Friday, March 20, 2009

Throwing a Party with Rocky Road Bars!

Ultimate Blog Party 2009

Hello! Welcome to my own little shindig here on the Internet, part of the Ultimate Blog Party hosted by 5 Minutes for Mom! I’m so glad you stopped by.

I'm Phyllis, also known as the Ima on and off the Bima, and I'll be your hostess.

Ima means Mom in Hebrew.
Bima is the raised platform in a synagogue from which the Torah is read or the service is led.
I am a Rabbi, so I am often on the Bima. But I'm always an Ima, whether I'm on or off.

I have three yeladim (children) - David, Sam, and Yael.
And I blog about Jewish parenting and living. And sometimes just other random things...whatever life throws my way - recipes, tips, pictures, commentary on the world...

Some of my favorite posts:
The Ten Commandments in Haiku
Pictures of a Recent Trip to Israel (I've travelled 3 times to Israel in the last 2 years, and I've blogged about my trips) and some more pictures here.
Award-Winning Passover Poem
Consumer Culture and Torah
Why Spin Instructors are Like Rabbis
Homemade Leg Warmers
Maintaining Family History
I Love to Read and Books I Read in 2008

Please feel free to subscribe to my RSS feed and also follow me on Twitter!



Photobucket

Right now, I, along with the whole Jewish world, am in the midst of getting ready for the holiday of Passover (in Hebrew, Pesach). This involves a lot of cleaning and in my case, a lot of baking and cooking. Why, you might ask? Well, we have to rid our houses of all the leavened items that are forbidden on this holiday. What better way to get rid of all the flour and other baking supplies than to bake them into delicious foodstuffs!? And I do love to bake. So in the spirit of using up flour, I made two different kinds of bars yesterday for our school's Teacher Appreciation Dinner. If you don't have the King Arthur Cookie Companion, I highly recommend it! I made Scandinavian Blondies (yum) and Rocky Road Bars, which were absolutely fantastic.

So today, I made another batch of those Rocky Road Bars.
(Passover is such a good time because you can get all sorts of things in the store like kosher marshmallows)


Absolutely Unbelievably Good Rocky Road Bars
(adapted from The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion)

1 2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup Dutch processed cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened at room temp
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped (I left these out)
1 to 2 cups miniature marshmallows (depending on how much you like)

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 9x13 inch pan.
Cream butter and both sugars until combined, add salt and baking powder. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Mix in the cocoa powder, then the flour. Stir in 2 cups of chocolate chips and the walnuts if you're using them.
Pat the dough into your prepared pan.
Bake at 350F for 15 minutes until the edges are set but still soft in the center. Sprinkle with remaining 1 cup chocolate chips and then marshmallows. Bake about 7 minutes more, til melty and the marshmallows are toasted on top.
Cool completely (overnight worked great) and then cut. It makes 24-36 bars. They are super-rich!


and what's a party without music?



Glad you stopped by! Make sure to check out all the other party folks linked up over at 5 Minutes for Mom. There are prizes too!
My top 3 prizes that I'd like to win are:
19 — $50 gift certificate to Target Stores
Provided by: Shoot-Me-Now
Prize details: Treat your kids, or even better, treat yourself! Shoot-Me-Now would like to donate a $50 Target gift card to one winner.

49 – Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred DVD and The Biggest Loser Family Cookbook: Budget Friendly Meals Your Whole Family Will Love
Provided by: Pudget: Losing Weight On A Budget
Prize details: These two great tools will help you during any phase of your weight loss journey.

99 — $25 gift certificate for Shutterfly
Provided by: SandwichINK.com
Prize details: $25 gift certificate for Shutterfly for photos of all those cute kids, grandkids, pets, etc.

(or, if any of those are taken, I like 21, 22, 30, 58, 91, 97, 106, USC25)

25 comments:

La Mama Naturale' said...

What a cute video of the kids. I'm so glad you stopped by my blog! Hope to visit your site more often. ;) Those Rocky Road bars look delish. We love crocs too- did you know they can be recycled? I'm sure you do ;)

Anonymous said...

