Oct 9 2012

Pinterest Tested: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Cookie Pie

Posted on October 9, 2012 by thepoli3

A few months back, I pinned this delicious looking recipe and I’ve been eyeballing it every time I peruse my Pinterest “Recipes” Board since… finally, I caved in and whipped it up last weekend.

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Cookie Pie

This recipe originated from AKM designs and delights and I’m so glad she shared it on her blog and that it somehow landed on our Pinterest page.

Here’s our Real Best Recipe “Pinterest Tested” Results…

Overall rating: 9

Cost: $ (scale: $-$$$)

Difficulty level: Moderate (scale: beginner, moderate, intermediate, advanced)

Thoughts: First of all, if you cook and bake a lot like I do, the cost is pretty low because you usually have the basics on hand (flour, sugar, butter, vanilla extract, etc.) but if you are new to baking, this could be a little more expensive because you do have a lot of things to purchase, which you will use again if you keep baking! I have to say- this is DELICIOUS. -But- This would have been soooo much better as a cookie, rather than a pie. The pretzel crust was okay but this recipe could have totally done without it. Next time I make these again, because I will, I will nix the whole pie/crust thing and just make a ton of cookies. After all, that is what it is… a cookie in a pie crust. And that was the best part. Something else I want to note that I always do when baking cookies (and of course did here) is I underbake them by about 2 minutes. That way they are gooey right out of the oven and stay soft after cooling down. With the Reese’s peanut butter cups in this, it took gooey to a whole new level. After we had our initial slices, I stuck this pie in the fridge to keep, and when going back for more in the following days, I heated each piece up for 30 seconds in the microwave and OMG it was so gooey, peanut buttery, chocolatey and delicious!

In any case, get over to AKM’s site now and print this recipe so you too can enjoy this amazing recipe!

Jul 22 2012

The “Real Best” Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Posted on July 22, 2012 by thepoli3

We’re back with another simple, yet classic menu item: The Grilled Cheese Sandwich. Who doesn’t love a gooey, warm, grilled cheese on a rainy summer day? Pair it with some tomato soup and you have yourself a bonafide meal! We tested the three top Grilled Cheese Sandwich recipes out there and came up with a winner for your next grilled cheese night!

P.S.- We’re leaving out the leftover score on this one… who in their right mind eats a grilled cheese sandwich the day after it was cooked?

The contenders:

The nitty-gritty:

Each grilled cheese sandwich was scored on a scale of 1-10 (where 1= that’s food? and 10= the best grilled cheese that has ever entered my mouth) for overall score, the boyfriend/husband test, and the leftover test. We also provide other comments.

Tyler Florence’s Grilled Cheese

Overall score: 9

The boyfriend/husband test: 9

The leftover test: N/A

Comments: YUM! This was delicious. It was gooey, salty, and the apple provided a slight tart flavor that, although, we couldn’t specifically taste it, it emphasized the flavors of the cheese and bacon. This was seriously delicious! I was very skeptical about it at first… I mean, an apple on a grilled cheese sandwich? Who knew? Even hubby loved it! Definitely slice your apple thin so it doesn’t overpower the rest of the sandwich. I will definitely be making this again and I have a good feeling it will be because hubby asks me to make it! You must try this one!

Closet Cooking’s Spinach Pesto Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Overall score: 8

The boyfriend/husband test: 9.5

The leftover test: N/A

Comments: This was so good! My boyfriend LOVED it. It doesn’t taste a lot like traditional grilled cheese. There was a strong taste of pesto with a slight lemon-ey kick. However, this sandwich was expensive because of the Gruyere cheese and all the fresh herbs that are used to make the pesto (I used dill, mint, and parsley, as recommended).

Allrecipes: Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Overall score: 10

The boyfriend/husband test: 10

The leftover test: N/A

Comments: This is your classic grilled cheese sandwich. What can go wrong? Nothing! I had to cook the first side for about 5 mins and the flip side for only about 2 mins. This turned out perfect. Yum! And very kid friendly. NOTE: I used honey wheat bread instead of white.

The winner: It looks like all our sandwiches scored very high this time! But, there can only be one winner, and that is:

Allrecipes Grilled Cheese Sandwich!

Special Diets:

While we can’t guarantee the results, here are some ideas you can use to customize the winning grilled cheese sandwich to your dietary needs:

Gluten-free: Use gluten-free bread and make sure the rest of your ingredients are also gluten-free.
Vegetarian: It already is!
Lower fat: Use low fat butter and reduced fat cheese.

Jul 19 2012

Pinterest Tested: Salted Chocolate Caramel Pretzel Bark

Posted on July 19, 2012 by thepoli3

Salty & sweet perfectly describes the tastes in our household. Hubs craves all things salty and I love me some sweets, especially chocolate. When I came across this recipe on Pinterest, I knew had to “pin it” to make sometime in the future.

Salted Chocolate Caramel Pretzel Bark

By: The Legume Loyalist

Photo & Recipe Credit: http://legumeloyalist.com

Mine did not come out nearly as pretty but the taste definitely made up for it… so salty and sweet that even hubby loved it. He is not a sweets guy by any means but when he bit into one of these he said “mmm… salty!”. Go figure.

Here is what it looked like after baking the “caramel” and pretzels (I used straight pretzels and tried to break them up before pouring caramel over it, so that way these would cut easier).

I think I put a little extra chocolate than neccessary… oh well

Here it is after cooling in the fridge for a few hours:

The finished product!

Here’s how they rank:

Overall Rating: 9

Cost: $ (scale: $-$$$)

Difficulty Level: Moderate (scale: beginner, moderate, intermediate, advanced)

Ok so these tasted AWESOME but they did not come out perfectly. In the recipe, it says to let the sugar-butter mixture “brown” for about 3 minutes. I’m not sure 3 minutes is long enough for it to thicken. This is why:

You see, the caramel didn’t seem to adhere very well to the chocolate layer, even after cooling for a few hours in the fridge. Some pieces had barely any pretzel/caramel mixture on them. After reading through some of the comments on the recipe site, it seems as though many people suggested to let the caramel “browning” process take a little longer. I would also next time attempt to just melt pre-wrapped caramels and pour over the pretzels instead. I think this may help things stay together a bit better and also enhance the caramel flavor.

In any case, and in order not to waste anything, I saved all the pretzel/caramel remnants and put them in a plastic bag to use for a future recipe… which will be posted very soon!

Again, these are definitely very easy and delicious so I would totally recommend making them! Thanks Pinterest and The Legume Loyalist for the great recipe find!