Christmas Bark - Two Kinds

These recipes were originally posted on my Thoughtful Eats column at the Woburn Patch.

 Candy Cane Bark 

Ingredients:

2 11-oz bags of White Chocolate Chips
10 candy canes

Remove the wrappers off your candy canes and break into pieces. Place the pieces in your food processor and pulse until you only have small chunks of candy cane. You’ll have a lot of candy cane powder so don’t be discouraged if you see this. Set aside.

 Set up a baking sheet and cover with one piece of wax paper so that it covers the entire sheet. Add an inch or so of water to your pot and bring to a boil. Place your heat-resistant bowl into the pot and add your white chocolate chips to the bowl. Stir and fold the chocolate continuously until it’s all melted and there are no chunks of chips left. White chocolate melts differently than milk or dark chocolate. You’ll have a lump that looks and feels sort of like very soft clay. Immediately transfer the chocolate to the wax papered baking sheet.

With spatulas, spread the chocolate evenly over the entire baking sheet. You may need to hold the wax paper taut as the chocolate can be tricky to deal with. Sprinkle the crushed candy cane over the top of the chocolate.

Refrigerate for 45 minutes.

With a sharp knife, cut the sheet of chocolate into uneven sections.Don’t worry if some of the candy cane will fall off, only some will stick. Pack and keep in the refrigerator.

M&M Peanut Butter Cup Bark 

Ingredients:

2 11-oz bags of Milk Chocolate Chips
mini peanut butter cups, chopped into quarters
red and green M&Ms

 Follow the same instructions as above with the following changes. Omit the candy cane. Cut the mini peanut butter cups into quarters. I recommend a generic brand of peanut butter cups instead of Reese’s as they’ll be sturdier and will lend themselves to chopping.

You’ll also need about half a small bag of red and green M&Ms. This time you’ll be melting milk chocolate, which is easier to melt and handle than white chocolate. Once melted, add to a wax papered baking sheet and smooth out evenly with a spatula. Sprinkle the peanut butter cups on top then fill in the spaces with red and green M&Ms.

 Refrigerate for 45 minutes and cut into uneven pieces.

Keep refrigerated. Enjoy!

A Not-So Dominican Breakfast

Breakfast and Brunch are a big deal in the United States but not so much internationally. We have an entire culture of breakfast foods: cereal, oatmeal, pancakes, waffles, french toast, bacon, sausage, hash browns, eggs, coffee, tea, cakes, etc. But in other parts of the world, breakfast is completely different. When I would visit my father's family in Portugal, torradas (thick cut toast with butter) and galao (steamed milk with coffee and sugar) is the most common breakfast you'll find served at cafes. I asked my mother, who is from the Dominican Republic, what she would have for breakfast growing up. Dominican breakfast sometimes includes mangu (boiled and mashed plantains) topped with salami and cooked red onions (belch), or fried cheese with salami. The most common breakfast though was bread served with hot cocoa or coffee. I decided to pay homage to a simple Dominican bread and hot cocoa breakfast by expanding it into a full brunch.

Hot Cocoa (made from scratch)

Challah Bread Rolls (from Wilson Farm)

Mango Jam (from Goya)

Scrambled Eggs

Fresh Strawberries and Bananas, sliced

My mother told me that grandma made hot coca by melting some dark chocolate and water in a pan, then slowly mixing in some milk. She would then heat up the milk, stirring along the way, until the hot chocolate was done. I used Ghirardelli chocolate (dark), almond milk and a dash of cinnamon. The almonds in the milk gave the drink a nice nutty flavor. The big surprise with this meal was the mango jam. On a whim, I picked up a jar of Goya's Mango Jam and was pleasantly surprised by how delicious it was. It's got great mango flavor and isn't too sweet. With the challah rolls, they are divine. While this isn't a Dominican breakfast by any means, it did make me think differently about traditional breakfasts.

What kind of breakfasts did your parents grow up with? How do you switch up brunch?

Hello Dolly Bars

This recipe was originally posted on my Thoughtful Eats column at the Woburn Patch.

Ingredients

1 sleeve of Honey Graham Crackers (about 8 or 9)

4 tbsps of melted butter

¾ cup of chopped hazelnuts

1 cup of butterscotch chips

1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup of shredded coconut

1 small can of sweetened condensed milk

cooking spray or parchment paper

This makes enough for a 9 X 13 or 9 X 9 baking pan, depending on how thick you want the bars. 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Add the graham crackers to your food processor. Pulse until there are no chunks left and you have perfectly ground graham cracker crumbs. In a separate bowl, add the crumbs and the melted butter. Mix thoroughly.

Take your baking pan and spray with cooking spray. If you prefer, you can use parchment paper for easy lifting and clean up. Add the graham cracker-butter mixture to the bottom of the pan and press and spread until it covers the bottom of the pan. Don’t worry if it’s a little loose.

Now it’s time for the layers! Sprinkle the hazelnuts, butterscotch chips, semi-sweet chocolate chips and shredded coconut one at a time creating layers. Take the can of sweetened condensed milk and drizzle all over the top evenly.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until it’s lightly golden brown on top. Remove from oven and let cool for 15-20 minutes. Loosen the edges with a knife and cut into squares. Enjoy!

Birthday Dinner at Casa Portugal - Take Two

Last year Carlos took me out to dinner for my birthday. My choice restaurant was Casa Portugal in Inman Square (Cambridge, MA). This year? It was Casa Portugal again. The difference? This year he also gave me a new camera as a birthday present (along with a fabulous mini photo studio, more on that to come). So the pictures I took of our dinner came out far better than last year!

To start off, Casa Portugal always serves black olives, in a traditional Portuguese Olive Dish complete with  a section for the pits, as well as a basket of broa, Portuguese corn bread, and bread rolls. Always so delicious! Carlos went straight for the bread rolls until I reminded him that he should be eating the Broa instead. Broa is very common in Portugal but is a rare treat here in the states.

Of course I had to have some Vinho Branco da Casa (House White Wine) with my Broa.

There were only two other couples when we arrived but when we left the place was packed!

We had some romantic moments of course.

Carlos asked me what he got last time he was there. I reminded him it was the Febras Grehladas (Grilled Pork). It comes in a spicy garlic sauce and is served with traditional Portuguese potatoes, rice and vegetables.

He was so hungry he couldn't wait to dive in!

My absolute favorite dish to get at Casa Portugal is Arroz Mariscada (Seafood Rice). It's a pot of rice with a tomato-wine broth which is topped with a half lobster, clams, mussels, shrimp, squid and scallops and served with a side of potatoes. OH MY GOD it is so delicious. My parents and I used to go to a seaside restaurant in Aveiro, Portugal and we would always get a family sized order of Arroz Mariscada. I have fond memories of this dish. This particular pot, although for one person, was too much food for me but I tried to eat as much as I could.

I tried not to let anything go to waste!

We couldn't finish dinner without ordering some traditional Portuguese chocolate mousse. The Portuguese have some secret talent for making chocolate mousse. It's so delicious. 

Every bite is...

ectasy!

I was so glad to be able to celebrate another birthday with a superb dinner at Casa Portugal! It definitely made me nostalgic for Portugal.