At first I was just watching to see if they had any interesting recipes, then I caught onto their basic approach and realized that it's a lot like what I do in the kitchen on a regular basis: trade out one or more original ingredient for a substitute that's either more appealing to me or fits with our family's food needs. My own results in making substitutions have not arguably produced the same effect on my waistline, but have resolved some allergy issues, made way for a toddler to eat at our table and accommodated a variety of eating approaches that we've tried over the years (going vegetarian, detoxes, cost containment, etc.). If you want to check out some of the Cook Yourself Thin recipes, recipes from each episode are available here. In addition, they have a cookbook that is available online now.
One of the Cook Yourself Thin recipes that caught my eye on a night when I was craving something sweet and satisfying was the Dessert Calzone. This is a very simple recipe that uses low fat Ricotta as the filling along with an egg, some sugar and other goodies. The hosts of the show use low fat Ricotta in a number of their other recipes as well as a way to boost the protein while controlling the fat and calories. This was an idea that I thought I could apply in my own kitchen. So, the adventure to substitute low fat Ricotta begins.
Enter Magic Cookie Bars
You may remember these from your childhood (especially if you grew up in the US). My mother would make a large tray of these every year for Thanksgiving dinner at my Grandmother's house. My mother's family is quite large (she's one of seven), so when you got everyone (grandma, grandpa, their kids, their kids spouses, their grandkids, great grandkids and a girl/boyfriend or two) in her little house the total count of guests was nearing 60 or 70. So, it was a big to-do with a turkey, a ham and tons of side dishes and an entire chest freezer topped with a table cloth and desserts. In fact, it was common for every surface in Grandma's kitchen to be covered with dishes from everyone's contributions. So, Magic Cookie Bars hold a special place in my heart and on my palate. Here's the original Eagle Brand recipe in case you want to reminisce along with me.
The Experiment
I had nearly all of the ingredients on hand yesterday with the exception of low fat Ricotta (of course) and butterscotch chips. The butterscotch chips are my own twist on the original recipe, which calls for only chocolate chips, but I promise you that this addition makes all of the difference in the world and takes the original yummy product to a new level of satisfaction on the tongue! So, I decided to grab some Ricotta and butterscotch chips and give my new approach a try.
The Results
The results were very good in that the cookie bars came together as intended, looked and smelled delish and cut like they should. My darling hubby liked the new recipe as the addition of the Ricotta and reduction in Sweetened Condensed Milk makes for a final product that is a bit more creamy and a little less sweet. I would have liked a bit more sweetness, but realized later on that I only had two reasonable sized squares and felt much more satisfied and didn't have the urge to go back for more later (as is the usual case for me).
So, maybe there's something to the use of low fat Ricotta as a substitute ingredient in terms of creating a more satisfying product! I'll continue to look for opportunities to test this ingredient in some of my and my family's favorite recipes in the future. Stay Tuned!
Please Note: The following are my earlier changes to the original Magic Cookie Bar recipe:
One, I cut the amount of butter in the crust significantly. The original recipe calls for an entire stick of butter. Even before watching a number of Cook Yourself Thin recipes, I would have cut this amount at least in half. Luckily, there happened to be a recipe on the back of the Nabisco Graham Cracker box that included a Graham Cracker crust and called for a mere 2 Tablespoons of butter. I decided to give that amount a try and it worked as well as the original, especially once the bars had been allowed to set-up in the fridge overnight.
Two, sweetened and unsweetened Shredded Coconut are both available at my grocery store. Since my darling hubby prefers the unsweetened version, I mix a bag of each (they're the same size) in a large freezer storage bag and use it from the pantry when I need shredded coconut. The results of this earlier experiment have been quite good and I've used it on my coconut cupcakes, my Easter cake and now this recipe all with the same results. As time goes on, the combined coconut does become a bit more dry, so use the combined version fresh from each bag when you make something that is topped with the coconut and not then cooked - like sprinkled on top of cupcakes or a cake - and use the rest of it later in a recipe like this one where the coconut is baked or cooked in some way. This way you maximize your coconut investment and use all that you have on hand.
Three, the original recipe calls for nuts. Since we have a toddler who is not yet at the age to where she can eat nuts, I didn't include them. If you want nuts, include them. My mother always used Walnuts (a good choice given the Omega-3 content), but I would probably use Pecans (toasted lightly in a 350 oven for about 5-7 minutes before adding them to the uncooked bars) or even Macadamia nuts! I did in turn increase the amount of coconut in my recipe since I wasn't using the nuts and the top of the bars looked a bit naked without the additional ingredients. You could also increase the amount of chips, if you prefer, to make up for the lack of nuts. If you take this approach, use butterscotch or mix dark, milk or white chips together to create your own; peanut butter chips would probably be a delicious addition to this recipe as well.
Finally, I have substituted fat free Sweetened Condensed Milk in this recipe since the product first became available in the 80's. I have never had anything but success with this substitution and cannot taste the difference between the full-fat version and the fat free even tasting it on a spoon right from the can - yes, my sister and I both have been known to turn to a spoonful of this magic ingredient at various times!
Recipe: My NEW Magic Cookie Bar Recipe
Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Step 2: In the bowl of a food processor place 8 Graham Crackers (full cracker) and pulsed until cracker crumbs are the consistency of sand
Step 3: Meanwhile, in micro safe bowl, melt 2 Tbsp unsalted organic butter in the microwave.
Note: You probably want to do this in increments of 20 seconds or so as butter has been known to "pop" at around the 28-30 second mark in my microwave and it makes a terrible mess that's difficult to clean.
Step 4: Add melted butter to the cracker crumbs in the bowl of the food processor. Pulse the processor a few times to incorporate the butter. When the cracker crumbs look like slightly wet sand, you're done.
Step 5: Prepare a 9x9 baking dish - I used my Pampered Chef stoneware pan - by spraying it with cooking spray.
Step 6: Pour Graham Cracker crumb mixture out onto the bottom of the pan and spread using your hand or a measuring cup. You want an even layer of crumbs covering the bottom of your baking dish.
Step 7: In a medium sized mixing bowl add the following and mix with a whisk or a spoon until well combined:
- 3/4 cup of low fat Ricotta Cheese
- 1/2 can of a 14 oz fat free Sweetened Condensed Milk (I didn't measure this, just eyeball it)
- 1 large free range, organic egg
- 1/2 Tbsp Vanilla extract
Step 9: Cover Ricotta mixture with 1 cup Ghiradelli Chocolate Chips (I used dark chocolate, but Colin said he thought milk chocolate might be even better), 1 cup of Butterscotch Chips and 2 cups of shredded coconut.
Step 10 (optional): Scatter 1 cup of chopped nuts over the pan.
Step 11: Place cookie bars in the oven and bake for ~25 minutes, check after 15 and adjust cooking time based on your oven (some are a bit hotter, some a bit less). The cookie bars have finished baking when the coconut layer is golden and you can "smell" the Graham Cracker crust.
Step 12: Remove from oven and allow to cool for at least 30 minutes before you cut into bars.
Note: If you serve this as soon as the pan is cool, the crust will still be a bit crumbly. If you place the cooled pan in the fridge overnight, the crust will set and you will have clean bars that cut easily and retain their shape.
Step 13: Serve with milk or coffee. This is a simple kid-friendly recipe, but if you want to dress it up drizzle the plate with chocolate sauce and add a beautiful ripe strawberry (sliced and fanned) or a trio of raspberries.
Enjoy!
Hugs ~Lisa
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