Lemon "tiramisu"

Looking back over my photos of Easter Sunday I captured lots of people pictures but none of our delicious eats!

Well here is one of our desserts from the day. I'm so glad I went through all of the steps to make it because it is delicious. I would definitely make it again. My kids weren't thrilled with it but I've enjoyed it every day of the Easter octave as it gets better each and every day as the ladyfingers soak up all the liquid!

I was a little too lazy to head to the store and buy a jar or two of lemon curd. And I realize that while I type that it sounds so backwards, but I was making this the night before Easter and I was cozy in my house and.... you get the picture. Homemade lemon curd it was.  I'm SO glad I didn't go to buy it. Do you know how easy it is to make lemon curd? Well, I didn't either. Ina Garten makes it sound simple because it IS simple. A few steps and I had my own lemon curd. 

A few special ingredients are needed to make this special dessert:  Savoiardi (lady fingers), Limoncello (luckily I have a father who makes his own), a good whole milk ricotta, and lemon curd. The rest of the ingredients are just run of the mill pantry items (well, to me at least).

Limoncello and Ricotta Cake

thanks to A Beautiful Bite for the recipe and inspiration

Her pictures are beautiful so do click and check it out, I simply have one photo of the remnants of this dessert (It was just sooooo good, I kept forgetting to take a picture!)

Ingredients:

Lemon Curd:

4 lemons, room temp

1 1/2 c sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temp

4 extra large eggs, room temp

1/8 tsp salt

Ricotta Filling:

32 oz whole milk ricotta

1 1/2 cup confectioners sugar

1 1/2 Tbs lemon zest

1 1/2 Tbs limoncello

For the lady fingers:

(I only had a cup of limoncello- so I halved this recipe and only made 2 layers)

2 cups water

2 cups limoncello

1 1/2 lbs lady fingers- about 3-4 packages

4 cups lemon curd (above recipe didn't make this much, it's very sweet, it was PLENTY)

Whipped Cream topping:

2 cups heavy cream

4 Tbsp sugar (I used powdered sugar)

Directions:

Make the lemon curd:

Remove the zest with a microplane from the lemons and smash it into the sugar with a fork. 

Juice the lemons to make 1/2 cup of juice and set aside.

Using a mixer, cream the butter and sugar and lemon zest. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, then add the lemon juice and salt. Mix until combined.

Pour the mixture into a 2 qt saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 10 minutes. The lemon curd with thicken at 175°, or just below a simmer. Remove from heat and cool.

Make the Ricotta filling:

Mix the ricotta, confectioner's sugar, lemon zest and Limoncello. Set aside.

Make the Limoncello syrup by bringing the water and limoncello to a simmer. Continue to simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and pour into a shallow heat proof dish and let cool a little.

Assembling the "cake"

Dip the ladyfingers into the limoncello syrup and begin lining them up in a 9 x 13 dish.

You only need to dip the bottom half of each cookie and not for very long, they're little sponges, so they soak it up quickly!

Once you have a layer of ladyfingers on the bottom, spread a layer of ricotta on top. Use as much as you'd like- you may have extra.

Another layer of soaked ladyfingers goes on top of the ricotta then spread a good layer of lemon curd on top of that.

If you didn't run of limoncello syrup, I suppose you could make another ladyfinger layer... but I did. 

So, whip  your cream and sugar together and spread the whipped cream on top of the last layer.

Refrigerate until ready to serve!

Bread and Butter Pudding with Whiskey Sauce

Once March rolls around I start thinking about what we'll eat on St. Patrick's Day. Yes. Beginning March 1st, I start thinking about it. Now for the past 3 years I've been making corned beef and cabbage with potatoes and carrots. Oh and soda bread. And the now infamous St. Paddy's Day Sauce- that stuff is so very good.

We started our celebrating with Pimm's Cups (Pimm's is a type of gin and you add it to Sprite with a wedge of lemon, that's OUR version and it works!)  and a smattering of fruits and cheese and the soda bread spread with Kerrygold Butter.

The Corned Beef couldn't be easier to make. I buy the packaged kind and just throw it in a pot cover the beef with water and I do add that seasoning packet because why not? It's there right?

