Cookies and Cream Bark

This Valentine’s Day, I decided to make a special, personalized treat for my Valentine instead of giving him a heart-shaped Russell Stover box.  Cookies and cream flavored ice cream, chocolate, and cake are the only type of dessert he will tolerate (which, as a dessert freak, is the most confusing preference I have ever heard of), so I attempted to make a cookies and cream bark that I had tried once at my favorite candy store, Candy Kitchen.  I usually find my inspiration from experiences or other blogs, then attempt to recreate the recipes with little success.  However, this bark came out exactly like the real stuff!  And the best part?  It only requires two ingredients and eight minutes of your time.  Easy and so delicious!   

It was a little deflating, however, when my Valentine responded with “Yesss!! I’ve been craving cookies and cream bark all week” …before he even opened the box.  Apparently everyone knows these days that when birthdays or holidays arrive, some sort of homemade treat will be coming out of my kitchen.

Cookies and Cream Bark

Original recipe and photos by Culinary Chronicles of a College Kid.blogspot.com

Serves 4-5 (or one very hungry Valentine)

·         1 12 oz. bag of white chocolate chips

·         7-8 Oreos

Pour half of the bag of white chocolate chips into a microwave-safe bowl.  Place in the microwave for 30 second intervals, stirring after each one.  Once the chocolate is completely melted, add the rest of the chocolate chips to the melted chocolate and stir.  Place in the microwave for 30 second intervals, stirring again after each until all the chocolate is melted.

Put the Oreos into a large Ziploc bag and crush them until they are fine.  You can use a rolling pin for this or simply crush them with your hands. 

Pour the crushed cookies into the bowl of melted chocolate and stir until all the cookies are fully incorporated.

Next, place a sheet of wax paper on a cookie sheet.  Pour the melted chocolate and cookie mixture onto the wax paper and spread evenly.  You can make the bark as thick or as thin as you’d like.

Place in the freezer for about twenty minutes.  Once the bark is solid, take it out of the freezer and break apart into pieces as large or as small as you want.  Store at room temperature…if you can resist eating it all at once!

Yum Yum Yummm

Happy Valentine's Day :)

A few pieces left over for the chef.  They didn't fit in the box...I swear!

Enjoy :)

Total time: 8 minutes

Coming soon...

It has been well over a month since I last posted and I have been dying to get back into my blogging routine.  Schoolwork and job searching has been distracting, but I haven’t stopped cooking!  Here are a few things to look forward to in the coming weeks:

Spinach Salad with Lemon Chickpea Cous Cous

Elvis French Toast (peanut butter and banana. always)

Grilled Chicken Pizza for One

Oreo Bark

Check back soon for the full recipes!

Peanut Butter Chip Banana Muffins

This winter break has been pretty lazy for me – lots of lounging around the house and catching up on my favorite TV shows.  I’m using the fact that we were snowed in for three days as my excuse :)  I did manage to leave the house last week to spend some time with friends in the Poconos, however.  I wanted to make something yummy for everyone to snack on while we were there, so I decided to make some muffins that could be enjoyed in the morning for a quick breakfast, or a late night snack just in case it was too late for Domino’s to deliver (which almost happened when we called at 1:01 am and it closed at 1:00 am.  Luckily we were able to persuade the delivery boy to make a special exception for us!).

Banana and peanut butter is my favorite flavor combination, so I was very excited to see how these muffins would turn out.  I used a base recipe for banana chocolate chip muffins from For the Love of Cooking, and substituted the chocolate chips for peanut butter chips.  They came out so moist and delicious, I had trouble resisting eating all of them before I even left!  Everyone else agreed that they were top-notch.  Try them out for breakfast, snacking, or even dessert!

Peanut Butter Chip Banana Muffins

Adapted recipe and photos by Culinary Chronicles of a College Kid.blogspot.com

Original recipe by For the Love of Cooking.net

Makes 12 muffins

• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup of vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup of vanilla yogurt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 large, very ripe bananas
• 1 cup peanut butter chips

Can you spot the bananas? They were so ripe that they blended in with the countertop!



First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Then, coat a muffin tray with cooking spray.  Mix the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, white sugar, and brown sugar) in a large bowl.  Next, mix the wet ingredients (egg, oil, yogurt, vanilla, and mashed bananas) in separate bowl.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients slowly.  Make sure not to over mix, as this will create tougher muffins.

Fold in the peanut butter chips.  Fill the each muffin cup ¾ of the way full with batter. 

Place in the oven for 20-22 minutes and muffins are golden brown on the outside.  Let cool in the tray for five minutes before removing the muffins and letting them cool on a rack.  Enjoy!

She liked 'em

Total time: 35 minutes

My Super Sweet 22nd Birthday

This Christmas was culinary themed for me, as all of my family and friends knew that this blog was a major part of my fall semester.  I was so excited to find a slow cooker, a cookbook, and a food processor under my tree this year!  Best of all, though, was the cupcake classes I received as a birthday present from my sisters.

My birthday is on Christmas, which usually elicits some apologizes from people when they hear how my special day is overshadowed by the holiday season.  I, too, admit to feeling sorry for myself at times when my presents get lumped together into the "birthday/Christmas" category.  This birthday/Christmas, however, I had nothing to complain about.  I finally got a special day of my own this year, as the cupcake class was actually a surprise party!  I was shocked to find all my good friends waiting for me inside the Butter Lane Bakery when I arrived.  Cupcakes and my closest friends – what more could I ask for?

The private baking room, which consisted of three large cooking stations with a mixer on each, was reserved for our group for two hours.  Each station was in charge of making a different cupcake flavor - vanilla, chocolate, and banana (my favorite).  The bakery provided us with their recipes for each type of cupcake and gave us tips as we went along.  After the cupcakes were put in the oven, we had a delicious time whipping up some vanilla, chocolate, cream cheese, and peanut butter frostings.  Everyone had stomach aches at this point from sneaking fingerfulls of batter and frosting, but we mustered up enough energy to frost our 100 cupcakes that had just come out of the oven.  We were taught the “professional” way of frosting a cupcake, but the tricky technique was quickly abandoned by all after a few attempts.  What took the professionals ten seconds to complete, took my friends and I ten minutes to roughly imitate!  Instead, we resorted to mixing and matching our cupcakes and frostings as we pleased, and had a blast in the process. 

Here’s the proof:

The surprise - I cried.

The bakery

Worst cooks in America

How do you turn this thing on?  Well, the answer is the "on" switch.

CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES!!!

Caught eating the batter

Proud bakers

Cupcakes for days

Time to frost!

Yum

Delicious treats and great memories were made.  I recommend a cooking or baking class as a present to any foodie you know, or just as a fun activity to do with your friends!

Stop by the Butter Lane Bakery if you are ever in NYC, or sign up for their cupcake class if you are looking to learn some new skills!  

P.S. A cupcake-themed birthday party is perfectly acceptable for a 22 year-old...