S'Mores Bars

Yum, yum, and more yum!

I needed to make a batch of cookies for a 

lunch I was going to, and I wanted to try 

something different.  I have no idea why, 

but I did a search for S'Mores Bars on Pinterest, 

and up came a recipe from House of Nash Eats 

that looked really yummy.

As I read the recipe, she said she had tasted it at 

a get-together and it was brought by Hungry Runner Girl.

Ha!  I know Hungry Runner Girl personally.  My 

son dated her for a while, so this was a fun recipe 

for me to try out, and the verdict was - fantastic!

These fabulous bars consist of a graham cracker crust, 

topped with a chocolate cookie dough layer, and 

then gloriously garnished with marshmallows, 

chocolate chips and Hershey bars.  How could they 

be anything but wonderful?

The recipe called for a very large amount of 

butter to be mixed into the graham cracker crust - 

let me tell you a secret - butter makes things 

extra delicious!  Nope, I won't be altering that.  

I didn't end up having mini marshmallows on hand, 

so I laboriously cut the full sized ones into smaller 

pieces - it worked, but I grabbed a bag at the store 

for my next batch - which I am making this week.  

S'Mores Bars Recipes

Graham Cracker Crust

2 1/4 C. ground graham crackers ( 1 1/2 pkg)

2/3 C. melted butter

1/3 C. sugar

Mix the above and spread into a 9x13 inch pan and bake 

for 5 minutes at 350.  Remove and let cool a little.

Meanwhile make the cookie dough.

1 C. softened butter

3/4 C. brown sugar

3/4 C. white sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/4 C. flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/4 C. semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 C. mini marshmallows

Cream the butter and sugars together.  Then add the eggs and 

vanilla.  Mix the flour, salt and soda together and blend into 

the butter mixture.  Stir in the chocolate chips and marshmallows.

Spread on the slightly cooled crust carefully, so as to not break 

up the crust.  Bake at 350 for 18 minutes.  Remove from oven 

and top with 

1 C. marshmallows,

1/2 C. semi-sweet chocolate chips 

2-3 Hershey bars, broken into squares

Return to oven and bake for 9-11 minutes.  You want 

these to be a little underbaked.  I baked mine for 9.

Let cool completely before cutting.  I put mine in 

the fridge to harden the chocolate before cutting 

into 24 pieces.

You can see how the cookie dough layer is 

underbaked - that's what you want.  

These will be on your list of favorites from now on!

Five Layer Cookie Bars

I was plotting something rich and gooey and 

delicious and decided to put everything together 

that I love...Chocolate Chip Cookies, Brownies, 

Oreos, and more chocolate.

This is a simple cookie that makes enough for a 

crowd as you bake it in a bun pan.

Start with two packages of prepared chocolate 

chip cookie dough (or make your own batch).  

I add about 2 T. flour for each package to make 

the chocolate chip cookies a little firmer.

Spread them in bun pan that has been sprayed 

with Pam.  Then break up half a package of 

Oreos and sprinkle on top.  

Mix a package of brownies ( the 9x13 size package) 

with 1 egg and 1/2 C. butter.  Pinch off pieces and 

place on top.  It won't cover all of the cookie dough.

Pour on a can of sweetened condensed milk.

Sprinkle on 1 1/2 C. chocolate chunks or chocolate chips.  

I love Trader Joe's chocolate chunks.

Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.  Let cool completely 

before cutting.  

Yum!  Layer after layer of cookie goodness.  Give these 

a try for one of your summer picnics.

Chocolate Limone Brownies

The tang of lemon with chocolate is right up

there with the tart of raspberries paired with

chocolate!  

One of our favorite places for pizza is

Pizzeria Limone and they have a lemon

frosted deep, dark and rich brownie

that I just can't get enough of, so I

decided to make a copycat recipe.

These were easy to make and they have just the right

amount of lemon to give it that punch against

chocolate.  If you like lemon and chocolate together,

these are going to become your favorite go to brownies.

I made mine is a huge 12x18 inch pan, so I tripled

the brownie recipe.  That gave me about 60 brownies

and I only needed about 30 for a neighborhood

"Walk and Talk".  We do this during summer months

and two or three homes are designated as the stopping

spots on a Sunday evening.  Food is served at the spots

and neighbors take turns making the items.  I was asked

to bring brownies, and I wanted to bring something unique

as others were bringing brownies also.  

We also had a dinner for our Young Single Adult

group that we are in charge of, so I brought a huge

plate to that, as I had so many.  They were gobbled up

first thing at both places.  I did make a little sign

designating them as lemon brownies, as I have a

son who doesn't like lemon (can you imagine?) and

I didn't want them wasted.  

Brownie Recipe

(For a 12x18 metal pan - cut in half for a 9x13)

4 1/2 C. flour

1 1/2 C. cocoa

6 C. sugar

2 tsp salt

Mix the above with a whisk.

Stir together

3 C. vegetable oil

2 T. vanilla

12 eggs

Stir into the flour mix.  Add 3 C. semi-sweet

chips, or a combination of semi-sweet, milk, and

white.  The chips are optional, but make it really

chocolatey.  

