Frozen Hot Chocolate - Or Something Similar

Personally, I don't like hot chocolate, but my family sure does.  I think my issue is that warm or hot beverages bother me, I have no idea why, but that's how it is.  When I found this recipe, I figured I'd go ahead and make it because it is super easy and requires absolutely no cooking or baking experience and I knew that my family would enjoy it.  It's also much healthier than a hot chocolate or an equivalent recipe, because the only ingredients that are used to sweeten it are the bananas and dates which just so happen to be fruit.  Basically the only sugary, unhealthy part of the smoothie is the cocoa powder, and even that can be decreased to suit personal preference.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups of milk (skim, soy, or almond)

1 1/2 bananas, frozen (peel before freezing)

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

3 dates, pitted

Ice (optional)

Instructions

Throw all the ingredients in a blender, and blend on high until smooth.  It really couldn't get any easier.

Notes

~  I added ice because it was too soupy for my liking.  If you are going to add ice, don't do it to the end.  Only add a couple cubes at a time.

~  Despite the name, it doesn't taste exactly like a hot chocolate, but according to my brother it's pretty close.

~  This made two glasses, but I used relatively skinny glasses so if bigger ones are used it could easily be a single serving recipe.  It probably made two glasses because I added ice to thicken it up.

~  Apparently dates are by the raisins, oops. (I spent a while looking for them and I'm too socially awkward to ask for help, so I wandered around and called my mom until I found them)

~  Before freezing the bananas, peel them.  I wasn't thinking and ended up whittling away the peels with a very sharp knife, peeling before will save a lot of time.

~  If you don't want a super rich and chocolaty smoothie, then decrease the cocoa powder to something like 1 1/2 teaspoons.

~  I made mine with plain skim milk, but I think it would taste really good with almond milk.

~  It doesn't matter in what order you add the ingredients, but I usually add the frozen and solid ingredients first.

Homemade Soft Pretzels

I was surprised at how well my pretzels turned out (taste-wise), even if they were a bit ugly.  They tasted almost exactly like the pretzels you get at the mall (at least I thought they did) and the recipe made more than enough.  I ended up making this twice within a week and it was even better the second time.  Forming the actual pretzel twists was more difficult than previously thought as the dough did not like being shaped as such, so in each batch I used half of the dough for pretzel bites - just as good and much more simple.

Ingredients

2 cups whole milk

1 1/2 tablespoon (2 packages) active dry yeast

6 tablespoons light-brown sugar

4 tablespoons unsalted butter (at room temperature)

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons salt

1/3 cup baking soda

3 cups warm water (don't prepare until right before you use it)

coarse salt (I used a salt grinder thing)

melted butter

Instructions

1.  Heat the milk in a microwave-safe bowl until it reaches 110 degrees, you can also microwave it for 1 1/2 minutes.  Add the yeast to the milk, stir it to mix in the yeast, and let it sit for about 10 minutes.  The mixture is ready when the yeast is foaming and bubbles are forming.

2.  Use a whisk to mix in the 6 tablespoons of brown sugar, 4 tablespoons of butter, 2 teaspoons of salt and 1 cup of flour.  Stir in the rest of the flour (3 1/2 cups) until the dough is elastic and does not stick to the sides of the bowl.  With both recipes I found that I needed to add more flour and ended up using about 5 cups of flour total.  Let the dough rise for about an hour in a warm place, covered by a kitchen towel.

3.  Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  Prepare two baking sheets with parchment paper or with non-stick spray.  As we had just bought new pans when I made this, I didn't need to use either.

4.  Punch down the dough.  The original recipe divided the dough into twelve equal pieces, and I did this the first time, but the second time around I just used the dough as I went.  I found that worked much better.  Roll the dough out into a 34 inch rope, they don't have to be exactly that, just somewhere in the vicinity.  Shape the rope into a pretzel twist, and repeat.  With half of the dough I made pretzel bites.  Similar to the pretzel twist, I rolled some dough into a rope, then used clean kitchen shears to cut the rope into inch-long bites.

5.  Pour 3 cups of warm water into a shallow baking dish, I used a round 9-inch cake pan.  Dissolve 1/3 cup of baking soda in the water.

6.  Dip the pretzel twists and pretzel twists in the baking soda/water mixture.  Let the excess water drip off then set the pretzel twist or bite onto the pan, you'll most likely have to reshape the pretzel twists a bit.  Sprinkle the salt onto the pretzels.

Rather ugly, aren't they?

7.  Bake the pretzels for 11 minutes, they should be golden brown when they are done.  I only cooked the pretzel twists for about eight or nine minutes, and the pretzel bites took about six or seven minutes.

8.  If you want, you can melt some butter and brush it onto the pretzels, and if you like, you can also add more salt.  I highly recommend the melted butter.

These are best when freshly made and warm, but they can be heated up in the microwave and they will taste just as good.  They didn't last long in my house, but they can be frozen if you don't eat all of them.

Twix Bars

I think I've mentioned it in past recipes, but I love caramel and chocolate together.  Consequently, I love Twix candy bars, and I've found a Twix Bar recipe so I can have my own at home!  Admittedly, they are not exactly like Twix, and that's due to a couple different things, but they are delicious anyway.

Ingredients

Cookie:

1 cup salted butter room temperature (I used unsalted, it doesn't actually matter)

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup powdered sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

Caramel

2 1/2 cups caramel squares (buy two packages of caramels, you'll only need part of the second one but get it anyway)

3 tablespoons heavy cream

Chocolate:

2 cups milk chocolate chips (a little more than one bag)

Instructions:

1.  Preheat the oven to 300 degrees, and prepare a 9x13 pan with non-stick spray.

2.  In a large bowl, beat the butter until soft.  Add the salt, vanilla extract, and powdered sugar and beat again.  Once smooth, add the flour in increments.  After the first cup I switched from an electric mixer to mixing by hand.  Press the dough into the bottom of the pan and bake for about 35 minutes.  The cookie crust will be done when the edges begin to brown.  Allow the cookie crust to cool completely before proceeding to the next step.

3.  In a medium microwave-safe bowl, melt the caramel squares and heavy cream.  Microwave for three minutes, stirring after every minute.  Pour the caramel over the cookie crust, then cool in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes.

4.  Once the caramel has cooled, melt the chocolate chips for two minutes, stirring after each minute.  Spread the chocolate evenly over the caramel, and allow to cool in the refrigerator.  Serve in squares.

Notes:

~ 9x13 is probably the thickest you should go with your pan, I had to use an 11x7 and I wish I would have gone thinner rather than thicker.  Either way it was good.