Aren't No-Bake Cookies Supposed To Be Easy???

 The Secret to the No-Bake Cookie!!!

I cannot count how many batches of no-bake cookies I have messed up, either having puddles of oats and chocolate or crumbly mound-like cookies.

This was my first time making these, they're peanut butter corn flake no-bakes.

These are Corn Flake Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies

Which taste pretty good, although I think they'd benefit from a lack of corn syrup and maybe brown sugar instead of white. But before I made them I was looking at recipes for no-bakes wondering what I would do to prevent another no-bake fail. The perfect no-bake is chewy, not crumbly, and not sticky. I looked up what temperature I am supposed to get the mixture to, because no-bake cookies are almost candy. You boil a sugar syrup in this case, with other ingredients added for the chocolate kind, and instructions say "boil 1 minute" or endless variations of such. Now, I have searched for this before, but never found an answer. Today I did, and I tested it out with these. They are the perfect texture!

The corn syrup makes them shiny as the photo above shows, but they are just right when you bite into them. You must be dying to know the secret temperature by now, right?!

It's (drumroll please....) 230 degrees Fahrenheit!

If you want to make these peanut butter goodies, here is the recipe:

1/2 c. corn syrup
1/2 c. sugar
9 oz. (which was about 3/4 c) peanut butter, I used creamy
1/2 t. vanilla extract (optional)
3.5 c corn flake cereal

Just mix the sugar and corn syrup in the pan, heat to boiling and start checking the temperature. You could probably do the cold water test here, soft-ball stage is what you're looking for. 230 degrees Fahrenheit. I use an infrared thermometer which works for everything except meat in my experience. If you have a candy thermometer use that or one of those probe thermometers might work too.

Once you reach 230, remove from heat and add peanut butter and vanilla, and then the corn flakes. A lot of mixing is required to coat them all. Then just drop them by the spoonful (or whatever you want) onto waxed paper or parchment paper.

Makes 12 nice sized cookies, the recipe is easily doubled. Store airtight.

I am so happy to finally have a foolproof way to make these, I could never understand what I was doing wrong. When I make the chocolate no-bakes again I'll post a picture of those too.

The Out of Box Experience Episode 3: Eggo Waffles

The Out of Box Experience Episode 3

A miniseries of the best homemade versions of boxed food I have found.

Eggo Waffles (or pancakes)

This recipe uses my homemade baking mix recipe. If you have bisquick, that works too. However, we don't like the way eggs make the waffles taste, so I use egg whites and have a specific way of mixing ingredients to get the *perfect* waffle. My homemade baking mix is a bulk recipe, but it makes pancakes, waffles and drop biscuits very well, without the addition of any of the nasty stuff in store versions of baking mix. In this case, aluminum phosphate and a hefty serving of trans fat. It still has butter, you say? Well, butter is not trans fat.

Waffles
Mix in this order:

2 egg whites, beaten with fork
2 c. milk or I usually use dry milk (the powder mixed with water)
3 t. butter (melted)

I whisk all these together and add 3 c. baking mix. I preheat my waffle iron before I start mixing the ingredients and pour about 2/3 c. onto the iron. Less than 5 minutes later we have a waffle! They are crispy on the outside and uniformly light and fluffy inside.
 
All-Purpose Baking Mix
When I make this I use a kitchen scale so weight measurements are first, it's so much easier to prepare this way!

1.184 kg (9 c) all purpose (or bread) flour 
100g (7 T) baking powder (Costco has a big tub of aluminum-free cheap)
38g salt (2 T)

Did you know your daily limit for trans fat is 2g?

51g sugar (1/4 c)

That's it! Mix it and store it airtight! I used to use a gallon bag, but recently switched to a canister. You could try this with whole wheat or some other type of flour if you want it to be healthier.

I like to do this in large batches for an hour or so while I clean the kitchen and watch the kids, and we eat some and I freeze the extras in a freezer bag. Then when someone wants a waffle, just toast it or microwave it just like Eggos!

Yummy Additions to the Batter:

Fresh or frozen blueberries (or any other fruit in small pieces)
Bacon bits (sounds weird but it's good!)
Food coloring to swirl it (toddler likes these)
Sprinkles (another toddler addition)
Vanilla or cinnamon 

And, since I posted my baking mix recipe, here are the additions to the mix that will give you pancakes or drop biscuits.

