Peanut Butter Toffee Bars

I know, i've already got a toffee bar recipe on here. But this is a little different version, as the shortbread here contains peanut butter and oatmeal. Both are equally delicious to me, it just depends on what you're wanting! Great addition to your holiday cookie plates.

Peanut Butter Toffee Bars
from cookbook: Chocolate Therapy, seen in Family Fun magazine


Ingredients:
1/2 c. butter, at room temperature
1/2 c. peanut butter
3/4 c. packed brown sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 quick oats
1/2 t. salt
3 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 c. toffee bits

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 deg F. Line a 9x13 in. baking pan with foil so ends extend over the edges of the pan 2 inches.
In large bowl, beat the butter, peanut butter, sugar, and egg yolk on medium-high speed until the mixture is smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary. Add the flour, oats and salt and beat the mixture on low until the ingredients are just blended, about 30 sec.
Press the mixture evenly into the bottom of the prepared plan. Bake the crust until it's golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes (be careful not to overbake).
Remove the pan from the oven and scatter the chocolate chips evenly over the crust. Return the pan to the oven for 1 minute. Remove the pan and spread the chocolate evenly over the crust. Sprinkle the toffee pieces over the chocolate, gently pressing them into place.
Set the pan on a wire rack to cool until the chocolate has set, about 2 hours. Using the edges of the foil, life from pan and cut into rectangles.
Makes: 32 bars

Chocolate Pecan Bars

My friend and I have baking 'dates' once in a while, and these are what we made during one of them. I liked them so much I even made them again a couple weeks later and ate about 1/4 of the pan by myself. In one sitting. Maybe I shouldn't disclose that kind of stuff...but let's be honest. They're good. They're even better still warm from the oven on top of some vanilla ice cream. These are so easy to make, the hardest part is waiting for them to cool. But since we're on the whole honesty thing..I don't actually let them cool. They come out of the oven and i'm waiting with a spoon in hand. Skip the traditional pie this Christmas and just go with the bars :)

Chocolate Pecan Bars

Brown Eyed Baker

Ingredients:
For the Crust:

1½ cups all-purpose flour

½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened

¼ cup packed brown sugar

Filling:

3 large eggs

¾ cup corn syrup

¾ cup granulated sugar

2 Tablespoons butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1¾ cups coarsely chopped semisweet or bittersweet chocolate (I just used chocolate chips)

1½ cups chopped pecans

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9×13-inch baking pan.
2. For the crust, mix together the flour, butter and brown sugar until crumbly. Press into the baking pan and bake for 12-15 minutes or until lightly brown.
3. For the filling, beat the eggs, corn syrup, sugar, butter and vanilla extract with a wire whisk. Stir in the chunks and pecans. Pour evenly over the baked crust and bake for 25-30 minutes or until set.
4. Cool in the pan on a wire rack. Cool completely and cut into bars. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Bars

Another PB recipe. I really do need to make more recipes with PB since I have 6 jars sitting on my shelf and Rylee's usually the only one that eats it. They look like brownies, but they're not. They're like a big, soft peanut butter cookie (bar) that tastes like a reese's peanut butter cup. It probably helps too that I used reese's pb chips. Careful, these guys are very tender until they've cooled completely. I line my pans with foil and I pulled these out of the pan before they had cooled completely and they started to cave in on me. They also fall apart easily until they've cooled. I ended up scooping some out on a plate as soon as they came out of the oven and eating it with a spoon because I can't wait for things to cool.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Bars
two peas and their pod

Makes 12-16 bars
Ingredients:
1 cup butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon course sea salt
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 cup peanut butter chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325.
Cream butter, peanut butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt and mix until just combined.
Fold in peanut butter chips. Spread dough in a 9 x 13 baking dish sprayed with non-stick spray. Other sizes will work as well – they will just determine the thickness and cooking length of the bars.
Bake at 325 for 25-30 minutes. If bars are not done, bake for 5-6 minute increments. Let cool completely before slicing.

