Recipe Scrapbook Home Bran Buddy / HiFi Buddy Bars Chocolate Peanut Butter Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Prototype 7 Prototype 8 Chocolate Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Chocolate Peanut Butter Dream Bars Prototype 1 Chocolate Cherry Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Peanut Butter Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Banana Prototype 1 Fluffernutter Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Lemon Prototypes 1 & 2 Orange Prototype 1 Pumpkin Prototype 1 (plus Balls variation) HiFi Buddy Balls Orange Prototype 1 Chocolate Prototype 1 (plus Orange-Chocolate variation) Prototype 2 Peanut Butter Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Chocolate Peanut Butter Prototypes 1 & 2 Maple Prototype 1 Eggnog Prototype 1 Pancakes Eggnog Pancake Batter Notes Trader Joe's Mix Latkes Spicy Latkes Matzah Pizza Stack Basic Crust Bran Buds Pie Crust Pies Chilled Eggnog Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Chilled Pumpkin Eggnog Prototype 1 Key Lime Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Pecan Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Eggnog Notes Additional Eggnog Notes Cheesecakes Chocolate Prototype 10.1 Prototype 10.2 Prototype 10.3 Prototype 10.4 Prototype 10.5 Prototype 11 Prototype 12 Prototype 13 Prototype 14 Prototype 15 Prototype 16 Prototype 17 Prototype 18 Prototype 19 Prototype 20 Prototype 21 Prototype 22 Prototype 23 Prototype 24 Prototype 25 Prototype 26 Eggnog Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Prototype 7 Prototype 8 Prototype 9 Prototype 10 Prototype 11 Prototype 12 Prototype 13 Prototype 14 Prototype 15 Prototype 16 Prototype 17 Prototype 18 Prototype 19 Prototype 20 Prototype 21 Prototype 22 Prototype 23 Prototype 24 Prototype 25 Prototype 26 Prototype 27 Prototype 28 Prototype 29 Prototype 30 Prototype 31 Prototype 32 Prototype 33 Peanut Butter Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Maple Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Prototype 7 Prototype 8 Lemon Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Prototype 7 Orange Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Chocolate Peanut Butter Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Prototype 7 Prototype 8 Prototype 9 Prototype 10 Banana Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Pumpkin Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Prototype 7 Prototype 8 Prototype 9 Prototype 10 Prototype 11 Prototype 12 Prototype 13 Plain Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Prototype 7 Prototype 8 Prototype 9 Prototype 10 Prototype 11 Prototype 12 Prototype 13 Prototype 14 Prototype 15 Prototype 16 Prototype 17 Prototype 18 Prototype 19 Prototype 20 Prototype 21 Prototype 22 Prototype 23 Prototype 24 Eggnog Pumpkin Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Cookies+Creme Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Prototype 7 Prototype 8 Prototype 9 Prototype 10 Prototype 11 Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Chocolate Eggnog Prototype 1 Vanilla Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Orange Vanilla Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Chocolate Banana Prototype 1 Prototype 2 S'mores Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Pumpkin Pecan Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Whoopie Pie Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Pecan Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Marshmallow Prototype 1 Cherry Prototype 6 Prototype 7 Fluffernutter Prototype 1 Dulce De Leche Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Chocolate Cherry Prototype 3 Strawberry Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Prototype 7 Prototype 8 Almond Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Chocolate Strawberry Prototype 1 Chocolate Almond Prototype 1 Neapolitan Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Triple-Plus Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Prototype 1 Blueberry Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Patriotic Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Key Lime Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Cheesecake Tips Pecan Pie Filling Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Additional Notes Name Change: Bran to HiFi Birthday Gift Replacement of Bran Buds with Regular All-Bran Batter Composition Changes (Mid-2015) Batter Composition Changes (Mid-2017) Update Since COVID-19 (Late-2021) All Recipes & Notes Red Velvet Research Project Preliminary Secondary My 1980's Cheesecake Prototypes Pitfalls to avoid: Unsuccessful recipes

