Oatmeal Fudge Bars

When it comes to the world of chocolate, I like it rich and dark. I have come to like a little bit of milk chocolate, but give me a choice between the two, and I will greedily take the dark chocolate bar. Plus I can’t resist the crisp snap dark chocolate makes when you break it in two.

Oats have a special place in my heart too. I have Quaker instant maple and brown sugar oatmeal for breakfast at least three times a week. Yes I know it’s not as healthy as actually making oatmeal from scratch, but I don’t care. It’s sweet and chewy and delicious. I will admit that I make oatmeal from scratch on occasion. I can’t resist the mouth feel oatmeal provides.

I’m also a fan of crunchies. Ever since I was little I would love a good crunchy chicken finger or granola bar. Plus, crumble toppings are my weakness. They are so sweet and crunchy and just amazing on anything.

These bars have every single component I mentioned above. It has am oaty base, which browns and crisps up beautifully as it bakes. The middle layer consists of pure decadence. It’s rich, dark, and ever so smooth, yet fudgy too. The middle layer of this bar is basically a brownie, but sort of like a chocolate pie filling. It’s heavenly. Then the top layer is made of leftover base crumbled all over the smooth chocolate layer.

Warning: this treat is very rich and highly addicting. It’s absolutely perfect for small get-togethers.

This post is part of the 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats, hosted this year by the wonderful Brenda of Meal Planning Magic.

Oatmeal Fudge Bars

Slightly adapted from Tracy’s Culinary Adventures

Makes one 9-icnh square pan

Ingredients

Base and Crumble

1 cup quick cooking oats

1 cup brown sugar

¾ cup unbleached all-purpose flour

¼ tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. baking soda

1/8 tsp. salt

1 stick unsalted butter, melted

Filling

¼ cup unbleached all-purpose flour

¼ cup brown sugar

¼ tsp. salt

9 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, chopped or chips

2 tbsp. unsalted butter

1 egg, room temperature

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325F. Line a 9-inch square baking pan with foil. Grease the foil with cooking spray. Set the pan aside.

In a large bowl, whisk the oats, brown sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Pour in the melted butter and mix until the dough comes together. Set aside about ½ cup of the oat mixture. Pour the remaining dough into the prepared pan, pressing down to create an even layer.

Bake for 8 minutes or until just slightly golden on top. Set the pan aside to cool for 1 hour while you make the filling.

Whisk together the flour, brown sugar, and salt. Melt the chocolate and butter over a double boiler. Stir until the chocolate and butter have completely melted into each other. Let the chocolate cool for about 5 minutes. Beat in the egg. Fold in the flour mixture. The filling will be thick. Pour the filling over the partially baked base. Smooth over the top with a rubber spatula. Sprinkle the remaining oat mixture on top.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the oat crumble has turned a golden brown. Place the pan on a cooling rack to cool completely (2 hours). Cut into squares. 

Chocolate-Studded Cookie Bars

I didn’t plan to make this. Making this just sort of happened.

You see, I’m usually lucky on Friday the 13^th. Nothing terrible ever happens to me on this day, well except this particular Friday the 13^th. I was originally going to make butterscotch bars, but those flopped miserably.

I was craving a treat and since the cake had been finished off within 24 hours, we had no desserts in the house, which is unacceptable. So I took a look through my Foodgawker favorites and found a few recipes for butterscotch bars. I quickly picked one out (turns out most of the recipes were almost identical) and set to work.

I hadn’t even gotten passed the second step before I knew something wasn’t right. The butterscotch chips and the butter were not coming together like I imagined. The recipe clearly said to melt the butterscotch chips and the butter together in a saucepan. Well the butter melted, and the butterscotch chips melted, but they were like water and oil. They refused to come together. Now looking back I’m not sure if that’s how it was supposed to be, but at the moment, it didn’t seem right. So I tossed that batch and tried again, this time with less butter. Still the mixture would not play nice. So I tossed that batch as well (terrible waste of butter and butterscotch chips sadly). So what to do with all the other ingredients sitting on the table? Well I had to make something since my eggs were already cracked. I quickly hopped on Foodgawker again and desperately searched for something with one egg and egg white. I found nothing, but the chocolate studded blondies definitely caught my attention.

