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

You Might Like:

Crunchy Chewy Orange Chocolate Cookies
Chewy Fudgy Brownies
Mini Blueberry Tarts

Coming Soon - Nutella No-Bake Crumb Bars

I cannot stress how easy this is. I mean you could literally have holiday fudge in less than 10 minutes. These bars are perfect for giving as gifts, or just for you selfish indulgent people. So I hope you check back for this amazing holiday chow-fection. And as always, 

Chow!

Strawberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake - Easily Coffee's Best Friend

This picture was stolen from Food Wanderings in Asia, check her recipe for the original

Someone asked me the other day, if you could be any type of dessert, what dessert would you be? (That never happened.) But without skipping a beat I said a coffee cake. See there are few desserts in the food universe that are allowed to jump meal times. One of these are the danish and the other is the coffee cake. And this coffee cake, is the king of all coffee cakes. I don't care if you're allergic to strawberries, or if you're lactose intolerant, what doesn't kill you makes you happier. This Strawberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake has everything that you could possibly want in a dessert and a breakfast. So take your epinepherine shot so we can get started. 

Preheat your oven to 350. 
Because this dessert is composed of four different layers I'll go over each layer individually before assembly. 

For the cake I'm gonna start by combining my flour and sugar in a bowl. Take your butter that is reasonably cold, not frozen but definitely not melted, and cut the butter into the flour. If you don't have a pastry cutter then buy one, but if you're too cheap to do that, you can use two forks and some elbow grease. By the way that's not an extra ingredient, it's just a saying. If you want to skip all the hard work than a food processor can also be used. Once the mixture resembles coarse crumbs measure off 3/4 of a cup and set aside. This is going to be our traditional coffee cake crumb topping. 

Continuing with the rest of the cake batter, add the baking soda, baking powder, salt, and combine well. In another bowl whisk together your yogurt, lemon juice, egg, and vanilla. I've tried this recipe with sour cream and it worked beautifully, but what I've been meaning to try is using greek yogurt. I assume because the water has been strained out of the yogurt the cake would be a little drier, but if someone is willing to take the risk please comment below on how it worked out. 

Pour the wet mixture into the dry and stir thoroughly. It'll look really ugly, but do not panic. Those lumps will smooth out in the oven. 




I knew I was meant to make this cake because God told me so. It turns out I had exactly 1 cup of cream cheese left, the exact amount to make this recipe! I know I was as stoked as you were. 

So now it's time to make the cheese layer, which could not be any simpler. With a whisk, or a mixer, beat your room temperature cream cheese until smooth. I cannot stress room temperature enough, save us both the trouble and just leave it out early. To our smooth cream cheese we are going to add in the egg and sugar and blend thoroughly. Now that that's done we can move on to the jam. 

If you were making your own jam, which I'm not, the recipe would follow. My ol' friend Martha provided this recipe.
Strawberry Jam 
For me, I'm just going to use my local costco's standard strawberry preserves. Microwave this for 30 seconds or until it's runny and shines. By the way, I forgot to do this and mine was really hard to spread, but I'll explain that more later.

We have all of our layers ready so let's assemble. Spray an 8 inch spring form pan and line the bottom with a circle of parchment. The circle doesn't have to be exact, it's only for extra protection. We don't need any accidents, if you know what I mean. Pour the batter into the mold, and using a spoon, push the batter a half an inch up the sides to create a well to pour in the cream cheese. It's crucial that when you pour in the cream cheese, you do not let it touch the sides of the pan. Be very careful. After this dollop your teaspoons of jam onto the cheese center and spread an even layer over the cake. After you are satisfied with your spreading skills, sprinkle the reserved crumble on top. I never took a jam spreading class so my spreading was a little funky. I was too embarrassed to show you how mine looked so I just didn't. 

You want to bake this for 50-55 minutes, or until the top is golden, and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Don't bother testing the cake until after 40 minutes. When you think it's ready let the cake rest with the oven door ajar. I just stuck a spoon in the oven door. Keep it in their for about 10 minutes, this will help the cream cheese part to not crack. After letting it rest, set it on the counter top until it's cool enough to handle. After it's cool enough to handle unmold it and chuck it into the fridge to completely cool. I was too impatient and I cut it before it was ready. Completely ruined one side of the cake, but I wasn't worried cause it still tasted amazing. 

Your tribulations will be rewarded for this is one of the most moist, delicious, beautiful desserts on the market. Some people even call this visual poetry, looking at the picture I have to agree. When you serve this to your friends they'll be amazed, and more importantly proper hierarchy will be restored. So I really, really hope you give this a try. And as always, 

Chow!

So beautiful

Recipe

For the Cake and Crumble
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, cold and cut into chunks
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup sour cream or yogurt with one tablespoon of lemon juice
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

For the Filling
8oz or 1 cup cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg

Jam

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons Strawberry Jam

You Might Like:

Roasted Strawberry Tart
Dairy Free Strawberry Banana Ice Cream
Strawberry Lime Oatmeal Squares

Coming Soon - Strawberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

I know, I need to start shortening these titles, I think I'm on track to using up all of the adjectives in the dictionary by the end of this year. Anyways, this week have a new delicious chow-fection for you, one you won't be able to keep your face hole away from. It's my Strawberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake. One of my favorite things about coffee cakes are that no one yells at you  for eating cake for breakfast, omitting the pancake. That's why I tried to combine all of my favorite desserts into this chow-fection because when is the next time my mom is gonna let me eat cake for breakfast, probably never. So I hope you stay tuned for this one. And as always, 

Chow!

Eating Desserts For Breakfast : Being Yelled At :: Eating Coffee Cake : Trump Card
Hopefully this doesn't give any of you flashbacks to those dreadful SAT studying days.