Chocolate Candy Cookie Bars

Spend quality time  with your children around the kitchen

and together you can easily whip up these sinfully delicious cookie bars

loaded with all (...or some) of your leftovers Halloween chocolate candies

I hope you had a fantastic Halloween, and a relaxing, sugar-free Sunday. I meant ... sugar-filled Sunday! We all know what really happens the day after Halloween. The kids go crazy with all the goodies they have collected, and want to eat them all.
The general rule in my house is to let the kids play, count, and compare their treasures. But they can pick only a few pieces to eat. I try to make the rest disappear. Well, not all of it! I would never get rid of chocolate candies. You all know that I LOVE chocolate. I could never say no to a melt-in-your-mouth piece of the finest chocolate, maybe filled with crunchy hazelnuts, and silky gianduia milk chocolate. Are you thinking about those fancy Italian baci too?!? So delicious!

Today I baked with one of my boy these fantastic cookie bars filled with leftover Halloween chocolate candies. This recipe is a great way to use those candies, and it's easy enough that your kids can do it by themselves, or maybe with a little help. You can let your kids decide which chocolate bars to use. From Snickers to Milky Way.Or Reese's Cups and M&Ms. Let them go wild! Just set the limit to about one and a half cups of candies cut in pieces for a batch of these cookies.

My kids love when they get to help in the kitchen.  It gets very messy, but it's so much fun. Cooking is a great learning opportunity, and an amazing way to bring the family together.  Sometimes it's hard to spend quality time with the children, when they are so busy with school, homework, sports and all that after-school activities.
After today's crazy baking experience I can honestly say that I need to bake more with my boys and work on their cooking skills. Neither of them could be the next MASTERCHEF JUNIOR. Not a chance, at least for the moment! Have you seen what the kids on the show can actually cook?!? Simply amazing!
In the finale of the last season, the remaining two contestants had to make a three course meal in only 90 minutes. One of the boys made an Italian inspired menu, starting with herbed homemade ricotta cheese, with roasted beets and pumpernickel bread. Yes, you heard correctly! Ricotta cheese made from scratch. I have never tried and never even thought about making it, until I saw this episode. If an 11 year old can whip up ricotta, I certainly can do it too. Well ... maybe  :)
Next on the menu, there was an impressive dish of beef cheek ravioli with pan gravy and shaved Parmesan. And for dessert a perfectly creamy sweet risotto (rice pudding style) with figs and verjus. Probably you wish you knew what  "verjus" is, right?! Not even my laptop spell-checker knows it really. But I do! And I learned it from the show, of course!
MASTERCHEF JUNIOR is super fun and exciting, for both adults and kids. And it's very inspiring, with all those impressive and mouthwatering dishes. I've actually decided I need to be one of the judges on the show! I can really see myself sitting next to Gordon Ramsey and sharing the fork ;)
So make sure to watch the new season of MASTERCHEF JUNIOR. It's starting this Friday November 6, 8/7 c on Fox.
Just one word of advice before the next show: make sure not to watch on an empty stomach. It will make you hungry,for sure!

Here is the recipe for these soft and gooey, rich and intense, dangerous cookie bars. Every bite is  exploding with everything you love about leftover Halloween chocolate candies.  You can make it as fun or as simple as you wish.

Ingredients: to make an 8x12 inches (20x30 cm) baking pan, cut in about 16 bars

• 4 oz (115 gr) of unsalted butter, melted
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup packed (200 gr) of brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 2 cups (300 gr) of all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• a pinch of salt
• 1 and 1/2 cups (about 200 gr) of Milky Way and Crunch bars, or other (Snickers, Butterfingers, Reese's cups, ...)
• 1/4 cup (40 gr) of M&Ms for decoration (optional)

Preparation time: about 40 minutes
Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F (175° C). Melt the butter in a double boiler, or in the microwave for about 30-40 seconds. Let it cool, while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
2. In a large bowl add the eggs and sugar. Mix well.

3. Whisk in the melted butter.

4. Blend in the flour, baking soda, and salt.

5. Stir in the two cups of chopped chocolate bars.

6. Press the dough to the bottom of a 8x12 inches (20x30 cm)  baking pan, covered with parchment paper. Sprinkle the top with the M&Ms if you wish, to give a colorful twist to the bars. Press the  candies down a bit with your finger, so they won't roll around.

7. Bake at 350° F (175° C) for about 20-22 minutes. Take the cookies out by pulling up on the parchment paper, and cut in pieces. To have perfectly cut bars, make sure to wait for the cookies to cool down a bit. Or if you don't mind... we didn't mind and couldn't wait to taste this - just go ahead, cut and enjoy!  I made 16 bars, about 2 by 3 inches each. You could also cut smaller portions and make 24 bars ( 2x2 in ).

Enjoy :)

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Halloween Ghost Brownies with Marshmallows and White Chocolate

Perfect recipe for your kids' Halloween party

These cute and spooky ghosts are made with deliciously rich and fudgy brownies, topped with a big marshmallow covered in white chocolate ganache

I'm feeling that Halloween is creeping up on me without warning this year. It's only two weeks away, and I'm not ready.
I just finished with my little boy's birthday party this week, and I need to start worrying about  some fun Halloween recipes for you, costumes for the boys, decorations ...yes, I have not filled my front yard with any scary things yet. Shame on me!
So, here it is - at least one recipe: Easy-to-bake, little ghosts made with a big marshmallow, covered in delicious white chocolate ganache, sitting on top of a dark, rich, and sinfully fudgy brownie.
I know. Spooky, right?!? ... definitely spooky for the waistline! Haha!

