Gluten-Free Caramel Chocolate Cookie Bars

It used to be, during Passover, you had some matzo and some macaroons and you were grateful for it.  Now, Passover recipes are all kinds of fancy. I was kind of skeptical of these cookie bars when I found them looking for desserts to make for our Seder, but they really did taste just like a chocolate chunk cookie bar. And since we have run out of them, I decided to make some more, but my way.

And yes, these have no gluten because you can't have any grains during Passover, so they are the perfect treat for your Gluten-Free Friends (your GFFs ;) and coworkers (or for you, they are great for you too). AND they don't take all those different flours to make gluten free foods seem gluteny. Just five easy ingredients.

What you'll need:



2 cups of almond meal. (You can either buy it ground or grind your own. If you are making these for someone GF, please, make sure the bag assures there is no gluten.)
1 cup of brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup of GF caramel chocolate candies (I used Milk Duds- you can also use any gluten free candy you think would go well or chocolate chunks)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

You'll also need:

Optional: Chocolate chunks (it needs more chocolate! about 1/2 cup) and salt (to balance all the sweet, about 1/4 teaspoon)

Mixing bowl and spoon (or electric mixer)
8x8 baking pan
Parchment paper (if you don't use this, you may have to chip your bars out of your pan)

This really couldn't be much easier.

Preheat your oven to 375 F - Prepare your baking pan with parchment paper. Wrestle with it for a while, if you are anything like me.

Measure your 2 cups of almond meal and 1 cup of packed brown sugar in your bowl and then mix them to combine.

Add two eggs and a teaspoon of vanilla to your almond mixture, and stir until you get a thick sticky batter.

Stir in your candy pieces (Apparently I forgot to take a picture of this *sigh*).


Now, wrestle with that parchmented pan again, to get that REALLY thick batter to fill the pan evenly. Seriously, this might take a bunch of your patience, so if you are having a bad day, try to get someone else to do this part for you, unless yelling obscenities at raw cookies is one of your favorite ways to relieve stress (It isn't really all that hard, it just takes a little time, and patience... and cursing - I KID).

Once they are level, I like to cut down my parchment paper so my stove doesn't light it on fire.

Bake these for about 25 minutes. The original recipe warns like a billion times, DON'T UNDER COOK THEM. I am not entirely sure what happens if you undercook them, but they seemed pretty adamant about it, so I think I didn't undercook them... because nothing dire happened to them after baking them only 25 minutes. You want them to look more cookie-ish and less raw-ish when you take them out, and 25 minutes does that in my oven.

Now, let them cool, then, pull up on your parchment, which should pop these right out of the pan, and cut them into portions. They are very rich, so smaller might be better, but these are your cookie bars so you cut them however you want.

Now pour yourself a glass of milk and enjoy the heck out of your easy gluten-free treat!

Cadbury Creme Egg Cupcakes

There are, indeed, several Creme Egg Cupcake recipes on The Tubes, but all of them seem to be beating people over the head with chocolate.  My secret is I only really like the inside of Cadbury Creme Eggs. I know, I am one of those crazy chocolate un-enthusiasts. I don't hate chocolate, but I like it balanced with a whole lot of not chocolate.

My Cadbury Creme Egg Cupcakes have a yellow cake base peppered with creme eggs and mini chips and a delicious dark chocolate frosting on top. Just the right amount of chocolate for everyone (unless you're allergic to chocolate... or hate it, in which case there is just way too much. =P )

What you'll need for 24 cupcakes:

Raspberry Cheesecake Brownies

Two or three Springs ago, my husband planted a few raspberry bushes in our backyard, and raspberries are total hussies in case you didn't know, so during the summer, our back patch is full to the brim with raspberry bushes. I came up with this recipe to utilize the abundance of raspberries that I have when the plants are producing, but then I wanted this recipe during the winter, so I present the non-green thumb version of my original recipe.

