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I could totally eat a chocolate bar right now.
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While trying to figure out what to make for an end-of-summer bbq, I decided to use what I had on hand. That list included:
puff pastry
peanut butter
chocolate chips
marshmallows
caramels
First I unrolled the pastry and laid everything out as evenly as I could.
I cut the caramels and marshmallows into thirds so it wouldn’t be impossible to roll up.
it turned out pretty lumpy anyway...
Then I cut the roll into pieces and placed it into a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
Lastly, I popped it in the oven for 12-15 min, or until everything looked golden and delicious.
They’re kind of crazy looking but fortunately they went over so well that I didn’t have to bring any back home to tempt myself!
Mmmmm....
I did not create this recipe, Alice Currah from Savorysweetlife.com did. However, I wanted to repost it and share with you all because it is EXCELLENT and seriously easy (can you say no cooking to speak of? I CAN).
I’m not going to go through all the details as she has done a beautiful job of that herself. However I’m happy to share my photos while following her directions. For the full recipe (and decidedly more professional photos) please click HERE.
This is all it takes:
Yep, that’s it! The first step to forming the bars is sticking two pretzel sticks together with halved caramel squares.
Step two is Alice’s wicked brilliant addition of Nutella piped between the pretzels. Delicious AND helpful for filling in the pretzel gap for a nice shape.
Now it’s time to dip them in the melted chocolate.
Definitely the messiest part. I could have done a better job of letting the excess drip off but I’d already dipped half of them before I figured that out.
Another evilly brilliant twist thought up by Alice, sprinkling the bars with salt. I salted half of my batch.
Because the chocolate melts easily with just body warmth, I wrapped mine in parchment paper.
This heaven could be in your mouth right. now.
Please take your time checking out her blog at Savorysweetlife.com.
This recipe was inspired by my mother and this dessert that she ordered at Eataly.
It’s chocolate with apricot filling and it was delightful. The rich taste of the chocolate countered extremely well with the tang of the apricot so I thought I’d give it a shot in ice cream form.
the ingredient list
Vegan Chocolate pudding base
1 heaping cup bittersweet chocolate chips
2 T water 16 oz silken tofu, drained (the softest kind)
1/2 cup soy milk
1 T vanilla
3/4 cup sugar
Apricot filling:
1 10 oz jar apricot preserves
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup lemon juice
Why vegan? Probably because I was planning on eating it all and I prefer to save lactaid pills for special occasions. Also, why not?
First I melted the chocolate and water together in the microwave and then stirred the 3/4 cup of sugar in. Why did I stir it into the chocolate? I’m not sure. I think I thought the heat would make the sugar dissolve but that was not the case and I just had to cross my fingers that I wouldn’t end up with gritty ice cream (it wasn’t gritty).
Then I added the melty chocolate mixture to the rest of the pudding ingredients in the blender. I used the homemade vanilla mentioned in this post which was fun.
not particularly exciting
This what the pudding base looked like. I put in the fridge to chill overnight. Next, I gave the preserves a taste test.
this is the face i make during all serious decision-making
I decided that while it was quite apricot-y, it was neither sweet enough nor tart enough for it’s intended purpose. I decided a lemon simple syrup would solve that problem in a pinch. I put 1/3 cup sugar and 1/3 cup lemon juice in a small pan and heated and stirred it until all the sugar dissolved. Then I added all the preserves and let that cook for a bit to thicken it back up.
here's what that looked like
Once that was done and cool I threw it in the fridge with the pudding base until the next morning. My intention was for the apricot filling to be threaded through the chocolate base, like fudge in store-bought ice cream but unfortunately ice cream makers only come with one speed… churn…
So, even though I waited until the VERY end to put it in (about 3 big spatula scoops, but measure it to your tastes), the apricot-y goodness is a bit more mixed in than I would have liked.
Despite that, however, it is quite delicious and the tofu gives is a great soft texture!
i approve of this flavor
