July 5th is National Graham Cracker Day.

For those who enjoyed s’mores over July 4th weekend, here’s another recipe that combines graham crackers and chocolate.

“These bite-sized treats,” says recipe author Julie B., “include two sticks of butter and TONS of candy bar flavor. They include gooey caramel, peanut butter, and rich chocolate on top of a buttery graham cracker base.”

We think they’re like Snickers (chocolate, caramel, peanuts) on a graham cracker base; hence the name Candy Bar Cuties.

Thanks to Go Bold With Butter for the recipe. It took second place in a recent Holiday Cookie Recipe Contest—but there’s no reason not to enjoy them all year long.
> The History Of Graham Crackers
 
 
RECIPE: CANDY BAR CUTIES

You’ll need mini muffin tins and cup liners.

Prep time is 1 hour, cook time is 15 minutes.
 
Ingredients For 2 Dozen Cookies

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 350°F.

2. CREAM the butter in a large bowl, using an electric mixer. Add the sugar and continue beating until the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla.

3. COMBINE the flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl. Slowly add these dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix with mixer until incorporated. Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes.

4. SCOOP rounded balls of dough using a cookie dough scoop (approximately 1-1/4 inches in diameter), and place one in each muffin cup, pressing evenly into bottom of cups.

BAKE for 12 -15 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. Remove from the oven and cool the cookies in the muffin pans on a wire rack. Do not remove the cookies from muffin pans.

5. MICROWAVE on HIGH in a microwave-safe bowl the caramel squares, peanut butter and 1/4 cup of the cream. Heat for 2-1/2 to 3 minutes, stirring after each minute. When the caramels are completely melted when stirred, add 1/4 cup chopped peanuts and stir to incorporate.

6. TOP each cookie in the tins with 1-1/2 to 2 teaspoons of the warm caramel-peanut butter mixture, spreading it almost to the edges with back of spoon. (If the caramel does not spread easily, stir in additional cream, 1 teaspoon at a time, until spreadable, reheating as needed).

Set aside until the caramel is set, about 10-15 minutes. In the meantime…

7. HEAT the semi-sweet and milk chocolate chips in a medium-size, microwave-safe bowl on HIGH for 30 seconds; stir. Continue microwaving, stirring every 10-15 seconds, until the chocolate is melted and can be stirred smooth.

8. SPOON about 2 teaspoons chocolate over the caramel layer, spreading to the edges, completely covering the caramel and cookie layers. Immediately sprinkle with the remaining chopped peanuts.

9. REFRIGERATE 25-30 minutes or until the chocolate is set. Carefully pop the cookies out of pans one at a time, pushing up from the bottom of each muffin cup.
 
 
MORE GRAHAM CRACKER RECIPES

[1] These cookies are like Snickers crossed with graham crackers (photo © Julie B. | Go Bold With Butter).

[2] You can buy graham cracker crumbs, but the best flavor comes from using better graham crackers. We like the ones from Trader Joe’s (photo © Go Bold With Butter).

[3] You can buy ready-made graham cracker crumbs, but you may want to crush your own (photo © Keebler).

[4] As with the graham crackers, higher quality chocolate delivers better tasting cookies (photo © Bella Baker [now closed]).

[5] Roasted, salted peanuts (photo © Jirkaejc | Panther Media).

[1] Chocolate raspberry swirl ice cream pops, made creamy with mascarpone (photo © Wisconsin Cheese).

[2] Mascarpone, the “Italian cream cheese, softer and creamier than American cream cheese (photo © The Nibble).

[3] Vanilla bean paste adds full vanilla flavor without adding liquid (photo by Claire Freiermann | © The Nibble).

[4] It’s worth it to invest in a set of ice pop molds (photo © Fun Care | Amazon).

July is National Ice Cream Month, so you can expect some new ice cream recipes from us.

Thanks to Wisconsin Cheese for today’s recipe: chocolate and raspberry ice cream pops.

Ice cream pops are made with some type of dairy, as opposed to ice pops, which have none.

Note: They’re not Popsicles!

Popsicle® is a registered trademark of Unilever, which owns the brand.