What you'll need for a 9x11 pan of brownies:

Oreo Breakfast Bake

Yes, sometimes, I want cookies for breakfast. I'm willing to bet I am not the only one, and since I count as a grown up, cookies are what's on the menu! Oreos to be exact.

I was using up the rest of a package of Double Stuf Oreos, but I am pretty sure, any of their fancy flavors that you like would work. You could even double the cookie with the new Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Oreos. Seriously, are you drooling yet?

What you'll need for 6-8 servings:

Peaches and Cream Brown Betty Biscuits

Breakfast sweets- I don't know if I can trust people who can't enjoy a good rush of sugar first thing in the morning. I have seen apple skillet biscuits around, and while I am down for a good apple treat, my heart really belongs to peaches. There is little more satisfying than biting into a ripe juicy peach...and nothing quite as disappointing as biting into a totally unripe peach, amirite?!

Totally avoiding that possibility by using premium peach pie filling here, paired with a sweetened blend of cream cheese and sour cream, over fluffy cinnamon sugared biscuits, with a buttery crumble on top. When I dreamt this up, I knew it would be good, I just didn't know HOW good it would be.

And though I made this recipe with breakfast in mind, it would actually make a really amazing dessert too, especially with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.



What you'll need for 9 servings:

Lemon Oreo Cheesecake Doughscuits

I have heard through my foodie friend in Los Angeles, that Doughscuits are the next big thing (and apparently he heard it from NPR).  Like the Croissant Doughnut, the Doughscuit is a hybrid of a doughnut and a biscuit, and I feel confident in telling you, they are DELICIOUS!

They taste a little like funnel cakes, but are much more filling. And today, I have them for you filled with a no bake lemon cheesecake filling, coated with a thick lemon glaze, and dipped in crushed Lemon Oreos.

If you've not tried Oreo's new lemon flavored cookies, go out and get some now. After tasting them last night, I realized I needed to get a recipe done with them really quickly or I was going to eat them ALL before I had a chance.

Strawberry Tres Leche Cupcakes

Am I the only thing who thinks immediately of Latin lovers when I think of romance?

I have one heck of a romantic cupcake for your Valentine.  Growing up in Miami, having latin pastries was one of my favorite treats. So when I was thinking of other things to do with my Pillsbury Valentine Funfetti cupcakes, the first thing that came to mind was Tres Leche. Tres Leche, (pronounced trace-LAY-chay) is a central american dessert that consists of a spongy cake soaked in three different milks, that turns the cake into a spongy pudding. It is usually topped with whipped cream (or sometimes marshmallow fluff). Of course, to make this recipe extra Valentine-y, I added some sweet red strawberries.

Chocolate Covered Cherry Cupcakes

It's time for Valentine sweets. Now, the name on this one is a little bit deceiving. I went shopping and came upon Pillsbury's Valentine Funfetti cake, and everyone who knows what's what, knows that confetti cake is the best, so the actual cupcakes in this recipe are confetti, but the frosting is all cherry chocolate love!

That is not to say that you couldn't use a different flavor cake mix (though seriously, FUNFETTI!!!) like chocolate or cherry chip, or gluten free anything, if you dig on that. This is all in the name of love, so make what YOU love.

Me? I love funfetti (I think you might have caught onto that by now)!

Super Bowl XLVIII: Sticky Icky Brie Blunts

So, this year, if you are unaware, the two teams who have made it into the Super Bowl happen to come from the two states that legalized marijuana for recreational use. That has inspired a lot of jokes, and I write humor for a living (when I am not cooking), so of course, I needed to make a delicious but funny recipe that referenced marijuana without actually using marijuana (thanks for THAT suggestion, funny friends).

This recipe was seriously a whole lot of work to make a Super Bowl pot joke. Thankfully, it is REALLY delicious too, so they are worth the effort.

These "sticky icky" brie "blunts" have delicate layers of buttery phyllo filled with creamy brie, and a sweet buttery pecan crumble. Even better, after they have baked crispy, they are soaked in a tangerine cinnamon syrup. Seriously, I considered licking the plate when I sampled them... fine, I actually licked the plate.