S'mores Bars

Back in August*, our relatives the Krigbaums had the family over for a BBQ (they're the ones who gave me the popular Pepperoni Pinwheels recipe) and told us to bring a dish to share. Naturally, I decided to make a dessert. Since it was a BBQ and summer, I figured I'd search for yet another s'mores recipe to make, specifically one with mini marshmallows so I could use up leftovers from the last time I made a s'mores recipe (how old they are ended up being a good thing). After searching through my S'mores Pinterest board, I finally settled on a recipe form Glorious Eats.

*I know, I know - 6 weeks! My main excuse is that I kept forgetting to put the picture collages together. Better late than never, I guess?

S'mores Cookie Bars

Last summer, with a little coaxing from my mom, I once again offered to make dessert for anyone who wanted me to while in Chelan. Anne and Vicki both took me up on the offer, as did my immediate family. I decided to pick quick and easy recipes for the first two: since Anne and her family were making Mexican on their night, I decided on Sopapilla Cheesecake Bars while Vicki requested my recipe for pizza night - the golden Oreo fudge I'd made for Carly for her golden birthday.

For my immediate family, I decided on a more complicated recipe. The flavor was kinda easy to pick out: since it was the middle of summer, why not s'mores? I went through my s'mores board on Pinterest and eventually decided on S'mores Cookie Bars from Practically Homemade. The weekend before Chelan, I did some prep by crushing up the graham crackers and measuring out the rest of the ingredients. I divided them up into three storage containers: one for the graham cracker crumbs, one for the dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder), and one for the sugars. I also packed the remaining non-perishable ingredients (marshmallows, chocolate chips, etc.) with the ingredients for the other two recipes. Once we got there, I bought stuff like eggs and butter when buying my other food for the week.

I was all set ... until I got a text from Lisa the day I was going to make these. She said that Tristan was going to take us all out for ice cream that night (which he does every year one night during Chelan), just in case it affected my dessert plans. Obviously it did but I didn't want to make Tristan feel bad (plus I look forward to that night every year) so I didn't say anything and decided to make these bars when the white chocolate chip blondies were done.

Which took a while since there were many weekends when I wasn't home for lunch on Saturdays so it took until the end of January for me to finish them. I was more than ready to get those containers out of my pantry (and the recipe removed from my bookmark bar).

White Chocolate Blondies

I don't know why but I've always been a fan of blondie bars. They're definitely in my top 5 favorite desserts. I think it's the different taste that appeals to me (I do like butterscotch). So when it came time to choose a new recipe for weekend lunch dessert, I decided to make a pan of blondies. Rather than use the Betty Crocker Cooky Book recipe I usually make, I decided to look in the 50 Brownies insert that I got in an issue of Food Network Magazine. I made a fudgy brownie recipe from it and was IN LOVE (seriously, I think it was better than the box mix that even I prefer for brownies) so I figured the same would be the case for blondie bars.

Lemon Raspberry Sugar Cookie Bars

This year for Mother's Day we kept it small again: like last year, I went to Auntie Vicki and Uncle Rob's house. It was the three of us, Carly, and Nonni. This time, Uncle Rob's mom Ruth joined us as well. As always I offered to make dessert. Auntie Vicki suggested something fruity, specifically raspberry or lemon, and cookie bars. So after looking through my magazine cutouts, I started combing through Pinterest (it's actually a bit quick to go through when you're looking for something specific). I ended up finding a recipe that was both raspberry and lemon from the blog Butter with a Side of Bread.

Grandma's Coconut Chews

For the third year in a row (apparently), I decided to stick with coconut as the main ingredient in Nonni's gift. I also, once again, tried to find something that was heart-friendly and at least looked like it would go well with a morning cup of coffee. After a search through Pinterest I finally settled on the coconut chews from Barefeet in the Kitchen (the grandma referenced is the blogger's grandma).

Coconut Brookies

I almost didn't do anything for Barba John and Auntie Paldina. At one point in December I got an email from Nonni saying the three of them had decided that they wouldn't get Christmas presents for the others' grandkids. In other words, for example, I wouldn't be getting gifts from John and Paldina. Understandable. I still felt I should make them something at least this year, to kind of even things out from the past. So I searched for a chocolate coconut dessert for Barba John. I eventually settled on Coconut Brookies from Crazy for Crust.

