Am I Culinary Genius?

15 Feb 2012 2 Comments

by Janna in Baking, boys

This post will be somewhat brief because I am not feeling all that well. Bummer.

Just a few moments ago, I had a moment that will hopefully go down in culinary history. I had leftover shortbread mix from my bar making the other day and I wanted/needed to use it up. I had plans for date bars but decided at the last minute to only make one 8×8 pan of that. I chopped up about 2 cups of pitted dried dates (from Sam’s Club) in my food processor and added it to about 1 cup of water in a saucepan. I cooked it until it bubbled and thickened up. Dates are so sweet that I didn’t need to add any sugar. After it bubbled for a minute, I took it off of the heat and spread it in the pan, over the shortbread layer. I finished it just like the others from two days ago.

Now I was left with one pan of crust. What could I do? Within minutes, it hit me. I put about 3/4 cup of Sunbutter (made with sunflower seeds) into a saucepan. We have two boys who are allergic to peanut butter. I added about the same amount of chocolate chips to the pan and stirred until it was smooth. I poured that over the crust and finished it off like the other. If this turns out, I will be so thrilled. If it doesn’t, I am hoping the boys will eat it anyhow. But if it turns out…oh, how I hope it turns out!

I just pulled it out of the oven. Middle son says it smells good. My smeller isn’t working so I can’t tell you if it does. H and C just taste-tested. They said the Sunbutter is a bit overpowering. (Seriously, that was exactly what H said) so we sprinkled more chocolate chips on top and put it back in the oven to melt them.  Mr Darcy walked in  and tried one and said he likes them!

I think they still need a bit of work, but I am on to something here. What else can I put in between the two layers of shortbread?

~Janna