These are so simple to make, seriously. It hardly took any time at all. These went from nothing in a bowl to goopy delicious batter poured into a pan and placed in the oven in probably 7 minutes. The batter is sort of thin, and it will need a little coaxing, but it’s so worth it. My sister, who never eats anything I make, loved them. She even took some to her friend’s house, and came back empty handed.

I have decided to change the name though. These tasted a little like chocolate chip cookies, which in my opinion is great! I think blondies and cookie bars are sort of like half siblings where the blondie and the brownie are like cousins. And because these bars are on the thinner side (much like a cookie in bar form) I’m re-naming them as chocolate-studded cookie bar. But no matter what you call ‘em, they’re still so delicious, I may just have to make more!

Chocolate-Studded Cookie Bar
Adapted from Flour Arrangements
Makes one 8x8 or 9x9 inch pan

Ingredients
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
1 cup dark brown sugar
¼ tsp. salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
½ tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. baking soda
45 grams semi-sweet chocolate chips (use more to your preference)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a square baking pan, either 8x8 or 9x9 inch, with tinfoil. Grease tinfoil with cooking spray and set aside.

Melt butter in a medium saucepan on medium heat. Whisk in the brown sugar and salt. Remove from heat and let it cool for just a minute so you don’t scramble the egg when you add them. Speaking of eggs, once the butter/sugar mixture has cooled down slightly, beat in the egg. Add the vanilla and stir. Add the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Stir until combined.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. You may need to coax the batter towards the sides. Once the batter has been evenly spread out to all sides of the pan, put it in the oven and bake for 15-18 minutes or until the top has turned golden brown.

Allow to cool in the pan before slicing. This would be an absolute dream to eat with some vanilla bean ice cream!

Peanut Butter Drizzled Granola Bars

You know what I’ll never be able to get enough of? Granola bars. I probably have at least one a day. And if I could, I would probably want to eat them all the time, it’s sad… and probably a little unhealthy, I know, but I can’t help it.

I love the chewy ones because I can slowly pick off the chocolate chips and devour those first. Then I’m able to taste the little rice bubbles coated in some kind of sticky caramel thing that tastes like candy. And don’t get me started on the chewy bars with a bottom that’s been laced with chocolate. Mmmhmmm. That’s good stuff right there.
And the crunchy kind, specifically Nature Valley’s crunchy granola bars. The Oats & Honey is just sweet enough while the Cinnamon one tastes like dessert, only in crunchy snack form, and Peanut Butter. Oh peanut butter has my heart too, especially with that little peanut drizzle on top. It’s the only one (that I know of) with a sweet little drizzle on top of it. I love little drizzles.

Guess what? These granola bars have a little drizzle on them too. It’s peanut butter. It’s a peanut butter drizzle on a granola bar that can be chewy or crunchy.

I tried making chewy granola bars the other day, but they kinda flopped as a bar. Instead I crumbled it up and ate it as granola. Between my dad and I that stuff lasted only a few hours, it was sort of sad. So yesterday I decided to not really follow a recipe, but make my own granola bars instead.

The recipe I used had called for melted butter- something that I don’t think did much to help the oats and rice cereal stick together too well. So I asked myself what is something that would help make the granola bars stick? Peanut butter makes everything stick together! So I used peanut butter to make these little tasty treats for you guys. If you want your bars crunchy, keep them in the fridge to have as a cool snack (it’s supposed to be 100 degrees for the next week here); if you want your bars chewy, keep them in the pantry at room temperature.

