Baking – Simple Comfort Food – Recipes that are simple and delicious.

Ultimate Brownie Bites

July 16, 2017July 16, 2017 Dax Phillips Leave a comment

Since I have been laid up at home, and the kids have been around during their summer break, I have been dabbling in more baking than I probably should, not only to kill time and boredom but to provide a dessert for post dinner meals for the kids. I typically let my daughter handle most, if not all, of the desserts for the family. By default it is typically a small bowl of ice cream, however my daughter will jazz things up with crushed pistachios and a fresh raspberry coulis from time to time. For me, I have little patience and just want to get things done with dessert. This is where the ultimate brownie bites comes into play.

It’s similar to the dump cake I made last year, or maybe even the Ranger cookies where I purged a bunch of things from our cupboard. This is very identical and the inspiration was to get rid of things and make a chocolate dessert that I knew my kids would love. The things I do, I’ll tell you…

Not the prettiest of pictures, but trust me, the picture doesn’t matter as the taste made up for it.

Let’s get started.

1 box of your favorite brownie mix, cooked according to its instructions
16 small Reese’s peanut butter cups
6 Oreo cookies, crushed
1 cup of graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup of roasted, salted peanuts, crushed
1/4 cup of butterscotch chips, optional
vanilla ice cream, optional

Start by baking your brownie mix according to directions. Cook about 3/4 of the way through, then remove from the oven. We are only cooking partially as we are going to load it up and finish the rest with the toppings.

Once about 3/4 of the way through cooking, remove the brownie pan from the oven and set onto a non-burn working surface.

Take the graham cracker crumbs and sprinkle on top of the brownies, lightly coating the top.

Next, layer on about 16 of the Reese’s peanut butter cups.

Ultimate Brownie Bars Recipe — Ultimate Brownie Bites Recipe

Crumble on the Oreo cookies, then sprinkle with roasted peanuts and butterscotch chips.

Place this back into the oven, and cook until the top is nicely melted and the brownies are cooked to your liking.

Remove, let cool, and let the kids gaze at this sugary delight until it is time to dig in. Sure, it’s a mess when slicing into it, and it falls apart of the most part, but that’s where the vanilla ice cream come in and acts like a glue to capture all of that loveliness.

Was this a hit for dessert? You betcha, and let’s just say it didn’t last long in the house. The good thing is I was able to purge a few things from the cupboard while satisfying the rest of the family. A win, win. Hope you enjoy!

Larb Stuffed Loaded Baked Potato

July 13, 2017July 13, 2017 Dax Phillips Leave a comment

I’m always looking for something to do with my leftovers and to be honest I am a bit surprised I had any leftovers from a recent Thai/Lao larb fest. I will also be honest and state that larb is probably one of my top 10 things to eat. There’s something about the medley of flavors and the interaction when grabbing a bit of sticky rice and nubbing it down into the herbaceous larb. I’ve done a bunch of different things outside of the standard larb recipe, of which includes leftovers. Everything larb fried rice, larb bao, and larb quesadillas to name a few. This one on the other hand goes right up there with an excellent use of leftovers, still has that great heat (depending on how you make the larb), and is filling to boot. This one is larb stuffed loaded baked potatoes. I can probably chalk this one up with all of the potato skins I’ve made in the past as well.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of leftover larb (feel free to use beef, pork, or chicken)
1 baking potato
1/2 tbsp olive oil
pinch of salt

That’s it. Granted you may thinking making larb takes a bunch of time, but seriously, it takes about 5 minutes, or as long to cook your protein

Start by preheating your oven to 400 degrees, or use your microwave if you want to roll that way, and poke some holes into the potato with a fork.

Take some olive oil and lightly coat the exterior of the potato, and season with a bit of salt. I love a crusty, salty potato, and yes, I eat the whole thing.

Bake or microwave the potato until it is knife tender in the middle. This takes about 8-10 minutes in the microwave, or about 45-60 minutes in the oven.

Once the potato is fully cooked, remove it from the oven, take a butter knife and make a long slit through the top, then carefully using your fingers give it a pinch to make a nice open pocket.

Warm your leftover larb in a skillet, or microwave, then generously load the larb into the baked potato. You can see the extra Thai chilies I added (nice boost for vitamin C), and how loaded it is. I also wanted some extra heat. Did I mention that I find myself eating a Thai chili a day? For whatever it’s worth, it hasn’t kept the doctor away, but I do love them.

If you are looking for a great and interesting take on a loaded baked potato, give this one a shot, but by all means, if you have not had Thai/Lao larb you must make it. It’s addicting. Hope you enjoy!

Coconut Pie

July 3, 2017 Dax Phillips Leave a comment

I’m always thinking of things to create to get one or more of my kids in the kitchen. Having three kids in the kitchen is quite the task, but I’ve been known to manage a couple, especially when teaching them how to make smoked pork ribs. When it comes to dessert creation however, I tend to go straight to my daughter for assistance, and this coconut pie was no exception.

