Red Velvet Coconut Bars

UPDATE - After Book Club:
I would now substitute a basic chocolate cake mix instead of Red Velvet.  The red from the cake mix got all over fingers, teeth, and tongues.  Since bars are meant to be handled with your fingers, and I saw how intense the red was, I did take forks and plates and lots of napkins.  It was a bit embarrassing to see how overly intense the red was.  Oh well, lesson learned.  It was really tasty though!  Try it with just a chocolate cake mix and it will do fine...although, at Christmas, it might be pretty!
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I am going to my first Book Club meeting Tuesday morning at Paragraph's on Padre and wanted to take a treat to have with coffee.  I found a recipe on Inside BruCrew Life's blog and I wanted to give it a try, but as so often happens, I didn't have all of the ingredients.  Since I'd rather be nibbled to death by ducks than go to the grocery store today, I scanned my pantry shelves.  I went crazy... I just flew by the seat of my pants and hoped it would turn out better than okay...but if it was at least okay, I'd have something to take.  I am a huge fan of Jocelyn at Inside BruCrew Life - she has a plethora of yummy desserts and I have tried several of them... not a bad one in the bunch.  I was very hopeful that my fly-by of one of her desserts would be something she might appreciate.

Here's what I ended up with:

Red Velvet Coconut Bars

Red Velvet Coconut Bars
Inspired by Inside BruCrew Life

Ingredients:

1 Red Velvet cake mix (used Duncan Hines)
6 Tbsp salted butter, melted
1/3 cup Half and Half
1 14oz can Sweetened Condensed Milk (not evaporated milk)
8 ounces Cream Cheese, softened to room temperature
7 ounce bag of Bakers Angel Flake Coconut (sweetened)
6 ounces Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1 tsp. brewed coffee
1/2 cup heavy cream

Method:

WEAR GLOVES
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Prepare a 9x13 pan with cooking spray (I used a glass pan because I wanted to see what the layers looked like) .
Combine the cake mix, melted butter, and half and half until crumbly and wet.

Press one half of the dough evenly into the bottom of the pan.  Set the remaining dough to the side. (If you failed to heed my warning to wear gloves - well, you now have red hands)

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the softened cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk until mostly smooth.  Add the coconut and mix on low.
Pour the cream cheese mixture over the dough in the pan and smooth out evenly with a spatula.

Pull and drop bits of the rest of the cake dough over the top of the cream cheese mixture.  The dough is very "doughy" so try to pull small pieces and get them evenly over the top...it will not provide full coverage.  That's okay.

Bake at 350 degrees 28-30 minutes.  There was still a bit of jiggle in the middle when it came out.  That's okay too. It firms up when cooled.  The edges are lightly browned.  Place pan on rack and allow to cool completely.

Place chocolate chips in a heat resistant mixing bowl and add one teaspoon of brewed coffee.  In a small saucepan, bring the whipping cream just to a slight boil, stirring the entire time.  Remove immediately from the heat as it reaches a boil and pour the hot cream over the chocolate chips.  Stir until mixture is creamy and richly chocolate!  You have ganache....yum.

Spread thinly over the top of the bars.  Let set completely before cutting into squares.

The "red" part of the Red Velvet is quite messy and impossible
to cut without getting color on the white portion.
Regardless, they are delicious!
 

Bon Appetit, Y'all!!!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

We were going over to my sister's condo for a swim, tennis, and a spaghetti dinner and I offered to bring homemade bread and a dessert.  It was a really busy day - meeting at school, missed bus, forgotten computer, Zumba, a couple of lengthy business calls that took longer than expected...and it all served to wreak havoc with my day!  I ended up throwing together a focaccia for the bread offering (it was really good so I am glad that worked out) and I got rolling on the cake between Zumba and the school meeting.  I knew my brother-in-law was a peanut butter fan so I searched around for a recipe to try (family doesn't mind being guinea pigs) and I came across a Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Pound Cake on several blogs.  It sounded good so I decided to give it a try!

I printed off a recipe from pixelatedcrumb.com and she attributed the recipe to Recipe Girl.  I didn't mess with the cake too much - all I substituted was mixed chocolate chunks and chips inside the cake instead of straight chips...and I didn't use the Peanut Butter Glaze - I made a basic ganache and sweetened it up with a touch of powdered sugar and a hint of vanilla. 

Here's how it goes:

PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHIP POUND CAKE
WITH GANACHE GLAZE

Ingredients:

Cake:

3 cups unbleached AP flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup creamy peanut butter (note - do not use the natural PB unless you have the no-stir kind)
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
3 cups granulated white sugar
6 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks

Glaze:

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup sifted powdered sugar

Method:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
Spray 10-cup bundt pan generously with nonstick spray.
In bowl of stand mixer, cream together peanut butter and butter.
Add sugar and beat for 5 minutes.
In separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt - set aside.
Add eggs, 1 at a time, and vanilla to butter and sugar mixture and beat until well combined.
Add dry ingredients a little at a time, beating just until incorporated.
Stir in chocolate chips on low.
Spoon batter into prepared bundt pan.
Smooth top of batter with spatula.
Tap the pan a couple of times on counter to ensure any air pockets settle.
Bake for 1 hour and check the cake to make sure it is not browning too quickly.
Cover loosely with foil if it is browing on the outside and not done on the inside... and bake 10-20 additional minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Allow cake to cool for 20 minutes then flip it onto a rack or platter and let it cool completely.

Glaze:

In top of double boiler, combine cream and chocolate, whisking continuously over simmering water.
When completely smooth, remove from heat and whisk in vanilla.
Sift sugar in thirds over the ganache and whisk until smooth.
When cake is completely cool, slide wax paper pieces under edges of cake to catch the ganache over-spill.
Spoon ganache over cake allowing to drip down sides and center.
Wait until ganache is setting up (maybe 10-15 minutes) and carefully remove wax paper from under cake.

The cake was incredibly tasty.  I think I over-baked it though - I let it go the entire hour and 20 minutes and was evaluating doneness by color.  The edges of the cake were almost chewy (tasty but chewy) - the crumb was dense and marvelous...I almost think this would have been more appropriate in a sheet pan and served as brownies (or blondies I guess).  I had to saw through the crust when serving.  Everyone said it tasted good - but the teen said it was too "hard" on the outside - yet my sister loved the "crust" and picked it off of my son's piece and ate it.  I had a piece for breakfast this morning (bad girl, bad girl) with my coffee...it was really delicious and had softened a bit over night.  This might be one of those cakes that tastes even better a couple of days down the road.  It's really rich - a small piece is just right - the people taking big pieces couldn't finish their pieces - just so darn rich!  If I make it again, I'll reduce the cooking time.  I think I am going to try this in a sheet pan, though, and serve it like a bar cookie - it's that dense.  Or maybe a mini cupcake...that could be a really good thing! 
Sounds like a potential addition to my Christmas cookie trays!

Bon Appetit, Y'all!

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