Don't miss my "Pizza On The Grill" cookbook give-away. You'll find it in the previous post!
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Snickery Squares ~ Tuesdays With Dorie
Gosh! It seems like Tuesday comes around faster and faster every week! Like every 4 days or so. And Tuesdays With Dorie always means something good to bake and eat! Dorie Greenspan's book, Baking: From My Home To Yours has been a popular book here and with the other 235 bakers. When I joined, I was number 76. Now I've been bumped up to 50! What does all that mean you wonder? People come and go. It's a weekly thing, I knew that when I joined, but sometimes things happen in a persons life to slow them down or change focus. They have a baby, start a new job, have too much company, or in my case, they move to a different boat and the oven doesn't work! For whatever reason they have to drop out and that's why I'm #50!
Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream?
Dolores of Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity chose Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream on page 434. Yes, I know what you're thinking. These pictures don't look like Blueberry Ice Cream! I have a boatload of excuses why. Don't I always? Thing is, I don't have an ice cream maker and even if I did, my sailboat doesn't have a freezer per se. It does, but it's only big enough to hold a pint of Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Ice Cream and nothing else. And even at that, it runs on 12 volts and doesn't really stay frozen. So, with that in mind, I was allowed to choose something from the archives, something I haven't made prior to joining. I picked Dorie's Snickery Squares from page 220. You can still get the recipe from Erin at Dinner & Dessert.
Snickery Squares ~ Just like Snickers Bars?
Dorie says these little gems are just like Snickers Bars. While the taste is very similar, I would have to disagree on texture. These were awesome, but very messy and sticky to eat! I can't imagine what everyone else's little kids looked like after eating these with their hands. John had a mess in his bowl. Yes, he had to eat it with a spoon, because it was that gooey!
Sweet Shortbread Crust & Dulce de Leche
The shortbread crust was easy, but again, what's up with the butter? This recipe had a stick of butter in the crust alone, and another half stick in the chocolate topping! It made all the difference though as it was VERY buttery! The Dulce de Leche would have been a nice touch, but since I couldn't see myself driving all over Rhode Island to find it, I used a nice caramel topping instead. That may be why they turned out so gooey. Who knows these things?
Caramelized Cashews
The Snickery Squares recipe calls for salted peanuts. I didn't have peanuts, but I did have a tin of salted cashews, and they're way better in my book! I boiled the water and sugar until it reached 300 degrees and added the cashews and stirred until it was a golden brown. Turned them out onto a piece of parchment paper and let them cool until I could break the cashew brittle apart.
Chocolate Topping
I knew I should have listened to my gut here! I made Chocolate Ganache the day before for the Funky Chunky Monkey Dessert Pizza I made, and I still had a nice pot of it left over. I went with Dorie's recipe instead, saying to myself all the while, "This is never gonna work, this is never gonna work." But I wanted to stay as true to the recipe as possible. BIG FAT mistake! Another 1/2 stick of butter with all this expensive chocolate made it rock hard when it came out of the fridge. It was hard to cut into and splintered when I did it. Taking pictures at this point was a nightmare! I should have used the chocolate ganache like I wanted to. At least it would have come out easier to cut. Oh well, live and learn!
Things I Would Have Done Different?
- I would have used half the nuts. There were way too many and it made the bars hard to cut. It also made it way too salty. Salty is good in this recipe, but it was a little too much.
- Used my own chocolate ganache instead of Dorie's butter laden chocolate topping.
- Buy a really good brand of Dulce de Leche.
John Liked Them!
The Snickery Squares were very easy to make. They were a hit with John and I suspect all the guys that work with him will enjoy them too. It seems I give more away every Tuesday!
As far as the Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream goes? I don't see myself making it anytime in the future as I probably won't be getting an ice cream maker as long as we live on the boat. BUT, you can go over to the Tuesdays With Dorie site and take a look through their blogroll. I'm very sure there's a heap of blue balls of ice cream flooding the web today!
I LOVE YOU, I REALLY DO!
Your being mean! That looks too good! Your making my mouth water!
Posted by: Hannah | August 12, 2008 at 11:50 AM
What a diet killer!!! LOL
Cheryl
Posted by: Cheryl Sims | August 12, 2008 at 12:28 PM
Those are super rich, but yours looks great! I had issues with the chocolate cracking when I tried to cut them as well. I ended up eating them by the spoonful instead. Just as tasty, just not as pretty! Good job!
Posted by: Sarah | August 12, 2008 at 01:25 PM
Those look out of this world! So going to have to play catch up on some of the older recipes!
Posted by: christine | August 12, 2008 at 05:34 PM
i reckon i'll be suffering from sugar high withdrawal symptoms after leaving this page. Those look sinfully delicious! and with reference to the special note at the end, you're soo sweet.
Posted by: Sihan | August 12, 2008 at 06:59 PM
These look great! I'm glad you enjoyed them- I'm glad I chose them!
Posted by: Erin | August 12, 2008 at 07:47 PM
Did you type up "heap of blue balls" with a straight face? ;)
Posted by: Rebecca | August 12, 2008 at 08:27 PM
I had similar issues when I made these. While I did use peanuts in mine, I did try carmelizing some cashews afterwards. They were really good, though I did it with whole cashews and probably should have broken them up a bit.
Posted by: Di | August 12, 2008 at 08:43 PM
These look mighty delicious! Trade you my ice cream for your squares!!
Posted by: Liliana | August 12, 2008 at 08:57 PM
Ok, instead of trading, let's share!
Posted by: Liliana | August 12, 2008 at 09:27 PM
Those look absolutely delicious! Instead of sending them to work with John, send them to Texas!
Posted by: Cindy King | August 12, 2008 at 09:40 PM
I joined up just before these came on rotation and when I made them they went straight to my DBF work for his colleagues to eat. Waaaay tooooo rich and sticky (sickly) sweet for my tastes, but I did like the shortbread cookie crust.
Posted by: Mari | August 13, 2008 at 02:18 AM
These look delish! Snickers is my favorite candy bar.
Posted by: Lori A. | August 13, 2008 at 06:48 AM
Ohhh those look unbelievably good!!!!
Posted by: Teanna | August 13, 2008 at 07:10 AM
They do look delicious!!
A Great chocolate Fix...lol
We will have to try these...TFS
Dee
Posted by: Dee | August 13, 2008 at 08:20 AM
Those look really good. They were before my time, but I may have to try them.
Posted by: Jules | August 13, 2008 at 10:35 AM
Oh my another delicious chocolate recipe. :) I like your finishing touch of writing I love you on the plate.
Mary
Posted by: Mary C. Anderson | August 13, 2008 at 12:13 PM
They look very rich and very gooey...right up my alley. I really want to try them, along with just about everything else in the book. And your grilled pizzas look YUM!
Posted by: Pamela | August 13, 2008 at 01:02 PM
those look so yummy, i'm craving a glass of milk just looking at them!!!
Posted by: natalie | August 13, 2008 at 01:50 PM
I loooooved these bars when I made them! Isn't Dorie wonderful?
Posted by: brilynn | August 13, 2008 at 06:39 PM
The bars look do pretty - good job with all the subsitutions. But I'll say, the sweetness jumps out of the screen! I baked a rewind also, the Quintuple Chocolate Brownies and they are divine...
Nancy
The Dogs Eat the Crumbs
Posted by: Nancy | August 14, 2008 at 12:06 PM
Your bars look great against a background of blueberry. :)
Posted by: Dolores | August 15, 2008 at 12:08 AM