Super Bowl S'mores

February is my month off from work. Since I'm a "seasonal" employee, I can only work 10 months out of the year. I have February off, and then another month sometime this summer. It's kind of glorious. Being away from work for a couple of weeks now has made me realize how much I bonded with some of my coworkers, though. There are a few people that I really miss!

A few days after our last day of work, I went to a Super Bowl party. I really didn't care about the actual game, but it was my last chance to hang out with most of my work friends before they went back to Florida until next season. I was also excited about the commercials, half time show, and the food! My hosts made buffalo chicken dip, baked beans, mac & cheese, cocktail weenies, amazing home-smoked bbq pork loin, and a glorious peanut butter pie.

My contribution was a couple of cases of beer, and these Red Velvet S'mores Bars.

They're soft and gooey and super sweet. I think they were a big hit, and I ate many more than I'm willing to admit. With Valentine's Day right around the corner, these would be great to make for someone special, too!

I got the recipe from Sugarcrafter. I didn't make many changes, because they were pretty perfect already. Although, I have to say... when I was eating the last one, I decided to experiment. A little peanut butter made them super-mega-awesome.

Red Velvet S'mores Bars

Ingredients

1 1/2 C. graham cracker crumbs

6 Tbsp. butter - melted

1 1/2 C. sugar

1/2 C. softened butter

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

1 1/4 C. flour

1/4 tsp. salt

3 heaping Tbsp. cocoa powder

2 Tbsp. red food coloring

2/3 C. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 1/2 C. marshmallow fluff
bag of marshmallows

Method
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray the bottom and sides of an 8"x8" cake pan with nonstick cooking spray.

- Combine the graham cracker crumbs and melted butter, then press the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan.

- Combine the cocoa powder, red food coloring, and 1 tsp. of the vanilla in a small bowl. It will create a red paste. 

- With an electric mixer, beat the sugar and butter until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Add in the remaining tsp. of vanilla.

- Beat in the cocoa powder paste until the batter is a solid red. Add in the flour and salt, mixing until almost combined. Finish mixing by hand, and fold in the chocolate chips. Spread the batter over the graham cracker crust in the pan.

- Bake for about 35 minutes, or until the brownies are set.

- Remove from the oven and drop on the marshmallow fluff by spoonfuls while the brownies are still hot. Once the marshmallow is warmed and softened, spread it evenly. If it's difficult to spread, you can cover the pan for a minute or so, to soften the marshmallow.

- Preheat your oven's broiler. Cut about 18 marshmallows in half and lay (cut side down) on top of the marshmallow fluff. Place the pan under the broiler for 20-30 seconds, until the marshmallows are golden-brown. (Watch them carefully... they can go from brown to burned in the blink of an eye!) Let them cool completely before cutting.

They're super gooey... hence, difficult to cut. I just powered through. Coating your knife with nonstick spray can help. You could even put them in the freezer for awhile to harden up the marshmallow before cutting. They're totally worth it, though. They're sweet and delicious and decadent. Take them to a party, make them for that special someone, or heck, just make them as a treat for yourself!

 
Enjoy!

Chasing Waterfalls - Pigpen and Licklog Falls

I don't know if I've posted it on the blog, but I made a goal to see 10 different waterfalls before leaving SC. So I went hiking again today. There was something different, though... what was it...? Oh, yeah. I had a friend! Since her roommate was going kayaking, Miss Gabby decided to come along with me. We went back to find Pigpen and Licklog Falls on the Foothills/Chattooga Trails. I went there last week and had vague directions and no luck finding the falls.

This time, I did more research and figured out where I had gone wrong, and we found Pigpen and both tiers of Licklog. (I'm not sure where these names came from....) We parked in the lot farther away, so it was about 3 miles, round-trip.

After parking, you hike down the Foothills Trail. The first falls you come to are Pigpen Falls, on Licklog Creek. They're right at the junction of the Foothills Trail and Chattooga Trail.



Not overly impressive, but still pretty. There's a nice pool at the base. If I had kids, I would totally bring them here. Pack a lunch, hike in, play by the waterfall. Here's a view from the front:



It's cute. My favorite thing about this hike was the trail. Every so often, the woods would open up and there were little camping areas, usually along the creek. If I were staying here, I would send for my tent and go camping in a heartbeat.

After leaving Pigpen and continuing on the trail, we heard Licklog long before we saw it. Here it is from the trail:



It's much bigger than Pigpen, and much more epic. The problem is, you have to leave the trail and hike down some pretty steep off-shoot paths to get any closer than that. We continued downstream a bit and found three guys camping, and checked out the Chattooga River. After exploring a bit, we headed back to the falls. We found a not-too-deadly path to get down to the lower tier of Licklog Falls, and the climb down was worth it.



There were also great views of the Chattooga River, into which Licklog Falls empties.



Very pretty and isolated. There's a little camping area partway down the little path to get down to the river. It'd be tough getting your gear down there, but I could totally stay for a week.

At one point, I heard a squeal and a splash, and turned around and saw this:



I'm still not clear on how Gabby became stranded on an island in the middle of the creek, but she found a pretty rock, so it's ok.

We poked around and I took some pictures, and then headed back up to the trail. It was dark and dreary and raining, so we started to head back. The "path" to the upper tier of Licklog Falls was wet and deadly looking, so we passed on that. Here's a closer shot of it from the trail:



There was a little camping area at the top of the falls, and you can see right over the precipice. We considered trying to find a barrel and riding down the falls.



All said, I think this is my new favorite trail, and I would so love to camp along there somewhere, sometime. My favorite falls are still Yellow Branch Falls. This was a nice adventure, though, and it was awesome to have a hiking buddy! After today, I've seen (and blogged about) 7 different falls... 3 to go!

As promised in my last hiking post, I have an awkward (and very blurry) picture. :-P