Peanut Butter Drizzled Granola Bars
Recipe by me
Makes 9x9 or 8x8 inch square

Ingredients
2 cups quick cooking oats
1 cup Rice Krispies cereal
Pinch of salt
¼ cup creamy peanut butter
¼ cup honey
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
½ tsp. pure vanilla extract
Directions
In a medium bowl mixt together the oats, cereal, and salt. Set aside.
In a medium sauce pan heat the peanut butter on medium heat until melted. Stir in the honey until completely incorporated. Stir the sugar until melted into the peanut butter-honey mixture. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the vanilla.
Add the hot peanut butter mixture to the oats mixture and stir. Once you’ve stirred and can’t stir anymore, use your hands to get the rest of the job done. Press the oat mixture into a lightly greased 9x9 or 8x8 inch pan. Pack the granola in there tightly. Refrigerate for about 15 minutes.
Remove from the fridge and drizzle the peanut butter glaze (stir together 1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar + 1 tbsp. creamy peanut butter, melted + 2-3 tsp. milk) over the uncut granola block. Place back into the fridge for about an hour or until the glaze firms up. Cut into bars (I got 14 and 2 halves granola bars). Wrap in plastic wrap or foil. Keep in the fridge or at room temperature.

Sunny Citrus Bars

Oh my goodness! It’s been so long since I’ve actually posted anything, and I’m sorry. But I’ve had so much going on. Last week was kind of stress-week because I was preparing for finals and all that stuff. Then on Sunday I was celebrating Mother’s Day with my wonderful mama and this past week has been my fault. You see it was my last week of high school and I’m now officially done with school! Thursday was my last day, and I was just being really lazy. It’s weird, I’ve never been this lazy, and usually I’m so diligent. And then Saturday was my graduation ceremony. That's right, I'm officially a graduate! :D

Anyways, backup to the part about Mother’s Day. I love my mom so much, and I probably don’t tell her nearly enough. Actually, I’m kind of snarky with my mom. I don’t mean to be, it just happens. But, on Mother’s Day, I made it a point to make it all about her. By the way, this is a picture of my mom, me and my little sister. I think this was taken when I was about six. My mom is such a pretty lady.

So, a few weeks ago, I received this wonderful cookbook from Monica over at Lick the Bowl Good. She has such fabulous recipes and her photos are so beautiful. And Sunday happened to be her first Mother’s Day with her little boy Hayden. He looks like such a sweet-hart and I bet it was a memorable Mother’s Day for Monica.

In honor of Mother’s Day, Monica and I decided to bake something from the cookbook “together”. My mom is in love with citrusy foods, so I automatically suggested we make the Sunny Citrus Bars on page 92. We both agreed that they looked wonderful, and decided to bake the bars for Mother’s Day. If you would like to see Monica’s opinion on the citrus bars, click here.

I absolutely loved these bars. The cookie/shortbread-like crust was a perfect contrast to the tangy/gooey topping. I was actually a little afraid to bake the crust because it requires cutting in the butter until the flour is coarse and crumbly. I have never understood these directions, until I made these bars. I kept rubbing in the butter until the flour looked like sand. It was a magical moment for me. I know that sounds a little silly, but it was seriously a huge accomplishment.

I didn’t have any trouble with the filling, but that’s because it was so straight forward. I love straight forward recipes like that. You know the ones that require one bowl and a whisk? Yeah, this is that kind of recipe. Because I didn’t really feel like measuring, I adjusted the recipe below to approximate what I used (i.e. instead of ¼ cup orange juice I have typed half and orange). The glaze that goes on top is also really delicious. It never fully hardened like most glazes do, but that’s was made it so addicting to eat.

I know Mother’s Day seems like forever ago, but I hope all you mothers out there felt appreciated and loved (like you should everyday) and all you sons/daughters treated your mom with the kindness, love, and respect your mother deserves.

Sunny Citrus Bars
Adapted from Baking Basics and Beyond by Pat Sinclair
Makes one 9x9 inch pan
Crust Ingredients
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
½ cup powdered sugar
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, cold and cubed

Filling Ingredients
¾ cup sugar
1 ½ tbsp. unbleached all-purpose flour
½ tsp. baking powder
Pinch of salt
2 eggs, beaten
Zest from 1 lemon
Juice from 2 lemons
Zest from one orange
Juice from ½ an orange
2 tbsp. butter, melted

Glaze
2/3 cup powdered sugar
1-2 tbsp. orange juice
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a 9x9 inch baking pan with tin foil, liberally grease the foil with cooking spray.
To make the crust: whisk together the flour and powdered sugar in a medium bowl. Rub the cold butter in with your fingers until the dough looks like coarse sand. Press evenly into the prepared pan. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the crust is a light golden color.
To make the filling: combine the sugar, flour, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl. Whisk in the eggs until the mixture becomes smooth. Stir in the juices, zests and butter. Pour the filling onto the hot crust and bake for about 12-15 minutes. The filling shouldn’t jiggle when you shake the pan, but it will still look a little wet. Let cool in the pan and drizzle the glaze on top once it has come to room temperature.

