DEATH BY CHOCOLATE

Snickery Squares

For the Crust:
1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup sugar
2 TBSP powdered sugar
¼ tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and chilled
1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten
For the Filling:
½ cup sugar
3 TBSP water
1 ½ cups salted peanuts
About 1 ½ cups store-bought dulce de leche
For the Topping:
7 ounces bittersweet(I used semi since hubby doesn’t like bittersweet), coarsely chopped
½ stick unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces, at room temperature
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350F. Butter a 8 inch square pan and put it on a baking sheet.
To Make the Crust:
Toss the flour, sugar, powdered sugar and salt into a food processor and pulse a few times to combine. Toss in the pieces of cold butter and pulse about 12 times, until the mixture looks like coarse meal. Pour the yolk over the ingredients and pulse until the dough forms clumps and curds-stop before the dough comes together in a ball.
Turn the dough into the buttered pan and gently press it evenly across the bottom of the pan. Prick the dough with a fork and slide the sheet into the oven.
Bake the crust for 15-20 minutes, or until it takes on just a little color around the edges. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool to room temperature before filling.
To Make the Filling:
Have a parchment or silicone mat-lined baking sheet at the ready, as well as a long-handled wooden spoon and a medium heavy bottomed saucepan.
Put the sugar and water in the saucepan and cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Keeping the heat fairly high, continue to cook the sugar, without stirring, until it just starts to color. Toss the peanuts and immediately start stirring. Keep stirring, to coat the peanuts with sugar. Within a few minutes, they will be covered with sugar and turn white—keep stirring until the sugar turns back into caramel. When the peanuts are coated with a nice deep amber caramel, remove the pan from the heat and turn the nuts out onto the baking sheet., using the wooden spoon to spread them out as best you can. Cool the nuts to room temperature.
When they are cool enough to handle, separate the nuts or break them into small pieces. Divide the nuts in half. Keep half of the nuts whole or in biggish pieces for the filling, and finely chop the other half for the topping(I kept mine whole).
Spread the dulce de leche over the shortbread base and sprinkle over the whole candied nuts.
To Make the Topping:
Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water. Remove chocolate from the heat and gently stir in the butter, stirring until it is fully blended into the chocolate.
Pour the chocolate over the dulce de leche, smoothing it with a long metal icing spatula, then sprinkle over the rest of the peanuts. Slide the pan into the fridge to set the topping, about 20 minutes; if you’d like to serve the squares cold, keep them refrigerated for at least 3 hours before cutting.
Cut into 16 bars.


Samoas Cheesecake

For the Cookie Base: You may want to double the cookie base for a thicker crust…I did, but I’m all about crust and some people aren’t.
¾ cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup cornstarch
a pinch of salt
¼ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
¼ cup unsalted butter, for browning
¼ cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
To make the brown butter:
Cut ¼ cup of butter into pieces. Heat butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Stir the butter or swirl the pan so the butter does not get burnt. Remove from heat when butter turns light brown and gives off a nutty aroma. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, cornstarch and salt together.
Cream the remaining ¼ cup butter(at room temp) until smooth and add the sugar, beating for about 2 minutes. Beat in the vanilla extract and the brown butter. Gently stir in the flour mixture just until incorporated. Take cookie base and press down into a 10 inch spring form pan that has already been buttered/floured and lined with parchment paper.
Bake at 350F for 10 minutes. Set out to cool.
For the Cheesecake:
2 1/2 lbs cream cheese
2 1/2 cups sugar
2 TB flour
5 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup sweetened coconut
Cream the cheese until soft. Add in the sugar and mix well. Decrease the mixer speed to low and add the flour.
Add eggs in one at a time scraping bowl down to make sure that there are no lumps.
Stir in the vanilla. The coconuts can be added now; it just get stirred in.
Pour batter into the pan. Bake in a water bath at 350F for approx 1 ½ -2 hours. Let cake sit at room temperature until cool, then chill overnight.
For the Caramel:
1 ½ cups sugar
1/3 cup water
2/3 cup heavy cream
Pour the sugar into the center of a deep saucepan. Carefully pour 1/3 cup water around the walls of the pan, trying not to splash any of the sugar onto the walls. Do not stir; gently draw you finger twice through the center of the sugar, making a cross, to moisten it. Over high heat, bring to a full boil and cook without stirring, swirling the pan occasionally to even out the color, until the mixture is medium caramel in color, 5 to 10 minutes. Immediately turn off the heat and use a wooden spoon to slowly and carefully stir in the cream(it will bubble up and may splatter).
Allow caramel to cool for a few minutes then stir in 12 ounces of sweetened coconut(you can add more if you would like). Stick in the fridge for 5-10 minutes.
For the Chocolate:
6 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate chips
Melt in a metal bowl over simmering water. Once cooled put into a pastry bag.
To Assemble:
Once the cheesecake has chilled overnight. Place some of the topping on the cheesecake and spread it around to cover the top. It may be a little runny that is okay. Pipe chocolate stripes onto the cheesecake, as many as you would like and chill for another hour.