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).

Lemon Cookies

As much as I love chocolate (baking with it AND eating it), sometimes it's good to mix things up and bake something different. And if I can't bake with chocolate, I might as well bake with fruit - like lemon. Over the years I've begun to like lemon-flavored foods and that includes these lemon cookies that my mom found online last year and made for Christmas. I guess they were such a hit because she added them to our list of what to bake. I volunteered to bake them, not realizing that they'd be a little more complicated than I originally thought. No problems - just time-consuming.

Peanut Butter Blossoms

'Tis the season to be baking! Since the 1st of December, my mom and I have been steadily baking, making at least two different types of cookies per week (all of which have gone into the freezer to keep fresh for Christmas). My mom made a list of what she wanted to make this year and it was pretty obvious who was making what: some were for her to make (like the Russian Tea Cakes/Mexican Wedding Cakes that I don't care for) and others were for me to make - like Peanut Butter Blossoms. I've always loved making these. What's not to like: Hershey's Kisses + peanut butter = yum!