*Linked to Sweets For A Saturday

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars

If you've ever tried Martha Stewart's recipes you probably know how frustrating they can be. They can either turn out amazing or a total flop. This is one of those amazing ones. Now i'm sharing this recipe early in the season because you might want to make it several times :) I first made these last year and ever since they've been my very favorite pumpkin anything! They're very moist and I love chocolate and pumpkin together. What's with the squashes being perfect with chocolate? The chocolate chip zucchini bread is delicious also! I'm going to try making these next time in a mini muffin pan since they don't have very clean lines when you cut them, unless maybe you wait until they're completely cool (if you can), even at that they probably wont be that clean unless you freeze them until firm. Please don't judge them by the photo as they don't do these much justice.
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars



Makes 24
Ingredients:
2 c. all-purpose flour
1 TBLS. pumpkin-pie spice (if you don't have it, sub. 1 1/2 t. cinnamon, 3/4 t. ginger, 1/2 t. nutmeg and 1/2 t. allspice and cloves; all ground)
1 t. baking soda
3/4 t. salt
1 c. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperate
1 1/4 c. sugar
1 large egg
2 t. vanilla extract
1 c. canned pumpkin puree
1 (12 oz.) package semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 deg F. Line bottom and sides of a 9x13 in. baking pan with foil, leaving an overhang on all sides. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, pie spice, baking soda and salt, set aside.
With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar on medium-high speed until smooth; beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Beat in pumpkin puree (mixture may appear curdled). Reduce speed to low, and mix dry ingredients until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.
Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. Bake until edges begin to pull away from sides of pan and a toothpick inserted comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached, 35-40 minutes. Cool completely in pan. Lift out of pan using foil and cut with serrated knife into 24 squares.

Toffee Roca Cookies

We were having an outdoor movie night and I wanted to make a treat for it. You know, because things are always more fun when treats are involved. Originally I was thinking 'something smore's', but instead decided on these, and i'm so glad I did. They're so very easy and quick to make and I liked them a lot. In fact, they're going down in my favorites list. I'm just sad I gave them all away :( It's probably a good thing I did though.

Toffee Roca Cookies

cookies and cups

1 cup butter, room temp
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 beaten egg yolk
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups AP flour
8 Hershey's bars, broken into pieces (I used Special Dark and only 6 bars because I bought a 6 pack)
1/3 cup chopped nuts or toffee bits (I used baking Heath milk chocolate and toffee bits generously sprinkled all over the top, about 3/4 of the bag)

Preheat to 350
In mixing bowl cream together butter and both sugars. When combined add the egg yolk and vanilla, mixing on medium until combined and smooth.
Add flour, 1 cup at a time mixing on low in between each cup to combine.
Dough will almost form a stiff ball.
Press dough onto ungreased cookie sheet about 1/4" thick. Bake 15-20 minutes until edges are golden and center is almost set, but not quite.
As soon as they're done, take them out of the oven and spread the chocolate bars on the top. Let them sit for a minute (they'll start to melt) then spread all over top. Sprinkle with nuts or toffee bits. Put in refrigerator or freezer to harden then cut into triangles.

Chocolate Caramel Marshmallow Cookie Bars

Ok so I created this little concoction with the inspiration of the easy peanut butter marshmallow krispie topped brownies since they were so rich and delicious and a lot of people loved them. Now with these, I mean, a cookie bar with chocolate, caramel and marshmallow? Kind of hard to go too wrong with that combo! They turned out tasting good, but the recipe needs a few adjustments. The topping didn't hold together as good as it should have. I used wrapped caramels and melted them in the microwave with the chocolate chips. I think maybe a caramel sauce might work better or melting them seperately since the mixture wasn't smooth and creamy, it was thick and pastey. I think next time i'll even omit the rice krispies and make it more of a frosting type topping. You could even make the bottom layer just by themself.The original recipe for the bottom cookie layer is the recipe below doubled and put into a 9x13 in. pan.
They look a little like mush in the picture..
Chocolate Caramel Marshmallow Cookie Bars

Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups marshmallows (small ones)
1 1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 c. caramels (20 wrapped)
3 tablespoons butter
2 cups crispy rice cereal

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 deg. Prepare cookie bars as directed (see below). Two minutes before they are supposed to be done, pull cookie bars from the oven and sprinkle marshmallows across top. Return to oven for 2 min. to soften marshmallows. Remove from oven and spread soft marshmallows over top of brownies. Let cool completely.
Prepare topping. In a microwave-safe bowl, combine chocolate chips, caramel and butter. Heat on high for 30 seconds. Stir and repeat until chocolate is melted and mixtue is smooth. Add cereal and stir to coat. Drop spoonfuls of chocolate mixture over marshmallow layer, spreading as evenly as possible. Put the bars in the refrigerator for a few hours to chill. Lift from pan and score into squares (about 16 or 20).

Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 t. baking powder
½ t. salt
1 c. light brown sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 whole eggs
1/2 t. vanilla
1 c. semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Set aside.
Stir brown sugar into softened butter in another large bowl until butter disappears. A spoon works well. Add eggs to the butter mixture and stir well. Add vanilla and chocolate chips and mix well. Add dry flour mixture and stir until well combined.
Line an 8x8 in. pan with foil and coat with nonstick spray. Spread batter evenly into the dish.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 -40 minutes or until top is golden brown. Make sure you don’t over bake. Insert a toothpick to check for doneness.
If the top starts to get too brown before they are done, place a sheet of aluminum foil over the top to prevent browning.

Tomatoes!! and Lemon Cheesecake Bars!

I know I make a lot of sweets, but other than that I try to make most our meals healthy so we can splurge on desserts :) We have a couple of roma tomatoes plants in our garden (or what's left of it..) and they are producing like crazy! The other day I picked 33 of them! I'm pretty amazed at all these tomatoes. Soo I made some tomato sauce! We'll be eating it for the next few days..good thing it turned out good. I know, a little off topic but I just wanted to share that real quick, to show that we do in fact eat real food :) Also, notice I added an index.. it was a lot of work but I know flipping through tons of posts to find something is a lot of work!

Now, Matt says he's not into lemon, or lime things, such as lemon bars, so I don't really ever make that kind of stuff. So I made these cheesecake lemon bars for his club at school. I thought they were reallly good! Matt even liked them! I think maybe what happens with him is he tries things when he was little and hasn't had them since because he remembers he doesn't like them..now suddenly he's trying them again like 10 yrs. later and his taste is different. Because he's told me he doesn't like a lot of things but when I feed it to him he actually does like it (and no, he's not just saying that!) It's not a strong, noticeable cheesecake flavor, but just adds a little creamy goodness to the bars.
Lemon Cheesecake Bars

wives with knives

Lemon Cheesecake Bars
Crust:
1 stick butter, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
Cream Cheese Filling:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1-1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
Lemon Curd:
4 egg yolks
1 tablespoon corn starch
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons lemon zest
2 tablespoons butter

Directions:
To make crust: Cream butter and sugar in medium sized bowl. Add flour and vanilla and mix until well blended.
Press dough evenly onto the bottom of an 8"x8" baking pan. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
Prick shortbread crust with a fork and bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until pastry turns a golden brown.
Cool on rack to room temperature.
To make filling: Beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add egg and lemon zest and beat until light and smooth. Cover and refrigerate.
To make lemon curd: Blend egg yolks with the cornstarch and sugar in a medium saucepan. Place over low heat and slowly whisk in water and lemon juice. Increase heat to medium, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens. Remove from heat and add lemon zest and butter. Cool for 10 minutes.
To assemble: Spread cream cheese mixture evenly over crust. Spread lemon curd over cream cheese filling.
Bake for approximately 30 minutes at 350 degrees or until edges begin to turn a golden brown. Cool to room temperature on a rack and then refrigerate for a hour before cutting. Dust top with powdered sugar if desired.

Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars

So I made these to take to a lunch/play day buuut that got canceled so i'm stuck with a big 'ol plate of these guys. Good thing my brother is coming to town for his reserve weekend, maybe he can take some of these back to his co-workers. I love eating desserts but I can't always be eating the whole plate by myself! It's no good for my girlish figure! Atleast that's what I try to tell myself in efforts to stop pigging out. P.S. i've already eaten like 3 of these, today.
Ok, in all honesty i'm not really a big cheesecake fan. Even going to The Cheesecake Factory it always looks and sounds good but when I eat it I feel like it was good, but not that good. So since those are my feelings on cheesecake, when I saw these bars I thought they looked/sounded reallly good.. and they were actually really good!! I think because it also had cookie dough on it, it wasn't pure cheesecake. However they tasted a little like the smore's bars but with cheesecake instead of marshmallow. I gotta say I still like the smore's bars better but if you're a cheesecake person these are right up your alley! Anyway I definitely think i'll be making these again sometime.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars
cookies and cups