To make the glaze: stir together the powdered sugar and enough orange juice until the glaze has reached your desired consistency. Drizzle or spread the glaze on top of the cooled bars. Let the glaze set for a little while before slicing.    

Gooey Lemon Brownies

I think I can control the weather. Well at least crappy weather. We had a pretty mild winter this year (last year?). The only really bad part was the icy cold winds. Then, one day I decided to get my hair cut really short because I was tired of how my hair just hung down on my head. You know what happened the next day? There was a blizzard. So because of my newly cropped do, the back of my neck was left unprotected from the harsh elements of the outside. Then when I went back to school from winter break, my anatomy classroom, which has always been freezing, felt even colder. The worst part was when I found out my new seat was right under the coldest vent in the classroom. I know it’s the coldest vent because my teacher did a test one day and it was blowing out 40 degree air into the room.

Spring has finally sprung and so far we’ve had a fairly decent one. Well at least for the month of March. Again, because the weather was so nice and I realized I actually like short hair, I decided to get it cut again. Not two days later, temperatures dropped from the lovely 70s to the 40s with nasty rainstorms. The weatherman predicts snow either today or tomorrow. So for the sake of nice weather, maybe I should just stop cutting my hair.

I know that wasn’t the most interesting thing to read, but I will reward you for your patience with brownies! And not just any brownies: lemon brownies! And they are super-duper delicious! I’m usually not one to grab for a citrusy type snack, but for some reason I was just craving something citrusy. Maybe it was the nice spring weather (before I cut my hair) or maybe it has to do with everyone blogging about grapefruit cakes and glazes, orange breads, and lemon sandwich cookies. Either way, I was hit by the spring bug and I wanted some lemony action. That’s when I found these babies.

They are not overly tart, but you can definitely taste the lemon in these bars. And the glaze that goes on top adds just enough lemon kick to make the bars complete. You may notice that these aren’t very tall, but that’s because there is absolutely no leavening in this recipe at all. Even though I usually like my bars with a little height, I don’t think I would have liked it for this particular recipe. The short and dense bar makes it extra chewy and delicious. Not only are they delicious, but they even remind me of spring. I think it has to do with the pretty yellow these turned out to be. Some lemon desserts are just too… bright. You know what I mean? These look delicate and refreshing.

Gooey Lemon Brownies

Adapted from Becky Bakes
Makes 9x9 inch pan

Ingredients
¾ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
¾ cup sugar
¼ tsp. salt
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
1 egg
1 egg yolk
½ cup sweetened condensed milk
¼ tsp. vanilla extract
Juice from half a lemon
Zest from one whole lemon

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a 9x9 inch baking dish with tin foil and liberally spray with cooking spray. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt. Set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk together the melted butter, egg, egg yolk, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla extract, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Pour the liquid mixture into the flour mixture and fold until everything has been incorporated.  

Spread batter into the prepared pan. It may take some coaxing, but it will eventually spread out evenly. Place in the preheated oven and bake 16-18 minutes or until the top has lightly browned.

Let it cool in the pan for about five minutes while you prepare the glaze.

To make the glaze, whisk together ¾ cup powdered sugar, juice from half a lemon, and water by the teaspoon until you have reached your desired glaze consistency. Pour over the cooled lemon brownie. Slice and serve. These are perfect at room temperature, but if you want it heated just a tad, microwave it for 5 seconds. 

Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars

All week I have had a craving to eat something really chewy and dense. Something I could really sink my teeth into. All I have around in the house to crave my sweet tooth is ice cream, and that is neither chewy nor dense. So this needed to be fixed right away.

