S'more Brownies

My mom has been making these brownies for as long as I can remember.  She has always been a S'mores lover.  Also she regularly bought Rice Krispy Treat cereal when I was a kid, so Mom of the Universe award goes to her.

My oldest graduated from preschool this last week.  There were more tears than I imagined there would be...  Turns out I'm not going to be the mom that doesn't cry on the first day of Kindergarten. When I looked at this picture (far Right looking straight at ya), I just saw a big 18 year old kid who had grown up in an instant and was graduating high school.  Is it wrong to never ever want that day to come?

Other things we did this week include Frankenweenifying our cat:

Because normal people do that.


These S'more Brownies are our HELLO to Summer!  We have a lot planned to keep us busy and we can't wait to get started.

Have a happy memorial day weekend friends!

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Toffee Bars

A terrible thing has happened.

My husband finally realized that Revenge is {basically} a soap opera and doesn't want to watch it with me anymore.

For some reason he thinks Emily is cray-cray?

I know.  I don't get it either.  Assuming someone else's name, monitoring all your neighbors via hidden cameras in their houses, and plotting ways to destroy their lives is totally normal.


I knew this day was inevitable.  I mean, I nearly swallowed my tongue when he agreed to watch the first season with me.  

But I'm still going to go eat my feelings. 

Probably with these peanut butter toffee bars.

Wanna join me?

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Peppermint Herringbone Brownies

Winter is the time of year I get incredibly frustrated with blogging and usually disappear for awhile.  It's ten degrees outside.  There's no light.  All of my pictures come out dark and grainy.  And it's really annoying to work hard on something and have the pictures not do them justice.

Apparently I need to start my Christmas baking in August or something and take all my pictures then. Although personally I'd prefer to take the easy way out and move somewhere habitable.

Forgive me for the terrible picture, but just know that these herringbone brownies are gorgeous in real life.  Gor. Geous.

Also delicious.  

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Strawberry Shortbread Bars

How many cats is an appropriate amount to own?  Like twelvish?

One for each month?

Exactly.  I've been telling people this for years.

Just kidding, we only  have one cat, but sometimes when I go to Petsmart I like to pretend I am the mother of all cat lady's.

Like,

"Do you think Snuffliekins would like this Reindeer outfit or this Elf outfit better for family pictures?"

"What about Cuddly-boo-boo?  Should he buy this catnip-scented pillow for Fluffy-baby for Christmas?  Maybe we should call and ask him.  I've got him on speed-dial.  He's probably just watching animal planet."

It would probably be even more convincing if I actually brought in twenty cats on leashes and placed them in the cart and talked to them at intervals and waited for them to yowl back.  Maybe this year I can look into volunteering at the Humane Society in the "cat-walking" assignment and we can make that a reality.

Mostly I feel the need to do things like this because I worked at Gap in college.  I know boring jobs.  I like to think I'm providing the employees with some much needed entertainment for the day, and an amusing story to take home to their significant other at night.  Also it keeps me entertained because I am a five year old.


Know what else five year olds like?

Bars.

I like these best the second day because the flavors meld and the crust becomes super moist and almost "pie-like".  These would be yummy with cherry pie filling as well.

They are not cat-friendly however.  So don't give any to cuddly-boo-boo.

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Peach Crumb Bars

 

Pest Control Guys.

Let's talk about them.

They're driving me crazy!!  Ringing my doorbell all day long.  Conversations that go like this:

Me:  "I'm not interested.  I'm not interested.  I'm not interested.  I'm. Not. Interested.

(Usually ends in me pretending to hear my phone ringing in the other room or making up some emergency.)

Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against pest control guys.  One summer in college long before I met him, my husband was a pest control guy in Florida.  It's just that I don't NEED pest control and I'm not good at being forceful which apparently you have to be to get rid of pest control guys.

In realization of this, I've decided the best thing I can do is invest in a couple dozen racoons and keep them in one of the unfinished bedrooms in our basement.

What do racoons eat anyway?

Next pest control guy that comes my way will be invited downstairs for a looksie at those pests.

Know anybody that sells 'coons?

Why can't they just take a "No thanks" and a couple of peach bars or something??

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Brown Butter Peach Pie Shortbread Bars

I thought your body wasn't supposed to start deteriorating until at least 30.  Apparently my body didn't get that memo.  So far 26 has been the year where I have to start dealing with wrinkles and phantom aches and general crabbiness.  (I wish I was joking, but I'm not.  Well, kinda joking about the crabbiness.)

This week I seem to have pulled a muscle in my back probably from pretending to be too realistic of a Velociraptor, so I have been scooting around the house like a hunchback and groaning a lot and using it as an excuse to not put on makeup or go running.  When a migraine joined my back in it's rebellion, I felt so sorry for myself I decided to make these bars.

I had been waiting months for fresh peaches to make them and they did not disappoint. These are really amazing. Especially warmed up with a big fat scoop of drippy vanilla bean ice cream on top.

Put them on your to-do list before summer is up.

And take "Playing carnivorous dinosaurs" off  of your list.

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Peanut Butter S'more Bars

Nothing says summer like S'mores.

Let's just add a little bit of peanut butter, shall we?   :)

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Marshmallow Oreo Bars

Cookies.  Marshmallows.  Butter.

Magic I tell you.

Magic.

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Chocolate-dipped Caramel Rice Krispy Treats

Sometimes you accidentally create a beautiful thing.  (Cough.  Second Child.  Cough.)

Just kidding.  He was on purpose.

What I mean is, sometimes you make something, but you don't realize just how delicious of an idea it was until you taste it.