Ingredients:
Crust:
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

5 T. butter, melted

2/3 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Cookie Dough:
5 tablespoons butter~room temperature

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

3 T. granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup AP flour

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Cheesecake Filling:
10 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping: (optional, I didn't do the topping. I felt the cookie dough had a high chip to dough ratio so the extra drizzling wasn't needed)

1/3 cup semi sweet chips

1/2 T. butter

Directions:

For crust:
Preheat oven to 325°.
Line 9x9 in. square pan (I used 8x8) with foil, leaving enough to extend over the sides. Spray or butter the foil.
Combine graham cracker crumbs and butter until crumbs are moistened. Stir in chocolate chips.
Press crust mixture into bottom of pan and 1 inch up sides. Bake for 6 minutes. Set pan on wire rack to cool.
For cookie dough:
Using mixer, mix butter, brown sugar, sugar, salt, and vanilla extract at medium speed until smooth. Adjust mixer speed to low and add flour. Mix just until incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips. Set aside.
For cheesecake/filling:
Using mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add egg and vanilla extract, beating just until blended.
Pour batter into cooled, baked crust. Drop cookie dough by teaspoonfuls over the top of the filling. Bake about 30 minutes, or until set. Transfer to wire rack.
Topping:
For chocolate topping, melt 1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips in the microwave. Add about 1/2 tablespoon of butter to make chocolate smooth.
Using a ziplock bag with corner cut off, drizzle chocolate on bars.
Cool bars in pan completely, about an hour. Or refrigerate, 1/2 hour.Using the edges of the foil, lift the bars from the pan.
Cut into bars and serve.

Sugar Cookie Bars

I've seen recipes for these for a while now but never really cared to try them. I'm not really a big sugar cookie fan. I only make sugar cookies like once a year around Christmas time, and even at that it's more of an activity. But when my friend told me someone at work made them and they were amazing I thought i would give them a try. I don't know what recipe she had, but either way i'm sure they're pretty much the same. These turned out really well! Tasted like a typical sugar cookie but thicker and without all the work. And in bar form. I love things in bar form. I didn't use a vanilla bean, but the lemon zest really adds flavor to these. I only made 1/2 batch since I thought a full batch would produce way too many but it didn't make quite as many as I thought. Even with 1/2 though it was enough for Matt to take to his club at school.

Sugar Cookie Bars

Annie's Eats

Yield: about 4 dozen bars

Ingredients:

For the cookie bars:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 cups sugar

4 large eggs

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise (optional)

Zest from 1 lemon

5 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

½ tsp. baking soda

For the frosting:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

4 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

5 tbsp. milk

Food coloring (optional)

Directions:

To make the cookies, preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Grease a 13 x 18″ rimmed baking sheet. Combine the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on medium-high speed until light and smooth, about 2 minutes. Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Blend in the vanilla, seeds from the vanilla bean, and lemon zest. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking soda. Stir together with a fork to blend. Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl and beat on low speed just until incorporated.
Transfer the cookie dough to the prepared baking sheet and press into an even layer. Bake 10-15 minutes, until light golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool completely before frosting.

To make the frosting, place the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on medium-high speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Blend in the vanilla, salt, and confectioners’ sugar until smooth, 1-2 minutes. Mix in the milk. Tint as desired with food coloring. Spread over the cookie in the pan, cut into bars and serve.

Kit-Kat Bars

I love kit-kats. If I could only eat one candy bar for the rest of my life it would probably be kit-kat. I can eat way too many of those before i'm sick of them. These are called Kit-Kat Bars, however they don't really taste like a kit-kat. They taste like a butterscotch bar.. next time i'm going to reduce the butterscotch chips and use more chocolate chips and see if that helps. I like butterscotch, but I was thinking this would taste more like chocolate since that's what a kit-kat is. But they are really good! They have a nice crispy crunch from the crackers. They're one of those things where I cut off a little piece at a time and by the time i'm done i'll have eaten a huge chunk of it.

