Baking is not my talent

I have never been a big fan of baking. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I love the end result! Let me tell you why baking is so difficult for me.

For our Super Bowl party, we were supposed to bring a dessert. “Ok, great! I’ll make something new!” I think to myself. So I searched Pinterest and found homemade Snickers… yes, please!!

I look up the recipe and find the easiest one. This one. 

My sister-in-law, Kathryn, was at my house at the time of my decision, so she suggested we make it together. Our plan was to go to the grocery store and make it at her parents’ house (Jay was watching UFC over there).

Kathryn, Ethan, and I head to the nearest Kroger. Chocolate chips – Aisle 8; marshmallow fluff – Aisle 8; caramels – uhhhh, Aisle 5. They didn’t have Brach caramels in a bag like I assumed they would. So I call my baker friend, Susan, and ask her opinion. She said to get Mrs. Richardson’s Caramel - Aisle 10. They don’t have Mrs. Richardson’s Caramel. They just have Mrs. Richardson’s Butterscotch Caramel. Ugh. Let’s go back to Aisle 8 and make sure they don’t have caramel bars there. Nope. Hmm. Well, it looks like I’ll have to put individual caramels in a bag. Back to Aisle 5. I have no idea how caramels equal a pound so Kathryn and I try to weight it compared to the pound of chocolate chips. We check out and it costs twenty-five dollars!! (minus $1 for the gummy bears)

We get back to her parents’ house and start cooking. Me with my left hand because I’m eating a slice of pizza with my right. Emily, Jay’s brother’s girlfriend is there too. So I ask if she would take pictures for the blog.

Step #1 - bottom chocolate layer
1 1/4 cups milk chocolate chips
1/4 cup peanut butter
Thoroughly grease you baking pan. Melt ingredients together in a saucepan or microwave, then pour into the baking dish and spread until even. Let cool and harden completely.

PEANUT BUTTER! I FORGOT PEANUT BUTTER! I didn’t put it on my list because I knew I had it at home. Thankfully between regular peanut butter and reduced fat peanut butter, I was able to get what I hope was enough.

As I continue reading the recipe, Kathryn overtakes this job.

(Suggestion: Don’t cook something new and someone else's house.

Why? I made the grocery list based on what I had at MY house. Also, not knowing where everything can be frustrating. For instance, they didn’t have a ¼ cup measuring cups. If you read the entire recipe, almost every ingredient is ¼!)

Step #2 - nougat layer
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup evaporated milk
1 1/2 cups marshmallow fluff
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 1/2 cup salted peanuts chopped, roughly chopped
1 tsp vanilla extract
Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add in sugar and milk, stirring until dissolved and bring to a boil. Let cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add in fluff, peanut butter and vanilla, stirring until smooth. Turn off heat and fold in peanuts, then pour over bottom chocolate layer. Let cool completely.
What do I do? I put the butter and sugar together in one pot. Emily stops me and tells me to reread the recipe. So as I’m doing this, she starts melting the butter. Then I get all the other ingredients together. UGH! I FORGOT TO CHOP THE PEANUTS! Kathryn does this for me.
Also, why would it call for 1/4 cup of evaporated milk when it comes in a can?! What do you do with a whole can of evaporated milk you’ll probably never use?! Yep, down the drain it went.

Step #3 - caramel layer
1 14-ounce bag of caramels
1/4 cup whipping cream
Combine ingredients in a saucepan over low heat. Let melt, stirring occasionally, until smooth – this took about 10 minutes for me. Pour over nougat layer and let cool completely.
OOPS! FORGOT TO UNWRAP THE CARAMELS. As I am standing there unwrapping the caramels, Kathryn is chopping peanuts and Emily is finishing step 2.
WAIT! I GOT MORE THAN A POUND AT THE STORE, HOW DO I KNOW WHAT 14 OUNCES EQUALS?? Kathryn decides to get out a food scale and we figure we need to have 6 oz on the scale to equal 14 oz.
Again, what do you do with the rest of the whipping cream you spent so much money on?! I just put it in their fridge.

Step #4 - Top chocolate layer
1 1/4 cups milk chocolate chips
1/4 cup peanut butter
Melt ingredients together in a saucepan or microwave, then pour over caramel and spread until even. Let cool and harden completely.
This should be easy because we’ve already done it, right? Where’s the measuring cup we used? Where’s the spatula? Is this a 1 ¼ cup? I can’t tell!
Basically, this turned into a simple and delicious dessert I found on Pinterest to a stressful and expensive delicious that took 3 20something girls to make.
I couldn’t have done it by myself and I owe my in-laws peanut butter, but I sure loved the end result! Next time I feel like bring Snickers as a dessert, I'm using this one.