Nutella No-Bake Crumb Bars - "Fudge"ddaboudit

Are you cheap? Is it too much effort for you to get a shopping cart so you end up carrying all your groceries? Are you hungry? If you answered yes to any of the questions above  then, this chow-fection is perfect for you. Not only is this easy to make, but you can have better than store-bought fudge in under ten minutes. Yes, it's amazing what sugar, butter, and chocolate can do in the same amount of time it takes for you to take a dump. And although these bars are certainly fudgy I wouldn't necessarily call them fudge. When you sink your teeth into these bars the chocolate automatically melts on the tongue, but the oats provide a nice chewy, nutty finish. If the kids are itching to give the family gifts this is the perfect activity to get them involved. Not only are these super easy to make, but you're friends and family will finally know that you have the best kids in the family. So scroll down and check these out!

To start I am going to bring my sugar, butter, cream, and cocoa to a boil over medium heat. Once the butter has completely melted and the mixture boils, keep it on the heat for another minute. 

When you're all set add the oats and Nutella and stir it all together. The oats give this a somewhat nutty taste and crunch, and structure-wise they make for crumbtastic fudge.

I'm going to line an 8x8 pan with an aluminum sleeve, and oil it generously with either the paper from the stick of butter, or vegetable spray.

Pour the fudge in the pan and even it off. Make sure you touch every corner of the pan with the mixture and give it a tap on the counter to make sure there are no air bubbles. 

Now once this cools, which will take only a couple minutes, you could certainly cut into it and get your holiday on. But I like to eat this cold so I chucked mine into the refrigerator to set completely. When mine cooled I turned the pan out, and sliced up even pieces. For this recipe with the oats I like a rugged shape to my bars. To do this I chopped down at a slight angle really quickly to shard off large pieces of fudge. If you want you can do the traditional straight cut but whatever fudges you boat. 

You can roll these in anything you'd like, powdered sugar, cocoa powder, crushed pop rocks, but I kept mine plain and simple. Personally I think they taste better this way, or it's because I'm lazy like that but you can be the judge of that. 

There is one thing you have to be careful of. If you put too many oats in the fudge then they will not cut straight. Bits and pieces of fudge clumped with oats will fall off but do not be sad. These crumbs are perfect for a breakfast parfait. All you need to do is layer yogurt with your fudge crumble and berries and you have a fantastic morning snack. 

But that's the end of this chow-fection. I hope with your help we can make this christmas the fudgiest, bestest christmas there ever was. And as always, 

Chow!

Recipe
2 cups sugar
4 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 stick butter
½ cup heavy cream
½ cup Nutella
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups rolled oats

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Chewy Fudgy Brownies - Just as the name suggests

This is a message to every home cook out there. Every time you buy a brownie mix from the supermarket God blinds a puppy. See how cute he is. He can't. That's just devastating.

And why would you ever want to buy a brownie mix when brownies are so easy to make yourself...wow that picture is really distracting. Cover that side of the screen with your hand as you try to read this post. 

As I was saying who knows what kinds of yucky stuff they put in those mixes and in the end they aren't really worth it. If you want to cut a year off your life don't you want to do it in style. Of course you do, you aren't stupid...or are you? 

But that doesn't even matter because these brownies are so easy a blind puppy could make it. So to start here are the ingredients. 

1/3 cup butter 

I used unsalted butter, but if you have salted butter that's fine, just don't add the salt in the later steps.

3/4 cup sugar
2 T. water or coffee

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 t. vanilla
2 eggs
3/4 cup flour
1/4 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt

     

Preheat oven to 325. Line a 9"x9" pan with a parchment sleeve or aluminum foil like I did. Spritz with baking spray underneath the sleeve and on top, just in case some slides under and set aside.

In a microwaveable bowl add your butter, sugar, and coffee. If you don't have coffee you could definitely make them with water, but be warned, your brownies won't be as delicious mine. If you're worried that you don't like the flavor of coffee don't be. The coffee will only enhance those chocolaty flavors. 

Once you're sugar has melted into the butter and everything is nice and homogeneous stir in 1 cup chocolate chips. Once the chocolate is melted, add the vanilla. 

You could use vanilla bean, or vanilla paste, or if you have no idea what those are just use vanilla extract. That's what I used. And a tip. Do not add too much vanilla. A little goes a long way and if you add too much then your brownies will have an artificially sweet flavor and that's not delicious. I always use half as much as i think I need. This way you only get the nice floral accent of the vanilla.

Now at this point your mixture should be lukewarm. If it is too hot then your eggs may scramble. Beat in your eggs one at a time until each is incorporated. Now you should have a shiny glossy mixture that is slightly thickened. 

Add the flour, baking soda and salt. Mix with a spatula until flour is completely combined. 

If you like chewy brownies beat the mixture for an additional 1 minute with a spatula. By doing this you work the gluten in the flour which makes your brownies chewier.If you like light fluffy brownies switch to a whisk. You are the master of your brownies.

Stir in the remaining 1 cup chocolate chips. Spread into the pan and bake for just 30 minutes. You have to keep an eye out. Cook it for too long and you will have a cakey brownie. 




I pulled mine out when I stuck a toothpick in it and some wet crumbs stuck to the tip. It'll look like it's barely cooked but don't panic because they will stiffen up substantially once they are cooled. Cool on a rack for at least 1 hour, until the brownies are totally cool. Then use the sleeves to lift the brownies out of the pan. I like to put them in the refrigerator so they're easier to cut, and super dense, but if you don't have my superhuman patience then cut into them when they're room temp. These brownies should yield 16, minus a few taste tests. "You call six brownies a few!" a voice from upstairs calls. Remember no judgement.

But in all seriousness you won't regret taking the 10 minutes to whip these up. They are chewy and fudgy just the way I like them. And that chocolaty flavor is so rich you'll feel like Bill Gates. 

So I hope you make these. As you can see I made them for my munchy, which is what I call my momma. If you want the whole story why i call my momma that leave a comment below. Stay tuned next week, and as always

Chow!

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