Monday, December 13, 2010

when thoughts collide….

Well the Holiday Crack in a red cup has worn off and I’m officially baked out. Not that kind of “baked”….this kind….

Hence the spatula and caffeine/sugar high expression!
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But yes, all is done and now I will officially be on bake break until Christmas eve. Well I say that now, but you know how that goes.

Anyway, lets talk about it. My brain works best when doing 2 things….running (outside with no iPod) or while cooking dinner and sipping on some wine. Ya, two extremes, but that’s where my mind starts twirling around recipes, workouts, “growth opportunities”, etc.  Its like a filter mechanism for all my thoughts.
Sometimes all these filtered thoughts start to collide and I end up scribbling them down for future use. Well, this weekend I put those scribbles to the test......

SCRIBBLE:
-Make holiday treats for clients, friends, family, etc.
-Use a combo of this recipe and this recipe
- “Cotterize” a few ingredients and steps.

Gluten Free Coconut Pecan Truffle Bars

First things first. Make your chocolate mix (notes in red are for the “healthified” version.
Ingredients:
  • ⅔ cups Pecans, Finely Chopped
  • 1/2 cups condensed Milk and 1/3 cup almond milk combined -melted coconut butter and almond milk if you want the healthy version.
  • ⅓ cups brown Sugar (or NuNaturals sugar)
  • 2-1/2 cups Chocolate Chips (milk or dark chocolate)
  • 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
  • 1/4-1/3 cup shredded unsweetened coconut.

Preparation Instructions:

Toast the pecans for 3 minutes in a 325 degree oven. Then chop finely. Set aside. Combine milk and sugar in a small heavy-duty saucepan. Bring to a full rolling boil over medium-low heat, and boil stirring constantly for 3 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in chocolate chips. Stir until mixture is smooth. Then stir in vanilla extract. Then, roll chocolate out on parchment paper and sprinkle the pecan and coconut mixture on top. Refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours.

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Now you are ready to make the base.

Ingredients:
  • 1/2 Cup butter (or smart balance or earth balance)
  • 1 Cup packed brown sugar 1large egg (or 1/4 cup egg whites or 2 tbsp flax for vegans)
  •  1 tsp. real vanilla
  •  1 1/2 Cups all-purpose gluten free flour (you can use spelt, WW, or regular)
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • * 1 cups rolled oats
  • * 1 cup gluten free pretzels
* NOTE: I grounded up the oats and pretzels together to make one dry mix.

Directions:
Set aside 2 Tbs. the butter. Beat the butter with mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add brown sugar; beat until well mixed. Beat in eggs and vanilla. In another large bowl stir together flour and baking soda; stir in oat/pretzel. Gradually stir dry mixture into beaten mixture. Set aside.

Press two-thirds of the oat/pretzel flour mix into the bottom of an ungreased baking pan (I used a 8x8). Take cooled chocolate mix and peel it off the parchment paper with the pecan/coconut mix facing down over the oat mixture. You might need to spread it more into the corners. SECRET INGREDIENT- if you want more chocolate filing, spread 1-2 tbsp of NUTELLA over that. My trick! Using your fingers, dot remaining oat mixture over the chocolate.

Bake in a 350 degree F oven about 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned (chocolate mixture will still look moist). Cool on a wire rack. Let it cool then cut into 2×2 inch inch bars. Makes about 16 bars.

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Gift them up! By first, save some for you!
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Well I was going to post about my Tabata/Strength “Collision” workout but I think I’ll save that for later. Maybe that will bribe you into coming back, eh?

Quick, what the best THOUGHT COLLISION that’s been successful?

Cheers,
LC

p.s.
no more sweet recipes this week but I do have one that will “squash” some time and taste great. Geeze, its only Monday and my inner corniness has emerged. Uh oh!

26 comments:

Heather (Where's the Beach) said...

Those look great. I love the way you think girl. I am the same way actually. My brain just starts going a million directions and I love pulling from here and there to come up with this. Can't wait to see the Tabata/Strength collision!