Kit-Kat Bars

Ingredients:

2 sticks Butter
½ cups Milk
1 cup Brown Sugar
½ cups White Sugar
2 cups Graham Cracker Crumbs
1 box (16 Oz. Box) Club Crackers
1 cup Chocolate Chips (I used milk chocolate)
1 cup Butterscotch Chips
⅔ cups Peanut Butter

Directions:

Melt butter in a medium saucepan. Add milk, brown sugar and white sugar. Bring that to a boil and add graham cracker crumbs. Reduce heat to low and cook for 5-6 minutes, stirring constantly or frequently to avoid scorching. I learned that one the hard way.
Put a layer of Club crackers on the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan. Pour half of the graham cracker mixture over that. Add another layer of crackers, then the other half of the graham cracker mix, followed by a third layer of crackers.
Melt chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and peanut butter. Use to frost the bars by spreading it evenly over the top layer. Chill until firm then cut and serve.

Samoas Bars

This recipe came from Baking Bites and when I saw it I knew I had to make them! I love the girl scout samoas cookies! These were really really good and tasted a lot like the cookie, but in bar form. Matt doesn't even like coconut but he tried these and thought they were really good. I think because the coconut was toasted so it had a different texture. Either way, that's success to me. The only downfall was they took some time to complete. It's not one of those things you can whip up and be eating soon.

Ok, so I have a few tips. First of all, if you've never toasted coconut before (like me..before this recipe) it's really easy but it burns fast! I checked it several times and it was still white, then I checked again just a couple minutes later and some of it was burned. I was able to use most of it but I had to do a second small batch. Also don't forget to stir it so it's evenly toasted. Next, when it came to dipping the bottoms in the chocolate, I found it a lot easier to just coat the bottom of the bar using a spoon rather than dipping. When I dipped, some of the bottom would crumble off. I made these the night before I needed them and just stored them in the refrigerator then let them warm to room temperature when I needed them. Anyway, I really think you should go make these!

Homemade Samoas Bars

Cookie Base:

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup butter, softened

1 large egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

First, make the crust.Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking pan, or line with parchment paper.In a large bowl, cream together sugar and butter, until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla extract. Working at a low speed, gradually beat in flour and salt until mixture is crumbly, like wet sand. The dough does not need to come together. Pour crumbly dough into prepapred pan and press into an even layer.Bake for 20-25 minutes, until base is set and edges are lightly browned. Cool completely on a wire rack before topping.

Topping

3 cups shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)- I used sweetened

12-oz good-quality chewy caramels

1/4 tsp salt

3 tbsp milk

10 oz. (I needed more) dark or semisweet chocolate (chocolate chips are ok)

Preheat oven to 300. Spread coconut evenly on a parchment-lined baking sheet (preferably one with sides) and toast 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, until coconut is golden. Cool on baking sheet, stirring occasionally. Set aside.

Unwrap the caramels and place in a large microwave-safe bowl with milk and salt. Cook on high for 3-4 minutes, stopping to stir a few times to help the caramel melt. When smooth, fold in toasted coconut with a spatula.Put dollops of the topping all over the shortbread base. Using the spatula, spread topping into an even layer. Let topping set until cooled.When cooled, cut into 30 bars with a large knife or a pizza cutter (it’s easy to get it through the topping).

Once bars are cut, melt chocolate in a small bowl. Heat on high in the microwave in 45 second intervals, stirring thoroughly to prevent scorching. Dip the base of each bar into the chocolate and place on a clean piece of parchment or wax paper. Transfer all remaining chocolate (or melt a bit of additional chocolate, if necessary) into a piping bag or a ziploc bag with the corner snipped off and drizzle bars with chocolate to finish.

Let chocolate set completely before storing in an airtight container.

Note: You can simply drizzle chocolate on top of the bars before slicing them up if you’re looking for yet an easier way to finish these off. You won’t need quite as much chocolate as noted above, and you won’t quite get the Samoas look, but the results will still be tasty.