Pancakes

1.5 c baking mix
1.25 c milk 
1 egg

Mix together and cook on griddle at 350. Just add more milk to achieve the consistency you want. These freeze great too. Makes enough for 3-4 servings. I usually double this.If the batter is left thick, it makes very thick pancakes!

Drop Biscuits 

2.25 c baking mix
2/3 c milk
4 T. butter (cut in, optional)

Mix all just until moistened, if using butter cut it in the dry mix before adding the milk. Spoon onto baking sheet, bake at 450 for 8-10 minutes. Also freezable. Makes 12 (or however many you choose).

The Out of Box Experience Episode 2: Pop-Tarts

The Out of Box Experience Episode 2
 A miniseries of the best homemade versions of boxed food I have found.

Pop-Tarts

My version of a Strawberry Pop-Tart

Around here we are not afraid of butter! In fact I go through about 4 lbs a month. We don't buy the stuff in the tub, maybe one day I'll post why, in short, butter is healthier. 
These tarts are not health food just because they are homemade. They still have *gasp* plain sugar and plain old white flour-but...they don't have trans fats, HFCS, TBHQ, etc. Here's the link, see for yourself. Wow. Also note the serving size, calories and sugar content, it's shocking!
http://www.kelloggs.com/en_US/pop-tarts-frosted-strawberry-toaster-pastries.html

Cocoa Marshmallow Creme Fail

My toddler didn't even get any, because hubby and I ate them all! In our defense the chocolate filling I put together on the fly was a fail, so no one ate them, but the crust was good. They are just in need of a filling that will hold up to the baking process. I tried flavoring marshmallow creme with cocoa and vanilla, it tasted good, but it deflated when I baked it (should've thought of that).

I used strawberry preserves with the plain pie crust and that was delicious. The crust isn't sweet, so there's a good balance between the sweet strawberry and the crust. I recall eating Pop-tarts long ago and feeling sick afterward thanks to all the sugar. These won't give you the stomachache. For the glaze I used powdered sugar mixed with milk till I got the right consistency (I wanted to make it thick enough to not run off, but some did anyway :).  Make sure you put the sprinkles on right after the glaze or it will dry and your sprinkles will roll right off. You could also flavor/color the glaze if you wanted.

If you're looking for a healthier version, I am going to create one. Coming soon.

Butter Pie Crust Dough
(from Epicurious)

1.25 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 T. sugar
1/2 t. salt
1/2 c. (1 stick) unsalted cold butter, cubed
3 T. ice water (possibly more)


Blend dry ingredients in a food processor. Add butter and pulse in until coarse meal forms. Add water, pulsing, just until moist clumps form. Gather dough into a ball, flatten into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap, refrigerate for an hour. Soften slightly at room temp before rolling.



Assembling Instructions:

1. Make dough/s and refrigerate, come back later.
2. Let dough sit on counter while you prep a surface to roll out the dough on. Get your trusty Pam spray can (or rolling pin), some flour for dusting, a ruler (if you care that much), baking sheets (no need to spray, this is butter dough!)
3. Roll the dough out in workable chunks to about 1/4 inch thick and cut to pop-tart size or use a cutter. I guessed using my bench scraper for the Pop-tart look-a-like and then used a little rubbermaid container as a cutter for the rest. You can reroll the scraps.
4. After all pieces are cut, lay them out and do a little math to ensure you have equal numbers for tops and bottoms. Spread filling on leaving space around the edges, add the top. Use fork tines to pinch it together. (*You could use egg white/water to seal the edges together before pinching, I didn't and the above shows what happened).

Bake at 350 until the pastry starts puffing up and looks done (*technical description*). This took about 10-15 minutes in my oven. I didn't have instructions from the recipe on this part so I winged it. I wanted them a little underdone so they could be toasted later, but later never happened :). Let them cool before glazing.

Store airtight. Plain crust recipe makes about 14 (complete) 2" square tarts. Each square has 124 calories.

Here's a link to the chocolate pie crust I used:
http://americanfood.about.com/od/desserts/r/Chocolate-Pie-Crust-Recipe.htm

If anyone figures out a filling for the chocolate or cinnamon versions I'd love to hear it!