Once the beef is cooked through I remove it to a platter and cover it and then I throw in my sliced (not cored) cabbage, peeled carrots and potatoes. They need to boil and that cabbage needs to cook the longest it seems. I'm usually running late and thankfully, my mom has been nearby to help me out in the kitchen.

This year, she brought parsnips and cooked them once she got to our house. She slices them really thin, like long julienned strips, if you will. Then sautés them in butter until the edges brown a bit. OH MY. They caramelize and sweeten beyond their original sweetness and it's just a real treat. 

I threw my soda bread together on St. Patrick's Day morning because I ran out of time the day before. It didn't take long at all. And I'll be posting that recipe as it was quick and really good.

Lastly, the Bread and Butter Pudding with Whiskey Sauce (and Vanilla Sauce). The creme de la creme. The icing on the cake. The perfect accompaniment to our wonderful dinner.  It was a bit more time consuming than I thought but that's mainly because I hadn't really read through the recipe as well as  I should have prior to the day. I suggest reading the recipe a few times before you're in the MIDST of making a recipe. Good thing to do. I made this for my full-blooded Italian father who likes to poke fun of the Irish and their food but LOVES bread pudding.

So we'll start with dessert and work our way backwards...

Bread and Butter Pudding with Whiskey Sauce (and Vanilla Sauce)

adapted from The Irish Heritage Cookbook

1/4 cup golden raisins- I used regular 'ol raisins

1/2 cup hot water

4 Tbs butter at room temp

10 slices of white bread- let's just say a loaf of bread, crusts removed

1 cup milk

1 cup heavy cream

2 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup sugar

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp cinnamon

3 eggs, beaten

Whiskey Sauce

1 cup milk

2 Tbs sugar

2 egg yolks

2 Tbs Irish Whiskey (or leave that out and add vanilla in it's place)

Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease a casserole dish with butter (square, oblong, something pretty). Stick your cut bread in it first to see what will fit and then butter it.

In a small bowl, combine raisins and water and let soak 10 minutes. drain and set aside until ready to add to pudding

Remove the crusts from the bread and butter one side. Cut each slice in half (diagonally would be nice). Arrange half of the bread, buttered side up, in the prepared dish. Sprinkle the raisins over the bread (I tucked a few under some of the slices.

In a small saucepan, combine the milk, cream, vanilla, sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon. Cook over medium heat until the mixture begins to boil, 5-7 minutes. I stirred with a whisk in the beginning and then switched to a wooden spoon. Using the wooden spoon allows you to see when the sauce has thickened. When you can drag your finger along the back of the spoon and it leaves a line in the sauce... it's ready! Remove sauce from heat and slowly add a ladle of the cream mixture to the eggs while you whisk them. You need to temper the eggs OR you will have scrambled egg custard. No good. Keep adding the hot cream to the eggs and then pour this mixture over your arranged bread. Let sit for 10 minutes. I sprinkled the top of mine with cinnamon.

Cover the dish with aluminum foil and place in a larger pan- roasting pan worked for me. Add hot water to the pan around the covered dish. You're creating a hot water bath so the custard cooks evenly in the oven. Go to about 2/3 up the sides of the dish. This is down easily if you place the larger pan with the dish in it on the oven rack, THEN add the hot water. Bake about 50-55 minutes, until the custard is set. Let cool for a few minutes before removing from larger baking pan.

To make the sauce: In a small saucepan, combine the milk over medium heat until it just begins to boil. Remove from heat. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until light and fluffy. Slowly (just like before) add a little of the eggs to the hot milk as you whisk. It will temper the eggs and you shouldn't have scrambled eggs. Simmer over low heat, stirring constantly, until the sauce thickens, about 10 minutes.**  Stir in the whiskey now OR divide the sauce into two containers and add a little less whiskey to one and 2 tsp of vanilla to the other.

To serve, spoon the warm pudding onto plates and pour the sauce of your choice over the pudding.

enjoy!

 **I actually forgot to do this part. I added the hot milk to my egg yolk mixture... slowly and still had a little scrambling occur. No worries. I simply poured the mixture through a fine mesh sieve and had perfectly smooth sauce. I then divided it into two containers, added 1 Tbs whiskey to one and the vanilla to the other.

Pineapple Bread Pudding ~ 3.15.12

A few days ago, I was moving around some "older" magazine issues and found a 2003 Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion that I didn't remember reading... maybe because it was from 2003.
Well, I am so glad I did open it up because it had 2 recipes that I just HAD to try this week!