A while ago I told you all how I got organized and wrote down every single thing that I wanted to bake from my favorite blogs. I again went to that list to find something that would curb the need for chewy and gooey.

I am amazed at how little truly toothsome recipes I have set my sights on. Maybe I wasn’t in the mood for chewy when I made the list. But anyways, I did find a couple of really amazing looking treats towards the bottom of the list that I cannot wait to try out! However, this post is about a cookie/bar/cake all rolled into one.

Erin of Texanerin Baking makes eating healthy look so effortless and she makes killer looking treats to boot. She uses whole grain flour, natural sweeteners like honey, and she mostly uses oil in place of butter. The funny thing about Erin is that she doesn’t like the taste of whole grain (as I think a lot of people don’t). So it’s great that she’s making treats healthier and taste great at the same time.

Once I saw these Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars I knew I had to make them. I mean just look at her photos; they’re amazing!

I was a little worried about using oil in this recipe because I tend to find goodies that were made with oil a little too greasy for my taste, but this wasn’t the case at all (however I did omit a little bit of the oil from the recipe). The color of the batter is like caramel. It’s silky and smooth and just so pretty to look at (Am I the only one mesmerized by batter?). The baked bars are springy to the touch. Like marshmallow-clouds kind of springy. And cutting into the mother bar* was like a dream. After taking a slice out I was tantalized by the sight of melty chocolate chips and a cakey interior.

Yes, my bars turned out cakier than Erin’s did, but I think that’s because I baked it for maybe 30-45 seconds too long, but that’s ok because it tasted so great. Like I said before, the end result was not oily at all. The peanut butter flavor was subtle at first, but after a while you could really start to taste it. I know some people talk about letting things sit out a little so flavors can enhance, well after only about 4 or 5 hours, the peanut butter went from subtle to “Oh my goodness! That’s peanut butter!”

Go make these. And just so you know (you as in the people who don’t like the wonderful nuttiness of whole wheat), I didn’t used whole wheat flour like Erin did and they still turned out wonderful.

*mother bar: n; an 8x8 or 9x9 bar that has not been cut into serving size pieces.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Bar
Slightly adapted from Texanerin
Makes one 9x9 bar
Ingredients
¼ cup canola oil
8 tbsp. peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)
½ cup sugar
¼ cup honey
2 eggs, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla
¾ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
¼ tsp. salt
½ tsp baking powder
~¾ cup (125 g) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease or cover with parchment paper/foil a 9x9 inch baking pan; set aside.

In a large bowl mix together the oil, peanut butter, sugar, honey, eggs and vanilla extract. In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Dump all of the dry ingredients into the wet. Fold to combine, but be careful not to over mix. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan. Place in the oven on the middle rack and bake for 15-17 minutes for a nice and gooey bar. For a slightly soft and pillowy bar, bake for 18 minutes. Let the bar cool in the pan on a cooling rack for at least 10 minutes before cutting. These definitely taste best when they are warm, so if you’re not going to eat them fresh out of the oven, put them in the microwave for 13-15 seconds and they will be good as gold.

Ultra Chewy Pumpkin Granola Bars

I think it was last week (or the week before) where I told you guys that I managed to score the second to last giant can of pumpkin puree. Well, because of it’s enormous stature, I’m having difficulty using it all up. I have managed to get a little dent in how much left-over pumpkin is sitting in the fridge, but it seems like it’s just starring at me, taunting me every time I open the door. So I’ve been searching all over for pumpkin recipes to use it all up. I think I’ve got like three different pumpkin bread recipes, two kinds of cookies and some yeast bread made with pumpkin, but who knows if I’ll have time to make them all. Either way, it’s still fun to see all the things you can do with pumpkin. For instance, these very chewy granola bars.

The other day I was looking on the internet for more pumpkin recipes when the thought passed through my mind: “Can you make pumpkin granola bars?”. The answer is yes. I had to do a lot of searching though. All of the recipes I initially found were just repeats of this one recipe that didn’t strike my fancy. Then, I came across this recipe on Clean Eating Chelsey.

