Afghan Biscuits

I had vaguely heard of Afghan biscuits, or cookies, before but wasn't too sure what they were all about. It turns out they are a traditional biscuit from New Zealand that contains chocolate and cornflakes and is topped with a chocolate icing and often a walnut. My brother's girlfriend made them, but made a gluten-free version using brown rice crisp rice cereal instead of cornflakes and they were delicious! Soft and chocolaty, with a crisp texture from the cereal and a not-too-sweet chocolate icing.

Chocolate Crispy Christmas Squares

This is a spin on the traditional crisp rice cereal squares. Extra texture comes from the addition of oats and coconut. The squares are given a holiday theme by using colored shredded coconut and crisp rice cereal, both are available in red, green, and white colored mixes for the holidays. Of course you can use regular as well, especially if it isn't Christmas time. These squares also have a mellow chocolate flavor. 

Chocolate Crispy Christmas Squares
1/2 cup butter or hard margarine
4 cups miniature marshmallows
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1 cup shredded, colored coconut
1 1/2 cups Christmas crisp rice cereal
1/4 cup semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips

In a large saucepan, melt the butter and marshmallows until smooth. Stir in remaining ingredients. Press evenly into a greased 9x13 inch pan. Let stand briefly to firm up before cutting. 

Crispy Peanut Mallow Bars

I had four small amounts of slightly random ingredients in my cupboard that were staring me in the face and needed to be used up. Luckily, I came across a recipe that incorporated all four of them: graham cracker crumbs, marshmallows, peanuts, and crisp rice cereal. These bars are easy to make, and taste sort of like a type of chocolate bar - they are not too sweet and can be cut as big or as small as you wish. Just make sure they are chilled when you cut them, and they cut very easily. They will hold up at room temperature for serving. 

Crispy Peanut Mallow Bars
CRUST
1 1/4 cups all-purpose (plain) flour
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup butter or hard margarine, melted
1 large egg, beaten
TOPPING
1 1/3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup golden corn syrup
1/4 cup butter or hard margarine
2 cups crisp rice cereal
1 cup peanuts (I used whole, lightly salted)
1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows

Line a 9x13 inch rectangular pan with foil and grease foil. Preheat oven to 350◦F.
CRUST: In a large bowl, stir together the flour, crumbs, sugar, and baking powder. Make a well in the center and add the butter and egg. Mix well until combined. Press mixture firmly into prepared pan. Bake for 12 minutes. 
TOPPING: While crust is baking, in a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the chocolate chips, corn syrup, and butter until smooth. Stir in the cereal and nuts.
Sprinkle marshmallows over hot crust and return to oven for two minutes until puffed. Spread evenly with a knife to cover crust. Spoon topping over top and spread evenly. Cool squares, then chill for several hours until firm before cutting. 

Paré, Jean. "Chocolate Peanut Squares." Recipe. Chocolate Squared, Edmonton Alberta: Company's Coming Publishing Limited, 2009. 4.

Choco Marshmallow Cereal Trees

This chocolate marshmallow treat could not be simpler and faster to make! Only four ingredients that all get mixed together and formed. No baking or pans required. It is not exactly a Christmas recipe, but was turned into one sort of by mistake. As with many icebox cookie doughs as well, which are chilled in a log then sliced to bake, when you roll it into a log, it doesn't always stay perfectly round, especially while resting on a refrigerator shelf. Sometimes this can be overcome by placing the dough in a paper tube, such as an empty paper towel roll, but some doughs are thicker than that. So in this case, when my mother took the log out of the fridge after chilling, it was not a perfectly round log. It was a bit trickier to form this into a round log since it is cereal treats and not a dough, so it turned out to be sort of triangular shaped. No problem here, now the slices simply look like Christmas trees! Especially since the marshmallows seem to end up one the inside of the log, so they look like little ornaments. See, sometimes mistakes are awesome! 

Choco Marshmallow Cereal Trees
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips, melted
2 cups miniature marshmallows
2 cups crisp rice cereal

Mix all ingredients together. Turn mixture onto waxed paper and shape into a log, approximately eighteen inches long. Wrap tightly and chill for at least one hour, until firm, before slicing. 