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bran Buddy Bars—Prototype 1: Uses two 8-oz. packages of Philly 1/3-less-fat cream cheese Crust: Melt: 12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate Add: 2 oz. Philly 1/3-less-fat cream cheese (softened) Add: 2 tbsp. sugar Add: 1 tbsp: skim milk Mix together. Add: 1/2 package (i.e., 8.8 oz.) of Kellogg's All Bran Bran Buds Mix together. Press into 13" x 9" pan (a good idea is to line it with wax paper first). Refrigerate, at least until reasonably firm. Filling: Soften: remaining 14 oz. of Philly 1/3-less-fat cream cheese Add: 4 oz. creamy peanut butter Add: 3/4 cup sugar Mix together. Add filling on top of crust and spread out. Refrigerate until firm, then cut into squares. Chocolate Peanut Butter Bran Buddy Bars—Prototype 2: Still uses two 8-oz. packages of Philly 1/3-less-fat cream cheese Crust: Melt: 12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate Add: 4 oz. (INSTEAD OF 2 oz.) Philly 1/3-less-fat cream cheese (softened) Add: 2 tbsp. sugar Add: 1 tbsp: skim milk ADD: 2 TEASPOONS OF VANILLA Mix together. Add: 1/2 package (i.e., 8.8 oz.) of Kellogg's All Bran Bran Buds Mix together. Press into 13" x 9" pan (a good idea is to line it with wax paper first). Refrigerate, at least until reasonably firm. Filling: Soften: remaining 12 oz. (INSTEAD OF 14 oz.) of Philly 1/3-less-fat cream cheese Add: 4 oz. creamy peanut butter ADD: 2 OZ. SEMI-SWEET CHOCOLATE (MELTED) Add: 3/4 cup sugar Mix together. Add filling on top of crust and spread out. Refrigerate until firm, then cut into squares. SUMMARY OF DIFFERENCES FOR PROTOTYPE 2, COMPARED TO PROTOTYPE 1: Crust gets 2 teaspoons of vanilla, plus 2 additional oz. of cream cheese. Filling gets 2 less oz. of cream cheese. In other words, 2 oz. of the cream cheese gets shifted from the filling to the crust. Filling also gets 2 oz. of melted semi-sweet chocolate. Originally, the aforementioned 2 oz. of chocolate for the filling was supposed to be shifted from the crust's allocation (resulting in only 10 oz. of semi-sweet chocolate for the crust), but this step was forgotten. So the crust still got a full 12 oz., all of this chocolate being mixed in and the crust being made up before the error of forgetfulness was discovered. So a separate allocation of 2 oz. of chocolate was used for the filling (resulting in a total of 14 oz. of semi-sweet chocolate for the entire recipe, instead of 12 oz. as originally planned). It is hoped that next time, the step to take 2 oz. from the 12 oz. allocation of melted chocolate will NOT BE FORGOTTEN. Chocolate Peanut Butter Bran Buddy Bars—Prototype 3: What Prototype 2 was meant to be. In other words, a grand total of 12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate was used for the entire recipe. Memorial success won out this time as the crust got only the intended 10 oz. of the melted chocolate (and the filling still got the remaining 2 oz.). However, a new concern was triggered by eating these bars perhaps a day or so after they were prepared. The Bran Buds lost their crunch! It is likely that the moisture from other ingredients rendered them more chewy and/or soggy. The result was a texture that did not seem to feel great when eaten. Somebody suggested using Splenda (sucralose) instead of sugar to suppress the crunch's loss. Chocolate Peanut Butter Bran Buddy Bars—Prototype 4: Repeat Prototype 3, 12 oz. total of melted semi-sweet chocolate and all, but with a new approach. Give up on the crunch. But avoid the unsatisfactory texture of the seemingly soggy Bran Buds as well. All of the ingredients, both for the crust and for the filling are ultimately mixed together before being put into the pan. But...the Bran Buds are finely ground in a blender to a flour-like texture first, before being added to the other ingredients. Here is a suggested sequence (with the quantities repeated for convenience): Soften: two 8-oz. packages of Philly 1/3-less-fat cream cheese (and set aside) Grind: 1/2 package (i.e., 8.8 oz.) of Kellogg's All Bran Bran Buds (and set aside) Make sure the Bran Buds are finely ground to a flour-like texture (use a blender or food processor). Measure: 3/4 cup PLUS 2 tbsp. sugar Add: 1 tbsp: skim milk Add: 2 Teaspoons of vanilla Mix together. Add: 4 oz. creamy peanut butter Mix together. Melt: 12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate Combine this with the sugar/milk/vanilla/peanut butter mixture (quickly, while the chocolate is still melted). Next, add the softened cream cheese to the above mixture, and mix well. Finally, add the powdered Bran Buds to this mixture, and blend well (plenty of effort needed here as the texture becomes stiff). Spread all this into a 13" x 9" pan (a good idea is to line it with wax paper first). Refrigerate until firm, then cut into squares. Expect a somewhat fudge-like texture. Please keep in mind that sugar was used in this prototype (not Splenda). Chocolate Peanut Butter Bran Buddy Bars—Prototype 5: While Prototype 4 had a decent taste, its single-mixture appearance might have been too mysterious for some. So it's