Homemade Payday Bars

Payday bars are one of my favorite candy bars out there. They're chewy, salty, sweet, and crunchy, which are all essentials for snacking in my opinion. I had homemade payday bars for the first time while tailgating at a Penn State game and knew I had to make them myself. The only difference between the homemade bars and the store bought variety is the addition of mini marshmallows. In my opinion, adding fluffy mini marshmallows to the recipe makes this snack even better. The original recipe for homemade payday bars can be found here, below is the recipe with just a few minor changes that I made.


Homemade Payday Bars

16 oz salted dry roasted peanuts (a 50:50 mix of honey roasted and dry roasted peanuts is also delish)
1 bag peanut butter chips (approximately 2 cups)
3 Tbsp butter
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (10.5 oz) bag mini marshmallows
flaked sea salt for garnish (optional)


1. Coat a 9x13 pan with baking spray then coat the bottom of the pan with half of the peanuts, set aside.

2. In a large microwave safe bowl, heat peanut butter chips and butter in short intervals until melted (in 30 second intervals this takes about 2 minutes depending on the power of the microwave). Stir in sweetened condensed milk until smooth and heat for 1 minute more.

3. Fold marshmallows into peanut butter/milk mixture until evenly coated, then pour over peanuts in the 9x13 pan.

4. Spread remaining nuts on top of the marshmallow mixture, pressing nuts lightly to make them stick. Garnish with optional sea salt and chill for about an hour. Cut into 1.5" x 1.5" squares and serve.

 You can keep these in the fridge for at least a week and they taste just as good as the day you made them. 

Enjoy!

Southern Pecan Pie

I usually like to make a pecan pie each year around Thanksgiving since they taste soo much better homemade. Since I didn't have much time for baking this past year with boards right around the corner, I decided to make some for dessert last night.

Southern Pecan Pie

1 piecrust, homemade or frozen
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 1/3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large eggs
2 1/2 cups toasted pecan halves


1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Cook pie crust for 10 minutes then remove from oven (leave oven on). While piecrust is baking, combine corn syrup, brown sugar, salt, vanilla extract, and butter in a medium bowl. Beat eggs and add to mixture.

2. Finely chop 1/2 cup of toasted pecans and line the bottom of the cooled piecrust with them. Rough chop 1 cup of pecans and add to the wet ingredients. Reserve 1 cup of pecans for decorative top.

3. Pour wet ingredients into the pie crust over the finely chopped pecans.





4. Add whole pecan halves in a decorative pattern starting with the outer row. For each row I like to put the fatter end of the nut towards the outside of the pie so they fit a little better.





5. Bake for 40-50 minutes until a sharp knife inserted into the pie comes out clean. Cool completely before serving.




I like to serve my pecan pie with vanilla bean ice cream and whipped cream, but this pie is so good to almost don't need it.

Hope you enjoyed!

Mom's Homemade Apple Strudel

My dad loves apple strudel and lucky for him my mom makes one of the best ones out there. We make it every fall, usually with apples from my cousins tree. Here's the recipe we use:

Mom's Apple Strudel

3 apples, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (approximately)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Juice from 1/2 a lemon

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup sugar 

5 sheet phyllo dough

1/2 stick butter, melted

1/3 cup sugar plus 1 tablespoon cinnamon for sprinkling

1/4 cup panko bread crumbs

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Vanilla ice cream (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Combine apples, cinnamon, lemon juice, raisins, and 1/2 cup sugar in a large bowl. Cover with a damp paper towel.

2. Prepare phyllo for use as per package instructions. Keep dough not being used moist by wrapping it in a damp kitchen cloth (we used the excess cloth from the work station to keep the dough moist). On parchment paper or a thin, damp towel, lay down the first sheet of phyllo dough. Brush butter across the entire top of the sheet and top with 1 tablespoon each of chopped walnuts, panko, and cinnamon sugar. Lay the next sheet of phyllo dough on top of it and repeat until all 5 sheets of phyllo have been used.

3. After all 5 sheets have been laid down and buttered, drain off any extra juices from the apple mixture. Pour the apple mixture into the center of the phyllo rectangle leaving two inches of free space on the shorter sides of the dough and about 3-4 inches of space on the long sides.

4. Fold up the 2 inch short sides of the phyllo dough to keep the mixture within the rectangle. Fold over the long sides of the rectangle next, making sure to overlap all edges of the dough.

5. Seal the edges and ends with the melted butter, and place, seam side down, onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Brush top of strudel with melted butter and sprinkle with remaining cinnamon sugar. Place onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes, or until top of strudel is flaky and slightly browned.

6. Allow strudel to cool slightly then slice and serve while still warm.

Enjoy!