Kristina @ spabettie said...

hee hee! making me laugh this morning! and YES I'll be back for Tabata! :D

these look awesome... I could probably fit one more sweet treat in; today I'm baking for Jason's hairdresser and the girls at his "man salon"... ha, thought you'd get a kick out of that... we need an updated hair photo!! :D

bamarunner11 said...

Those look freaking awesome :)

VeggieGirl said...

OH. MY. HEAVENS. YUM. And I always have thought collisions - love that term :D

hungryrunnergirl said...

How did you just make me hungry even though I ate lunch five minutes ago. That looks absolutely amazing! I love how you 'Cotterize' things. Okay, running and cooking is when I get all of my best thinking done. I love it!! Can't wait for the squash recipe. You need to write a cookbook.

bre said...

please let your thoughts and recipes keep colliding if this is what the outcome is! :) those look like chocolate delicious heaven.
I wouldn't be giving those away- I would just take the entire pan and curl up on the couch with a cup of green tea. and eat until the chocolate goodness was gone. I would take my chances with Santa and the naughty list for not sharing. ;)

Carrie said...

WOAH these look SERIOUSly good!
best thought collision.... hum... was not my idea but fig and cheese works well! I had always been skeptical of sweet and savory!

Christin@purplebirdblog said...

Woo woooooo!! Delicious! And I love the term Cotterize! I need a cute term like that! :)

Shannon said...

I tend to do some pretty good thinking while running or driving, but it's always a fail because I can't write anything down and by the time I get to where I can I've forgotten everything. I had an amazing e-mail about my strengths written in my head for a professor who is writing letters of recommendation for me, by the time I was finished running it was gone. Of course, this was also the day I was interrupted by the gas people. And those bars look amazing.

Nellie said...

I am an idiot. Next time, I'm stealing the old man's car when he's cleaning his dentures and I'm heading over to your house so you can feed me. Did I mention I eat A LOT?


Nellie
http://midlifecruiser.blogspot.com
(36 year old fulltime RVer living la vida loca with a cute-butt husband and a stink-butt dog!)

NourishedFit said...

ohh yum, those look so good! I pretty much carry around a notebook whereever I go, and they are filled with random scribbled ideas. They come at the oddest times.. often when I'm somewhere I'd rather not be, and instead daydreaming about other things ;-)

April said...

Oh man those look soo delicious!

mamarunsbarefoot said...

Wow!! Wish you live near me so I could eat all your goodies!!

Pursuitofhealthfulness said...

My boyfriend would LOVE the truffle bars because he is crazy about German's chocolate cake. I don't think I would mind eating them, either! (;

Natalie (The Sweets Life) said...

I'm drooling over these! YUM!

Annemarie said...

seriously? yum!!!
fabu my friend!

Lori said...

Oh my lordie! Those look incredible. Printing recipe now. YUM!

Averie said...

lindsay these look fabbbbulouuusssss!!! WOW!! I am drooling all the way down here for a bite!

Faith @ She Kneads said...

Wow, those look so so good! Chewy and doughy and cakey all at the same time! Yum!

Faith @ She Kneads said...

Yes, I do have a blog, thanks for asking!

http://shekneads.blogspot.com/

:)

Faith @ She Kneads said...

p.s. I have an art blog too if you wanted to check that out ;)

http://faitharlen.blogspot.com/

Christina said...

that is some ooey gooey madness. i love it!

Lori said...

Oh my lordie! Those look incredible. Printing recipe now. YUM!

Faith @ She Kneads said...

Wow, those look so so good! Chewy and doughy and cakey all at the same time! Yum!

bre said...

please let your thoughts and recipes keep colliding if this is what the outcome is! :) those look like chocolate delicious heaven.
I wouldn't be giving those away- I would just take the entire pan and curl up on the couch with a cup of green tea. and eat until the chocolate goodness was gone. I would take my chances with Santa and the naughty list for not sharing. ;)

Faith @ She Kneads said...

p.s. I have an art blog too if you wanted to check that out ;)

http://faitharlen.blogspot.com/