Samoa Bars

Everyone loves Girl Scout cookies right?  I have a serious crush on Girl Scout Samoa Cookies.  It's a terrible thing really because no matter how many boxes of Girl Scout cookies you buy once they are gone, they're gone for the rest of the year.  Thanks to this amazing recipe I can have my Samoa cookies now and eat Samoa Bars later!

I was so excited while making these!  The toasted coconut is wicked good.  Because these are bars, the short cake base is thicker than on the cookies, a necessity to keep all the mouthwatering caramel, chocolate and coconut toppings on :)

Samoa Bars  Source: You're Gonna Bake It Afterall

Ingredients:

Cookie Base:
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

Topping:
3 cups shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened), toasted
12 ounces good-quality chewy caramels
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons milk
10 ounces dark or semisweet chocolate (chocolate chips are fine) (You may needed about 2 ounces more for drizzling the bars)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Toast the coconut: Spread coconut out on a baking sheet.  Bake for 10-15 minutes stirring every 3-4 minutes until coconut gets a nice golden color.  Some pieces may be darker than others.

3. Make the crust: Lightly grease a 13 x 9-inch baking pan, or line with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, cream together sugar and butter until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla extract. Working at a low speed, gradually beat in flour and salt until mixture is crumbly. The dough does not need to fully come together.

4. Pour crumbly dough into prepared pan and press into an even layer. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes, until base is set and edges are lightly browned. Cool completely on a wire rack before topping.
5. Make the topping: Place the unwrapped caramels in a large microwave-safe bowl with milk and salt. Cook on high for 3 - 4 minutes, stopping to stir a few times to help the caramel melt. When smooth, fold in toasted coconut with a spatula.

6. Put dollops of the topping all over the shortbread base. Using the spatula, spread topping into an even layer. Let topping set until cooled.

7. When cooled, cut into 30 bars with a large knife or a pizza chopper.

8. Once bars are cut, melt chocolate in a small bowl by heating on high in the microwave in 45 second intervals, stirring thoroughly to prevent scorching. Dip the bottom of each bar into the chocolate and place on a clean piece of parchment or wax paper.

9. Transfer all remaining chocolate (or melt a bit of additional chocolate, if necessary) into a piping bag or a ziploc bag with the corner snipped off and drizzle bars with chocolate to finish. Let chocolate set completely before storing in an airtight container. These bars also freeze well.

Note: For an easier finish, you can simply drizzle chocolate on top of the bars and not dip the bottoms in chocolate.  I did this on about 1/2 of my bars and on the ones pictured.  You will not exactly get the Samoas look, but the results will still be delicious.

This post linked to: Sweets for a Saturday at Sweet as Sugar Cookies

Parmesan Potatoes

If you are having burgers, you need french fries right?  I saw these Parmesan Potatoes at One Crazy Cookie and just knew that I wanted them with my Country Bob Burgers. I had a little trouble with the sprinkling of the seasonings (I used a spoon) and ended up using almost twice the amount Tiffanee recommended but the flavor was still awesome.  I think next time I will either use my fingers or an old spice bottle so that I get at least closer to the right amount :)   And I accidentally let my Parmesan get a little too done in the oven, you'd think as much as I like to cook I would be doing everything right by now!  Oh well!  I love a recipe that is forgiving and these were awesome!  If you like french fries but don't want all the calories from frying them, try this baked method! 

Parmesan Potatoes  Source: One Crazy Cookie

Ingredients:

4-5 medium potatoes, washed but not peeled (about 5 oz. each)
1 tbsp canola oil
1 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
salt to taste (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 F.

2. Scrub potatoes. Cut in strips or slices.
3. Place potato slices in a plastic bag with the oil, and shake well to coat potatoes evenly.

4. Arrange potatoes, in a single layer, on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray.

5. Combine seasonings and Parmesan cheese in a small bowl.  Sprinkle mixture over the potatoes. I am not sure how Tiffanee did it, maybe use your fingers, I don't recommend using a spoon to do the sprinkling :)

6. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown and cooked though.

7. Salt to taste (optional).

Country Bob's Hamburgers with Caramelized Onion and Mushrooms

Hamburgers remind me of fun nights grilling out with friends in the summer.  I like to have them in the winter and envision the coming summer.  Matt prefers burgers on the outside grill to the indoor George Forman style grilling, so unless we are having a blizzard he will still brave the cold in the middle of winter to cook them for us while we wait inside :)

We both really liked the flavor that Country Bob's added to the hamburgers.  Country Bob's is an all-purpose sauce similar to steak sauce that can be used on steak, burgers, fries, chicken, etc.  The caramelized onions were so so good. Our Best Bites has a great tutorial on how to properly caramelize onions here.  Did you know that caramelizing onions typically takes 30 minutes or more?  I didn't!  They were easy to do, even if slow :)

Country Bob's Hamburgers with Caramelized Onions and Mushrooms  Source: An 'A' For Effort

Ingredients:

2 lbs lean ground beef

4 heaping tbsp Country Bob's

2 tsp seasoning salt

1 tsp garlic powder

2 large onions

1 tbsp olive oil

Fresh mushrooms to taste, sliced

Swiss Cheese

Directions:

1. Slice onions very thin.  Heat oil in a small pan.  Add onions and cook slowly over medium-low heat for about 30 minutes or until the onions get very dark.  See the Our Best Bites tutorial here.  When the onions are getting close to being done add in your mushrooms and cook down.

