Rice Krispie Treats

Rice Krispie treats are a staple American dessert, and are often used as a easy first cooking lesson for children. I'm a total novice at cooking so this seemed like a good place to start!

I know nothing about cooking, and I reluctantly joined Sunday dinner group (through marriage). I must confess that after a few weeks I'm actually starting to get into it.

As I was picking such an easy dish I decided to add a little excitement by throwing some Oreos into it.

One baking dish of rice krispie cake yields about 10 to 12 decent sized servings, all for about $5. You will need:

• 12 oz (340g) standard size box of Rice Krispies - $2.50
• 18 oz (510g) bag of Marshmallows - $1.50
• 15 reduced fat Oreos - $1
• 4.5 tbsp of butter (about half a stick) - $0.25

I try to eat reasonably healthy food, so I adapted the recipe accordingly. The standard recipes suggest having 6 tbsp of butter, but almost all the saturated fat and cholesterol come from the butter, so I just reduced the amount. The reduced fat Oreos have half the saturated fat of the normal ones, and they honestly taste just as good.

I put all the nutritional information into a spreadsheet and crunched the numbers. Each rice krispie treat serving (about the size of a soda can) contains:

		RDA%
Calories	400	16%
Saturated fat	3.7g	18%
Cholesterol	14mg	5%
Sodium	338mg	14%
Carbohydrates	79g	26%

If I can find a substitute for butter that doesn't ruin the flavor then this would be a really healthy dessert - you could reduce the amount saturated fat significantly, and there would be no cholesterol. I'll definitely investigate that next time I make it.

As for cooking, the only tricky bit is stopping the mixture from sticking to anything it touches. Apparently you should cover your hands and stirring implement with cooking spray (e.g. 'Pam'), but I only found this out afterwards.

The instructions are simple:

• get a baking dish ready and spray it with cooking spray
• chop the Oreos
• melt the butter in a huge pot on the hob on low heat (e.g. level 2 of 10)
• add the marshmallows, stir constantly until they are liquid
• add the rice krispies and stir furiously, this is damn hard work!
• once mixed, add the Oreos and stir until mixed
• remove from heat and force contents into a baking dish
• smooth the top for a nice finish
  

You can eat it warm, or at room temperature. I wouldn't recommend putting it in the fridge, apparently it loses some of its crunchiness. Enjoy!

English Sticky Toffee Pudding

I first had this cake in England, and I was incredibly hesitant about having it because the description had dates.  Who the hell eats dates, especially in a freaking dessert?!  Anne convinced me to have it, and it was pretty hard to say no to because it was the only dessert on the menu that included ice cream.  Let me tell you, it is probably one of the best cakes I have ever made and everyone falls in love with it!!!

First you need about 3/4 of a cup of dates.  Take the pits out and chop them up (finely if you don't like the consistency, or coarsely if you want texture).  Place the dates in a bowl and put a teaspoon of baking soda.  Boil a cup and a quarter cups of water and place it in with the dates.  Stir it a bit, then set it aside.

Then you want to sift a cup of flour and a teaspoon of baking powder.

In an electric mixing bowl, put a stick of butter in with 3/4 of a cup of sugar.  Beat until creamy.  Then add a teaspoon of vanilla and one egg until super smooth and creamy.  Gradually pour in the flour (it should resemble cookie dough).  Once all the flour is in, set the mixer to the very lowest setting.  Then slowly add the dates and liquid--if you just dump it all in, be prepared for a big splash!!!

When everything is well incorporated, pour into a buttered and floured cake pan or cupcake tin.  Place in a 350 degree for about 35 minutes (until a toothpick comes out clean).

The piece de resistance is really the toffee sauce.  In a sauce pan, add two sticks of butter, a half a cup of heavy cream, and a cup of brown sugar on a medium low heat till it's all melty.  Then add on top of the cake.  You can also whip up some heavy cream, add whipped cream from a can, or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  Such a yummy yummy dessert!!!  :)

Real Banana Pudding!

So this is an old Southern favorite, except the South prefers making a layer type of pudding--vanilla pudding, sliced bananas, vanilla cookies, repeat.  This is fine and good, except I want real bananas infused into my pudding, but not from a box.  You can also use banana extract, if you like the alcoholy after taste.  Really, you want bananas!

I typically use about two bananas and put them in my food processor.  You can also mash them if you would like a rustic, chunky pudding.  Place this in a very large measuring cup.  Pour in half and half till you have 3 cups total of both banana and milk.  This is extremely important because if you don't, you'll have more of a banana yogurt (and that isn't fun at all!).  In a sauce pan (preferably one with a pour spout), combine 3/4 of a cup of sugar and 3 tablespoons of cornstarch and combine the milk concoction and set the stove top to medium.  It is very important to continue stirring the contents at the bottom, otherwise you'll end up with burned sugar.  This recipe tries your patience because you have to continue stirring until this bad boy thickens up like pudding.  Once it becomes thick, you want to temper four egg yolks.  Tempering is where you take about 3 tablespoons of the hot stuff (the milk concoction) and whisk it into the eggs--this prevents the eggs from scrambling.  Once tempered, pour the eggs in whilst you whisk so you don't end up scrambled eggs at the bottom.  Then put in a tablespoon of butter and melt it in.  Once melted, take it off the heat and pour into four serving containers.  Refrigerate to set.

This is a gluten free dessert as is.  My sous chef helped me caramelize some bananas to make it look pretty (you just sugar the sides and fry them in a pan with a bit of butter).  Once you add normal vanilla wafers, the recipe obviously is no longer gluten free.

I usually don't like pudding, especially pudding out of a box.  This pudding is super awesome.  And you can do so much to it (e.g., layer fruits or cookies).  So yummy.  I highly recommend you make this for guests, who are totally going to be impressed when you tell them it's not from a box!