Blonde Beauties (S'mores Blondies)

Last year I decided to make M&M cookies for Chelan since Nonni wasn't going to be able to make them. I ended up making two other types of cookies as well. Since they were such a hit (I had all three containers empty and clean by Wednesday of our week, if I remember correctly), I figured I'd repeat that this year. Other than the family-favorite M&M cookies, I chose two flavors that I was pretty sure the family would love: s'mores and lemon. After looking through my s'mores recipe book, I picked a s'mores blondie bar.

Scotcheroos

When I was growing up we'd spend most of our 4th of Julys camping on Camano Island. My dad's high school friend's parents owned property there and my dad and all their friends had been camping there since they met. This is where I first remember having scotcheroos: peanut butter Rice Krispies treats topped with a melted chocolate-butterscotch chips mixture. I even copied the recipe from what the mom had written down - which ended up being unnecessary as it's pretty much from Rice Krispies itself.

I'd been craving them for a while so I decided to make them for Rowan Fae's annual St. Patrick's Day weekend road trip - except due to scheduling conflicts, we only had two shows on Sunday night. Oh well - these last a while so more for me!

Coconut Jam Squares

Nonni's present was a bit hard to pick out. She had heart surgery back in August so I wanted to make something that was heart-healthy. Mom told me to try and be low on butter and salt. I also wanted to find something that would taste good with coffee and could maybe pass as breakfast because Nonni always texts me a few days after getting a gift from me saying that she's enjoying her present with her morning coffee. After lots of looking I found a recipe for squares with coconut and raspberry jam in my 500 Best Cookies, Bars, & Squares cookbook.

Easy S'mores Cookie Bars

This year for Chelan, I ended up baking some treats and distributing them amongst the 3 units. It started with "I should make M&M cookies since Nonni probably won't be well enough to make them." (she's been having heart problems this year) and evolved into "Why don't I make treats for everyone to enjoy in their units?" I ended up making the cookies, Chocolate Chip Blondies, and a s'mores bars recipe I found on Pinterest (I had some graham cracker crumbs and marshmallow cream leftover from Kevin's birthday present). Since I was making it right before vacation, I decided not to take the time to do a blog post for the s'mores bars.

They were a big hit. Definitely a favorite. So when an end-of-summer and successful-busy-season potluck was planned at work, I knew exactly what I was going to make. I figured, if my family liked the bars, why wouldn't my co-workers? The recipe comes from Fabulessly Frugal.

Stuffed Peanut Butter S'mores Bars

I'm starting to think that peanut butter is a bit of a staple in my family since as far as I know, every likes it (well, except Carly obviously. But I've always thought that if she weren't allergic to nuts, she'd be a fan too). Especially when paired with chocolate. So of course I wasn't surprised when I texted Helen for more flavor ideas for Kevin's birthday present and she said he liked chocolate peanut butter. She also told me that he likes anything s'mores-flavored.

That last one got the decisive gears going in my head. I started by looking at the books and magazines and got lucky right off the bat. I had gotten a couple recipe books at a store in Chelan called The Culinary Apple (it's one of those stores that sells all kinds of pots, pans, dishes, tools, and other stuff for the kitchen). One of which is all about s'mores - not just ways to enhance the traditional s'more but also all kinds of treats with chocolate, marshmallow, and grahams. The one that stuck out to me was a bars recipe with peanut butter cups.

Homemade Twix Bars

Ever since I joined Pinterest I've come across a lot of homemade candy bar recipes. Apparently there are several different ways to make your favorite candy bars. So this year I decided to make homemade Twix bars for Anthony. After looking at all the choices I'd saved I finally decided on a recipe from Tastes Better from Scratch as it was the format I wanted.

Chocolate Chip Blondies

A couple weeks ago we had a dessert potluck at work. Because it was a bit last minute I decided to stick with brownies or bars: quick to bake, usually makes enough for lots of people. Rather than turn to Pinterest or the internet I turned to my cookbooks (with a limited amount of eggs and butter, it would be quicker to skim the recipes for what I had). I grabbed 500 Best Cookies, Bars, & Squares and started looking at the brownies and bars sections, eventually settling on Chocolate Chip Blondies since I had all the ingredients (or so I thought).

Lemon-Coconut Squares

I suck at giving presents. I give something that I think will be great for the recipient but at least 90% of the time, the person ends up not using it. So for my mom's Mother's Day present, I decided on something that would be foolproof - I'd bake her something. I focused on foods with coconut in them since she's one of two people in the family who likes it. I finally settled on Lemon-Coconut Squares from the Snack Works website (mainly Nabisco products, like Oreos and Honey Maid graham crackers as well as other cookie, cracker, gum, and candy brands).