The point about being able get kosher products at Passover is especially true when you live in a small Jewish community. The nearest kosher market is an hour away from us, and most of the year I can't get anything remotely obscure. At Passover, not only do they have everything, but they put it all on sale as soon as the seders are over (!)

Juliana said...

Hi,

Nice to meet u in this UBP 09.

I am participate in UBP 09 as well, my personal‘s blog, photo‘s blog, and travel‘s blog. Hope you visit mine as well . Thanks

Stephanie Wilson she/her @babysteph said...

Did someone say Rocky Road!?

Steph

Anonymous said...

Lovely video... your kiddies are so adorable. I'm glad I found your blog thanks to twitter!

Wendy
(@MyGreenSide)

jodifur said...

I'm party hopping!

ikkinlala said...

That recipe looks delicious!

Anonymous said...

Yum on the rocky road bars, and the children are too precious.

Colleen @AMadisonMom said...

That is one of my all time favorite songs to sing with the girls. And that recipe... yum!!! You can bet we'll be trying that one very soon.

CC said...

Looks delish!!!! I can't believe you read 81 books last year! wow! My goals was 50. and um.... I think I squeaked by with 31. Pathetic I know. I'm pretty sure the year before I became a mom I read 75. But then kids, work, etc. just get in the way! ;)

Carma Sez said...

stopping by from UBP to say "hi" :-)
Those bars look simply delicious!
carma

Anonymous said...

Hi! So nice to meet you. Thank you for teaching us some Hebrew! I would love to learn more! I am participating in the party too! Party on!

StacieinAtlanta said...

Hi Phyllis-

I am stopping by from The Ultimate Blog Party to check your blog out and say hello. We are in for a great week!

Check out my place for your chance to win a LeapFrog Tag Reading System. :)

Stacie
The Divine Miss Mommy
http://www.thedivinemissmommy.com
http://www.twitter.com/stacieinatlanta

April said...

Just going from party to party to see how others are doing this blogging thing.

the video of your boys is precious

My prize is #115 check it out!
Have a good weekend blog partyn'!

Anonymous said...

Hello! Poppin’ in from The Ultimate Blog Party…all the way from Queensland, Australia! G’Day! I hope you have time to visit my party soon.

Ta!

Teresa @ Grammy Girlfriend said...

I am new to the blog world and this is my first BLOG PARTY! Wow, what fun.

I am so glad to find your blog. I will be back soon for a longer visit. I love, love, love, the shoes on your blog

Come by for a visit and sign up for my first prize.

Teresa

Super Fun Mama said...

I just stopped by, blog hopping as part of UBP 2009. It is very nice to meet you. I have a blog at www.superfunmama.blogspot.com; It's a toddler learning blog. I'd love to have you for a visit! I am loving UBP! Have a magical day. I have a goal of trying to visit 150 blogs per day, whew! Let's hope the little one takes long naps for the next few days.

Pami said...

happy UBP!!! 2009
sure would like to have a piece of that rocky road bar i am famished with all this party hopping...
happy partying
I am bookmarking your site

janetfaye said...

Stopping by to say hello from the UBP!

The Rocky Road Bar looks delicious!

Jerri at Simply Sweet Home said...

Your rocky road bars look very yummy!

Heather said...

Nice to meet you! The Rocky Road bars look wonderful!

Nell said...

Great party post!

Nell

Kati said...

Happy UBP!!

Michelle J said...

Hi I am doing some blog hopping from the UBP and I thought I would drop in! Hope your having a great time at the UBP and if you get a chance come visit me at my blog!

The rocky road bars looks yummy and the kids are adorable!
I look forward to reading more about you!

TwinHappyJen said...

Oh, those rocky road bars look SO good... and your children are adorable! I’ll definitely have to check out your blog more later… (I’m just bookmarking everyone right now, while I blog-hop my way through the party :-p)

Feel free to check out my blog, too! While I found the party too late to be part of the official prize giveaways, I do have a door prize at my blog: I’m giving away a free print copy of my book, “Two Snowflakes.” Here’s my address: http://twinhappyjen.blogspot.com/

It was nice to meet you!