dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 cups bread flour, plus more for rolling
• 3/4 cup warm water
• 2 teaspoons chopped rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 pound red grapes (1 1/2 cups)
• Coarse sea salt
• 3 ounces blue cheese, crumbled (1/2 cup)
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon snipped chives, optional

In a large bowl, whisk the yeast and sugar with 1/4 cup of the flour. Stir in 1/4 cup of the warm water and let stand until slightly foamy, about 5 minutes. Add the rosemary, fine salt, pepper and the remaining 1 3/4 cups of flour and 1/2 cup of water; stir until a dough forms. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until smooth, about 5 minutes. Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl, cover and let rise in a draft-free spot until billowy and doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 450°. Place a pizza stone in the bottom of the oven, and preheat for at least 30 minutes.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Press and stretch the dough into a 13-inch round, then transfer to a lightly floured pizza peel. Press the grapes into the dough and sprinkle with sea salt.

Slide the flatbread onto the hot stone and bake for about 12 minutes, until the crust is golden and the grapes have begun to release some of their juices. Sprinkle the blue cheese on top and bake for about 2 minutes longer, until the cheese melts. Slide the flatbread onto a work surface and drizzle with the honey and sprinkle with the chives. Cut into wedges and serve.

NOTE: You need a pizza stone to make this, so plan ahead. Also I used Gorgonzola because I think it's less pungent than some other blues. I did this for my husband's sake but it didn't seem to make any difference to him. He still didn't like it.

You say Potato...

Breakfast potatoes, papas, hash browns or home fries are one of my favorite components of breakfast. But (and this is a big BUT!...ha ha ha, I said big butt!!) they have to be crisp around the edges. But I can't stand ordering potatoes for breakfast in a restaurant and having them soft and squishy. They look great, but the flavor and texture is missing something. That probably explains why I like McDonald's hash browns so much.

Anyway, I think there are certain elements that make up a good breakfast potato. First you start with a fresh potato and they have to be well cooked, crispy around the edges, well seasoned, and not greasy. These potatoes fill the bill and my husband loves them just as much as I do.

Breakfast Potatoes (For 2)

• 1 medium sized Russet potato
• 2 Tbsp. Vegetable or Light Olive Oil
• Seasoned Salt (see recipe below)

Preheat non stick skillet on stove top over medium high heat. Put enough oil to coat the pan (about 1-2 tablespoons). Meanwhile peel the potato and wipe it off with a clean paper towel. DO NOT rinse the potato because it absorbs water and takes longer for the potatoes to crisp up. Cut the potatoes into a 1/4 inch dice. They don't have to be perfect, just all similar in size.

Put the potatoes in the pan and coat them evenly with the oil so they don't stick to the pan. Leave them alone for the first couple minutes until the cubes turn a golden brown. Don't toss them too much or the potatoes will cook through without browning and will become soggy. Toss the potatoes around a few times until they're evenly browned on all sides.

When they're completely cooked through and crispy around the edges, sprinkle a little seasoned salt over the potatoes until they're seasoned to your liking. Mix well and eat them while they're still hot. No ketchup needed.

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Seasoned Salt

• 1/4 cup salt
• 2 Tbsp. fresh ground black pepper
• 2 Tbsp. garlic powder
• 1 Tsp. paprika

Measure and mix all ingredients together. Store in an airtight container. Sprinkle on all your favorite dishes.

Quick and Easy Like Me

My little brother, Aaron (12) helped me make these last weekend. He had great fun measuring out the ingredients, mixing, and rolling out the dough. I even made him clean up too. A boys gotta learn early, right? I think the most fun was decorating them and seeing how many different designs we could come up with. He made these for his parents for Christmas gifts. I'm sure they'll appreciate all the hard work and love that went into them.

Salt Dough Ornaments

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup salt
• 1/2 cup water

Mix all ingredients is a medium bowl with a wooden spoon. Dough forms rather quickly. Remove dough and knead until smooth (a couple of minutes). Roll out onto floured surface until you reach the desired thickness of your ornaments. Mine were about 1/8" thick. Cut your shapes using your favorite cookie cutters or cut out shapes using a pairing knife. I've done both and have to say that cookie cutters are far easier :) I also rolled out the dough to make a rope then spelled out my sons names. Place cut-outs onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Cut a small hole for ribbon to pass through using a straw (before you bake them). Paint your ornaments with egg-wash paint. Then bake in a preheated oven at 250 degrees for 2 hours. This will allow the ornaments to dry out completely without getting brown. Allow to cool, then string ribbon or colored yarn through the holes and hang on packages or your tree.

Before & After- click to enlarge

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Egg Wash Paint

• 1 egg
• 1/4 tsp. water
• food coloring (add as much or as little until desired color is achieved)
• inexpensive paint brushes (one for each color)

Whisk the egg to break it up, then add the water and food coloring. I used three eggs to decorate a batch of ornaments and still had plenty left over. I beat the eggs and water in a bowl, then poured the eggs into smaller containers (I used glass votive holders). I used 5 colors in total (red, blue, yellow, green and purple). Brush the egg wash over your unbaked ornaments and have fun!

NOTE: This is a great craft for kids to do since it's so simple and the project can be completed in one afternoon. Just plan accordingly since they have to bake for 2 hours.

This egg wash can be used for sugar cookies as well. It is completely edible and will give your cookies a lacquered look.

Also, if you don't want to use egg wash paint, bake the "naked" ornaments as the directions state, then paint after they are cooled with craft paint. This will give you a more vibrant color, but they will not be shiny.