Milky Way Magic Bars

I had a very interesting first Halloween in my new apartment. And by "interesting" I mean "quiet." Yes, it seems that the young kids in my complex trick-or-treat while it's still light out and I get home just as it starts getting dark. So the only person who came to my door was the pizza delivery guy (it was, after all, a Friday). Meaning I was stuck with 250 pieces of candy (yes, I overestimated by A LOT. Next year, I'm getting a smaller bag and leaving the bowl out before leaving for work with a note asking the kids to take 2 each).

After pulling out the Snickers minis for my dad, I started snacking on them and sticking them in my lunch bag. Still, I wanted to bake with the leftovers (this has helped tone down the snacking part of my solution) so I asked my mom which one she wanted me to use for my Thanksgiving dessert. She chose Milky Way. While I found a lot of recipes on a variety of sites, I finally settled on these gooey bars from Wine & Glue. They were quick and easy to make (which was good since I had to make them the night before and did so while watching NBC's The Making of Peter Pan Live! special) and very similar to the gooey Girl Scout cookies bars I've made before with Thin Mints and Tagalongs. Sounded like a win-win to me.

Peanut Butter Truffle Brownies

Over the last few years I've lost interest in using box mixes to make cakes and brownies. Sure they're good in a pinch but why not make something from scratch? That's why I try to save recipes and buy cookbooks that embellish the box mixes. And when I decided earlier this week that I wanted to make peanut butter brownies to "break in" my new KitchenAid stand mixer and bake for the first time in my new apartment, I ended up finding a recipe similar to what I wanted in Betty Crocker's Fix with a Mix Desserts cookbook. It's not exactly what I wanted but I couldn't find that. And as I've said before, I'm no good at creating recipes on my own.

My new toy. Isn't it purrty?

Cheesecake Brownie Bars

Easter dinner is usually the same every year: at my aunt and uncle's house with ham, potatoes, deviled eggs, rolls, Jell-O jiggler eggs, and green beans for dinner with frosted sugar cookies and chocolate bunny cakes for dessert. This year, Auntie Vicki wanted us to do something different than the bunny cakes. My mom was already going to do a two-toned pink cake that she found in a recent issue of Family Circle and she (or Auntie Vicki) suggested that I make the cheesecake brownie dessert that I made a few years ago for Memorial Day. A Google search found that the dessert was also in Family Circle (which I somewhat remembered from the first time). Unfortunately, the FC website wouldn't let me view the recipe so I just grabbed it from one of the food blogs that posted it (my mom later told me where to find the hardcopy that I had used 4 years ago. I have yet to locate it).

Tagalong Cake Bars

Sometimes you gotta bake something that you're not gonna eat. Like yesterday: I had the random urge to bake and decided to use the for-baking Tagalongs I'd bought last year. Despite the fact that I gave up chocolate for Lent and wouldn't be able to have whatever I made until Easter. Still, I've baked with chocolate during previous Lents and had a much harder time not licking the spoon than I did this time. So I did a little searching and came across the Tagalong version of the Thin Mint Gooey Cake Bars I had made last year for Kevin's birthday. Apparently the food bloggers who posted the recipes are friends who had gotten together and made some delicious magic. (I do at times wish I had a friend like this.)

Savannah Smiles Zesty Lemon Streusel Bars

Last year during Girl Scout cookie season I bought two of my favorite flavors: one for eating and the other for baking with. I used the for-baking Thin Mints last year but I've been a bit stumped about what to bake with the Savannah Smiles and Tagalongs, especially the Savannah Smiles since they just came out last year. I guess I should've waited a year since last weekend I decided to bake with them and came across this recipe on the Little Brownie Bakers website for Savannah Smiles Zesty Lemon Streusel Bars (according to their About Us, they are an authorized Girl Scout cookie baking company).

S'mores Bars

My dad's other sister and her family live in Charlotte, NC, so we rarely see them. Usually in July (coinciding with Chelan). This year, things were a little different and they came yesterday, about a month later than normal. My parents invited them and the rest of the immediate family over for dinner. When picking out a dessert, I decided to do s'mores since A) it's still summer and what says summer more than s'mores? and B) National S'mores Day came and went and I did nothing for it (one of these days, I'm gonna find and make recipes for each national day/week/month that celebrates sweets). For some reason, I didn't realize how many choices there were for s'mores-themed recipes. So I decided on a specific type of dessert and eventually found these S'mores Bars on Mandy's Recipe Box.