The first is a side dish that pairs well with ham (think Easter!!)- so I cooked up some ham steaks, roasted some asparagus and tested this recipe on my kids.
1 out of 4 liked it, but I loved it! and decided it was MUCH better as a dessert than a side. So I added a scoop of vanilla ice cream to mine later on and ate a big bowl of this pineapple bread pudding.
I saved the leftovers and reheated them a few nights later and served it up when my husband was home- he loved it, too! So that makes 3 out of 7 loving this recipe, but really, the newborn doesn't have a say in this vote. I may make it again for company- it's a super easy throw together kinda recipe!

Enjoy!

Pineapple Bake
adapted from the Silver Palate Good times cookbook

8 thick slices day old bread, cut into 1 inch cubes (I removed the bottom crusts)
2 cups drained crushed unsweetened pineapple (I bought the kind in pineapple juice and saved my juice for another recipe!)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
4 eggs, beaten

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 1 1/2 quart baking dish
Combine the bread and pineapple and place in the prepared dish
Mix the butter, sugar, and eggs and pour over the bread mixture
Bake until puffed and golden, about 40 minutes. Serve immediately- with a scoop of ice cream is especially nice!

Pumpkin Pie Milkshake ~ 10.30.11

I can't help myself- when it comes to pumpkin flavored anything... I'm IN!

I really can't believe I'm about to admit this but it's October 29th as I type this and I have yet to make anything pumpkin-y. I'm not sure if it was my lack of time or my fear that there would be another pumpkin shortage this year or whatever, I just haven't made much in the muffin/cookie/cake/bread department involving my favorite flavor!

Ah, but thanks to my crazy pregnancy cravings- that was all put to rest tonight. I made a delectable Pumpkin Pie Milkshake patterned after one I saw over here.

Oh me.

Oh my.

I do SO love Pumpkin Pie flavored stuff- I have pumpkin spice Hershey kisses (which I ration out through the year) and found Pumpkin spiced candy corn at our Market District GE this year, too!

I can't say a word about those pumpkin lattes everyone is goo goo over, I'm not a coffee drinker at all. BUT I do have a box of decaf Pumpkin Spice tea made by stash that I love! ;)

So, pumpkin beverages are so fun to have this time of year and while I DO love a hot beverage, I'm a sucker for anything ice cream related. I adapted this recipe just a bit by adding gingersnap cookies to it. As I recall, a few years back a local burger place had gingersnap milkshakes that I could.not.get.enough.of- at the time. Maybe I was pregnant then, too. Wait... I was! with the twins! LOL Anyway, give this recipe a try anytime between now and Thanksgiving- after that, we'll all move onto PEPPERMINT flavored milkshakes, etc!!!

Pumpkin Pie Milkshake

adapted from Our Best Bites

To your blender, add:

1/4- 1/2 cup milk- start with 1/4 cup and then add more in the last step
1/3 cup pumpkin
heaping 1/4 tsp of pumpkin pie spice -easy to make your own
dash of vanilla extract
2 Tbs brown sugar

Blend together all of the above, THEN add:

2 cups of vanilla ice cream

Give it a whirl and if it's not whirling well, add 1/4 cup more milk.

Pour into a tall, frosty mug and sprinkle crushed gingersnap cookies on top!

sip slowly and enjoy every minute

Makes ONE generous milkshake!

S'mores Bars ~ July 31, 2011

S'mores. They just SCREAM summertime, don't cha think? I love 'em, all the messiness of them, too.

Whenever I see a recipe for something S'mores-y, I gravitate towards it like a bee to a flower. Funny that my only recipes for July are s'mores related!

I think I first saw this on Pinterest (my new love) and I knew I had all the ingredients to make it happen THAT night!

