Cooking Crunchy, Crispy Rice Treats, Ecuadorian-style

So as tomorrow is Thursday, which I think is my new dessert day, I decided to bake tonight. This weekend whist we were all in beautiful Mindo and up to all kinds of shenanigans, the subject of peanut butter--mantequilla de maní--came up. There simply isn't enough in Ecuador.

(Several of us had talked to our host mothers about it--we also brought it up with our incredible Spanish prof, Evelyn. Apparently peanut butter is a North American thing. People in the rest of the world just don't like it. Here they use it to season their soups. My mamá said that she loves peanuts but in butter form, no dice.)

But back to Mindo. So we are talking and I decided that I really really really wanted to make those peanut butter rice crispy bars with chocolate on top. I facebooked my brother's girlfriend for her recipe but she still hasn't gotten back to me (I really should just quit trying to use Facebook to get recipes, it just does not work). So, in my incredible genius, I went to MegaMaxi to purchase baking goods--before finding a recipe. I got the Ecuadoriano version of Rice Crispies (Vanilla Arroz Crocante, it also comes in strawberry and chocolate in case you were curious), some Jiff peanut butter (imported it cost $7 for a 24 oz jar!) and some melting chocolate (it wasn't semi-sweet, bad choice). After class I began to search for a recipe--this is difficult because I only had certain ingredients and at this point it was too late--aka dark--to walk to the store and I didn't know what my family had/didn't want to steal their baking goods). I found a basic recipe, but who wants basic? And ended up with a triple layered thingamajig.

As per usual, I didn't follow the directions well ( I doubled it, kind of). And as per usual I didn't have all the ingredients, so here is my adapted recipe and I will let you know the taste-results mañana.

(Adapted from Ali, http://blissfullydomestic.com/2008/sweet-treat-cho-2)

16 oz chocolate
A large hunk of butter and a bit of Ecuadoriano Crisco-type stuff (about a cup in all)
About 20 oz peanut butter
A bag of Arroz Crocante (about 6-7 cups)
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups confectioners sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
oil

a) Put a bunch of oil in the bottom of a 9x13 pan

b) In a saucepan, melt half the chocolate (ish) and 1 TBsp of butter. Take off burner, add 2 cups peanut butter and 4 cups cereal. Stick this in the pan, spread evenly, refrigerate until hard, about 15 minutes. During this time, I cleaned the saucepan so I could use it again.

c) I melted the rest of the butter with the salt next, and thinking that we had no confectioners sugar, added about a cup of granulated sugar and a tiny bit of water to make it dissolve. Then, of course, I found the powdered sugar and thus added about 2 cups, stirring until all was mixed in. Spread half the peanut butter mixture over the choco-crispies, refrigerate. Add the rest of the cereal to the mix.

d) Toss in the rest of the chocolate (I added a bar of dark chocolate I had lying around because I had eaten too much chocolate at this point for the recipe to work), I melted it over low heat while I mixed. Spread evenly over peanut butter layer and toss in the 'fridge for about 45 minutes or until hardened.

e) You're supposed to cut them up after 45 minutes--I haven't hit that point yet. And then enjoy!


(Apparently you were supposed to top the peanut butter layer with the rest of the cereal, not mix it in, which would yield a prettier result--I blame the advert that was blocking the directions on the blissfullydomestic website. Whatevs--when was the last time I successfully followed a recipe?)


Notes on Ecuadorian baking supplies:

Arroz crocante: NOT the same as Rice crispies. They are much less airy, we'll see how this denser treat goes over tomorrow

Butter/Mantequilla: Weird. And smells bad--pretty strongly. I don't think it had gone bad, but we'll see...

ADDENDUM: After my mental breakdown of last night (when I thought that I had completely messed up the recipe and wasted a ton of PB and chocolate), this morning was a pleasant surprise. I cut up the bars and put them in a few tupperwares to bring to the center this afternoon. They were messy but actually pretty tasty. Very rich, but tasty. They got rave reviews at the center and almost all of them were eaten. I will suggest halving this batch (as the original recipe called for) and this was just way too much chocolatey, peanut buttery goodness :)

Cobbler de Moras

Apparently my love of all things "C" only extends to cooking...its not true, I definitely rank concerts and a great trip to the cine ahead of cooking, so I'm sorry for the misrep.

After bragging to the study abroad crew about the incredible apple pie I made on Sunday (and seeing their watering mouths), I decided to test out my cooking skills on my new friends. After a morning walk/run, I went on a hunt for "moras," the Latin American equivalent of blackberries. The viejcita who normally sells them on the corner of Calle Portugal y La Avenida República de Salvador was missing, so I stopped by the frutería near my house (where I bought apples for my pie this weekend), no luck. I walked back down the street to the other frutería, where after some questioning, I did find some moras, and purchased $2usd worth, a fair bit.

(The thought of buying blackberries is strange and foreign to me. We have so many in our backyard/park/neighbor's backyard etc that it has never occurred to me to buy them. Talking with a fellow study abroader, though, I found that you CAN buy them in the supermercados en los Estados AND they are EXPENSIVE!!! Sooo strange.)

But anyway, I was hoping to reproduce the incredible blackberry cobbler that my first boyfriend and I used to make roughly three times a week during late summer/early fall. Unfortunately, he did not respond to my facebook message and I was forced to make it by memory (Yes, I could have easily found a recipe online, but a) that is not my style and b) one of life goals is to bake sin recipes...and cuando en Ecuador...).