This is a quick and easy granola bar recipe. Putting together all of the ingredients takes no less than 10 minutes, and then all you have to do is wait for it to bake, simple as that. However, I did have a little trouble with the baking process. After the mixture was in the oven, I was worried that it wasn’t cooking. After the timer had gone off, they were still really soft, so I stuck them back in the oven for another couple of minutes and they were still really soft. I threw caution to the wind and took them out anyways, hoping for the best. I can never tell with some things if they are cooked all the way through or not. Some foods are just tricky like that.

After taking a bite of one of the granola bars, I came to the conclusion that they aren’t really granola bars but a version of those oatmeal to go squares by Quaker. They are dense and very chewy. If you’ve ever had those Quaker oatmeal to go bars, and like the texture, then you are surly going to like this.

The pumpkin flavor is very subtle, or at least I thought so. I’m not so sure about my taste buds at the moment since I’m getting a cold, but I thought the amount of pumpkin was quite nice. I could definitely taste the pumpkin pie spice, and that made the bars taste nice and warm. Speaking of warm, these bars probably taste best (in my opinion) when they are slightly warm. I think a couple of these warmed up on a plate sitting next to a glass of cold milk would make a really nice breakfast, or snack, whichever you prefer.

Ultra Chewy Pumpkin Granola Bars

 slightly adapted from Clean Eating Chelsey

Ingredients

2 cups old fashioned dry oats
1 tsp cinnamon
1 ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice
¼ tsp salt
2/3 cup canned pumpkin puree
1/3 cup agave syrup
3 tbsp pure maple syrup
½ cup almonds, roughly chopped

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (for slightly crunchier granola bar, go up to 325 degrees F). Grease a 9 by 9 inch square baking tray, set aside. 
2. Place ½ cup of oats into a food processor and process until the oats have formed into a flour-like powder. Line a large mixing bowl, combine the oat flour, remaining 1 ½ cups of oats, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Toss the ingredients until well incorporated.
3. In another bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, agave syrup, maple syrup and vanilla extract until smooth. Add the pumpkin mixture to the dry ingredients and fold until the mixture becomes a little sticky and is well incorporated.
4. Turn the mixture out into the greased pan and using either your hands or a spatula, press the mixture down until the bottom is completely covered. This could take a little bit of effort, but don’t be discouraged, it will spread out eventually. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Let it cool completely before cutting into desired portions. 

Roasted Almond Caramel Bars

I have so been getting into the holiday spirit! I have about three or four magazines filled with little tags marking things that I want to bake this Fall and I’ve got a few recipes saved to my favorites bar. Many of the recipes have to do with pumpkin; my goal is to make at least a few pumpkiny things before December 1^st (because that is when pumpkin season is over in my little world). Sadly, there has been a pumpkin shortage in my grocery store. I grabbed the second to last giant can of pumpkin, just out of panic that I wouldn‘t ever see the orange can again. I usually opt for the smaller can, but they aren’t selling them this year I don’t think, but even so, I don’t think finding ways to use the big can will be too tricky.

If you notice, though, this blog post is not pumpkin related; I’m saving my pumpkin for something truly special since I don’t want to waste it. No, these are almond caramel bars I found in Land O'Lakes Fall Recipe Collection. I actually found two similar recipes: this one and another using cashews in Taste of Home. I ended up using the Land O'Lakes recipe.

These bars are ok, not great, but ok. There were certain elements that I liked about them though. I really liked the cookie base, that was tasty and I could probably eat that all by itself. Then the almonds (which I crushed in the food processor, so I got a more fine grain than chunks) added a nice little crunch. The caramel topping oozed into the baked cookie which gave a pleasant chewy texture to the crunchy cookie bottom. All three of these components would have probably made the bar better than ok, but I have one thing to add: I’m sure I’m going to be smote for saying this, but I think the chocolate chips that were added on top ruined--no that’s too harsh, overwhelmed is a better word--the bar. Now I am a huge fan of chocolate; I love it in my cookies, in my milk, etc., but I just don’t think they had anything to add to this recipe, which is kind of disheartening if you think about it. Oh well, live and learn, right?