back to the two-layered approach, but with some major changes: The peanut butter goes to the bottom, and the chocolate (all of it!) goes to the top. And baking (!) is added as well. First, the crust. Start with the first 8-oz. package of the softened cream cheese and blend it with the 4 oz. of creamy peanut butter, the 1 tbsp. of skim milk, the 1/2 package (i.e., 8.8 oz.) of Bran Buds, finely ground, and 1/2 cup of the sugar. Press it all into a 13" x 9" pan (lined with wax paper). Then bake this crust at 350 degrees (preheat the oven first) for 10 minutes. Next comes the filling, a blend of the second 8-oz. package of the softened cream cheese, the entire 12 oz. of melted, semi-sweet chocolate, the 2 teaspoons of vanilla and 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp. of the sugar. Spread this filling evenly onto the crust in the pan (cooling it off first is not necessary, and was largely skipped here). Then return the pan to the 350-degree oven for another 10 minutes. Remove and let cool afterward, for about an hour, then place into refrigerator, and let the recipe firm up there before cutting into squares. One of the challenges was deciding how much of the recipe's total sugar to allocate to the crust, which was initially going to contain only the peanut butter and the ground Bran Buds, along with the crust's small share of the sugar. However, this mixture was determined to be way too dry. Ultimately, some of the cream cheese (likely all of which was originally planned to be allocated to the filling) was gradually added to get the moisture up. And this was done, unfortunately, after the peanut butter and the Bran Buds powder got mixed together earlier. So blending in the cream cheese was difficult. Some heating assistance was needed, therefore the mixture got a little "microwaving" in order make the cream cheese hopefully more workable. The milk, originally planned for the filling on top, also got switched to the crust on the bottom in order to contribute to the moisture. So the filling got "robbed" of all of its milk, half of its cream cheese, plus some of its initial share of the sugar (to compensate for the cream cheese shift) in order to "pay" the "thirsty" crust. To bake this crust was also a late decision, in hopes of possibly enhancing the blend for a better firmness, in light of the cream cheese's late addition (and therefore difficulties in blending) to the crust. The filling's stiffness led to the additional baking (in hopes of the filling evening out more). It should also be noted here that the peanut butter used in this prototype was unsalted (salted varieties were likely used in at least some of the earlier prototypes). The result of all this is a lightly-colored crust on the bottom, along with dark-colored filling on top, in keeping with the looks of many popular, square-shaped, baked goods. Furthermore, the peanut butter's light, brown color matches the crust exclusively containing it. And the filling's dark, brown color does a good job of reflecting the chocolate solely allocated to this upper layer. Chocolate Peanut Butter Bran Buddy Bars—Prototype 6: A repetition of Prototype 5, but with some challenging reallocations (and additional, yet minor changes)! Shift 4 ounces of cream cheese from the filling to the crust (2 tablespoons of sugar were also supposed to be transferred along with this cream cheese in the filling-to-crust shift, and probably was indeed done, but the memory of this action is not 100% certain). Sequential details (combining order) for crust: 12 oz. cream cheese 4 oz. unsalted peanut butter 1 tbsp. skim milk (blend the three wet ingredients above before adding the two dry ones below) 1/2 cup plus (hopefully) 2 tbsp. sugar 8.8 oz. Bran Buds (ground up, of course) Sequential details (combining order) for filling: 12 oz. melted, semi-sweet chocolate 2 teaspoons vanilla (should have added this one last, instead of at this point, because it quickly stiffened the chocolate) 4 oz. cream cheese 1/4 cup (hopefully only this amount) sugar Now things get really challenging. Press only HALF the chocolate filling into the 13" x 9" wax-paper-lined pan (if necessary, apply a minimal amount of broiler heat to facilitate the spreading). Then firm this up by chilling it in the freezer for 20 minutes. Remove the pan from the freezer, and add the crust mixture on top of the lower chocolate layer. Press it down firmly, then return the pan to the freezer for another 20 minutes. Next, take the pan out of the freezer and press the remaining half of the chocolate filling on top of the crust layer. This step was too difficult, because the chocolate hardened too soon. Got to cut down next time on the freezer duration that follows the crust addition (seems like the filling absorbed the crust's cold temperature too quickly). Just make sure that the crust is packed as firmly as possible. But not all was lost, thanks to a quick heat application (broiling the pan in the oven for about a couple of minutes). Spreading the top filling suddenly became extremely easy. Next, it's "back to cool" time, but this time the pan goes into the refrigerator, not the freezer. Far more than enough time required for firmness passed (probably about two hours) before the contents of the pan were cut. Unfortunately, the chocolate filling tended to break up badly during the cutting phase. Applying some oven heat helped a little, but not enough.   