2. Mix ground beef, Country Bob's, seasoning salt and garlic powder until well combined.  Form into patties.

3. Grill burgers to your preference.

4. Top with swiss cheese, caramelized onions and mushrooms.

Angel Chicken

This is one of my favorite crock pot recipes!  It is so easy and tastes outstanding!  The chicken is tender from baking slowly in the crock pot, the sauce is creamy with a wonderful flavor from the Italian seasoning.  I like to make this when we have friends over for dinner so I don't have to worry about the main dish and can have fun making a side dish or dessert.  Most importantly crock pot meals mean I just relax and enjoy my friends :)  

Angel Chicken  Source: My sister, Lydia

Ingredients:

3 large chicken breasts (boneless, skinless)  *You could use more chicken if you want

1/4 C butter or margarine

1 (0.7 oz) package of Italian dry seasoning mix

1 (10 3/4 oz) can cream of mushroom soup

4 oz. chive & onion cream cheese

1/2 C water

Angel hair pasta

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, melt butter or margarine in microwave.  Mix in Italian seasoning mix, soup, cream cheese and water.

2. Place chicken in the crock pot.  Pour sauce mixture over the top.

3. Cook on low for 4-5 hours.  Or bake at 350 F. in the oven for 1 1/2 hours.

4. Remove chicken and cut into bite-size pieces.  Return chicken to crock pot and mix in with the sauce.

4. Serve over hot pasta.

Chocolate and Strawberry Dessert Pizza

Happy Valentine's Day!!!  I like to think of Valentine's as a day to celebrate all the people I love, not just my hubby.  And I love all of you for reading my blog!  It just makes it more fun to have readers :)  So this is my virtual Valentine's gift to you.  The base is my favorite basic chocolate chip cookie, layered with a mixture of powdered sugar, cream cheese, cool whip and white chocolate, all topped off with fresh strawberries drizzled in chocolate!  It is looks and tastes impressive!  After I drizzled on the chocolate with a fork I realized that last time I made this I used a ziploc with the corner snipped off and had a prettier final presentation because I could make little swirls with the chocolate.  Oh well, the taste was uncompromised :)

Chocolate and Strawberry Dessert Pizza  Source: All The Best cookbook by Pampered Chef

Ingredients:

1 batch of your favorite chocolate chip cookie dough or an 18 oz. package of store bought dough

2 squares (1 oz. each) white chocolate

2 tbsp. milk

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/4 C powdered sugar

1 C cool whip, thawed

24-30 strawberries, cut in half

1/4 C semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 tsp vegetable oil

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Prepare cookie dough. 

3. Spread cookie dough on a large round baking stone into a 12 inch circle, 1/4 inch thick. 

Be sure to leave room for the cookie to expand during baking

4. Bake cookie for 12-15 minutes.  Cookie will still be a little soft.  Remove from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes.

5. Using a long serrated knife, carefully loosen the cookie from the baking stone.

Notice how much the cookie expanded!

6. Place white chocolate and milk in a small bowl and microwave for 1 minute.  Stir until chocolate is melted and smooth.  Microwave additional 10-20 seconds if necessary.

7. In a medium bowl, combine the the cream cheese and powdered sugar mixing well.  Gradually in the white chocolate mixture.  Fold in the cool whip.

8. Spread the cream cheese mixture evenly over the baked cookie.

9. Gently pat the halved strawberries dry to remove any excess moisture.

10. Arrange strawberries on top of cream cheese mixture.

11. Melt semi-sweet chocolate chips and oil in microwave for 30 seconds.  Stir until smooth.   Allow to chocolate to cool slightly and place in a ziploc bag.  Snip the corner off and drizzle over the strawberries.

12. Cut into wedges and enjoy!

*Regular milk chocolate won't melt as well as semi-sweet and does not have as pretty of a color for the drizzled topping. 

**Pampered Chef calls this recipe Fruit-Topped Triple Chocolate Pizza and uses mandarin oranges in place of 1/2 of the strawberries.

This post linked to: Valentine's Treats at Baked Bree, Sweets for a Saturday at Sweet as Sugar Cookies