Homemade Butterfinger BB's

RING THE NEW SERIES ALARM!

You read that right, I'm launching a new recipe series that I'm super super excited about. I've been crazy inspired by junk food and my childhood lately. Growing up in the late 90s and early 2000s was the shit. I know that a lot of my peers whine about being born in the "wrong era," but I wouldn't trade my birth year for anything. (Seriously, how pretentious is that? #eyeroll) 

I could go on and on about my weird obsession with B*Witched or tell you every single HitClips single I had, but let's talk about the food real quick. I was quite the poster child for childhood obesity, so after school snacks were my life. I'd do anything to go back to a time where I could come home from my totally strenuous day of elementary school, grab a s'mores Chewy bar and a Pepsi Blue, and turn on TRL without feeling overwhelmed with guilt. You know, if TRL and Pepsi Blue were still around. I guess some things just have to change. 

Graham's Lunchbox is a new series that will explore, remake, and re-imagine all of my favorite childhood foods. The processed junk of my childhood far outweighs the snacks inhabiting the lunchboxes of schoolchildren nationwide today. Sure, Pumpkin Spice Oreos are hella delicious, but they don't have anything on Dunkaroos. Those fancy eighty-million-percent dark chocolate bars that I indulge in from time to time pale in comparison to the pure joy that was cracking open a Wonderball at age 8. And don't even get me started on Crispy M&M's. 

Speaking of candy, did you guys know that you can make Butterfingers at home with only THREE ingredients? Don't ask me how it all works (although my personal theory is that it's some kind of sorcery via the candy gods), but equal parts melted candy corn and creamy peanut butter yields a glorious substance that is freakishly similar to an actual Butterfinger candy bar. I've seen the recipe on Pinterest for years, but never really thought much of it until it dawned on me that I could make my own version of my favorite childhood candy at home. So I did it. 

Yes, Graham Blackall just singlehandedly revived America's most-amazing-but-too-often-forgotten candy of yesteryear: the Butterfinger BB. Please hold your applause. 

It's recently come to my attention that some very unfortunate souls do not remember that sugary flawlessness that was the Butterfinger BB. Let me educate you. First introduced in 1996, Butterfinger BB's were essentially just little circular bits of your typical Butterfinger. They were delicious. (Much better than a regular Butterfinger even though they were the same thing.) I ate a lot of them. They had awesome commercials starring Bart Simpson. My life lost all purpose and became completely devoid of joy when they were discontinued in 2006. Nestle sort of revived them in 2009 in the form of Butterfinger Bites, but they're totally not the same thing. In 2014, I made them a thing again and it was glorious. 

The result? Instant throwback. It's actually kind of scary how good these are. I've been keeping them in the freezer and it's definitely been one of those situations where every single time I walk past my kitchen I have to restrain myself from getting one. and I'm failing. Miserably. (quelle surprise!) 

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Homemade Butterfinger BB's

• 16 oz. creamy peanut butter
• 16 oz. candy corn
• melted semisweet chocolate for dipping 

In a medium bowl, microwave the peanut butter and candy corn for 1 minute. Stir the mixture to combine. Continue microwaving in 30 second bursts until the mixture is fully combined. Using a teaspoon, scoop the mixture and roll into balls. Place the bb's on a parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze. Once hardened, remove from freezer and dip into melted chocolate. Return the balls to the freezer to set the chocolate. 

Salted White & Dark Chocolate Pistachio Cookies

I've been baking hella cookies lately. I also can't stop saying hella. Yeah, I don't know what that's all about, but it's happening and even though I cringe every time I say it, I can't stop. The other day I was mistaken for being from the Bay Area, so we can let my excessive "hella" usage slide. 

Okay um... cookies! Yes, that's what were talking about! So I've been baking hella cookies over the past few months because I've been so busy that I don't have: a) the time or b) the patience to bake and frost a lovely three layer cake or make a pie with complete with little fall leaf designs cut out in the crust. I'm starting to think that my teachers convened a devised a special plan to make my life a living hell by extending my original one week of midterms to four consecutive weeks of absolute bullshit. FOUR. WHOLE. WEEKS. Yeah, I'm totally considering dropping out at this point and funding the rest of my life through a series of impromptu bake sales because #sugar. So yeah, this post is super rant-y and conversational but just deal with it, my mental capacity has taken a serious hit so my writing style is definitely more in the vein of "word vomit" than my usual "absurd-story-about-an-absurd-cake-that-doesnt-make-sense-but-kinda-does" act. 

Sorry, but you guys are stuck with yet another cookie recipe for the time being. Wait. Did I just apologize for giving you guys a cookie recipe? Especially one that's hella next-level. 