Any other frozen juice on a stick is a generic “ice pop”; “ice cream pop” if it includes dairy or substitute.

Here’s more about Popsicles.
 
 
RECIPE: CHOCOLATE RASPBERRY SWIRL ICE CREAM POPS

Instead of using milk or half-and-half, these pops are even richer thanks to the substitution of mascarpone and ricotta cheeses.

If you don’t know mascarpone—sometimes referred to as “Italian cream cheese”—we urge you to get to know it. It’s softer and richer than American-style cream cheese.

Prep time is about 25 minutes, and 6+ hours freezing time.
 
Ingredients For 10-12 Pops

 
Preparation

1. GENTLY CRUSH the raspberries in a bowl with the back of a spoon; set aside.

2. PLACE the mascarpone, ricotta, milk, sugar, honey and vanilla bean paste in blender; cover and process until mixture is combined.

3. DIVIDE the mascarpone mixture evenly into two bowls. Stir the cocoa into one bowl. Fold the raspberries into the other bowl.

4. FILL the molds or disposable cups alternating layers of chocolate and raspberry mixtures. Top the mold with its holder (or fill the alternatives).

5. FREEZE for at least 6 hours or overnight.
 
 
MORE ICE CREAM POP RECIPES

 
 
ICE POP RECIPES

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*Vanilla bean paste is the way to add vanilla flavor to a recipe without adding additional liquid. But you can replace vanilla bean paste with equal amounts of of vanilla extract. If you have vanilla powder, you can use that as well (equal amount). Here are the different types of vanilla.

†Whole milk ricotta will freeze better.
 
  

[1] Pineapple slices on the grill (photos #1, #2, #3 © Hello Fresh).

[2] Start with a ripe pineapple. (Note: Pineapples are typically picked when ripe and don’t ripen further, but smell the pineapple for an aroma).

[3] While only Diamond Jim Brady could dig through this stack, use the same toppings for a single slice.

[4] Add a slice of grilled pineapple to a BLT, other sandwich, or burger. Here’s the BLT recipe from Half Baked Harvest (photo © Half Baked Harvest).

Grilled pineapple has so many uses, from salsa, to salads (chicken, crab, green, shrimp) to skewers and the recipes below.

It’s a delicious with breakfast sausages or bacon, at lunch on a burger or sandwich, and as dessert at dinner.

One of our favorites: a pineapple ice cream sundae with a scoop of vanilla atop a grilled pineapple ring, caramel sauce, a bit of whipped cream or mascarpone, and some macadamia or pistachio nuts.
 
 
RECIPE: GRILLED PINEAPPLE

Thanks to Hello Fresh for the recipe.

Ingredients

 
Garnishes

You can use more than one of these.

 
Preparation

1. LAY the pineapple horizontally on a cutting board, and use a sharp cook’s knife to remove the top by slicing about a quarter-inch below the base of the leaves.

2. STAND it upright and peel skin side by side, slicing down from the open top of the fruit. The sweetest parts are closest to the skin just behind the brown “eyes” you’ll find along the perimeter, so try to keep your slices clean to preserve all that flavor. Once peeled…

3. LAY the pineapple horizontally to chop off the base and cut fruit into rings by slicing straight down width-wise, thickness to taste. The fiber-rich core is edible, but lots of people remove it because it isn’t as flavorful or sweet. Use a small paring knife to cut it out of your rings, if you’d prefer.

4. OPTIONALLY MARINATE the pineapple. Place the rings in a big plastic bag a few hours before you plan to grill them, add a teaspoon of honey, tablespoons of melted butter, a dash of hot pepper sauce and a dash of salt. If you don’t want hot sauce, add a dash of cinnamon and a squeeze of lime juice.

5. SHAKE the bag to coat the rings evenly, and pop it in the fridge until ready to grill.

6. TURN the grill to medium heat. Use tongs to remove the rings from the bag and lay them on the grill, spreading so they don’t slip through the grate. Grill until char marks appear, about 2-3 minutes per side.
 

13 MORE GRILLED PINEAPPLE RECIPES

Start with a ham, turkey or other sandwich with a slice of grilled pineapple and honey mustard. A slice of grilled pineapple is also great on a burger. Then, move on to these:

Our friend’s daughter is largely vegetarian, but she’ll eat an occasional piece of fish (which makes her a flexitarian—here’s the difference of these terms plus pescatarian, vegan and others).

