Thursday, May 29, 2014

Homemade KIND Bars {Dark Chocolate PB}

HomeMade Kind Bar Recipe
I love KIND bars.. one of my favorite flavors is Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate.
After buying them all the time, I wondered how hard they would be to make myself.
I quickly ran to my trusty Pinterest app, and found a pretty good recipe that I tried.

It was pretty darn good. Super easy.

Here's the recipe. Found on The Yummy Life Blog
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Ingredients
  • FOR NUT MIXTURE:
  • 1/2 cup whole roasted * unsalted almonds
  • 2-1/2 cups whole roasted* unsalted peanuts, coarsely chop 1-1/4 cups (leave the rest whole)
  • 1/2 cup roasted* walnuts, chopped
  • 1/2 cup puffed millet, rice (or other puffed whole grain; or crispy brown rice cereal)
  • 2 tablespoons PB2 powdered peanut butter
  • FOR SYRUP:
  • 1/2 cup honey**
  • 1/3 cup brown rice syrup (may substitute light corn syrup)
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • FOR CHOCOLATE DRIZZLES (optional):
  • 1 cup dark chocolate chips**
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable, grapeseed, or coconut oil

Directions
Grease/spray large bowl, 9x13 baking sheet/pan, wooden spoon or rubber spatula, and bottom of drinking glass. Set aside.
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*IF NUTS AREN'T ALREADY ROASTED:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread nuts  on large baking sheet and bake for 10 min. until lightly toasted and fragrant.
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Add toasted nuts and puffed millet to large bowl. Sprinkle with the PB2. Stir to combine; set aside.

In 1-1/2 or 2 quart saucepan, combine honey, rice syrup, salt, and vanilla over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until mixture reaches 260 degrees (hard ball stage) on a candy thermometer. Immediately, pour mixture over nut mixture, stir until evenly coated. Quickly transfer to greased/sprayed 9x13 pan, use hands to spread mixture evenly in pan; press the mixture to close in holes and distribute evenly all over the pan. Using bottom of greased/sprayed drinking glass to tap and compact mixture in pan. Let cool 20 minutes (pan should still be slightly warm). Invert pan on cutting board and tap until mixture falls out in one piece. Cut into 20 bars. (If they cool too much and become too hard or brittle to cut easily, put in warm oven for 1-2 minutes to soften; proceed with cutting.) Allow bars to cool completely before proceeding with chocolate drizzles.

FOR CHOCOLATE DRIZZLES: Add chocolate chips and oil to microwave safe bowl. Cook on high power in 20 second intervals, stirring each time, just until last chips melt into mixture (approx. 60 seconds total). Use fork or squeeze bottle to drizzle chocolate over nut bars. Let cool until chocolate hardens.

STORAGE TIP: Store in airtight container with parchment paper between layers. For take-along convenience, use parchment paper pieces to wrap individual bars burrito-style. Store at room temperature for up to 1 week. May refrigerate to extend storage or if firmer, less sticky bars are preferred. May be frozen, too.

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION for 1 bar: 217 calories, 14.5g fat, 44mg sodium, 19.5g carbs, 2.3g fiber, 14.4g sugars, 6.9g protein; Weight Watchers PointsPlus: 6

**FOR VEGAN VERSION, omit honey and use all brown rice syrup and vegan chocolate chips.


If you like chewy, moist Protein bars.. then these are for you.
They are so so good.
I kept them in bar form & stored them in the fridge.
And I drizzled a few bites with Dark Chocolate 
Mmmm. Husband approved as well. Bonus.

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Shortcakes in Mason Jars

I had never made shortcake ...ever. Until today. 
I had fresh cream, and fresh berries. 
I pinterested a bunch of shortcake recipes... and in the end I looked on the back of my Bisquick box and tried that recipe... and it is so so good, and easy. 


Shortcake Recipe
2 1/3 cup bisquick
2/3 cup milk 
3 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp butter (unsalted) melted.

Mix all ingredients, drop by spoonfuls on parchment.
Bake at 425 for 10-12 minutes or until golden.
Let cool
Split in half to assemble shortcakes.

I washed a bunch of berries & mason jars.

And made some homemade whipped cream
I used this recipe.
Ahhh. 
It is a very happy fridge shelf indeed. 
I made about 5 different size jars.. and I had leftover shortcakes and froze them.
They are so so delicious..
A good naptime/craft-time snack.
I think I will be making these a lot this summer.