Friday, March 30, 2012

Salted Chocolate Toffee Pretzel Bark Easy to make and very difficult to stop eating

  Five ingredients that are likely to be in your cupboards already and requiring only about 20 minutes of  semi-attentive time.
Recipe:
Ingredients:

Mini Pretzels – as many as it takes to cover your pan
1 Cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 Cup Light brown sugar, firmly packed
2 Cups, (1 12 ounce bag) chocolate chips
Sea Salt or Kosher Salt
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line an 11 x 17 jellyroll pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper and set aside. Cover the pan in a layer of mini pretzels. In a small saucepan over medium heat combine butter and sugar. When the mixture starts to gently simmer and bubble, stir for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and immediately pour over the pretzels. Be careful this is very hot! Place in oven and bake for 5 minutes.
Place the pan on a cooling rack, and immediately sprinkle chocolate chips evenly over the top. Wait for about 2 minutes, until the chocolate melts. Grab a spatula, and spread the chocolate over the toffee. Sprinkle with sea salt.
Let the toffee cool completely, and break it into pieces. (To speed up the cooling process, you can place the pan of toffee in the refrigerator or freezer.)

Nutella pound cake

 Nutella-Swirl Pound Cake
Ingredients
1.1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
2.4 large eggs, at room temperature
3.2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
4.3/4 teaspoon baking powder
5.1/4 teaspoon salt
6.2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
7.1 1/4 cups sugar
8.One 13-ounce jar Nutella
1.Preheat the oven to 325°. Lightly grease and flour a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan, tapping out any excess flour. In a glass measuring cup, lightly beat the eggs with the vanilla. In a medium bowl, whisk the 1 1/2 cups of flour with the baking powder and salt.
2.In a large bowl, using a handheld mixer, beat the butter with the sugar at medium-high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. With the mixer at medium-low speed, gradually beat in the egg mixture until fully incorporated. Add the flour mixture in 3 batches, beating at low speed between additions until just incorporated. Continue to beat for 30 seconds longer.
3.Spread one-third of the batter in the prepared pan, then spread half of the Nutella on top. Repeat with another third of the batter and the remaining Nutella. Top with the remaining batter. Lightly swirl the Nutella into the batter with a butter knife. Do not overmix.
4.Bake the cake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Optional Add 1/4 cup of rum. Invert the cake onto a wire rack, turn it right side up and let cool completely, about 2 hours. Cut the cake into slices and serve.