The types of chocolate may be varied, additional chocolate chips or chopped nuts may be mixed in with the cereal, and the form may be varied - try putting it in a pan like squares, rolling into balls, eating as is, or making trees!

Krispie Oatmeal Chip Cookies

Krispie Oatmeal Chip Cookies
1/2 cup butter or hard margarine, softened
1/2 cup granulated (white) sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose (plain) flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup crisp rice cereal
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350◦F. Lightly grease or line cookie sheets.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and both sugars. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Add remaining ingredients, mix well. Drop dough by tablespoons onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden. You can bake these shorter for soft oatmeal cookies or longer for crispy cookies. Since "krispie" is right in the title, I recommend baking crispy cookies. 
Recipe yields 30 cookies. I got 42 good-sized cookies. I baked most of mine for exactly 12 minutes, but I baked one batch for 15 minutes to get crispier cookies. Both are good. Recipe comes from RobinHood.ca. 

 "Krispie Oatmeal Cookies.”  http://www.robinhood.ca/recipe-details.aspx?rid=3278&lid=1 . RobinHood, n.d. Sunday, September 9, 2012. 

Rice Krispie Squares

Who doesn't love the classic, simple, and delicious Rice Krispie squares (or crisp rice cereal squares, if you don't want to use brand names)? Whether they came directly from a box, or were homemade from cereal in a box, they are quite tasty squares. Slightly surprising, considering they take about five minutes to make, and contain only three to four ingredients (crisp rice cereal, marshmallows, butter or hard margarine, and sometimes vanilla extract). They are so simple to make, I even have the recipe memorized; six cups of cereal to one bag of marshmallows, and two tablespoons butter plus a splash of vanilla). Although the classic version is such a favorite, I have also made chocolate, fudge, chocolate caramel, and chocolate butterscotch versions of these squares. I have also used this cereal in countless other recipes, mostly cookies and other squares. There are now also different flavors of crisp rice cereal you can buy to make different kinds of squares, including vanilla, cocoa, and whole grain. Crisp rice cereal and marshmallows seem to go very well together, just maybe not for breakfast. I prefer to make homemade crisp rice cereal squares, because I like everything homemade, they taste better, have less preservatives, and you can control exactly what goes in them. Plus these squares are so quick and simple to make, there really is no excuse to buy them instead of make them. I will include the recipe in case you don't know it, but it is featured on many crisp rice cereal boxes, as well as in cookbooks and online.

Crisp Rice Cereal Squares
1/4 cup butter or hard margarine
1 bag (250 grams) miniature marshmallows (or about 40 large)
6 cups crisp rice cereal
a splash of vanilla extract (optional)

In a large pot over medium heat, melt the butter and marshmallows together. Stir in the cereal, and vanilla if desired, until well coated. Spread into a lightly buttered 9x13 inch rectangular pan. Set aside to cool and set before cutting.

Crispy Fruit Pizza

This is a dessert I made a long time ago, but I decided to share it today because it reminds me of summer and today is May 1st. I am really looking forward to some warmer weather, and the season for fresh, juicy fruit! This dessert is just as it is named: a crispy fruit pizza. The crust is basically the same mixture you would make for crisp rice cereal squares, but it is pressed into a round pizza pan instead of a square or rectangular pan. Once chilled, it is spread with a chocolate mixture. I believe the cookbook where I  found this recipe idea called for a mixture of chocolate, cream cheese,butter, and icing sugar, or something similar to that, but I simply spread the crust with chocolate pudding, because that is what I had on hand. Same consistency and same chocolatey flavor, yet slightly less work and a taste preferred by my family. The rest is the fun part - decorating the pizza! I cut up bananas and fresh strawberries, but any fruit imaginable could be used in any combination. Fruits such as bananas, apples, and pears should be brushed with either a little lemon juice or a mixture of jam thinned with a little water to prevent them from becoming brown. Jam will add a pleasant, sweet, fruity taste instead of a sour lemon taste, and works equally as well as lemon juice. Just lay the fruit on the pizza in any pattern you want, and decorate the remainder of the pizza with whipped cream. Using whipped cream from a spray can or spooning it into a piping bag fitted with a decorative tip makes a more attractive appearance. This dessert is light, fresh, and delicious. I cannot wait for the summer days to come!