I’m a big fan of coconut, and I knew that my wife and daughter were as well. Seeing that we had family in town, I decided to make a(nother) coconut pie as the first one I made was devoured in less than seven hours. Yup, I said it, in less than seven hours. That’s almost unspeakable in my kitchen. It was that darn good.

Let’s get started on this coconut pie which is way too easy to create.

Ingredients:

3 whole eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 lemon zested, and juiced
1 cup sweetened coconut flakes
1/2 cup additional coconut flakes, lightly toasted
8 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1 store bought frozen pie crust

This pie is pretty much a mix, and dump into pie crust, so yes, it’s really that easy. The only time intensive part is waiting.

Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees.

In a mixing bowl, mix all the filling ingredients, omitting the toasted coconut flakes at this time, until nice and smooth and then pour into the frozen pie shell.

Place the pie onto a cookie sheet to prevent any spillage, and then bake for 1 hour.

After 1 hour, remove the pie from the oven, and top with the toasted coconut flakes. Let the pie set and then place into the refrigerator for at least one hour to completely cool before slicing and serving.

You talk about an awesome pie, and when biting into it you get the great texture from the toasted coconut, then the creaminess, then the zing from the lemon. BOOM! This is one awesome pie. Hope you enjoy!

Ranger Cookies

May 19, 2017 Dax Phillips 3 Comments

If there was one cookie I truly loved it was a cookie, a straight up oatmeal cookie, that my grandma made. I tried to recreate them off of her recipe many years back and they were just not the same. Maybe it was grannie’s touch, who knows. As I keep beating this one down, I am not a sweet tooth, and really do not consider myself to ever have been one. Sure, I liked Jolly Ranchers, would not turn down candy, but I would have to say that during my late teens, through today, I have not had any interest with sweets. But for whatever it is worth, these last few weeks I have wanted nothing more than sweets. I have had an ice cream sandwich, probably each day, candy, and have been making a dessert when energy allows, for my kids about once or twice a week. This recent one probably has many different names, but I’m going with the Ranger cookie recipe on this one.

I want one now, they are that good. The only reason I came up with the Ranger cookie recipe is that I wanted to start purging things, you know the half open bags of things that your kids once showed interest in, and essentially toss them into a cookie mixture, bake, and serve.

TRUST ME ON THESE COOKIES. You will have a hard time just eating one, and trust me they are huge. Huge in the sense that you are fitting about 6 on a cookie sheet. A large cookie sheet!

Let’s get started.

Ingredients:

2 whole sticks of unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
2 whole eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 ripe banana
1 cup frosted flakes
1 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 cup lightly toasted coconut flakes
1 cup peanut butter chips
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup of nuts (walnuts, cashews, almond slivers), optional

See what I mean about the purge?

Start by getting your mixing bowl ready, and add in the butter. Beat the butter until it is a bit light and airy, only a couple of minutes, if that.

Next add in both of the sugars, continuing to mix on medium-low speed, then add in the vanilla extract, banana, and eggs.

Stop your mixer, then add in the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Turn your mixer on low and slowly let that flour incorporate into the mixture. If you go back to medium speed, you are going to have flour flying out onto your countertop. Let’s not go that route!

Once the flour starts to incorporate and stick with the rest of the mixture, slowly add in the frosted flakes, oats and toasted coconut. If you wanted to add in nuts, go for it. My kids are not fan of nuts, but my wife and I are, but in this case I was thinking of the kids.

Lastly, add in the chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and mix until everything is nicely blended.

The trick here is chilling your dough. I think this lends to a crispy, yet chewy cookie in the long run, and those are my favorite type. So place the bowl of dough mixture into the refrigerator for 1 hour.

About 45 minutes in, preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and line your cookie sheet with parchment paper. Have I mentioned what a fan I am of parchment paper?

Take your cookie mixture out, and spoon, or use about 1/4 cup, of the cookie mixture onto the baking sheet, leaving a few inches in between each cookie. I fit about 6 on my sheet.

Place into the preheated oven, and cook for about 15 minutes, or until the cookies are golden brown, and cooked in the middle.

Once achieved, remove the cookie sheet from the oven, let cool for a few minutes, and carefully remove onto a cookie rack to cool.

Repeat with remaining dough.

I probably ended up with 18 of these cookies, maybe more and they lasted only a couple of days. These cookies are so freaking good, and my kids questioned not once, not twice, but three times as to what was in the cookie. Believe it or not but they got most of the ingredients with the exception of the toasted coconut. Regardless, not complaints, and after about a gallon of milk and a dozen cookies later, I think I made each of those kids happy!

If you are looking for a great cookie, and one that is totally satisfying, give these ranger cookies a try. Hope you enjoy!