I saw this idea the other day on BettyCrocker.com. That recipe uses Betty Crocker's brownie mix and ready-to-use white frosting. You could do that, if  you are feeling lazy ... Ahem. I mean, if you want to save a couple of minutes of your time :)
Homemade brownies and white chocolate fondue sound and taste so much better. And it's really not that much more work. So check out my video, and you will see:

This recipe is so easy, that you can do it with your kids too. You could even be the amazing mom (or dad, of course!) to throw the coolest decorate-your-Halloween-brownie-ghost party!!!!! Sounds fun, right?!? The kids will love it for sure :)
Here is what you'll need to do.

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:  to make 6 ghost brownies.            
For the brownies:

• 4 oz (110 gr) of unsalted butter 
• 1/2 cup (100 gr) of semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli)
• 2 eggs 
• 3/4 cup (150 gr) of sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup (75 gr) of all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup (35 gr) of unsweetened cocoa powder (Ghirardelli, or another good quality)
• 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
• pinch of salt

For the top:

• 6 large marshmallows
• 1/2 cup (100 gr) of white chocolate chips (Ghirardelli or other good quality)
• 2 tablespoons of heavy cream
• mini chocolate chips for decoration (to make the eyes and mouth of the ghosts) or brown/black frosting

Preparation time: about one hour and and fifteen minutes.
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350° F (175° C). Place the half cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips and the butter into a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for about 30 seconds (set on high). Check, mix and add about 15 more seconds if needed.
If you prefer, you could also melt the chocolate with the butter in a double boiler - Place the bowl over a steamy pan partly filled with simmering water. Mix until fully melted.

2. In another large bowl whisk together the eggs, the sugar and the vanilla extract.

3. Mix in the flour, the cocoa powder, the baking soda,  and the melted butter/chocolate mixture (which should be cool down a bit by now). Stir all the ingredients are combined, do NOT over-mix.

4. Spoon the batter into about 6 muffin cups, about 3/4 of the way. You can use silicone cup as is. If you have tin cups, please spray or grease with butter and flour. Or line with paper cups.

5. Bake for about 25 minutes at 350° F (175° C). Do not over-bake, or the brownies will dry up.
Let the brownies cool down, before removing from the mold. When cooler, remove the brownies and set aside while you prepare the topping.

6. Melt the white chocolate chips with the heavy cream. You can microwave for about 20 seconds, mix and add a few more seconds (maybe 15 more seconds) until melted. Or you can melt the chocolate with the cream in a double boiler, same as before.

7. Place one marshmallow on top of an upside down brownie. Note, the bottom of the brownie is much flatter than the top.
Hold the marshmallow with the tip of a toothpick, and pour some of the melted white chocolate on top. The white chocolate will harden quickly when it cools off, and will hold everything together.

Decorate with the mini chocolate chip and make the eyes and mouth of the ghost.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween Ghost Chocolate Cake Pops

Super cute Halloween ghosts

Chocolate cake pops, covered with white chocolate icing. 

A few days ago I found a cake pop baking pan on sale and I have been waiting for the right occasion to try it out. Also, I've been inspired by Raise.com, a popular marketplace where one can save by buying or selling gift cards, to present to my readers a delicious Halloween themed recipe. With Halloween around the corner, and my new pan waiting for me, I jumped at the opportunity! So here are these adorable little chocolaty cake ghosts, perfect for my (and your!) next Halloween party.
This was my first attempt at pops, and I have to say, the results were quite good: cute and soft chocolate cake covered in deliciously sweet, white chocolate icing. These pops are not too difficult to make, even though the decorating part was a bit labor intensive for me. But this is a great and fun project for a lazy weekend - the perfect activity to enjoy with your kids. They will love it!
One suggestion. If you plan to make pops for more than one occasion, I recommend investing in the right pop pan. It's not too expensive, non-stick, easy to use and clean, and  makes perfectly round pops. You can buy it from Amazon, if you'd like. Here is the link for the pan I have. And remember to check out Raise.com for savings for your Halloween shopping spree. I looked, they even  offer Amazon gift cards!

Ingredients: To make 12 pops

• 4 tablespoons (half stick) of unsalted butter, melted
• 1/3 cup of sugar
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1.5 cups of white chocolate chips
• black icing for decoration
• 12 pop sticks (mine were included with the pop pan)

Preparation time: 30 minutes to prepare the pops, and about 30 minutes to decorate

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut the butter in pieces and melt in the microwave, at medium-low power, checking every 20 seconds or so.
2. In a large bowl, mix the egg with the sugar and the cocoa until well  blended.

3. Add the melted butter and stir some more.

4. Blend in the salt, flour and baking powder.

5. Grease the baking pan with butter and flour. Spoon the batter into the bottom half of the pan, evenly into the 12 spots.

6. Cover the top of the pan and secure it with the two pins provided. Bake for about 18 minutes. There is a little hole on top of the pan, so you can test with a toothpick for readiness!
Let the pan cool for at least 5 minutes before opening and removing the pops.

7.  Melt the white chocolate chips in a double boiler. If you don't have the double boiler pan, you can place the chocolate chips in a heat-safe glass container. In a larger pan, bring to a boil an inch of water. Lower the flame, so that the water is just simmering. Place the glass container with the chocolaate into the pan, and melt the chocolate mixing continuously. If you'd like, add little sips of water to the chocolate to make it less dense, until you find the desired consistency.

8. Insert a stick into each pop, and dip it in the chocolate. Helping yourself with a spoon make sure the chocolate covers the whole pop. Let some chocolate drip on the stick at the base of the pop, so that the stick will stay in place when the chocolate cools down. Let the excess chocolate drip back into the pan.

9. Let the chocolate cool down before decorating the pops with black icing. I simply drew two eyes and the mouth, but you can be as creative as you'd like. Have fun!