So what are you all baking this Fall? Are you going the pumpkin route, or has there been a shortage where you live too?

Roasted Almond Caramel Bars adapted from Land O'Lakes

Ingredients
¼ cup (4 tbsp) unsalted butter, soft
¼ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 egg
¾ cup unbleached all purpose flour
1/8 tsp salt
¼ tsp vanilla extract
½ cup roasted, salted almonds, chopped
½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
½ cup caramel ice cream topping

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 inch by 9 inch square baking pan and set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter, sugar, and egg on medium speed. The mixture will seem really eggy, but don’t worry, after you add the other ingredients, it will all disappear. Turn the mixer’s speed down to low and slowly add in the flour and salt. Scrape down the sides of the bowl if necessary. Add in the vanilla and beat for another 30 seconds.
3. Press the cookie dough mixture into the bottom of the pan. It will look like there is not enough dough to cover the bottom, but if are patient and keep spreading, the dough will completely cover the bottom. Place in the oven and back for about 11 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.
4. Remove from the oven and sprinkle on the chopped almonds and chocolate chips. Drizzle the caramel topping over the almonds and chocolate. Place the pan back into the oven to bake for another 5 or 6 minutes. Cool completely in the pan once it is done baking. After about an hour, it is ready to cut into bars.

Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookie Bark

Oh boy. Last week was so hectic that… well it just wasn’t good. School has been in session for about a week and a half now and I’m still getting adjusted to my new school rhythm. Let me tell you, it has been hard, harder than previous years for some reason, and whoever said that your senior year in high school is a breeze, obviously flunked out because I am working my tail off here. The last week basically had me emotionally and physically drained, however, my weekend wasn’t as terrible as the week was. I even managed to find a little time for baking.

I knew I wanted to make something that was comforting because comfort food is geared to do just that: comfort. I know that there are tons of comfort foods out there, but to me, nothing says comfort like a warm chocolate chip cookie. To tell you the truth, I didn’t have to look very hard for this recipe. In fact, I obtained the recipe from a blog I have recently started following. Tara is the author of The Butter Dish. She is funny, witty, all of those good things, and it’s not just a food blog. Tara also writes about her day and little knick-knacks she finds, like the very adorable and coveted Mug Buddies - my gosh, they are so cute, I want one.

Anyways, one day Tara posted a recipe for Chocolate Almond Cookie Bark. When given a choice between a soft and chewy chocolate chip cookie and a thin a crisp one, I will always and forever pick the soft and chewy. However, this cookie bark looked so delicious that I just had to try it. I did make a few adaptations to the recipe, like added butterscotch chips just because I needed to use up the little I had left.

I was actually pretty excited to make this bark because it is essentially one giant cookie, and who doesn’t love those giant cookie pies they have at the mall, am I right or am I right? However, this is a strange cookie because it requires no leavening agents or any eggs to bind it all together! Craziness. The cookie baked until it was a perfectly golden brown and it filled the house with the most amazing cookie aroma ever, seriously. My sister came home about an hour after the cookie had baked and she could still smell the wonderful cookie fragrance. (They should totally make a perfume that smells like chocolate chip cookies.) I had to resist eating the cookie for a little while because otherwise I would spoil my dinner, but it was totally worth the wait.

The most dominant flavor, I thought, was the butterscotch chips I added in. Whenever butterscotch is added into anything, that is the only thing I taste for some reason. But…I did taste the almond extract that went into the creamed butter and sugar mixture. It was subtle, but I think it made the cookie bark that much better. The bark itself was crisp, but it wasn’t thin, which, in my opinion, is the turn off point when consuming something as sacred as the chocolate chip cookie. This cookie totally saved my stressful week.

Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookie Bar
adapted from The Butter Dish

Ingredients
1 stick unsalted butter, soft
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
3/8 tsp vanilla extract
3/8 tsp almond extract
1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
½ cup butterscotch chips
About ¼ cup extra semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a 9x9 inch square baking pan with parchment paper. Only do this step if you are paranoid, like me, that everything will stick to the pan and never come off. The original directions call for an ungreased pan.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy looking. Add in in the two extracts and beat for another couple minutes. Slowly add in the flour in about two to three stages. Take the bowl off of the mixer and add in the chocolate and butterscotch chips.
3. Plop the dough onto the prepared pan. If you are using parchment paper, this part will be a little tricky because the parchment will want to slide around and the cookie dough will not want to spread. Forming the cookie dough into the pan is not impossible, though; it will just take a little bit of elbow grease, persistence, and a lot of cookie dough placement.
4. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the top has just turned a lovely golden brown color. Take the cookie bar out of the oven. Cool on a cooling rack, while still in the pan. Once the cookie bark has cooled almost completely, place the extra chocolate chips into a microwave safe bowl and heat for about 30 seconds and stir. If the chocolate still needs a little melting, heat again in 5 second increments until the chips have melted into a smooth consistency. Take a spoon and dip it into the melted chocolate and then, in a randomized fashion, drizzle and fling the melted chocolate onto the cookie bark.
5. Take the cookie out of the pan, using the parchment paper as handles, and place on a flat surface. Cut into desired shapes and sizes. Now eat, be merry, have a glass of milk.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Granola Bar

For the past couple of days I’ve been itching to bake something, anything, as long as it wasn’t anything cake or cookie related…which does limit my options by a lot I know. Well I had seen Giada, from Everyday Italian, on the cooking channel last weekend and she had made these granola bars for these kids and I realized that’s what I was craving! I’ve never made homemade oat/granola bars whatever you want to call them so they were a first for me. I was a little confused when it was baking because it didn't seem to firm up, even after 25 minutes in the oven. Well, i decided that 25 minutes was long enough because I'd rather eat something under baked than over baked and waited for an hour for the bars to cool and once they did, the granola bars got firmer and didn't seem as squishy. In all these were pretty good, maybe a little too much butter so maybe I would cut that down by a tablespoon or two if I ever decided to make these again. Also, it was really chewy, which I liked, but I think it was missing a little crunch, despite the chunky peanut butter I used, so maybe I shouldn't have done half creamy half chunky.

This batter seemed like it would also form a nice oatmeal cookie

 this was the second pan, I thought I could fit it in a 9x13-inch pan but i was wrooooong xD 

 the worst part was having to wait an hour, I like trying things straight out of the oven.

 this really was yummy, I had too servings back-to-back

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Granola Bar

makes 24 (I got 16 because of the pan I used)

IngredientsVegetable spray
1 egg white
1/2 cup chunky peanut butter (1/4 cup chunky, 1/4 cup crunchy)

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup honey

1 stick unsalted butter, melted

2 cups old fashioned oats (Quaker quick oats)

1/4 cup slivered almonds (omitted)

1/3 cup mini chocolate chips (regular chocolate chips)

Directions

1. Position an oven rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Spray a 7 by 10 3/4-inch nonstick baking pan with vegetable cooking spray.The closest thing I had was an 8x8-inch pan, so I used that. Lay a 6 by 18-inch piece of parchment paper in the pan, allowing the excess paper to hang over the sides. Spray the parchment paper lightly with cooking spray.
3. In a medium bowl, using a hand beater, beat the egg white until frothy. Stir in the peanut butter, brown sugar, and honey. Add the melted butter, oats and almonds. Stir to combine, then add the chocolate chips.
4. Using a rubber spatula, spread mixture into the prepared baking pan, pressing lightly to form an even layer. Bake until the edge of the mixture begins to brown, about 15 minutes. It took about 25 minutes more mine to cook, even then it was still a little mooshy, but after cooling it became a little firmer. Remove from the oven and let cool for at least 1 hour. Cut into 1 1/2-inch squares and serve.

Nutrition Facts

serving size: 1 bar (1/16)

Calories 189.0 Total Fat 11.6 g Saturated Fat 1.7 g Polyunsaturated Fat 0.3 g Monounsaturated Fat 0.3 g Cholesterol 15.0 mg Sodium 42.4 mg Potassium 3.4 mg Total Carbohydrate 19.7 g Dietary Fiber 1.8 g Sugars 11.9 g Protein 3.8 g