Arbuz's Kitchen

Melt butter in a heavy-bottom sauce pan, over medium-low heat. Add the sugar, water and salt; stir well to incorporate. Bring to a boil and add the corn syrup. While stirring, use a wet pastry brush to wash down the sides of the pan to dissolve any undissolved sugar crystals. Continue boiling and stirring until mixture reaches 280-285 degrees (this is at high altitude, so if you are not at high altitude, then you will probably need to cook it longer - 290-295 degrees). Remove from heat and add the vanilla extract. Stir to combine and pour into a well-buttered cookie sheet or an 8x8 casserole dish. Do not scrape the sides of the pan. Use a rubber scraper and spread out to desired thickness. You can either drop the chocolate chips onto the hot toffee and spread out when melted or you can melt the chocolate in the microwave and spread over the toffee. Sprinkle with chopped nuts, if adding. Allow to set up completely, then break into chunks. Store in an air-tight container.

 photo credit: http://jessicainsd.blogspot.com

Instructions:

In a saucepan over medium-high heat, brown 2 tablespoons of butter, letting it bubble up and turn a dark golden brown but being careful not to allow it burn (turn black). Once browned, remove the pan from the heat and carefully add the milk, return to stove and heat through.**** Pour the milk and butter into the bowl of standing mixer (fitted with a dough hook) and allow to cool so it is no longer hot but also not cool (about 100-110 degrees F). Once it has reached a warm but not hot temperature add the yeast and 1/4 cup of sugar and allow to proof (this can take up to 8 minutes, the top will look foamy and the liquid cloudy). Then add the the pumpkin, salt, and 1 cup of flour. Stir until combined then add the rest of the flour 1/2 cup at a time and knead for 6 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic and just slightly sticky. If the dough is too moist, add extra flour 1 tablespoon at a time.

Move dough to a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a clean towel. Allow to rise in a warm place for 60-90 minutes or until doubled in size.

While dough is rising, brown another 2 tablespoons of butter. Add the sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg and mix well.** Making sure sugar evenly absorbs the butter. Set aside. Next, grease and flour a 9x5 loaf pan and set aside.

When the dough has doubled in size, punch it down and flip out onto a clean floured surface and knead with hands for 1-2 minutes. Roll dough into a 20x12 inch rectangle.*** Evenly sprinkle the dough with the cinnamon sugar mixture and press into dough with palms of the hand. Cut the rectangle into 6 strips. Lay strips on top of each other and cut each strip into 6 even squares (cut in half then each half into thirds). Stack strips vertically into the loaf pan. Cover the pan with a clean towel and let rise for 30-45 minutes.

In the meantime preheat an oven to 350 degrees. After rising in the pan bake for 30-40 minutes (mine took 37 exactly) or until top is a very deep golden brown.

To prepare the glaze, heat the butter, milk, and brown sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to boil then immediately remove the pan from the heat and stir in the rum and powdered sugar.

 photo credit: http://noblepig.com

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Start by carefully slicing the rind off the top of the Brie wheel, but do not remove completely. Bake for 15 minutes. When the Brie is done baking, the top can be easily removed to expose the creamy cheese.

While the Brie is baking, in a medium saucepan, bring Kahlua and brown sugar to a boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes, until a syrupy consistency is made. Throw the pecans in for 2 minutes at the end to warm them through and completely cover with the sauce.

Remove the Brie from the oven (removing top rind) and pour Kahlua sauce over the Brie.

Serve warm with crackers.

 photo credit: http://www.tarteletteblog.com

original recipe: http://www.tarteletteblog.com/2007/04/donna-hays-millionaire-shortbread.html

For the shortbread crust:

Mix the flour, sugar and melted butter. Spoon (or use your fingertips) the mixture into the bottom of the mini muffin tins. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 F. Remove from the oven and set aside while you prepare the filling.

Caramel Filling:

Combine the golden syrup, butter and condensed milkin a large saucepan and cook over low heat for about 10 minutes, or until it thickens and takes on a golden color. Remove from the heat, let cool for a minute and divide among the tart shells. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.

Chocolate Ganache:

Melt the chocolate in the microwave or on top of a double boiler. Add the oil and mix well to combine. Spoon some over each tart shells and allow to set in the fridge.

Verdict: I doubled up on the quantities to make sure I had some for us and the girls at work tomorrow and I am glad I did. These disappeared while the host was pouring coffee. I am looking forward to making them again.

Ingredients:

Cake:

*To make this healthier, you can reduce the sugars to 3/4 cup each and the butter to 1 cup. The cake won’t be quite as moist as it should be, but will still taste good.

