Seven Layer Bars aka Magic Bars

David's going on a trip so I wanted to send some goodies with him. Since the trip was on short notice (today and he's leaving tomorrow), I decided to make something easy. I had all the ingredients on hand and he has never had seven layer bars before. These bring back good memories of high school tennis meets. My high school tennis team was not great by any means but we did know how to have fun. For a lot of meets, we use to bring baked goodies...caramel brownies, Special K bars, seven layer bars. Seven layer bars are super easy to make. The most involved task is grinding the graham crackers, otherwise it's one, two, three....

Seven Layer Bars
Preheat oven to 350 F
1) Melt 1/2 C butter or margerine in 9 x 13 inch pan in the oven.
2) Add 1 1/2 C crushed graham cracks
3) Sprinkle 1 C (6 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips over graham crackers
4) Sprinkle 1 C shredded coconut over chocolate chips
5) Sprinkel 1 C (6 oz) butterscotch chips over chocolate chips
6) Dribble 14 oz can of condensed milk to cover the pan
7) Sprinkle 1 C chopped nuts on top
Bake 25 mins.

Pita Bread

Ok, so it's been awhile since I've made pita bread and it shows. I forgot that thinness is important or they don't puff. My first batch were whole wheat pita's from the King Arthur Flour's Whole Grain Baking cookbook (gift from David from my B-day), only two puffed. Determined to get this right I went to a recipe from Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads that I've made in the past. No such luck. Only one puffed nicely and the other semi-puffed. At least I captured pictures of the two that puffed nicely. It's hard to tell from the picture, the one in the oven is the whole wheat pita.



Whole Wheat Pita Bread
1 3/4 C whole wheat flour
1 1/2 C unbleached bread flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
1 1/4 C lukewarm water
2 tbsp olive oil

Combine all of the ingredients, and mix and knead them together—by hand, mixer, or bread machine—to make a smooth dough. This will take about 8 minutes by hand, 5 minutes in an electric mixer, or use the dough setting on your bread machine. Cover the dough, and allow it to rise till it’s doubled in bulk, about 90 minutes. Place a pizza stone on the bottom rack of your oven. Or line a baking sheet with parchment (or grease it lightly). Preheat the oven to 450°F. Gently deflate the dough, and divide it into eight pieces, shaping each piece into a rough ball. Let the balls rest for 10 minutes, covered, while your oven comes up to temperature. Lightly spray a rolling mat, or clean work surface, with non-stick vegetable oil spray. Use a rolling pin to roll one ball of dough into a 6" circle that’s slightly less than 1/4" thick. Repeat with another ball of dough. Place the pitas on the hot pizza stone, or place them on the prepared baking sheet, and put the baking sheet on the bottom rack of the oven. Bake the pitas for 4 to 5 minutes, till they puff up. Turn them over, and bake for another minute or two; total baking time should be about 6 minutes (about 7 minutes, if you’re baking on a pan rather than a stone). Remove them from the oven, stack them on a kitchen towel, and fold the towel up over them; this will keep them from becoming crisp as they cool. Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough.



Pita Bread
2 1/2 C bread flour
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
2 1/4 tsp yeast
2 tbsp olive oil
1 C lukewarm water

In a large mixing bowl, measure 1 C flour and stir in the dry ingredients. Add the oil and water. Beat vigorously with a spoon for 2-3 mins. Stir in balance of flour 1/2 C at a time. The dough should be a rough, shaggy mass that will cling to the sides of the bowl. If the dough is moist, add a small amount of additional flour. Turn the dough onto a slightly flour surface and knead for 6 mins.

Preheat the oven to 500 F. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces and shape into a ball. Cover the dough with a clean cloth and allow to rest for 20 mins. \

Flatten the dough into a round disk. finish with a rolling pin and roll them into 6 inch diameter and 3/16 inch thick. Place each piece of dough on a 7 inch square of aluminum foil. Carefully place 2 to 3 breads on the oven shelf. Bake for 8 mins, or until puffed. Remove breads from the oven and wrap in a large piece of foil. Repeat with remaining disks.

Blonde Brownies

I was craving something sweet but not chocolate. In the past few weeks, all I've had for sweets has been chocolate ranging from thin mints, samoas to brownies and more brownies. Wanting to make something easy, I went for blonde brownies. I have tried severely recipes and finally stumbled on a winner from the King Arthur Flour website. The original recipe is actually entitled "Crazy Blonde Brownies" but I made them a little simpler with just white chocolate chips. The combination of chocolate chips, butterscotch, cinnamon, caramel, macadamia, or chips of your choice along with diced pecans or walnuts seem like too much for me. The white chocolate chips compliments the brownies nicely. For the brown sugar, since the recipe didn't specify light or dark, I used a combination of 1 cup each since I have ample light and brown sugar on hand. No, I did not use organic white whole wheat flour, just 1 3/4 cup of unbleached all purpose flour.

Blonde Brownies
1/2 cup butter or vegetable shortening
2 cups brown sugar, lightly packed
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips

Lightly grease a 9 x 13-inch pan and preheat your oven to 350°F. Melt the butter in a medium-sized saucepan. Add the brown sugar, and stir until the mixture is smooth. Remove the pan from the heat, pour the butter-sugar mixture into a medium-sized bowl, and allow it to cool to lukewarm. Whisk in the eggs one at a time. Stir in the vanilla extract and salt. Whisk the flours and baking powder together, then add the dry ingredients to the sugar mixture, stirring to combine. Finally, fold in the chips and nuts. Spread the mixture evenly in the pan, and bake the brownies for 30 to 35 minutes, until they're light brown on the edges and top.