So for July 4th weekend, we picked up a box of SeaPak Alaskan Salmon Burgers, which are available frozen at stores nationwide.

It takes time to make salmon burgers from scratch, but these frozen patties are just the thing for a busy occasion like grilling with guests.

Cook them for 2 minutes on each side on a pre-heated and oiled pan or grill. The goal is a crispy outside and juicy interior.

We like salmon bugers “rare.” Remember that the burger will continue to cook for a minute or two once removed from the heat source—and there’s nothing worse than overcooked fish.
 
 
MORE USES FOR SEAPAK ALASKA SALMON BURGERS

In addition to salmon burgers, decked out with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, cole slaw, and condiments of choice (that’s yogurt-dill sauce in photo #1), you can use the burgers:

[1] Dress a salmon burger like a beef burger. Ketchup works, but a yogurt-dill sauce is better. Here’s a recipe (photo © McCormick).

[2] Keep a package of salmon burgers burgers in the freezer, for family and guests (photo © SeaPak).

In addition to great salmon flavor, salmon burgers bring the numerous health benefits of salmon.

[1] (photo © Better Homes & Gardens).

[2] You can make curled vegetables look like a bouquet (photo © Canard Inc.).

[3] Here, a beet and goat cheese salad is graced with curled beets (photo © Triomphe | NYC [now closed]).

[4] If fiddlehead ferns are in season, definitely add some (photo Katharine Pollak | © The Nibble).

An easy way to turn a raw vegetable salad into edible art is to thinly shave/cut the vegetables with a vegetable peeler or mandoline, and soak them in ice water for about 20 minutes.

This will not only make the ribbons curl, but they’ll be crunchier, too.

And, some might say, they have more eye appeal—much more than a spiralized raw vegetable salad.

Are you game to try?
 
 
CHOOSE VEGETABLES THAT ARE EASY TO SHAVE

Choose vegetables that shave well.

We’ve used asparagus, beets, broccoli stalks (a great use for them!), burdock root, carrots, celery, celery root (celeriac), daikon and other large radishes, Jerusalem artichoke, jicama, kohlrabi, parsnip, scallions* and sweet potato†.

Shave them lengthwise, then place the pieces into a bowl of ice water. Keep the shaved vegetables in ice water until ready to serve.

You can serve the curled vegetables on a bed of greens, or by themselves.
 
 
RECIPE: CURLED VEGETABLE SALAD

We adapted this salad from one in Better Homes and Gardens.

Their recipe used cucumbers and radishes (photo #1). However, pick as many veggies to curl as you like, balancing beige-white vegetables with colored ones.

You can also add the jalapeno or not; and optionally, add

 
We’ve created a salad of greens and herbs. Use your favorite. We chose a baby lettuces mix and added baby arugula, basil, chives and mint. You can use crunchy romaine or any salad blend.

Ingredients

 
For The Dressing

 
Preparation

1. PEEL the vegetables as appropriate (e.g., carrots and cucumbers yes, asparagus and radishes no). Using a mandoline or a sturdy vegetable peeler, and cut them lengthwise into thin, ribbon-like strips. Aim for 3-inch lengths. You can elect to make them longer: The longer the strip, the less tight the curl. Try some test batches, e.g. two or three strips of each vegetable, to see what you prefer.

2. PLACE the strips in ice-water bath, and let stand until curly, about 20 minutes. You can keep them in the ice water until ready to serve. Then, drain and transfer to a paper towel and blot dry.

3. PREPARE the greens and herbs salad. Toss with the dressing (use as little dressing as needed to moisten) and add the cheese. Place in a bowl or on a plate.

4. TOP with the curled vegetables. Serve with a pitcher of extra dressing to pass.

*Rather than shave the scallions, we trimmed the ends, removed the bulb for other use, and pulled off layer by layer.

*Sweet potatoes can safely be eaten raw, although certain types of yams—and all white potatoes—are only safe to eat when cooked. That’s because raw potatoes contain a toxic compound called solanine.