Stir together.  Grease the bottom of pan and spread

batter in pan.  Smooth out.  Bake at 350 for 40-50 

minutes.  You can tell brownies are about done when

you begin to smell them.  

Let cool.

Lemon Cream Frosting

1 C. softened butter

6 C. powdered sugar

Rind from 2 large lemons, finely grated

Juice from 2 large lemons

Additional water or milk as needed

In a large mixing bowl, mix the butter, powdered sugar

and lemon juice and rind.  Add water or milk 1 T. at

a time until you get a nice soft consistency.  Beat for

about 5 minutes.

Spread evenly over cooled brownies.  Let sit until

the frosting develops a crust.

Chocolate Glaze

2 C. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 C. butter

Melt together for 1 minute in microwave safe

bowl.  Remove and stir.  Melt for additional

30 seconds if needed.  Stir until smooth.  Pour over

the frosting and smooth lightly with an off-set spatula.

Refrigerate until chocolate is set.  

When you want to cut the brownies, let them come

to room temperature so that the chocolate doesn't

break while you cut them.  Run a sharp, long knife

under hot water and quickly wipe it dry with a paper

towel.  Make a lengthwise cut, then repeat the heating

and drying of the knife for every cut.  This will give

you beautiful sharp edges.

Store tightly covered.

These would be great with some ice cold lemonade

on a hot summer day!

Thanks for stopping by to visit.  I hope you try them.

Spiders In A Jar Cookies

Everyone knows witches love to eat spiders,

so we have caught some in jars, ready to serve 

them up to all of our witchy friends!

Beaulah and I were watching one of our

favorite Halloween movies the other night -

Hocus Pocus

and Sarah Jessica Parker is outside gobbling

spiders!  Yum!!  (She is just so funny in this crazy

Halloween movie.)

That got us craving some of the little creepy crawlies,

but we like  the sugary kind, that can't move.

(Araneae dulce)

A couple of weeks ago I told you that my father paid us

10 cents each for spiders 

that we found in the basement - his way of ridding the

house of those pesky little critters.

We would put them in mason jars to bring them to him -

showing our captured spiders.  I can still picture them.

Well, that part of my personal history was the true

inspiration for the Spiders in a Jar Cookies.

They do seem to attract other spiders - probably

trying to help them escape!

Wonder how much Dad would have paid for these

spiders?

Beaulah and I would probably give him some 

for free!!

You've never had such tasty spiders before!

Glad you stopped by to see what

fun is happening in our

Halloween Purple Chocolat Home.

Click here for cookie and frosting recipe.

I will be posting with

Share Your Cup Thursday

Foodie Friday

We All Scream for Ice Cream Cookies

All I have to do is feel like it is going to

start getting warm and I am ready to make

home made ice cream!

Alas, it has been wet and rainy and so we are going 

to have to settle for these cookies that look like

ice cream sundaes.  

My daughter in law that taught me how to

decorate these kinds of cookies bought me

this fun ice cream sundae cookie cutter.

I love this pink and white one with a cherry on top!

This one is a little fancier with silver sprinkles

and pink polka dots.

Now even I agree, that these are too cute to eat!

I just need a little vanilla ice cream to go with them!

I will be posting these with 

Foodie Friday

Chocolate Bunny Cookies

Has your house been overrun with bunnies yet?

We certainly have but these chocolatey goodies

didn't stay around long.

(Ok, there is one vanilla one hiding in with

it's siblings!)

I have been working on writing my dad's history

and one thing he would laugh about was that

he would always bite the ears off his sister's

chocolate bunny that she was trying to save.

So when I brought this platter of cute bunnies

to my grandkids and my son immediately picked

one up and said he was going to bite the ears

off, it reminded me of my dad.  

I made them both in chocolate and vanilla and

I have to say I am in love with the chocolate sugar

cookies.

This time I made my sugar cookies with a cake mix

using Betty Crocker's Triple Chocolate Chip Cake Mix.

I didn't know if the chocolate chips would be a problem

in a rolled sugar cookie, but they were fine and the

flavor is so chocolatey.  Combine that with a little

almond flavoring in the royal frosting and this is

a super yummy cookie.  I like the cake mix cookies when

I do royal frosting because they are so sweet and the

frosting is not so it balances out to a great tasting,

not just beautiful looking cookie.  

You can imagine they were a hit with the kiddies.  They

liked the candy eggs too.

Chocolate Sugar Cookies

1 box Chocolate Cake Mix

1 large egg

1/2 C. butter melted

Mix the above ingredients together with the

paddle attachment until thoroughly mixed.  Let

the batter cool about 10 minutes since the butter

was melted.

Roll cookies out on parchment paper and transfer

to a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.  You don't have

to use any flour to roll it out on parchment paper and

it peels off easily by lifting the paper from the corner.

Bake at 350 for 8 minutes or until the tops look

dry.  I don't like my sugar cookies brown.  Let cool

on the pan until you can easily handle them.

Royal Frosting

1 C. water

5 T. meringue powder

Mix this together in a large mixing bowl until no lumps are there.

