Bunny’s TMI

A coworker brought in some espresso truffles from Starbucks. They came in purple wrappers with no branding and she didn’t bring the package in, so I don’t know who actually makes them, but they were fabulous! A rich chocolate flavor, and the coffee flavor was as strong as it could be without edging over into being yucky. Mmmmmm. I want more! They disappeared fast.

And Google to the rescue! They were: Milk Chocolate Caffè Mocha Truffles though the reviewer on that site didn’t care for them.

Ghirardelli Intense Dark Citrus Sunset (60% Cacao) - This is what I wanted the Newtree one to be like, only this is more orangy than lemon. The texture was just right, and the orange was sweet and tangy but didn’t overwhelm the chocolate flavor. I’m not sure I tasted the caramel crunch, but it did give it a nice little crunch.

Lindt Excellence Toffee Crunch Milk Extra Fine - I split this with MM, sooo yummy! So their milk bars can be good too. I just don’t get why their truffles are so bad. I actually tried one again recently thinking maybe I was remembering wrong. Nope! They still fall in the “not worth wasting calories on” category. This bar however I’d happily get again, smooth, creamy and great toffee crunch and flavor.

We went to Bistro 33 last night with a bunch of friends for dinner.

Just so I don’t forget this, I tried their Turkey Club Sandwich (or whatever it’s called) without mayo and that was good. The fries seemed really bland to me, so that made it easy not to eat them. Plus they were the skinny ones but right in that zone of not soft enough but also not crunchy enough to be good. I tried a bite of BW’s spinach lasagna and that was sooo yummy. So next time hopefully I remember to order it. Also, JG mentioned that their french onion soup was a tad bland. I don’t recall liking it, but I don’t recall hating it either, so that sounds about right. We didn’t have the chocolate pate this time, but that was really good. I hope to try making my own sometime.

Also, I managed to cram in my workout before we left, which was good because we were tired when we got home. I did forget to run by the pharmacy though, so that will have to happen today. But for now I need to get ready and go for my blood donor appointment.

I finally have some time to clear out my mailbox and get somewhat up to date here. I think some of this I may have made time to blog about, but not all of it.

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We finished off the last of the most recent batch of bars from CostPlus World Market yesterday. I don’t really like their truffles, so I wasn’t expecting to like this bar, but I think it’s been one of the best so far. Part of the problem with their truffles might be that the only ones people seem to buy are the milk and white chocolate, I don’t even know if they have dark truffles.

We got the Lindt Excellence Chili Dark. It had a good dark flavor without being bitter, and the chili hit just the right balance of being firey, but not overwhelming the chocolate. It was also nice and smooth and soft. They don’t list the percentage, so it’s probably on the lower end of dark to get that texture. This is definitely one I’d be happy getting again.

We had dinner with a bunch of friends at Ricksha (I can never recall how they spell it, Rickshaw? Meh) for their $1 sushi night. Their list is really short though so I ended up having koroke and edamame to round out my dinner. They close at 9pm so we actually got home and to bed at a decent time. I even managed to still do my five minutes of exercise in spite of my headache/migraine. I have just under an hour till I have to leave, but I want to bake cookies for a friend coming into town tonight from Reno, and the ones I want to make need at least an hour to chill in the fridge, so I’m off!

The second batch of chocolate bars from CostPlus.

The NewTree Forgiveness (Dark chocolate with lemon).
You’d think this would be good, but the flavor just didn’t do it for me. Part of it was that it was a really hard and dry chocolate. I tried melting it to soften it up but accidentally burnt it, so I don’t know if that would have helped. And I didn’t like it enough to bother trying it again.

The Hachez Cocoa D’Arriba (77% cacao with mango & chili). We normally like the chili ones, and we both do like mangos, but this one kinda flopped. The chili is hardly noticable while the mango is strong - but seems over sweet or artificial (though the ingredient only lists natural mango flavor and nothing artificial).

We also recently tried the World’s Finest Chocolate W.F. Crisp (milk chocolate with crisped rice) that HK’s cousin gave us. I actually liked that, the chocolate was thick and smooth, with a good balance of crunch. The mints and caramels were good too. They disappeared in one day at work, and I couldn’t resist having two or three of each.

We ended up melting the crisp and the D’Arriba to use for fondue, which worked out fairly well.

Still have one more bar to try before stocking up again.

Or at least from CostPlus World Market.

I need to write this down before I forget. Last time we stocked up on chocolate bars from there we got:

• Dagoba Xocolatl 74% Chilies and Nibs
  - We share this with friends and I didn’t give it proper attention. I remember liking it but not being wowed by it.
• Ghirardelli Espresso Escape™ - This was good, but not as good as I expected for some reason. Maybe a tad too bitter with the coffee and dark chocolate.
• Chuao Spicy Maya Bar - First spicy chocolate I’ve been disappointed in. The best I can say is that it was ok. I think I might even like Dove’s plain dark chocolate better. Plus their web site sucks. Frames = not good.

We just picked up three more today, so hopefully I’ll remember to blog them as we try them. We got a lemon dark chocolate, mango & chili dark chocolate, and another spicy dark chocolate.

So far though the Vosges Fire is our favorite of the spicy chocolate bars.

I think we’ve both figured out after the Scharffen Berger factory tour that we like flavored darks the best, though a plain semi-dark is still better than a flavored milk chocolate. The darkest one on the tour was just a bit too dark. But I enjoy milk chocolate when it’s with other flavors I like. I had the Ghirardelli holiday pack, and surprisingly I like the peppermint one the best, the almond second and the eggnog third. I thought it would be the exact opposite order.