Day 27: Peanut Butter Marshmallow Bars

We had 3 plates for deliveries today but instead we just took them all to one house since we saw there were a lot of people. We walked by and there were some people on the porch, they were having a birthday party at their house. It was a pretty big family. None of the people that were outside on the porch lived there but they all lived close by.
I'm not that big of a fan of peanut butter. It's not that I dislike it, but I don't crave it or enjoy it nearly as much as I do chocolate. I made these a little bit different than the recipe (found on pillsbury website). First of all I didnt have crunchy pb so I used creamy. And after spreading the pb on the top I broke up 3 regular sized Hersheys bars and put it on top and after about a minute I spreaded it. Then instead of drizzling chocolate over the top of the marshmallows I did caramel. The photo (and recipe) is from Pillsbury so mine looked a little different. They didn't mush up at all like some bars.












This was Rylee when she was about 2 months old. Our little cookie monster in training :)

Peanut Butter Marshmallow Bars

1/2 cup Crisco Butter Shortening Sticks, plus additional for greasing
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup Jif Extra Crunchy Peanut Butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 1/4 cups All Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 salt
1/2 cup Jif Creamy Peanut Butter
4 cups miniature marshmallows
1/2 cup Smucker's Chocolate Sundae Syrups Ice Cream Topping

1. HEAT oven to 350ºF. Grease a 13 x 9 x 2-inch glass baking dish with shortening.
2. COMBINE brown sugar, 1/2 cup shortening, peanut butter, sugar and egg in a large bowl. Beat at medium speed of electric mixer until well blended.
3. MIX flour, baking powder and salt. Add gradually to creamed mixture at low speed. Beat until well blended. Cover. Refrigerate 15 minutes. Press into prepared dish. Bake 20 minutes or until light brown. Do not overbake. Cool 2 to 3 minutes.
4. PLACE peanut butter in microwave-safe measuring cup. Microwave on HIGH (100% power) for 1 minute. Pour over cookie base. Spread to cover. Cover with marshmallows. Drizzle chocolate syrup over marshmallows.
5. RETURN to oven. Bake 5 minutes or until marshmallows are light brown. Do not overbake. Loosen from sides of dish with knife. Remove dish to cooling rack. Cool completely. Cut with sharp greased knife into 2 x 2-inch bars. Yield: 2 dozen bars

Day 24: Chocolate Chip Pretzel Bars

We knocked on a few doors before we got to one that someone answered. Actually the first place was an old lady and her grandson that answered the door and we said we're their neighbors and had some treats for them and he said "no thanks, we already have too much of that stuff" Whaaat? Atleast they could have taken it and tossed it.. jk I guess it's better not to waste. Anyway we went their their family's place next that just lives across the street. It was some people that we met last summer when our cat went missing. We knew where they lived already so decided to give them a visit. They just had their first grandaughter 3 weeks ago so they'll probably be visiting them in Sacramento this weekend. We went to their neighbor behind them next. They're were really nice too. Some people open the door really hesitantly kinda like, what do you want, but this guy had a big smile on his face. He lived there with his gf and she had a really cute 18 month old daughter.
I'm gonna be honest, my bars didn't turn out like this picture at all. (recipe and photo from cookiemassness). Visually they didn't look that great. However they tasted pretty good. With my oven I have to cook things 50 degrees less than a recipe calls for otherwise the outside will get too cooked the middle will be undone. So I baked these at 300 instead of 350 and the outside got dark and the middle was still kinda gooey. Maybe they just need to be baked at a lower temp. than what it calls for, you can try it at 350 and if it starts to cook to fast then turn it down. They also came out a lot more chocolatey than the ones in this photo look and I was hoping to taste the pretzels a little bit more. Maybe if I had left them in bigger pieces I would have.

Chocolate Chip Pretzel Bars

Ingredients:
1 cup all purpose unbleached flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 large egg

3/4 cups pretzels, broken

1 cup semi- sweet chocolate chips

1/3 cup M&Ms (plain)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8 inch metal pan with foil and spray with cooking spray (or use parchment).
Mix together the flour, soda and salt; set aside.
Beat the butter and both sugars in a mixing bowl. When light, beat in the vanilla. Add the egg and beat until it’s mixed, then gradually stir in the flour mixture, followed by the pretzel pieces, chocolate and M&Ms.
Spread mixture evenly in pan and bake on center rack for about 25 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool completely. Lift from pan and cut into bars.
Makes 12