Here is some further background for Prototype 6. Laurie (a cousin of Lesa, who herself had provided excellent home care for my dad in his later years) made a number of recommendations for my Bran Buddy Bars (I think Laurie was probably also the one who suggested using Splenda back around Prototype 3). More specifically, she felt that the crust texture of Prototype 5 was too dry. She had two suggestions. One was to split up the chocolate filling into two parts so that these would form the top and bottom layers. The crust would go in between them. This approach would result in a bite that was more moist to the touch. Her other suggestion was to shift more of the cream cheese from the filling to the crust. She advised perhaps shifting as much as all the cream cheese to the crust, but I was concerned that taking too much cream cheese from the filling would result in the chocolate layers being too firm. This excessive hardness could also contribute, along with the thinness of these layers, to the chocolate filling cracking up too easily. So I made a decision to take only half of the filling's Prototype 5 share of the cream cheese and transfer it to the crust. Since I felt that some matching sweetness should also go along with this reallocated cream cheese, I also made plans to transfer 2 tablespoons of sugar as well. Seeing that the chocolate filling was disintegrating on me during the bar-cutting process, I am glad that I didn't raid any more cream cheese from it. But I hope to come up next time with a better way to cut the bars non-destructively. So what was the feedback on this prototype from Laurie? I had to wait a long time for this one (due to her absence at the time that I served these bars), but I was finally told by Lesa (who saved some bars for Laurie's later consumption) that she "liked them" (hopefully, according to what I best recall hearing).   Chocolate Peanut Butter Bran Buddy Bars—Prototype 7: This was sort of a new one, featuring three distinct layers and a new ingredient: white chocolate. Due to this prototype being made after Prototype 2 of the Chocolate (only) Bran Buddy Bars, whipped cottage cheese (lowfat, of course) replaced the cream cheese as well. Sequential details (combining order) for lower filling: 6 oz. melted, semi-sweet chocolate 2 oz. whipped lowfat cottage cheese 1/8 cup sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla (last ingredient here!) Sequential details (combining order) for crust: 14 oz. whipped lowfat cottage cheese 2 oz. unsalted peanut butter 1 tbsp. skim milk (blend the three wet ingredients above before adding the two dry ones below) 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp. sugar 8.8 oz. Bran Buds, ground up Sequential details (combining order) for upper filling: 6 oz. melted, white chocolate 2 oz. unsalted peanut butter 1/8 cup sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla (last ingredient here!) Tip: 1/8 cup of sugar weighs 1 ounce, so if a measuring cup of this size is not available, try using a kitchen scale instead. Note a 2 ounce swap—2 ounces of the peanut butter being switched from the crust to the upper filling (mainly to give this filling more of a peanut butter color), and 2 ounces of cottage cheese (the upper filling's entire Prototype 6 share in its corresponding cream cheese form) being switched from the upper filling to the crust. Also note that the white chocolate replaces the semi-sweet on the top layer. The pan procedures were similar to those of Prototype 6 (20-minute freezer exposures, etc.), and the full recipe was actually used here—not half—along with, however, a 9" x 9" pan (see the comments above on Prototype 1 of the Chocolate Bran Buddy Bars for further info on this issue). The cutting was done after probably about an hour and a half of refrigeration (i.e., that occurred right after the top layer's placement). There were still some disintegration problems, mainly with the semi-sweet chocolate filling layer. However, the resulting cut bars were each transferred to an individual-sized piece of wax paper, re-assembled with the the broken filling sections, then heat-treated (semi-sweet side up, under the broiler), and this approach ended up working out quite well. The bars were then transferred back to the refrigerator for re-hardening. "Integrated" success was hopefully attained at last! I made these bars in honor of Lesa's birthday.   