The Baking Medic

These treats are one of my all time favourites. They’re called Nanaimo bars after a town in British Columbia that shares the same name. They’re quite common in that region, although not many have heard of them outside Canada. Although the three layers may seem like a lot of effort, it’s definitely worth it! They’re also no-bake bars, which is handy if it’s one of those days when you don’t feel like turning on the oven. :)

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Last night I was struck by a craving to bake. Do you know the feeling? When you just. need. to. bake. However, at 5.30pm I was reluctant to try and brave the hordes of other students buying dinner at Tescos so I was restricted to what storecupcoard ingredients I had. Luckily with me being me, there is almost always chocolate, butter, flour and sugar in the house. A few eggs generously donated by a flatmate (perhaps with a vested interest in the products of said baking…?). And finally a quick look in the fridge revealed a tub of cream cheese. Et voila! Everything you need to make these absolutely heavenly Chocolate Chip Cookies Bars right at your fingertips.

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Cheesecake Brownies with Raspberry Marble

Although I routinely get the ‘brownie-shakes’, it’s not often that I crave cheesecake.  But last week, the urge hit and I couldn’t ignore it: I just had to make something with cheesecake in it.  Since I had decided that bars would be more practical if I wanted to share these with my colleagues at work, it was just a matter of choosing the type of base I wanted.

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O Canada! Our home and native land… (NOT sung to the tune of ‘O Christmas Tree’, as so many of you delight in doing. /evil glare.)

Happy Canada Day! Well, yesterday was Canada Day (July 1) but I still hope you had a merry one! It was also my dear borther’s birthday (he gets to celebrate with everyone in the country!).  Last year, for his 21st, we threw him a big party and instead of a cake, I made cupcakes, each with a chocolate flower on top.  I remember for at least a week beforehand I was at it each night, molding the chocolate plastic into pansies, lilies, and roses… until our freezer began to resemble a bizarre stash of the decapitated heads of flowers.

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These bars are soooooo good.  But how can you go wrong with a crumbly, buttery base covered by a thick layer of fudgy chocolate? And top it off with some more buttery crumbs, chocolate chips, and chopped walnuts… I’m sold.

So I’m very much behind on my posting again.  That’s not to say I haven’t been baking! Indeed, I feel like Ive been baking more than ever.  Perhaps it’s in procrastination – I’ve got a midterm this afternoon! *gulp* Go figure that I choose the morning of the midterm to post and not anytime in the past two weeks.

This post will be a quicky.   Just some pictures to let you know that I haven’t given up on this blog. :) If you want the recipe, just give me an email and I’ll be happy to send it too you! » Read the rest of this entry «

I’ve made these twice this summer, and both times were met with resounding success. The best part about these bars is that they take almost no time to put together and are infinitely versatile. My mother has Celiac disease, a condition that prevents her from eating anything with gluten in it. This basically means that anything with wheat in it is off the menu, unless she’s got a hankering for a good case of nausea and the runs (in my experience, she has never desired this).

But as I was saying, these bars are really flexible. When I make them for my mum I keep the same ratios of ingredients, but sub in cornflakes for raisin bran and add cranberries and white chocolate chips. A very different taste, but still a delicious, gluten-free treat. » Read the rest of this entry «

As promised, I brought in my Marbled Chocolate Almond Brownies to work this past Friday.  If I do say so myself, they were as good as I remembered them! ;) And the container, empty save a few crumbs, is one of my favourite sights. » Read the rest of this entry «

/cue groan at that awful pun.  But it must be said, that these rich bars do leave you wanting more.  It all started when I was at my cottage (big surprise there, eh?) and we made s’mores one evening.  Dutifully, we roasted our marshmallows over the goals of our bonfire until they were golden, bubbling, and deliciously gooey on the inside.  I’m not gonna lie: a few of my marshmallows ended up as blackened puffs of charcoal before I finally got a half decently roasted marshmallow.

So, two things inspired these bars, which if you haven’t guessed, are supposed to taste like s’mores.  Firstly, we had a *ton* of leftover marshmallows and a box full of graham crackers.  I knew they wouldn’t be even nibbled at by my parents at the cottage, so I crammed them into my suitcase and smuggled them back to Toronto. » Read the rest of this entry «

The combination chocolate and peanut butter is not a new concept. Since the mid-1920s, people have been enjoying the indulgent (but oh so delicious) Reese’s peanut butter cups.

These were a creation inspired the flavours of the famous peanut butter cups — my first baked good recipe made up entirely by myself. It must be said, that I was partly motivated by the sizeable bag of biscuits that my brother had brought home from work. He is a stock boy at a bulk food store, and since the majority of the cookies were broken, his manager was planning on throwing them away. I think he had me in mind when he salvaged the bag of cookies.

So, equipped with a bag of mostly broken biscuits and a craving for chocolate and peanut butter, I came up with these: Krissy’s Chocolate and Peanut Butter Squares. » Read the rest of this entry «