Chocolate Pretzel Cookies

If you are looking for a good cookie recipe that is a bit different than others, here is one to try! These are Chocolate Pretzel Cookies, and they contain quite a few not so typical ingredients. They are certainly unique, but very good! Pretzel pieces actually work very well in cookies, especially when you add some chocolate to the mix!

Chocolate Pretzel Cookies 

1 cup butter

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated (white) sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose (plain) flour

1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

1/2 cup oats

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 cup mini pretzels, broken up

1/2 cup crisp rice cereal

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips and chunks

Preheat oven to 375◦F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla.

In a separate medium bowl, combine the flour, coconut, oats, baking soda, and salt. Add to the butter mixture. Stir in the pretzels, cereal, and chocolate.

Drop spoonfuls of cookie dough about 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheets. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until just set. Allow to cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before removing. 

I found this recipe in a magazine. The only change I made was I added in some chopped mini milk chocolate bars, because I only had chocolate chips and not chocolate chips and chunks. You could use just chocolate chips, but adding the chocolate bar filled the cookies with two types of chocolate and added a little more variety. Also, I found the recipe made 40 cookies, although the yield was 30 cookies, and I thought I was making my cookies big at that. They also spread out and flattened quite a bit, which made them nice and crisp.

10 Things You Will Always Find In My Cupboard

1.  Flour: The base for the majority of baked goods, you can't do much without flour.
2. Sugar: Can you imagine eating a cake (and frosting) without sugar? Neither can I!
3. Baking Powder: Your baked items won't look very impressive if they are as flat as a pancake.
4. Vanilla: Even though most recipes only call for a teaspoon or so of this flavouring, it goes a long way and really enhances the flavour of those goodies.
5. Chocolate Chips: Many of the recipes I make have chocolate chips. We have some real chocolate lovers at this house and chocolate just makes everything so much better.
6. Sweetened Condensed Milk: A fabulous, conveinent base for many baked goods, especially squares, you will never find a proper substitute for this.
7. Rolled Oats: Add texture and heartiness to many baked goods, especially muffins, squares, and cookies, oats are also good for breakfast.
8. Oil: When butter or margarine just wont do, oil is the way to go. Makes excellent stir-frys and extra moist cakes.
9. Cereal: You'd be surprised how many recipes include cereal, no matter what kind! Even savoury dishes and dinners use cereal from time to time.
10. Pasta: A great base for any dish when you just don't know what to cook. Pasta is so versatile and comes in so many different shapes and sizes.

Chocolate Crunch

Today I made Chocolate Crunch from the Company's Coming Cookbook "Sweet Dreams" in the Focus Series, by Jean Paré. This is a quick, easy, and tasty recipe that does not require an oven. I have included the recipe. The only trouble I had was dipping the slices into the melted chocolate. I found the chocolate was too hot, and when dipped, the slices fell apart because of the heat. It would not work if the chocolate was allowed to cool, because then the chocolate would not be of dipping consistency. So instead of entirely coating the slices, I just used a small spoon to spread the melted chocolate over the top of the slices. This seemed to work out well. The slices are not quite as chocolatey as if they had been fully coated, but that just means you can eat more of them :)

Chocolate Crunch

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

1/4 cup dark corn syrup

1/2 cup crisp rice cereal

4 semi-sweet chocolate baking squares (one ounce or 28 grams each)

Combine peanut butter and corn syrup in small bowl. Add cereal. Mix well. Roll into 8 inch (20 cm) long log. Chill. Cut with sharp knife into 1/4 inch (6 mm) slices.

Heat chocolate in small heavy saucepan on lowest heat, stirring often, until almost melted. Do not overheat. Remove from heat. Stir until smooth. Place 1 slice on fork. Dip into chocolate until coated, allowing excess to drip back into pan. Place on waxed paper. Repeat with remaining slices and chocolate. Let stand until set. Makes about 32 pieces.

Paré, Jean. "Chocolate Crunch." Recipe. Sweet Dreams, Edmonton Alberta: Company's Coming Publishing Limited, 2007. 16.