I’ve had really good luck with this before, so I did my spreadsheet method for this round. I took my recipe and five other similar ones and made a spreadsheet of ingredients and amounts. Depending on the ingredient I either took the minimum, maximum or rounded the average amount. And in some cases I then converted it to the healthier substitutions. We’ll see how it goes!

3 cups oats
1/3 cup honey
1/2 tablespoon molasses
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 to 2 cups nuts
1/2 to 1 cup chips
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup almond butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup wheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 to 1 cup fruit
1 cup jam (only trying it in the middle of half the bars)

Beat wet ingredients in a larger mixer bowl.
Gradually beat in dry ingredients. I just toss in everything but the flour, then add the flour 1/4 cup at a time.
Stir in oats, then nuts, fruit and chips.
Spread dough into greased 15 1/2 x 10 1/2 jelly-roll pan. I used my 10 x 13 (4qt) glass baking pan.
Cook at 325°F for 30 - 40 minutes. Should be lightly golden.
Cool completely before cutting into bars.

I’ve had enough people ask for this (and seen enough similar things on the web) that I figured I’d put this up for posterity.

A few years ago when I worked at the Edward Kemble Elementary School Library they had a special book sale for the staff. Among other books, I purchased Christmas Cookies - Classic Recipes.

I love oatmeal peanut butter cookies, but didn’t have a recipe for them in any of my cookie recipe books. This one did however have a recipe for Oatmeal Scotchies that looked good.

I switched half the butter for peanut butter, one cup of oats for nuts, and added a cup of chocolate chips (I hate cookies that are just a lot of dough and a little stuff. And yet I love sugar cookies, butter cookies, spritz cookies, etc. I guess I just want there to either be a LOT of “stuff” or none.

After some friends watched me bake these once, and asked what they were called. I didn’t have a name, and they weren’t really oatmeal scotchies anymore, so they came up with “Everything Cookies” since I seemed to put everything (but fruit! I don’t like fruit in cookies) in them. Seeing them in dough form they were amazed that the cookies stayed together which how much stuff was in them.

These are pretty flexible, I use whatever nuts I have on hand, and whatever chocolately bits. I’ve even chopped up Hershey Kisses when we didn’t have chocolate chips.

Jenny’s Everything Cookies
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter (I usually soften it in the microwave)
1/2 cup peanut butter (I usually use chunky for extra nuttiness)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs (I almost always use liquid eggs when baking, easier and healthier)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (sometimes I swap half or all the vanilla for almond extract)
1 cup chopped/sliced/slivered nuts (I prefer almond)
1 to 2 cup chips (I usually mix milk & dark/semi-sweet & butterscotch chips)
2 cups quick or old-fashioned oats
Raw sugar to roll them in (optional)

1. Combine flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a small bowl. I’m lazy and always skip this - one less messy dish to clean!
2. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla in a larger mixer bowl. I love my KitchenAid!
3. Gradually beat in flour mixture. I just toss in everything but the flour, then add the flour 1/4 cup at a time.
4. Stir in oats, then nuts and chips.
5. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets. I usually just eyeball it and roll them into balls, but even if I use a tablespoon I always roll them into balls to help them stick together.
6. This year I had raw sugar left over from rolling other cookies, so I rolled these ones into it and it gave them a nice crunch on the outside.
7. It’s ok to flatten the cookies also if you like how that looks better.
8. Bake in preheated oven for 375°F. oven for 7 to 8 minutes for chewy cookies; 9 to 10 minutes for crisp cookies.

It’s supposed to make about 4 dozen cookies.

So far everyone has agreed with me that the chewy taste best, but even if I overcook them and get harder ones, they still all get eaten. Be sure to preheat or you won’t be sure about the timing! Chewy ones won’t look done with they come out of the oven, but just let them cool on the cookie sheet for 2 to 10 minutes, once them come off easily with a spatula without smooshing then they’re ready. Though I’m happy to eat them hot and smooshy/crumbly. The perks and hazards of being the cook!

The recipe also had an option for pan cookies, and after looking at how much sugar (including high fructose corn syrup) was in the Nature Valley granola bars I loved, I decided to see if I could doctor this into a granola bar recipe.

Round 1 Everything Granola Bars
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup almond butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
3/4 cup honey
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs (I almost always use liquid eggs when baking, easier and healthier)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (sometimes I swap half or all the vanilla for almond extract)
3 cups oats
3 teaspoons ground flax seed
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1/2 cup whole almonds
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup butterscotch chips

Most of the fruit/nut/chip amounts were based on what I happened to have left in the cupboards.

Mix the same way as the cookies.

1. Spread dough into greased 15 1/2 x 10 1/2 jelly-roll pan. I used my 10 x 13 (4qt) glass baking pan.
2. Bake in preheated 375°F oven for 18 to 22 minutes or until very lightly browned.
3. Cool completely before cutting into bars.

It’s supposed to make 4 dozen bars. I don’t recall how many pieces we cut that one into. Everyone really liked it, but I think it had room for improvement. I’m not sure if it just needs way more fruit and nuts, or if the other parts need tweaking. The flavor was good, mostly it was the texture I wasn’t satisfied with. It was in between crunchy and chewy, and I want one or the other. I just haven’t decided which.

I’m working on round two of the recipe today.