Friday, October 17, 2014

I dream of Tosi

Since Rob broke the oven over Columbus Day Weekend and it cannot be repaired until next week and the kids just finished the last of the Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Bars, I had to come up with a solution to my inability to bake anything sweet for the next seven days.  I began to envision a blog post entitled, "No Oven, No Problem".  Then I went to the supermarket for some inspiration, searching for ingredients to make something "home baked" out of a bunch of store bought stuff.  I came up with a jazzed up version of the ever popular Rice Krispie Treat.
All summer I had been obsessed by the flavors in s'mores: graham cracker with gooey marshmallow and melted chocolate.  My fanaticism continues while I am reading for the second time, Christina Tosi's book about her bakery, "Momufuku Milk Bar".  While Christina is a trained pastry chef, her approach to baking and creating recipes is straight from her childhood favorites.  Her memories of Jello Cheesecake and the milk leftover at the bottom of the bowl after finishing her Fruity Pebbles flavor her baking.  She has ingenious "mother" recipes that morph into a myriad of many more only limited by her imagination.  One of her inventions is the "crumb" which she combines with cakes, cookies and ice cream to make them even more magical.  The graham crumb caught my eye, of course considering this past summer. The chocolate addition would have happened anyway as one of my favorite ways of decorating a cookie or brownie is to melt chocolate and using the famous artist, Jackson Pollack's style of painting, I "Pollack" them with melted goodness.  The following recipe is the type of thing that happens when one falls asleep while reading Christina Tosi's take on desserts combined with childhood memories.



 Rice Krispie "Tosi" Treats
(makes 24 squares)

 2 tablespoons butter
10 oz bag mini marshmallows
6 cups Kellogg's Rice Krispies
4 oz semi sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 teaspoons Crisco

Make the Graham Crust and allow to cool. Crumble crust into small crumbs.
Heat the butter and marshmallows in a large pot on low until melted.  Add the Rice Krispies and stir to coat.  Spray a 9x13x2 inch pan.  Using a sprayed spatula, press mixture into pan.  Cool treats.  Flip treats onto a cutting board and cut into 24 square pieces.
Place squares slightly apart on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper.  
Melt chocolate and Crisco together in a microwave safe bowl on high using 20 second increments. 
Pollack the Rice Krispie  squares with the chocolate and quickly sprinkle the wet chocolate with Graham Crust crumbs.  Pollack on top of the crumbs again, if desired.  Allow chocolate to harden overnight.  Place squares in an airtight container for up to 5 days.  (If they last that long.)