Sunday, November 27, 2016

Oreo Rice Krispie Treats (With Dairy-Free Option)


Here is my Oreo Rice Krispie Treats recipe (with a dairy-free option) that I promised I would share in my previous video—Kitchen Hacks Ep. 2. This Oreo no-bake dessert is easy to make and doesn’t require much prep, heat, or cool-down time. The dairy-free option makes it a wonderful dairy-free dessert for those who cannot or choose not to have dairy; it’s a delightful dessert with or without dairy!

Ingredients

Ingredients:
- 7 cups rice krispies cereal
- 50 pieces of marshmallow (75% of a 16oz bag)
- 20 Oreo cookies, crème removed & finely crushed
- ¼ cup butter (vegan butter for the dairy-free option)

Tools & more:
- big pot
- rubber spatula
- 9x9 baking pan (a little bigger for shorter bars)
- butter or cooking spray



1. Put butter in pot & turn heat to medium/high to “warm up” the stove.
2. When half of the butter has melted, lower heat to low/medium and add in marshmallow.
3. Stir occasionally to assist the marshmallow in melting—also to prevent sticking/burning, which should not happen if heat is on low.
4. After marshmallow has melted, turn off stove & mix in rice krispies cereal one-third of the batch at a time (easier to work with).
5. Mix in the Oreo crumbs one-third of the batch at a time.
6. Using either butter or cooking spray, grease the sides and bottom of the baking pan.
7. Gently spread Oreo Rice Krispie Treats into the pan. Use wax paper to help level the top if needed.
8. Cover to cool & cut into smaller pieces.




Watch a demo of this recipe and join me in my kitchen where everything is served with love.



Enjoy!

♥ Yen


Saturday, November 12, 2016

Kitchen Hacks Ep. 2

Hello! Hope you enjoyed Kitchen Hacks Ep. 1. If you missed it, you can see it à here ß
Today we have Kitchen Hacks Ep. 2. Enjoy!

Hack #1: How to make any dairy recipe be dairy-free (if butter is the only dairy ingredient)


I bake a lot. I have a major sweet and I like my sweet treats. The best kind of dairy-free desserts are the kind that do not taste like they are dairy-free. Want to know my secret how I turn any dairy recipe (given that butter is the only dairy ingredient) into a dairy-free recipe AND have it still taste as if there is actual butter in there? Are you ready because this is a total game changer: vegan butter. 


I use the Smart Balance brand as well as the Earth Balance brand and they both work wonders. After discovering vegan butter, it has become a staple in my kitchen because, for the record, I bake a lot. If you can have dairy, but you’re just looking for a healthier alternative, this is the stuff. If you can’t have dairy, you must try this stuff! And if you know anyone who cannot have dairy, share this info with them and they will be so grateful. Examples of baked treats using vegan butter:

Ooey gooey chocolate chip cookies

Soft & chewy pumpkin chocolate chip cookies

Hack#2: How to keep brown sugar soft & fluffy

Rachael Ray uses something ~$5.00 which I have seen at Bed Bath & Beyond. I have heard a slice of bread works, but bread has a short-term expiration. I’ve got a much cheaper and yummier trick: marshmallows. Cheaper because I usually buy a big bag in 16oz because I like making rice krispy treats with them. Yummy because, well, you use marshmallows to make rice krispy treats!


This trick works so well, I’ve had this batch of brown sugar in the container for 3+ weeks now and things are looking soft and fluffy (I use 4-5 big marshmallows for this container). If and when you find that the brown sugar is hardening, simply replace the old marshmallows with new ones and it should fluff things up again within the next day.


Speaking of rice krispy treats, I have become obsessed with Oreo Rice Krispy Treats. I don’t have many baking recipes because baking is a science and I’m not a scientist, but Oreo Rice Krispy Treats do not require baking, therefore I can do my own thang. The recipe will be coming soon J

Hack #3:  How to keep sliced apples from browning

Step 1- fill a big bowl with water

Step 2- 40% of the world’s population says mix in vinegar. Don’t worry, you won’t taste the vinegar, they say… perhaps if you fancy the taste of vinegar then you won’t notice it. If there’s an alternative, let’s look into that, shall we? Another 40% of the world’s population says to mix in lemon juice. I love lemons, and I love citrus, but I don’t always have either in my kitchen at all times. The remaining 20% of the world’s population (where I fall in) says mix salt into the water* Salt—now that’s a kitchen staple that I always have! Salt enhances flavor, which is why it is mixed into baking sweet desserts. I actually prefer apples with a hint of salt, so this is perfect. How much salt to mix in, you wonder? Enough so the water tastes "salty." I know this is ambiguous so for guidance, try 1 tsp of salt to 3 cups of water.

* Disclosure: the above figures are totally arbitrary.


Step 3- slice apples and let them bathe in the salty water for 1-2 mins. 


Step 4- throw them in the fridge to keep longer. I like to take these as grab-and-go snacks or I’ll have it along with my breakfast, so I throw them in zip lock bags.


To show how well this trick works, the apples in the picture below have been sliced and processed by the above steps for 18+ hours. They are only a tiny, tiny, tiny bit brown but considering they were out on the counter for a while as I was filming, this trick really does the job.



Watch a demo of the hacks and join me in my kitchen where everything is served with love.




♥ Yen

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

I’m Back! Kitchen Hacks Ep. 1

Hello! I am back! To fill you in on the major life events during my long hiatus:
- I got engaged (to my college sweetheart)
- I got married (to the same guy, of course)
- We brought a house (hence the new kitchen)
- We have a baby boy!
- I started a mommy/family YouTube channel (TheChoreans)
- Baby Ethan has a blog (Ethan the Chorean)

Ethan just turned three-months old recently and he has been keeping us busy but also very entertained. You can see my labor and delivery story here.

I am back to do videos and blog posts for my LetsGetCookinggg Blog and YouTube Channel. I want to do a series on kitchen hacks— tips and tricks related to cooking, baking, kitchen, and food. Here is episode 1 of the Kitchen Hacks series!

Hack #1: How to cool your whole house down after using the bake, broil, or convect feature on your oven

I bake a lot. While baking and after using the oven, the kitchen and the whole house rises 20 degrees warmer. No big deal for the winter time, but definitely a problem during the summer—ya know what I’m sayin’? To expedite the cooling process, after turning your oven off, fill an oven-safe pot, pan, or bowl with cold water and place it in the oven. Let it do its magic and absorb all the hot air. Bam!




Hack #2: How to easily loosen and open jars

Some jars you can open effortlessly and some jars feel like you need the Hulk to help. Well, worry no more. Simply take a metal utensil (spoons work best) and whack around the lid a few times. Bam!





Hack #3: How to prevent a cutting board from slipping & sliding

Some cutting boards are designed to be anti-slip; most cutting boards do slip and slide. To help keep your cutting board from moving around so much, take a paper towel or kitchen rag, wet it, and place it under your cutting board. Bam! Now you can use it worry-free to cut heavy-duty items like pineapples. Speaking of cutting pineapples, if you haven’t seen my How to Cut a Pineapple Method 1 and Method 2 posts, be sure to check those out.






Thank you to all for being patient and hanging around while I was on my break. If you are new here, please visit often—you can also subscribe to my blog with your email under the “Subscribe to Blog by Email” box on the right. Watch a demo of the hacks and join me in my kitchen where everything is served with love.

 Yen



Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...