Add

2 tsp. almond flavoring

1 tsp. cream of tartar

2 lb. powdered sugar (sift if lumpy)

With the paddle attachment, start on low mixing this together

and turn up to medium speed and mix for 10 minutes.  Yes,

10 minutes.  It will thicken and look like marshmallow. 

You may have to thin this to make it flow.  Add 1 T. water at

a time.  When you draw a spoon through the frosting, the line should

disappear in about 10 seconds.  If not, add the water and stir.

Place in small bowls and color if desired.  I prefer the bottles for

the cookies and bags for adding detail like the nose.  The eyes

were dragees.

decorating bag or decorating bottle.  

Flood with royal frosting by outlining the cookie and

then filling in with the frosting.  Let harden or place

in a food dehydrator for about one hour to harden 

enough to write on with an edible marker.  I used

Americolor's black marker.

(I start with a little more water than normal

so I don't have to thin it so much and it works 

well.)

These come together so quickly and are

so fun to make.

They will be hopping over to

Foodie Friday

Pink Saturday

Rolo Stuffed Brown Butter Snickerdoodles.

Cookies are my personal weakness

so I have to be careful how often I make

them!  

Now stuff a cookie with chocolate and gooey

caramel and I am really in trouble.

My sister Jean sent me a similar recipe

and I was off to her daughter's house for

dinner so I thought of these cookies.

A Snickerdoodle is my daughter's first choice,

usually not mine, but I was intrigued by the

browned butter.  Brown butter for any baked

good and I am drooling.  My first experience 

with browned butter cookies were these 

Browned Butter Brownies

that my friend Rachel introduced me to and

I promise I could have eaten the whole pan.

I told you I have problems with cookies!!

I love browned butter in savory dishes too

like this

Browned Butter and Sage Pasta

As a matter of fact this is making me want to

do a Browned Butter Week - yum!

So I thought I would give them a try.  I 

don't love the flavorless square caramels,

even though I had some on hand, so I 

decided to substitute with Rolos.  My first

experience with a stuffed cookie was years

ago when my daughter made us Rolo stuffed

cookies.  I think Rolos still make my favorite

stuffing!

Browning butter is really easy and the smell is so

heady!  Yum, I am still smelling it.  The nice thing

is you can start with cold butter.  Slice the cold

butter up and place in a heavy pan.  I use high heat

and when the butter is all melted I turn it down to

medium.

The butter foams up and the butter solids will

brown giving it a nutty wonderful flavor.  I

usually turn my heat down after the butter is

melted and watch it carefully so that it doesn't

burn.

Measure your dry ingredients!

I love these darling measuring spoons that 

my friend Tammy gave me for Christmas!

After you have mixed the wet ingredients

into the dry ingredients you will want

to wrap the dough and refrigerate it.

Wrap the Rolos inside the Snickerdoodle

dough and then roll in the traditional

cinnamon sugar mix.

Sprinkle with a little sea salt before baking

if desired for that sweet/salty combination.

I prefer these cookies warm, while the 

caramel center is still goey and the chocolate

is still melted!  But hey, they are good raw

(not that I am advocating eating raw dough, just

admitting the truth, that I do) and they are good

when cool.  Hubby said they were the best cookies

he had ever tasted.  What a nice guy!  They are 

pretty amazing.

The recipe for the cookie comes from 

Monique at Ambitious Kitchen

and the inspiration to stuff them

with caramel comes from

Maria at Two Peas and Their Pod.

I chose to stuff them with Rolos instead

of caramel squares.  I know you are going

to like this recipe a lot, with or without stuffing.

Rolo Stuffed Brown Butter Snickerdoodles

1 C. butter, browned and cooled

1 1/4 C. dark brown sugar

1/2 C. granulated sugar

1 egg plus 1 egg yolk

1 T. vanilla extract

1 T. yogurt - I used regular vanilla, Greek

is what Monique called for

2 1/2 C. all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. cream of tartar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground sea salt (Maria upped it to 1/2 tsp.)

1/4 C. granulated sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon

24-30 Rolos, unwrapped

Brown your butter and let it cool.  You can pour it into

a bowl and pop

it in the fridge for a few minutes to cool it to room temp.

Meanwhile measure out your dry ingredients into

a large mixing bowl and stir together with a whisk.

When the butter is cooled to room temperature, mix

together the browned butter, sugars, egg plus yolk, 

vanilla and yogurt.  Mix until combined then add

the dry ingredients and mix until it is all combined.

Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate until

chilled.  Refrigerate it at least an hour.  This is

the hard part - waiting!  

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the sugar and cinnamon together in a

small bowl to roll your dough balls in.

Take a ball of dough and flatten it.  Place

the Rolo in the center and pull the dough up

and around the candy sealing it inside.  I like

to flatten the balls just a little as they don't

spread much.  Roll it on all sides in the cinnamon

sugar.  Sprinkle with sea salt if desired.

Place on a parchment lined pan and bake in the

center of the oven for 8-10 minutes.  I found

9 minutes was perfect.  

Remove from the oven and let cool for a few

minutes on the pan until they are firm enough to move.

Enjoy while they are warm and gooey or when

the Rolo has firmed up!  Either way they are great!

Click here for printable recipe.

I will be posting this on

The Scoop