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Eggnog Bran Buddy Bars--Prototype 1
In light of the success of Prototype 4 of the Chocolate Peanut Butter Bran
Buddy Bars, I thought that I would proceed with an eggnog version.
Mix together:
Two 8-oz. packages of Philadelphia 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 pint (16 fluid ounces) light eggnog
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
These ingredients were mixed together by hand, instead of by electric
mixer, so the cream cheese (probably not soft enough at this point) did not
get fully dissolved in the mixture.
Add:
1/2 package (8.8 oz.) of Kellogg's All Bran Bran Buds, finely ground
The Bran Buds were mixed in by hand, and this resulted in a thick texture
that also helped the cream cheese to become more thoroughly blended.
Next came the tricky part. Would refrigeration make the mixture firm enough
to be cut into sufficiently solid bars?
I left the mixture in the mixing bowl, which I then put into the
refrigerator.
After perhaps close to three hours, I took the bowl of mixture out. While a
taste signaled a presence of eggnog and cream cheese, I was dissatisfied
with the texture. Furthermore, this filling was still too soft.
Therefore, I tried something very different: baking. So I spread the mixture
into a 9" x 9" (note the size; it wasn't 13" x 9") pan
lined with buttered wax paper (no, I did not grease the paper for the
chocolate peanut butter bars, because those weren't baked), and then
transferred this prototype into an oven heated at only 300 degrees.
I cooked this for about 75 minutes, opening the door a few times in order to
check for firmness. The mixture rose until it looked like a big loaf with
the middle being higher than the edges (just like a typical loaf of bread).
I then turned off the oven but kept the pan in there with the door shut for,
likely, about 15 minutes. It think it was likely near the end of this phase
(I cannot exactly remember when) that the middle of the mixture fell back
down to about where it was at the start of the baking process (the edges,
which also rose during baking, remained high against the pan's perimeter).
Next, I left the door slightly ajar for about another 30 minutes before
finally pulling the pan out of the oven. Hence this prototype had been in
there for about two hours altogether. From what I best recall, immediately
afterward, I took a sample before a brief, room temperature cooling, after
which I likely took another sample before transferring this recipe into the
refrigerator for further cooling. I also sampled this prototype after a
reasonable amount of refrigeration.
In all the post-baking samplings that I did here, I was very dissatisfied.
The taste was now a lot like that of pumpkin pie. I could not detect my
intended flavors, whether eggnog or cream cheese. The resulting recipe was
crusty on the outside (at least enough for cutting purposes), but gooey on
the inside. I was about to dispose of this prototype, but I thought that I
would give others at a party an opportunity to try it. So I went ahead and
cut it up into bars. Who knows, there just might come along somebody who
would end up happening to love this unsuccessful recipe.
But that turned out to be to no avail, and the bars were ultimately
discarded.
Will there be a Prototype 2 for this recipe? If so, I anticipate avoiding
baking for this one. I think that eggnog generally fares better under cold
conditions.
Eggnog Bran Buddy Bars--Prototype 2
Yes, about a year (therefore an eggnog-oriented Christmas season) or so
later, it was time to give this another try.
Repeat Prototype 1, but with three differences:
1. Substitute whipped cottage cheese, 16 ounces of it, for the cream
cheese.
2. Add 12 ounces of melted, white chocolate to the recipe.
3. Do not bake this recipe! Instead, chill it until firm.
For this prototype, I actually cut this one down to a
"probationary" trial size, about 1/8 of the regular recipe. I am
glad I did this, because despite adding the white chocolate, the mixture,
while it thickened in the refrigerator, still failed to get firm enough.
On a positive note, I was able to fully blend the whipped cottage cheese
into the mixture. And inasmuch that the recipe turned out to be pasty, I
still liked the taste, so I eventually ate it all (it's a good thing I only
made a 1/8 size).