Cream Cheese Glaze:

Instructions:

original recipe: http://www.dashrecipes.com/recipes/cookbook/o/oreo-cheesecake-bites.html

Ingredients:

Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 325°F. Line 13x9-inch baking pan with foil, with ends extending over sides. Finely crush 24 cookies. Melt 1/4 cup butter; mix with crumbs. Press onto bottom of prepared pan.

2. Beat cream cheese and sugar with mixer until blended. Add sour cream and vanilla; mix well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each just until blended. Chop remaining cookies. Gently stir into batter; pour over crust.

3. Babke 45 min. or until center is almost set. Cool. Meanwhile, microwave chocolate and remaining butter in microwaveable bowl on HIGH 1 min.; stir until smooth. Cool slightly; spread over top of cheesecake. Refrigerate 4 hours. Use foil handles to lift cheesecake from pan before cutting to serve.

Cook's Note:

How to make mess-free cookie crumbs: Crushing cookies into crumbs can be a messy task. To keep the mess to a minimum, place the whole cookies in a resealable plastic bag. Flatten bag to remove excess air, then seal bag. Crush the cookies into crumbs by rolling a rolling pin across the bag until the crumbs are as fine as you need.

How to neatly cut dessert bars: When cutting creamy-textured desserts, such as cheesecake, carefully wipe off the knife blade between cuts with a clean damp towel. This prevents the creamy filling from building up on the blade, ensuring clean cuts that leave the edges intact.

 photo by http://www.jocooks.com

original recipe: http://www.jocooks.com/bakery/cakes/sex-in-a-pan/

Ingredients:

Crust:

Cream cheese layer :

Vanilla pudding :

Chocolate Pudding :

Instructions:

- Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.

- Spray a 9×13 inch baking dish with cooking spray.

- In a mixer mix all the crust ingredients together and press the mixture into the prepared baking dish.

- Bake it for about 20 minutes.

- Prepare the vanilla pudding as per the instructions on the package.

- Prepare the chocolate pudding as per the instructions on the package.

- In a mixer add the cream cheese, powdered sugar and the cup of whipped cream. Mix until light and fluffy.

- Let the crust cool. Spread the cream cheese mixture over the crust evenly. Spread the chocolate pudding over the bottom crust, then the vanilla pudding. Top with the whipped cream and sprinkle with the chocolate.

- Refrigerate for a couple hours so that it sets.

original recipe: http://caitsplate.me/2012/07/31/frozen-smores/

Ingredients:

Instructions:

- Allow ice cream to sit out on the counter until softened (not melting)

- Scoop ice cream out of the container into a 9×13 pan, smoothing out until evenly dispersed

- Freeze for 3 hours

- Remove from freezer, add container of cool whip on top and smooth over with a spatula until evenly dispersed.

- Place back into the freezer until fully frozen (I left mine overnight)

- Remove from freezer and using a graham cracker, measure the size of the square that needs to be cut. Scoop out squares of ice cream/cool-whip mixture and place between two graham crackers.

- Serve immediately or freeze.

original recipe: http://windattack.com/?windattack_recipe=vegan-maple-pecan-pie

Ingredients:

For the Crust

For the Filling

Instructions:

- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

- Mix the almond flour, flax seed and cornmeal in the food processor to mix. With the motor running, slowly add in the salt and cinnamon. Continue blending until the mixture becomes forms crumbly clumps, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Then slowly add drizzle in the water and maple syrup.

- Transfer the mixture to a 9 inch pie plate and press it into the bottom and sides to form the crust. It is important to make sure the tops of the sides are not to thin, as that it the part that will be exposed to the most heat. Bake the crust for a 10 minutes, then promptly remove and set aside.

- Lightly toast the pecans by spreading them out on a baking sheet and baking them at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove and let cool. Take one half of the pecans and chop coarsely, leaving the other half in tact.

- Whisk together the maple syrup, brown rice syrup and arrowroot in a medium saucepan, then bring up to a boil, stirring often. Once boiling, reduce to a simmer and stir continuously for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

- Blend together the soy milk, vanilla, salt and flax seed until smooth, about a minute. Let the mixture sit for about 5 minutes. It will become quite thick.

- Whisk the soy milk mixture into the maple syrup mixture until well combined. Fold in the pecans until well incorporated. Pour the mixture into the prepared pie crust and a level out with spatula.

- Bake for 50 minutes at 350 degrees until deep golden brown on top. The syrup may still be bubbling. Let cool thoroughly before serving.