On with the recipe:

 S'mores Bars
adapted from Betty Crocker
1 pouch of Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie dough mix ( 1lb. 1.5 oz)- I had two small batch sized bags that I used
1 cup graham cracker crumbs - I just had that EXACT amt (I was destined to eat these last night ;)
1 cup of butter, melted
3 cups chocolate chips (I may have used a tad mor)
4 1/2 cups mini marshmallows - I had stars leftover from July 4th
2-3 graham crackers- broken into bits

Mix together the sugar cookie mix and graham cracker crumbs.
Pour in the melted butter and mix it all together
Line a 9x13 pan with foil.
Dump in the mix and press to the edges and make it all even.
Bake at 375 for 18-20 min.
Immediately sprinkle chocolate chips on top and let them get melty (I ran and did some laundry and came back for the next step)
Smooth the chocolate all over the cookie crust
Set oven to broil and top the chocolate layer with marshmallows and then dot the in-betweens with broken up bits of graham crackers (my addition).
Broil in the oven for less than 2 minutes (otherwise you'll have what I had up there- burnt marshmallows! DON'T WALK AWAY, not even to the sink to do the dishes!!)

Let cool a bit and cut them into squares. I did the baking part prior to dinner and then as the table was cleared, popped the marshmallow topped bars under the broiler. Perfect timing.... except the part where I left them in too long.... heed my warning!

So delish with a tall glass of milk!

Summertime Frozen S'mores ~ 7.1.11

One day last week or so, I was having a hard time figuring what else to schmear Nutella on when my Magic Pop (korean rice cakes) were all gone.

Thanks to facebook and my cousin, Linda (I have gads of smart cousins ;), help was on the way. She told me to put whipped cream and nutella on a graham cracker and then freeze them. BRILLIANT!

I had cool whip. So I went with that. Whipped cream is obviously not fake. So whatever floats your boat.

I set up my graham crackers assembly line-style and smeared on the Nutella, then the cool whip, topped it with another graham cracker and popped them in the freezer. (please note  that I did eat several and licked my fingers many times during this process and I can say, they're GREAT frozen or not).

That's all that's to this.
graham crackers
cool whip
nutella

oooo, thinking that marshmallow fluff would be another good option, too!

freezer.

enjoy our frozen s'mores!

Cool 'n Creamy Chocolate Fondue ~ 5.12.11

We love this dip. It is everything the name of the recipe says: Cool, Creamy and chocolatey. Perfect treat on a warm spring or summer day. Especially with fresh fruit!

Cool 'n Creamy Chocolate Fondue
recipe from Pampered Chef

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 container frozen whipped topping, thawed (8 oz)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp rum or vanilla extract- we use vanilla
Assorted dippers- fruit, pretzels, cinnamon pita chips (you can make these easily w/ flour tortillas), your fingers

Place choc. chips and half the whipped topping in bowl and microwave, uncovered, on HIGH, one minute, stirring every 20 secs until chocolate is melted.
Fold in remaining whipped topping, cinnamon and extract of choice, mixing till smooth.
Cover and chill for 30 minutes- it's hard to wait, but you can do it!

Serve with fruit dippers, etc.

yield: 2 cups (16 servings) 80 cal, 5 g fat, 7 g carb per 2 Tbs fondue

Frozen Pumpkin Dessert (with Gingersnap Crust)~ 11.20.10

I have a tendency to buy cookbooks and then only make a few of the recipes contained within them. Anyone else do that? I bought a copy of Don't Panic- Dinner's in the Freezer a few years back and I have about a dozen or so of the pages dog-eared but I think I've only made one or two recipes! But in my defense, they were worth buying the book for because this dessert is a real winner and it makes a LOT! She tells you to make it in a 9x13 pan, but I chose to make mine into pies. She also uses a graham cracker crust in the original recipe, but I had gingersnaps and the swap out was AMAZING that I couldn't go back to graham crackers. ALL that said, I'm writing this as the original recipe states so that you can see that it's okay to use what you've got and to be creative with your ingredients!

Frozen Pumpkin Dessert
Don't Panic: Dinner's in the Freezer
Makes 24 servings

2 cups canned pumpkin
1 cup sugar
1 t salt
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg (I go easy on the nutmeg)
1 cup chopped pecans (I've skipped in the past)
1/2 gallon vanilla ice cream, softened

Graham Cracker Crust** (see note at bottom)
2 cups graham cracker crumbs (I used Gingersnap cookies)
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar

Prepare graham cracker crust by mixing crust ingredients and patting into a 9x13 pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely. (chilling would not be a bad idea)

In large bowl, combine pumpkin, sguar, salt, spices, and nuts. Fold in ice cream. Pour pumpkin mixture into pan. Seal top of pan with plastic wrap and then foil. Freeze until firm.