Perhaps a pie (with a Bran Buds-based crust and cottage-cheese/eggnog
filling) instead of a batch of bars should be considered here? Maybe I
should give gelatin (or pudding mix, possibly vanilla) a try. To be
continued??
Yes--although not directly, at least at first. How about a non-Bran-Buddy
recipe for now?
Okay, here we go with an eggnog variation of a cheesecake mix. Don't go
looking for fiber here, but at least enjoy the amount of fat being low.
Start with 1 package (11.1 oz.) of Jell-O NoBake Real Cheesecake Dessert.
This kit contains two items:
1. Crust Mix (note: weight of this item determined to be 4.5 oz.--for the
sake of possible future Bran Buds substitution).
2. Filling Mix.
The eggnog version's preparation closely follows the package's
directions--but there are some exceptions:
1. Instead of using 2 tablespoons of sugar and 5 tablespoons of butter
(that's a lot of fat!) with the crust mix, use 1.5 ounces of melted white
chocolate, 1 tablespoon of whipped, lowfat cottage cheese, 1 1/2 tablespoons
of light eggnog, and only 1/4 tablespoon of sugar. Press all this into a pie
plate (I was able to use what seemed to be an 8" size here, as opposed
to the 9" size that the package called for), and chill until the
filling is ready to be poured.
2. Here is what makes the recipe an eggnog cheesecake! Use 1 1/2 cups of
eggnog, instead of milk, with the filling mix (I was also able to somehow
get by with mixing these ingredients by hand, as opposed to using an
electric mixer, inasmuch as the hand mixing was somewhat of a challenge).
The resulting recipe ended up being a terrific hit among friends!
I have some additional recommendations. If you are in New England, try
Oakhurst or Hood light eggnog (the tastes of which I personally rate as
excellent) with this recipe. (For drinking purposes, I have tried other
brands as well. I was not satisfied with Garelick's regular, i.e.,
"full-fat", eggnog, because I thought it had too much of a
"chemical-like" flavor. I found Trader Joe's light eggnog somewhat
better, or "fair". I felt that Stop & Shop's light eggnog
tasted too "vanilla-y", somewhat like a vanilla milkshake, but
good nevertheless. Adding some nutmeg to it, perhaps about 1/2 teaspoon per
cup, would make it very good.) To further enhance the preparation
experience, listen to some rawkin' Christmas tracks by Trans-Siberian
Orchestra (especially "Come All Ye Faithful / O Holy Night",
"Christmas / Sarajevo 12/24" and "A Mad Russian's
Christmas") while making this pie.
Update! It has now been about a year since I started doing these Jell-O
NoBake-based eggnog pies. It was time to try some kind of Bran Buds version.
With plenty of Bran/Hifi Buddy Bars experience, I aimed for a relatively
plain kind of Bran Buds/cottage cheese crust.
The "foundational" ingredients:
8 oz. whipped lowfat cottage cheese
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
4.4 oz. ground Bran Buds.
In earlier taste evaluations, I felt that this resulting mixture was a
little too bland, so in a later version to be used to build my first Bran
Buds eggnog pie, I spiced up this crust by adding 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and
1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg. The total amount of crust ended up being rather
plentiful--enough for a thick crust if using a small pie plate (perhaps 8 to
9 inches). On top of this went the resulting mixture of one package (Trader
Joe's, 3.39 oz.) of vanilla instant pudding mix and 1 3/4 cups of light
eggnog (Hood). I served this one at my Wednesday Night Bible Study, and many
of the guests seemed pleased with it. However, I felt that I had used too
much cinnamon and/or nutmeg in the crust--enough to somewhat overwhelm the
eggnog flavor. Perhaps the crust was too thick as well. But with this
experiment, I felt that I was well on my way to finally coming up with a
decent Bran Buds-containing eggnog treat (the eggnog filling itself was very
delicious). See the Eggnog Pie recipes (including with pumpkin) on
the main recipes page for further details. |
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