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Don’t Try This at Home
Something went wrong with our attempt at making Candy Bar Surprise Cookies. The recipe seems simple enough: wrap cookie dough around a piece of a candy bar and bake. Several baking blogs make it look easy. Maybe our oven was too hot or maybe the cookies stayed in a minute too long. The end result was a cookie with a hole in the middle where the candy bar used to be. Should we try again? If so, what tips can you give us?
S’morsels
There was plenty of good food at the choir Christmas party but my eyes went straight to the dessert. My wife sings in the choir at All Saints Church. They had a holiday gathering and sing-along on Saturday evening at the home of one of the members.
The kitchen table was loaded with pimento-cheese sandwiches, fruit salad, chicken wings, sliced vegetables and many other choices. To me, it was all just a precursor to the Pampered Chef S’more Cups in the center. The cup is made of crushed graham crackers mixed with sugar and butter. Half a marshmallow sits on a square of chocolate. After it comes out of the oven, melted chocolate is drizzled on top.
The recipe reminded me of one that was recently shared by a Facebook friend. Baked S’mores Bites consist of graham cracker chunks with squares of chocolate and mini-marshmallows. I’m interested in making both.
Peepermint
Lori accepted my Marshmallow Peeps challenge. Three weeks ago, we were chatting about the chocolate-covered treats she makes at the Chocolate Monkey in Kodak. Marshmallow Peeps are not on the menu at the store. She experimented with these Peeps Pops on her own time.
Instead of merely dipping the Peeps® Peppermint Flavored Marshmallow Stars in chocolate, Lori put them on sticks and completely enrobed them. The chocolate does a wonderful job of muting and complimenting the peppermint flavor.
Comedy Comestibles
The conversation in Sid’s Lounge turned to food after Tuesday night’s Einstein Simplified show. My wife and I were talking with Lori and her friend Amber, who are managers at the Chocolate Monkey in Kodak and Pigeon Forge, respectively. I introduced the ladies to Jennifer, who works as a personal chef and also served up an amazing dish at the March of Dimes Signature Chefs Auction on Sunday.
Jennifer described some other meals she had prepared recently, including one that combined peaches and bacon. Lori told us about chocolate-covered Twinkies and other decadent treats at her store. I challenged them to make something with Marshmallow Peeps, ideally Peeps brûlée. My wife told them about the time we used leftover Peeps Ghosts to cover our sweet potato casserole on Thanksgiving.
Side Splitters co-owner Bridgette O’Dell is running a special during our November 29th show. Fill a table of four and everyone at the table gets 10% off their total bill. Reservations are required, especially since there will be a large group from the FBI Knoxville Citizens Academy Alumni Association in the house that night. Use the promo code CHAIR when booking your table online or by phone at 865-934-LAFF.
Butcher and Baker
The recent addition of three items to my small collection of 1982 World’s Fair memorabilia made me want to revisit Sweet P’s Barbeque and Soul House. The World’s Fair logo is everywhere at Sweet P’s. In addition to the collectibles on the walls and shelves, the logo is displayed on the shirts and hats of the employees. A shelf in the dining room is filled with cans of World’s Fair Beer.
Last month I had an excellent chicken sandwich but the rib I sampled didn’t meet expectations. My wife and I gave Sweet P’s another try on Friday night with much better results. The chicken was once again perfect. This time, the ribs on our sampler platter easily separated from the bone. We really liked their Tomato N’ Blues Salad as a side item. For dessert, we split a bacon chocolate chip cookie. The unusual treats are made for Sweet P’s by Magpies Bakery. I’m sure our son will want to try one when he’s home for the holidays.
Fire, Cracker
If Peeps brûlée turn up on the menu at the Catholic Charities dinner next March, I will be ecstatic. It’s an extreme long shot but at least I planted the idea in the mind of Christopher Moore, executive chef for the Knoxville Convention Center.
Chef Moore was on stage at the Tennessee Food & Wine Festival, preparing beef brisket soft tacos. As emcee, I was making small talk and asking questions about the recipe. Our conversation turned to the tortillas, which the chef buys uncooked. We talked about ways to cook them, including over an open flame on a gas grill, which is the same way I toasted the Peeps brûlée. The chef said he wanted to try Peeps that way. A snippet of our conversation turned up on SMOMOtv on Saturday.
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The headliner at the festival was Royal Chef Darren McGrady, who told stories about Queen Elizabeth while preparing one of Prince William’s favorite tea cakes. The no-bake recipe calls for crumbled McVitie’s Classic Rich Tea Biscuits and melted chocolate. He used Ghirardelli. The chef said that we Americans could find the McVitie’s biscuits on Amazon.com. I mentioned that some local supermarkets have a British shelf. From my perspective, the broken tea biscuits looked vaguely familiar. I asked if we could substitute animal crackers for McVitie’s. He thought about it for a moment and, to my surprise, said yes. Animal crackers were probably a fairly close match.
S’meeps & S’mupcakes
A search for WordPress themes led me to an unusual Marshmallow Peeps recipe. I am still looking for a good fit for a new FBI Knoxville Citizens’ Academy Alumni Association website but I will take a moment to enjoy the sweet distraction.
A website called Tasty Kitchen caught my eye. I was drawn to the desserts section by their photo of Peep S’mores. The simple recipe calls for layers of graham cracker crumbs, M&Ms and Peeps. It would be a good way for me to use up some of my leftover Peeps.
I can imagine how Peep S’mores must taste. Another recipe on the site made me curious and interested in trying soon. As the name suggests, Salted Fudge Brownies combine salt and chocolate. From the photo, I assumed that coarse salt was sprinkled on top of the dark chocolate brownies. Instead, the recipe says to swirl the salt into the batter.
They have a recipe for Chunky S’mores Dipped Cupcakes that is unusual to me. Marshmallow frosting is piled high on graham-cracker cupcakes and then chilled to firm it up. The frosting is then dipped in melted chocolate to complete the trifecta.
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