Carla Hall's Chew Chew Clusters 10.27.11

Happy Halloween!

I am writing this up on Sunday morning after a LOOOONG Friday and Saturday of pretty much wall to wall cooking.  I have a cousin, almost as big a foodie as myself.  This weekend I had a pretty big back yard BBQ planned (last day temps in the 70's for a long time... great excuse to smoke some ribs and pork shoulder).

So, with just a tiny bit of pleading, Cousin David, ... his wife and daughter and my wife started a few days of cooking, cooking, cooking!

First up was a dessert.  Handy to have around throughout the weekend to snack on and I know from experience, no one wants a heavy dessert after a huge BBQ meal (more on that at the bottom, I was able to feature a couple of The Chew recipes from the past.

But first... The candy!

If you check the video highlight on The Chew website for this recipe (Click HERE for the video highlight). you will see Carla loving describes making these as a home made version of a beloved southern candy treat.  She does mention that you can use whatever candy fillings you might like for these.  Think designer Reese's Peanut Butter Cups!

Now, her version (the copy of the childhood memory) features peanuts, caramel and marshmallow fluff.  I had everything except the fluff.  I was already into an expensive weekend, so i substituted mini marshmallows.  The recipe was so good, I am sure at some point I will happily revisit this recipe.  When I do, I promise to hunt down the fluff.  But, for the day, the mini marshs worked fine.

The recipe actually could not possibly be easier.

Bag of chocolate chips to start.  I prefer the double boiler method of melting the chocolate.  It is possible to melt in the microwave, but this is just easier and works better for me.  If you do the microwave thing, just be sure to do it in stages, 15 seconds at a time, stirring in between each stage.

And, while the chocolate is melting...

Have a package of those tiny cupcake cups handy.  and a mini muffin baking pan.

one cup in each of the spaces in the tin and fill with 1 tsp of melted chocolate.  be careful not to put too much in there.  You are going to be making a sandwich, with a layer of chocolate, layer of candy and another layer of chocolate.

And now time for filling...

Peanuts...
Marshmallows...
And a layer of Caramel Sauce (I did make Carla's recipe and it came out GREAT!  Hope that makes up for me using mini mashs instead of the fluff).

And finally, top with another tsp of the HOT melted chocolate.

It will seep into the fillings and seal itself on the bottom layer.

take a few seconds and push some around all the edges and you have a very simple designer candy cup.

But wait... There's more!  I only made 1/3rd of my candy with the peanut cluster.  I also had a candy corn/cashew nut snack mix handy (easiest thing in the world, 1 part CC to 1 part cashews... tastes like a Payday Candy bar).

Make this, same way as above, add a little caramel and you have a chocolate-caramel payday candy bar.  Really Really GOOD!

And I made 1/3rd of my candy with the seasonal candy mix.

And that leaves 1/3rd more to be made...

HMMMMMM... wonder what I should use....

I know, something for Michael Symon...

BACON BACON BACON BACON BACON

I am so proud of my guests... Equal numbers of all the treats were made... Chew Chew Clusters, Chocolate Paydays and BACON Cups... All were eaten by the end of the parties, but by far, most popular were the BACON Cups!  Think a salty sweet treat!

A wonderful winner from The Chew!

And speaking of the weekend parties...

On Friday night when it was just 5 of us (Cousin David, wife Becky, daughter Breann, shown above snacking on the BACON Cup) and my wife, we were planning to watch the final game of the World Series (Whoo Hoo, what a great Series this year!).  So I made a batch of  Clinton Kelly’s Texas Nachos 10.19.11



These were a great way to start the weekend, Nachos and friends!

And here's the table ready for our BBQ Blast, well represented with a few of The Chew's past hits...  Look close, if you toss aside the Cole Slaw, Robs, Pulled Pork and the BEST smoked beans you will ever have in your life, you will see...

Mario Batali's  Potato Salad 10.12.11

Don't you just love the Texas serving plate for the Italian warm potato salad?

And Monday I have a leftover dish planned... Pulled pork shepherd's pie with this potato salad mashed up to make the mashed potato topping!

And if you look close, inside the pulled pork sandwiches, shove aside the red, white and blue cole slaw and you will see some of Michael Symon's pickled Red Onions (well pink).

A good day was had by all!

Clinton Kelly’s Texas Nachos 10.19.11

Here's the description for this recipe, found on The Chew website (Click HERE for the recipe)...

In this recipe Clinton married a bacon cheeseburger with nachos. One word comes to mind, yum!

And that's the truth!

This may be the very best thing I have made from The Chew.  Just simply loaded, these will ruin you for bar food forever!

In honor of the St Louis Cardinals and one of the best World Series I have ever seen, I found some red and white corn chips (they are actually for the Kansas City Chiefs, but the episode was devoted to baseball, and I am so much enjoying the series.... But I digress).

I followed the recipe exactly as posted on The Chew website (again, click HERE).  I used a white Monterrey Jack Queso cheese, I believe on the show, Clinton used a yellow queso cheese.  I was using some pretty hot peppers, plus the cheese was plenty spicy, so I didn't add any spices to the hamburger.

And these are now my "goto" bar food.  A great dish to make for a ball game, Super Bowl party, progressive dinner (I'm claiming the appetizer course from mow on).

I weep at the memory of how good these were!

Carla Hall's Pinwheel Snacks 9.30.11

Delicious and easy.  Sounds like a great combination to me.

This was an audience participation recipe.  Watching the first lady in the row work was almost painful.  No matter what you may have seen from her angle, this is just about as easy as you can get.  And in Carla's instructions, it got even easier.

Her only rule, use cream cheese as a "glue" to keep the wheel together.

As to stuffing, what you like.  I happened to have had a rotisserie chicken (So cheap).  So I knew I was going to use that.  Now, Carla showed thin slices of lunch meat.  I knew I wasn't going to be able to slice my chicken breast thin enough, so I just made a chicken salad.  Instead of tuna, I just used minced bits of chicken.

If you are lucky enough to have a handy dandy stand mixer (OK, a KitchenAid brand mixer), just toss an 8 ounce brick of cream cheese in, the cooked meat from one rotisserie chicken breast and whatever you might like to add some zing to your salad.

I added...

1/4 cup minced pickles
1/4 cup minced sweet Onion
1/4 cup minced Granny Smith Apple
1/4 cup minced Grapes

I didn't, but I should have added a tsp of a Cajun Spice mix

Turn on the mixer and in about 2 minutes, you have a creamy paste!

This was enough "paste" to make 4 tortillas worth of pinwheels.

And from there, nothing to it... Take a whole wheat tortilla, spread a thin layer around and roll up.  Slice about 1 inch thick "wheels".

Makes a great snack (wonderful recipe for kids to make).
Dress it up with a sprinkling of paprika and would make a casual appetizer
Wanting a light low carb lunch, here you go.

This was so easy, and so flexible (long as you use cream cheese as the glue, fill with what you like (All veggies would be terrific), the recipe is not available on The Chew website.  But that's OK.  This is truly one of those, "Anyone can Cook" recipes!