These Rice Krispy treats are one of those  experiments.  In Brussels, my mom used to pack a Cha Cha in my lunch pretty much every single day.  {A chocolate-covered caramelly wafer treat. } These Rice Krispy treats taste a LOT like a Cha Cha, which I can not find anywhere here, so they spoke directly to my heart.

These are really sweet so cut them small, but they are chewy and chocolatey and delicious.  A little slice of European heaven.

{Well you know.  Kinda.}

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Thin Mint Truffle Brownies

Truffle brownies are the brain-child of Dorothy over at Crazy for Crust.  I decided to make a Thin Mint version the other day and it was the best decision I made this week. 

(The worst decision I made was texting while on the treadmill at a 9.5 incline. Forget texting and driving, they need a PSA for that.)

My mom can't stop talking about how these are the perfect brownie, so you can take that as a good sign.  She's something of a brownie connoisseur, so you can trust her.

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Creamy Lemon Crumb Bars

Anybody else feeling like winter should have been over about a month ago??  Unfortunately, where I live it's pretty much winter until May.  Seriously.  Sometimes it's still snowing.  I cry about it daily.

During this last stretch of winter I like to bake a bunch of springtime/summertime treats and pretend we don't have three more months of winter ahead of us.

These lemon bars are great because they aren't too tart and never taste metallic.  The crumb topping goes perfectly with the creamy lemon filling, and a big glass of milk.  I've made these lemon bars 4 or 5 times and probably will never look for another recipe.  They really are that good.



PS- Don't use a foil-lined pan to make these.  Once refrigerated they cut and remove pretty easily just using a small metal spatula, so you won't even need it.

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Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars

So my husband teaches sunday school to the 12 year olds at our church.  I was so excited when they asked him to do it because my first thought was "Yayyyy.  Little children to bake for!"  (Not to be the weird witch from Hansel & Gretel or anything.)

I made these for his kiddos a few weeks ago and they were well-received.  (Except for the kid who hates cheesecake which I can completely relate to at the uncultured age of 12.  He will learn.)  We took the leftovers to a neighborhood chili cookoff and when one of his kids spotted them she walked off with an armful of bars.  Compliment received! 

These are a perfect fall bar.  I recommend you make some now, but this recipe make a LOT, so find some random children to fatten up if you need to.

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Reeses Peanut Butter Cup Brownies

After the Twix Brownies, how could we not, really?  Twix is still my favorite, but these are pretty high on the list.

I actually split my brownie mix between two pans and tried these two separate ways- topped with Reeses before baking, and topped with Reeses right after baking.  EVERYONE went for the brownies topped post-baking, but tasting them blind- the baked-in version won every time.  So you really have to decide if you want pretty brownies or yummy brownies.  Unless you feel like compromising and doing both that is...

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Chewy Caramel Twix Brownies

Quote of the day:

"Mom!  Look at all that WEED!"

(My 3 year old, as we drive past a farm where a farmer is harvesting hay into those rectangular bale things)


Luckily he doesn't know what "weed" actually is.  Or he better not, because he's only three.  But I'm pretty sure I almost ran into a fence I was laughing so hard.  I hope he doesn't go to preschool next month and tell his teacher about all the "weed" in our backyard.  That would be an interesting parent teacher conference.  If I had to bribe her *not* to call social services, I would probably do so with these twix brownies:

Bribing a teacher has to be a sure thing my friends.

(Seriously, these are YUM!)

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Gooey Turtle Brownie Cups

Foods in my experience can be divided into one of two categories.

Worth Eating.

Not Worth Eating

You know what I'm talking about. Sometimes you take a bite of something and think "this is *not* worth the calories". And if you're being good, you stop eating it. If you're wallowing in sorrow, or just happen to be really starving, maybe you keep eating it.

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Oreo Cheesecake Bars

You might not know it, but there is a cheesecake dilemma. And a cake dilemma... and a pie dilemma... Pretty much a dilemma for everything that is round (Yes, I'm discriminating against shapes today).

The problem is it is fairly next to impossible to sneak out a piece before taking it to the neighbors, or a work function, or church social, you catch my drift. I mean, how do you even know if it tastes good?

When I was a kid my mom had baked up three pumpkin pies and sat us three kids down, each with a pie in front of us, and said "Have at it! Eat as much pie as you want!" (It was like a dream come true. ) I probably got five or six bites into my pie before I realized something was wrong. All I tasted was salt, salt, salt! That pie-scarfing session turned into some logical life-lesson about not switching the sugar and the salt in the pantry. PS Mom- Totally wasn't me. And I will swear it to my deathbed. Anyways- good thing she didn't send a pie over to the neighbor's right?

Which brings us back to the cheesecake dilemma. If I'm going to spend three hours making a cheesecake, you can bet I'm going to want a bite. Also kind of want to make sure it doesn't taste like feet. (Unless I'm taking a cheesecake to *those* neighbors. Just kidding. I don't even know my neighbors).

The cheesecake dilemma is solved here, by making cheesecake into little bars. So you can taste-test one. Or three. Or half a pan. Your neighbors will still love you for bringing over delicious treats, and you'll love them because they gave you a good excuse to eat cheesecake. Everyone wins.

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

Bars that are pretty darn close to Reese's peanut butter cups.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, melted
• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips  (Sometimes I use half milk chocolate chips)
• 4 tablespoons peanut butter

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, mix together the butter, graham cracker crumbs, powdered sugar, and 1 cup peanut butter until well blended. Press evenly into the bottom of an ungreased 9x13 inch pan.
2. In a metal bowl over simmering water, or in the microwave, melt the chocolate chips with the peanut butter, stirring occasionally until smooth. Spread over the prepared crust. Refrigerate for at least one hour before cutting into squares.

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Caramel Oat Bars

 These disappear in 24 hours at our house. Chewy and easy and soooo yummy!

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