Chocolate Peanut Butter Bran Buddy Bars—Prototype 8: How about doing to the Chocolate Peanut Butter Bran Buddy Bars the same kind of thing that was done for Prototype 3 of their chocolate-only counterparts? In other words, merge the lower, dark, chocolate filling layer into the crust mixture, but retain the peanut butter filling layer on top. While this method would make the recipe simpler, another helpful idea involved an extremely minor shift for the sugar. More specifically, the total sugar used here amounted to 3/4 of a cup plus 2 tablespoons. The distribution of this ingredient on Prototype 7 was: Bottom filling: 1/8 cup Crust mixture: 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons Upper filling: 1/8 cup But efforts to measure 1/8 of a cup had been a challenge, due to lack of a measuring cup in this size. Some claims out there have somehow indicated this amount as being equal to 2 tablespoons. However, a closer check would reveal 1/8 of a cup to be more than that, but it wouldn't be by much. In fact, the difference was negligible enough to make a minor change in how the sugar would get measured out for this prototype. By merging the two lower layers based on the above info, the sugar allocation would be: Combined bottom filling/crust mixture: 1/2 cup plus 1/8 cup plus 2 tablespoons Upper filling: 1/8 cup Due to the small enough difference between 1/8 of a cup and 2 tablespoons, a tiny allocation swap could be made, and the recipe total for the sugar would still be 3/4 of a cup plus 2 tablespoons, as follows: Combined bottom filling/crust mixture: 1/2 cup plus 1/8 cup plus 1/8 cup Upper filling: 2 tablespoons Hence the sugar for the combined lower mixture would now add up to an easier-to-handle 3/4 of a cup (and measuring this ingredient for the upper filling would be easier as well)! Here, then, are the simplified details: Crust: 16 oz. whipped lowfat cottage cheese 2 oz. unsalted peanut butter 1 tbsp. skim milk (blend the above three ingredients before adding the next four ones below) 3/4 cup sugar 6 oz. melted, semi-sweet chocolate (be sure to quickly stir this one in while it is still melted) 1 teaspoon vanilla (next to last ingredient here!) 8.8 oz. Bran Buds, ground up Filling: 6 oz. melted, white chocolate 2 oz. unsalted peanut butter 2 tablespoons sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla (last ingredient here!) Press the crust mixture into a 9" x 9" wax-paper-lined pan. Then firm this up by chilling it in the refrigerator (not the freezer this time—it has been determined that refrigeration is sufficient) for 20 minutes. Remove the pan from the refrigerator, and add the peanut butter filling on top of the crust layer. If broiler heat is needed, be very careful. Use just enough to make the filling spreadable (too much heat can brown the filling). When the pan is cool enough to be comfortably touched, put it into the refrigerator. Chill until the top filling is almost completely firm, about 60 to 90 minutes, then cut into bars. Return these to the refrigerator, and chill until fully firm. Looks like I overdid it with the broiler heat, as the filling on top got slightly browned. But the outcome was not a disaster. However, I cut up the bars a little on the late side, so there was some filling disintegration, although very little. A cautiously quick heat treatment would fix that. Lesa greeted me with a thankful kiss, immediately picking up one of these bars as I walked with a plate of them through the entrance door into the Sports Page, where she was playing darts. It didn't take very long to empty the rest of this plate. That's another treat that was "on target".   Seems like something went wrong when I tried to compare 1/8 of a cup to 2 tablespoons for this prototype. Chances are, I was using a small cup that indicated a measurement of 2 tablespoons—a quick, convenient way to make such a measurement, rather than using a single measuring tablespoon twice. A few weeks after making this batch of bars, I did some additional research on the Internet in regard to the question of how many tablespoons were in 1 cup. I kept on getting 16 as the answer here. This would mean that 1/8 of a cup would equal only 2 tablespoons—not more than that, as I thought earlier! But I wondered why I came up with such a different evaluation. So I took some measuring spoons and cups, did some further research, and determined that the "2 TBSP COFFEE MEASURE" which I very likely used in the earlier comparison was, in fact, deficient (no, this supposedly was not from a coffee can, but rather part of a regular set of measuring cups). Maybe this particular cup was meant for heaping, not leveling. So after checking with the other measuring utensils, I have finally arrived at the conclusion that 1/8 cup = 2 tablespoons.