Day 21: Easy Peanut Butter Marshmallow Krispie Topped Brownies

We didn't get to make a personal delivery today since Matt had to stay a little after school then we had to rush for him to do a health talk at the church. But they still got given out and we met some people there that we didn't know. By the way, if anyone has any people they know that we could deliver to, feel free to give us their name! So next Saturday, the 29th, is when we're having the little health talk thing in our backyard. It's basically the same thing we did today. Whoever wants to come is invited. It'll be at 7pm and last maybe like 30 min. or so. I think it'll be fun. We'll probably have some (healthy) snacks too, nothing major though. If you need the address just let me know!
Today's "cookie" isn't a cookie. I don't think you'll complain though, this thing is delicious!!! It was just calling my name. I love the marshmallow layer and the top has a really nice crunch. It's easy to make but takes a little while with all the cooling. I've made these using Ghiradelli Dark Chocolate Brownies and regular fudge brownies. Ok let's get to the important stuff and not keep the recipe waiting any longer!

Easy Peanut Butter Marshmallow Krispie Topped Brownies

adapted from cookiemadess

1 box (18.3 to 21 oz) brownie mix plus eggs & oil (or whatever box calls for)

4 cups marshmallows (small ones)

1 1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup creamy peanut butter

3 tablespoons butter

2 cups crispy rice cereal

Preheat oven to temperature directed on brownie package (mine said 350 degrees F.).
Line the pan with non-stick foil. Parchment should work too.
Prepare brownies using amount of oil, eggs, water called for on box. Two minutes before they are supposed to be done, pull brownies from the oven and sprinkle marshmallows across top. Return to oven for 2 minutes to soften marshmallows. Remove from oven and spread soft marshmallows over top of brownies. Let cool completely on a wire rack.
Prepare topping. In a microwave-safe bowl, combine chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter. Heat on high for 30 seconds. Stir and repeat until chocolate is melted and mixtue is smooth. Add cereal and stir to coat. Drop spoonfuls of chocolate mixture over marshmallow layer, spreading as evenly as possible. Things will look gooey at this point, so don’t even think about cutting. Put the brownies in the refrigerator for a few hours to chill.
Lift from pan and score into squares (about 16 or 20).

Day 15: Fudgey Chocolate Chip-Toffee Bars

Today we got to meet Dan. The brother of the guy from yesterday. His brother said he was grouchy but he wasn't. He had a cool handlebar stye mustache that extended about 4 inches past his chin. He's been at his place for about 10 years now. He eats cookies too, that makes me happy, because some people don't.
Today was another bar recipe from Pillsbury. It was good, but I don't know if I would make it again. I like the smore's ones better.
*This makes a lot of bars..luckily I got to take most of them to a primary meeting, and the few leftover were for our delivery and tummies. So you might want to wait until you have something to take these babies to.

Fudgey Chocolate Chip-Toffee Bars

Ingredients:
1/2 cup LAND O LAKES Butter, melted
2 cups graham cracker crumbs(32 squares)
1 bag (8 oz.) HEATH Bits 'O Brickle Toffee Bits(about 1-1/2 cups)
1 roll (16.5 oz.) Pillsbury refrigerated chocolate chip cookies
1 bag (12 oz.) HERSHEY'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips(2 cups)
1 can (14 oz.) Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 tablespoon LAND O LAKES Butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Spray bottom only of 13x9-inch pan with Crisco Original No-Stick Cooking Spray.
2. In medium bowl, stir 1/2 cup melted butter, 1-1/2 cups of the cracker crumbs and 3/4 cup of the toffee bits. Press mixture evenly in bottom of pan. Refrigerate about 15 minutes or until firm.
3. Meanwhile, let cookie dough stand at room temperature 10 minutes to soften. In 2-quart saucepan, heat chocolate chips, milk and 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat, stirring frequently, until chips are melted and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla. Spread mixture over cracker crust.
4. In medium bowl, break up cookie dough. Mix in remaining 1/2 cup cracker crumbs with wooden spoon until well blended. Crumble mixture evenly over chocolate layer. Sprinkle with remaining toffee bits.
5. Bake 25 to 35 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely, about 2 hours. For a firmer bar, refrigerate 30 minutes longer.
For bars, cut into 8 rows by 4 rows.
32 bars.