Gingersnap crust-
I discovered a recipe in my Aunt's filebox for a PUmpkin Ice Cream Pie with Gingersnap Crust. Seems as though great minds think alike! Here is her recipe for making the gingersnap crust, you'll want to adjust the sugar and increase amounts to make it for a 9x13 pan. Her recipe made a crust for a 10 inch pie pan.
1 1/2 cups gingersnaps, crushed
1 Tbs sugar
1/4 cup butter melted

Mix together. Press into pie pan and bake at 300 degreese 12-15 minutes. Cool, then chill.

Sweet little Candy Coated Apples ~ 10.23.10

A few weeks back our MOPS group made these cutest ever bite size candy coated apples- one for each member of our family!

We melon balled our granny smith apples and then stuck a pick in them (you could also use a lollipop stick).
We had our peanut butter chips and butterscotch chips already melted and ready to go. Swirled our little apples on a stick around in the melted chips and then dipped them in the toppings of our choice! I thought it was a wee bit easier to shake the toppings over the dipped apples- less of the coating came off in the toppings that way. Place them in a mini-foil cup to dry and there you have the cutest little fall treat you ever laid eyes upon!

For more detailed instructions, check out this article at Family Fun

**Few notes. I just scooped ten little apples out of ONE granny smith. So, I think you could get 8-10 bite size apples per apple. Also, I dipped mine in some of that Marzetti's caramel dip b/c a) I was in a hurry and b) I wanted to see how it would hold up. Enjoy!

UPDATE: the caramel in the little tub will not set up, so be forewarned. It also tastes kinda funny. Live and learn.

A sweet treat for your weekend ~ 3.19.20

This is a recipe from The New Holly Clegg Trim and Terrific cookbook. She says that it's her daughter's most requested recipe and it certainly is a sweet treat!

I love how it transforms in the oven... coming out looking like this!

Seriously, if you could smell that... you would swoon and quite possibly get a sugar high from the scent alone!

So it is obviously, very sweet, with a total of 3 cups (16 oz) of powdered sugar in the top layer! But don't be discouraged. Desserts are meant to be a bit indulgent, right? And this is a fun and quick recipe to make with simple ingredients that you probably have on hand in the fridge and pantry. And it's rather low in fat- depending on how many squares you cut your pan into- Holly says the recipe yields 48 squares. Those are rather tiny little treats, but oftentimes, it's all you need, right?

Enough rambling, here's the recipe!

Ooey Gooey Squares

1 box of yellow cake mix

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 egg

1 Tbs water

1 pkg reduced fat cream cheese

16 oz (3 cups) powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 large egg whites

1 cup chocolate chips (or try a combo- butterscotch + chocolate chip- mmm....)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare a 9x13 inch pan by spraying it with non-stick spray.

Mix together the cake mix, melted butter, egg, and water until combined. Dump into your prepared pan and pat into the bottom until evenly distributed.

Swipe out your mixing bowl and put the cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla, egg whites in there. Mix until smooth and creamy. Stir in most of the chocolate chips. Pour mixture on top of your first layer. Scatter remaining chocolate chips on top and pop the pan into the oven for 40-50 minutes. You'll know it's done when it's nicely browned all over and the edges pull away from the sides. Let cool. For best results, cut with a plastic knife- it's a little kitchen trick that plastic knives cut brownies and these gooey squares the best!

Chocolate Truffles ~ 2.23.10

I know it's Lent and all, but well, Valentine's Day slipped by the wayside with all the snow we were pummelled with and this is such an easy and sweet recipe... I just had to share it with you today

In fact, we'll be sharing it with all our moms at MOPS today as this is our special craft for the month of February-- truffles!

I've tried a few truffle recipes this month and this is still, by far, my favorite. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough truffles are a close second. My least favorite were the truffles made with chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk- blah. Not good.

This recipe was shared with me by a friend whom I've never had the chance to meet quite yet.  We became friends via an online message board over 7 years ago!  You can visit her blog and see her amazing photog skills. She's taking a photo a day throughout the year.

Chocolate Truffles

1 box Devil's Food cake mix (not pudding in the mix)
Ingredients called for on cake mix box

Bake the cake in a 9x13 pan and cool. Crumble in into smithereens in a large bowl. This is VERY cathartic.