Here is the recipe I used (ish, and I didn't actually use a measuring cup):

1 c flour
1 c sugar
2/3 ish c milk
Dash o'salt
TB ish baking powder
$2usd worth of moras (blackberries)
a bit of mystery oil that was in my host family's cabinet
A pan. (I used a 9x9, I definitely remember using a 9x13 in high school, but it didn't look like I made enough batter for that size. In retrospect, a 9x13 would have worked just fine.)

a) Mix flour, sugar, milk, salt, and baking powder together.

b) Pour mystery oil into the pan (this is to keep it from sticking, I remember using half a stick of butter when I made it back in high school). You need more than a spritz of Pam. The batter needs to float on this stuff.

c) Pour batter on top. Do not mix.

d) Put moras on top. You can press them in, but do not mix. I put as many on as I can.

e) Toss in the oven at about 180C (350-ish F? I have no idea) for about 45 minutes, or until it appears done.

So. I don't have photos, but this def didn't turn out like the ones we used to make in high school. Don't get me wrong. It was delicious. I think a combination of pan size and amount of baking powder came together to create something more cake-like than cobbler-like. After it cooled and fell, it was about 3cm tall instead of the 1cm cobbler I used to make.

Also the moras I bought are similar to blackberries but not the same. They were a little tart, although not unpleasantly so...I stand by my decision to only use 1c sugar.

As for reviews from the study abroad crowd? It was gone in about 5 minutes and I heard nothing my "mmm...¡muy rico!" and "delicious" so I guess it was a success...if only we'd had ice cream. (and a camera).

Oh, just received the recipe
1c flour
1c sugar
1c milk
1c berries
1tsp baking powder
1/2 stick butter (melted in 9x13)

C is for Cooking Summer Lasagna

I love to cook, and yet I could care less about eating the final product. This doesn't mean that I don't eat what I bake (if there is food in front of me, I WILL eat it...), but rather that the process and people's reactions are what I enjoy.

I made this for my family just before leaving for Ecuador (I got the idea from one Neel Patel). It is a summer lasagna, served cold, assembled right before it is put on the table, perfect for hot summer days. I served it with baked beets (tossed with balsamic vinegar and olive oil from Greece, thanks Joe!!!), followed with my nanny's fresh raspberry pie. A perfect summer meal.

Here's the recipe:

Summer Lasagna

1 c ricotta
1/2 c parm
3 TB olive oil
salt n pepper
8 lasagna noodles, cooked and drained (I recommend cooking and then breaking them if you have a large enough pot as i had an incredibly difficult time breaking them prettily)
2 pints cherry tomatoes, halved
2 small zucchini, sliced finely
A bit of garlic, minced
A fair bit of basil

a) mix the ricotta and parm with olive oil,salt, and pepper to taste. Set aside

b) Heat a skillet and toss the olive oil in. Add tomatoes and garlic, cook for three minutes (until just broken down), transfer to bowl

c) Toss the zucchini in the skillet, with a little more oil if need be, and some salt and pepper. Cook until tender, about five minutes

d) Let everything cool and make it pretty. I scattered tomatoes on the plate, then layered noodle, cheese, zucchini, tomatoes, repeated it twice and garnished with basil.

Baked beets:

a) Cut off the tops and tails of the beets (no need to clean them)

b) Put the beets in a baking dish and cover (foil or lid)

c) Bake at 400F for about an hour, or until tender

d) Take 'em out, let 'em cool and slip the skins off

e) Slice and toss with a bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar


Jill's Raspberry Pie

4 c fresh raspberries
2 c frozen raspberries (these quantities can be switched and mixed but the more fresh berries the better)
1 c sugar
1 c water
2 TB corn starch
Cool Whip (any whipped cream works but I prefer the deliciously fake taste of CW)
1 pie crust--bottom only

a) Blind bake the pie crust

b) Put frozen berries, water, sugar, and cornstarch in a pot and cook on medium heat until thick, cool

c) Once cool (ish, as I have very little patience), fold in the fresh berries. I like to do it gently so there are intact berries once I'm done, but your call)

d) Chill until all the way cold and cover with Cool Whip/healthier althernative

LangDetectes>en GoogleDicC

nuevo, fresco, natural, puro, dulce, descocado, recio, de buen color, limpio, reciente, descarado

Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Cheesecake

In honor of a good friend's birthday, and because the guys told me I had to, I made Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Cheesecake yesterday. It was super delicious, if a bit rich and a tiny undercooked, but it didn't crack and it was a snap to put together. Eaten off paper napkins with our fingers (we're impoverished college students), it was still pretty delish :)
Here's the recipe:

3 packages (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened (I used 2 regular, 1 lowfat)
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/3 cup dairy sour cream
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1+ teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips, melted
1 cup peanut butter (the recipe called for peanut butter chips but who has those?!)
Fudge Topping(optional)
Sweetened whipped cream(optional)

Mix the cream cheese and sugar until smooth
Add sour cream, flour, vanilla, salt and mix well
Add eggs, mix until just combined
Divide the batter in half. Add chocolate chips to one half and peanut butter to the other. Mix until just blended

Pour chocolate mixture into chocolate crumb crust (below)
Pour peanut butter mixture on top, do not mix layers together!!!

Bake at 325 for 45 minutes, then turn the oven off and leave the cheesecake in for another hour. Put on a wire rack and cover with a plate (to slow cooling process and prevent cracking)

CHOCOLATE CRUMB CRUST: Heat oven to 350°F. Combine 2 ish cups vanilla wafer crumbs, 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 1/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa and 1/2+ cup butter or margarine (melted) in medium bowl. Press onto bottom and 1 inch up sides of 9-inch springform pan. Bake 8 minutes; cool.