Day 14: S'mores Cookie Bars

It's already been 2 weeks! It's gone pretty fast so far. So today we met the Gallagher's. Well, the husband atleast. I guess his wife isn't feeling too good today. They work with the animal rescue place and have a bunch of cats. If there's a litter of kittens dropped off in a box they'll take them in and foster them, so they're pretty busy with that. Especially now that it's kitten season! He has pretty much the same philosphy as us on health, moderation. His brother lives next door to them so we'll probably give him a visit tomorrow. I've made today's 'cookie' a few times before. It's one of my favorites. So if you haven't had them you should go make them, right now.

*Be sure to let them cool or even freeze them for a little while before you cut into them, as hard as it is to wait. The marshmallow cream oozes out and it gets kind of messy if they're still warm.

S'mores Cookie Bars

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs*

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 king-sized milk chocolate bars (e.g. Hershey’s)

1 1/2 cups marshmallow creme/fluff (not melted marshmallows)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan.In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg and vanilla.In a small bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture and mix at a low speed until combined. Divide dough in half and press half of dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan.Place chocolate bars over dough. 2 king-sized Hershey’s bars should fit perfectly side by side, but break the chocolate (if necessary) to get it to fit in a single layer no more than 1/4 inch thick.Spread chocolate with marshmallow creme or fluff.Place remaining dough in a single layer on top of the fluff (most easily achieved by flattening the dough into small shingles and laying them together).Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until lightly browned.Cool completely before cutting into bars
Makes 16 cookie bars.
*Note: 3/4 cup crumbs is approx 7 full-sized graham cracker sheets

Day 12: Magic Cookie Bars

We met Phil today. He's been living here for 17 years and knows a lot of the neighbors. He was real friendly and excited while we were talking to him. Maybe because we gave him cookies. Hopefully we'll get to see him at the health talk Matt's doing in a couple of weeks. There's also going to be a couple changes taking place after the health talk. I'll let you know more about that later on though once we've figured it all out. So today we (I) made Magic Cookie Bars. I'm also going to make tomorrow's cookies tonight when i'm done with this since I think we'll have a lot of them and Matt can take them to the club tomorrow. But you'll just have to come back tomorrow to see what those are.
* I increased the crust to 2 1/2 c. of graham crackers and added a couple extra T of butter because what the recipe calls for is not much at all.. I made it and it didn't look like it would even be enough to cover the bottom of the pan.
You can also use whatever kind of nuts and chips you want. I had a can of peanuts and a can of mixed nuts so I used the rest of those and sub. milk chocolate chips for the semi-sweet and added a few white. So you can put in what you like.

Magic Cookie Bars

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 (14 ounce) can Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 cups semisweet chocolate morsels
1 1/3 cups flaked coconut
1 cup chopped nuts

Directions
Heat oven to 350 degrees F (325 degrees for glass dish). Coat 13x9-inch baking pan with no-stick cooking spray.
Combine graham cracker crumbs and butter. Press into bottom of prepared pan. Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over crumb mixture. Layer evenly with chocolate chips, coconut and nuts. Press down firmly with a fork.
Bake 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool. Cut into bars or diamonds. Store covered at room temperature.

Day 10: Macadamia Chocolate Bars

We didn't get to deliver to a new person today, but we did a few to people we already know. We were really busy and just didn't get around to it. I also didn't get a chance to take a pic. of today's recipe so i'll have to do that tomorrow. For now, here's the recipe:

Macadamia Chocolate Bars

Ingredients:
1 1/2 sticks butter, softened
1/2 c. sugar
3 T. milk
1 t. almond extract
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
pinch of salt
1 c. macadamia nuts, roughly chopped
10 oz. milk or semi-sweet chocolate bars

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Grease 13x9 in. baking pan.
Put the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until light and fluffy. Beat in the milk and almond extract. Sift in the flour and salt and form into a dough. Add half of the macadmia nuts and mix well. Spread into the prepared pan and bake for 20-25 min. or until lightly browned around the edges.
As soon as it is out of the oven, cover with the chocolate bars, then return to the oven for 2 min. Once out of the oven leave for 1 min. to let the chocolate melt. Once melted spread the chocolate evenly over the baked dough. Scatter over the remaining nuts and leave to cool completely. Cut into 21 bars. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.