Melt in a saucepan,
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup apricot preserves**


Mix those in the saucepan until glossy and then pour over your crumbled cake mixture. Mix until gooey. Form into 1- 1 1/2 inch balls and refrigerate for at least 4-5 hours.

If you haven't eaten them all, dip them in melted almond bark (or buy the confectionary wafers) and place on waxed paper. Chill and store in closed container.

In the photo above, I drizzled mine with a Chambord glaze that comes from another favorite cookie recipe: Chambord Fudge Cups. They were the hit of our wedding years ago!

I haven't tried this yet, but I'd be interested to see how these taste with other preserves mixed in them.

**You do not taste the apricot at all. You'd have no idea that was in there at all! Do note that when you're forming the cake balls, sometimes you'll come across a big clump of preserves... I just pull that out and add a little more cake mixture.

Reindeer Noses (repost) ~ 12.8.09

These are one of the biggest "hits" on my other blog- so I thought I'd post them here as they're also a very easy peasy holiday treat to make, especially with kids!

I was inspired by a recipe on Family Fun dot com and by a recipe my mom makes that is similiar except that she uses a pecan on top.

Instead of calling these holiday pretzel treats, I thought Reindeer noses was much more... well, creative, and fun!

REINDEER NOSES

Ingredients:

• little pretzels- this year I'll be using up all those little bags of pretzels we got at Halloween!
• Rolos
• M&M's- preferrably red and brown - Red for Rudolph and brown for all the other Reindeer

Here's what the kids can do after they've washed their hands:

1. line up all the pretzels on a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet

2. Unwrap your candies- eat a couple

3. Place Rolos on top of the pretzels

4. Have Mom or Dad place the Rolo topped pretzels in a preheated 200 degree oven for about 5-7 minutes. You want the Rolos to be soft and malleable, but not melted into a pile of goo.

5. Remove the cookie sheet and somewhat quickly and carefully (pan will be warm, it was in the oven) smoosh (very technical word here) the M&M's on top of the Rolos.

6. Place finished Reindeer noses onto a plate and pop them into the fridge to set. Then you can place them in a airtight container for as long as you can keep little hands from eating them! They freeze well.

For more Tempt my Tummy Tuesday recipes, head on over HERE!

Oats 'n Honey Granola Pie ~ 6.26.09

Remember I told you I love to collect recipes?

Here's one from the Post-Gazette... in 2004! I believe it won some sort of Pillsbury Pie Crust contest as that is the type of pie crust listed in the ingredients. You could use the refrigerated version or make your own.

I've made this about half a dozen times already and absolutely love it! It's really quick to put together, too. This sweet little pie is similiar to a pecan pie (a lot of the same ingredients). The main difference being that you use crushed up Nature Valley Granola Bars. I know they have a granola cereal out now, so I bet you could use that instead.... I'd rather take out a little aggression and whack at them with a spoon. Feels really good! As I was typing this up, I realized that I've been reading the recipe wrong! I make it with 8 granola bars- 4 pkgs!!!! Ummm, it still works and still tastes really good, so there.

Oats 'n Honey Granola Pie

1 pie crust

Filling:

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 cup corn syrup

1/8 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

3 eggs, lightly beaten

4 Nature Valley Oats 'n Honey Cruncy Granola Bars (2 pouches from 8.9 oz box), crushed

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/4 cup quick-cooking or old-fashioned oats

1/4 cup chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place pie crust in 9 inch glass pie pan (I've used a 10 inch and aluminum pan and it's been fine).

In lg microwavable bowl, melt butter on high for 50-60 seconds or until melted. Stir in brown sugar and corn syrup until blended. Beat in salt, vanilla, and eggs. Stir in crushed granola bars adn all remaining ingredients into brown sugar mixture, except whipped cream. Pour into pie crust.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes or until filling is set and crust is golden brown, covering crust edge with foil during last 15-20 minutes to prevent excessive browning. Cool at least 30 minutes before serving. Serve warm, room temp. or chilled. Serve with whipped cream or ice c ream. Store in refrigerator.

NOTE: to easily crush granola bars, do not unwrap. Used handle of a spoon or rolling pin to whack 'em to smithereens!