When I was in New York, I had an epiphany that came in the form of a pistachio cookie at Maison Kayser. I took two bites and I knew that I had experienced something extremely important, so I decided to remake this cookie immediately when I got home. I had a huge chocolate chip cookie taste testing sesh this summer and discovered that the famed Jacques Torres/New York Times cookies actually is the best chocolate chip cookies recipe, even though I hoped I could developed a recipe to dethrone it and award myself the title of Chocolate Chip Cookie King. (It's a real fantasy I have.) Out of 9 other chocolate chip recipes, that one was the surefire winner. To make these cookies, I decided to make a batch of the trusty Jacques Torres dough, but then added hella pistachio paste, hella melty white and dark chocolate chunks, and hella chopped pistachios. Guess what I topped them with. Yep, none other than hella Maldon sea salt flakes. 

How were they? You guessed it. HELLA DELICIOUS. No but really, hella-ness aside, these cookies are amazing and I'm preeeetty sure they're gonna be making the rounds at holiday parties in the coming months. Pin these now, you won't regret it. 

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Salted White & Dark Chocolate Pistachio Cookies 

(adapted from this) 

• 2 cups minus 2 tablespoons cake flour
• 1 2/3 cups bread flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
• 2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
• 1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup pistachio paste (homemade or store-bought) 
• 10 oz. high-quality white chocolate, coarsely chopped 
• 6 oz. high-quality dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup roasted and shelled pistachios, chopped 
• sea salt flakes (I love Maldon)

DIRECTIONS

In a medium bowl, sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla and pistachio paste. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Fold in chocolate chunks and chopped pistachios. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.

Scoop 3.5-ounce mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet. Sprinkle lightly (or generously, like me!) with sea salt flakes and bake until golden brown but still soft, about 18 to 20 minutes at 350F. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. 

Bananas Foster Tiramisu

By the time you're reading this I'll either be either in or en route to New York City. Yes, I actually survived midterms and I'm finally on the fall break (!!!) I've been daydreaming of for weeks. I've got a crazy busy weekend planned, but I'll be recapping my trip once I get back next week. In the meantime, I wanted to round out this hectic with something extra sweet and special.

It's been a few weeks since the last installment in my Eating New Orleans series, so I'm tackling one of the most traditional local flavors today. Yep, you guessed it (or you know, you just read the title to this blog post): today is all about Bananas Foster. 

Bananas Foster was created in 1951 at the famed Brennan's in New Orleans' French Quarter, but has since gained status as New Orleans' unofficial dessert. And for good reason too, it's freaking delicious. Butter and brown sugar are melted down with sliced bananas and caramelized for a hot second, before rum and banana liqueur are added, flambéd tableside and served warm with vanilla ice cream. 

Bananas Foster is so simple that I knew I had to dress it up somehow for y'all, so the Bananas Foster Tiramisu was born. Rounds of moist banana bread are soaked in a brown sugar and rum mixture before being topped with a creamy banana mascarpone filling. On top of that goes a layer of bananas foster, then more filling. I topped my little tiramisus off with a banana chip dust and some bruléed bananas, because, let's face it, I'm always looking for a way to wreak havoc upon my kitchen with a blow torch. It only took one bite before I knew this one was a keeper; there's so many different textures going on that I was totally having a mouth party for a (couple) hot second(s). Creamy, chewy, moist, crunchy... it's all there. 

Even my parents, who resent the amount of sugar I bring into this house, were obsessed. I made my mom try them at 10am and the sound that left her mouth after a single taste totally sealed the deal. According to Ellen (hi mom!), these are one of the best desserts I've ever made. What more approval could I ask for?  

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Bananas Foster Tiramisu

Filling:

• 250g mascarpone
• 1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream
• 4 tablespoons creme de banane
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 banana, mashed
• 1 tablespoon instant banana pudding (just the powder, not the prepared pudding)

Soak:

• 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar 
• 2 tablespoons dark rum
• 1/3 cup boiling water

Bananas Foster:

• 1/2 stick butter
• 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 2 ripe bananas, peeled and sliced 
• 2 tablespoons dark rum

Extras: 

• 1 loaf of banana bread (homemade or store-bought)
• bananas, for garnish

Cut out banana bread in circles the size of your serving glass, about 1/2-inch thick. Place in the bottom of glasses. 

To make the soak, mix together the brown sugar, confectioners' sugar, rum, and boiling water until smooth. Using a pastry brush, evenly distribute the mixture over banana bread pieces until soaked through. 

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, make the filling by mixing together the heavy cream, mascarpone, mashed banana, and pudding mix on low to combine. Increase the mixer to high speed and whip until thickened. Layer on top of the banana bread. 

To make the bananas foster, heat the butter over medium heat until melted. Once melted, add the brown sugar and stir until combined. Add in the banana slices and cook until caramelized. Remove from heat and mix in rum. Using a long lighter, flambe the mixture until the rum cooks away. Layer on top of the mascarpone filling, before repeating this step with more filling. 

Chill and serve.