Chocolate Pretzel Bars

I have picked up a new hobby for when I’m bored. Instead of stalking people on facebook, as lame as it may be, I like to cruise through the internet, searching different baking blogs. The other day I came across Joy the Baker’s blog and her recipe for pretzel bars. They looked good, and it made sense that they would be a good mix of flavors since the sweetness of chocolate and the saltiness of pretzels is always a good combination. So, I decided to try then, and it turns out it was good just like I expected.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Base-

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt


1½ sticks softened butter

1 cup light brown sugar


½ cup granulated sugar


2 large eggs


2 teaspoons vanilla extract


2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1½ cups coarsely chopped
 pretzels

Drizzle-

¼ cup chocolate chips

¼ cup peanut butter

¼ cup chopped pretzels

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F and spray a 9×13 pan with cooking spray.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. In a larger bowl, beat the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, and finally beat in the eggs and the vanilla extract. Gradually add in the dry mixture until just mixed. Fold in the chocolate chips and chopped pretzels.

Place the bag in the microwave
for about 30 seconds &
then snip the corner.

Spread the batter evenly in the pan and press it down evenly with a spatula. Bake for 30 minutes, until golden brown. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool completely.

In two sandwich baggies, melt the chocolate chips and peanut butter. Cut off a small corner on each bag and drizzle the chocolate and peanut butter over the top of the bars. Sprinkle the extra pretzels on top. Let the drizzle set and then cut the squares.

You don’t have do the drizzle on top, especially if you are baking these for someone with a peanut allergy, but it does make the bars look a lot more put together, and you can always leave out the peanut butter and just drizzle on chocolate if nuts are a concern.

Sugar Cookie Bars

Big news, the girls track team won conference championships yesterday! It was extremely rainy and gross out yesterday, but they ran/jumped/threw through it and came out with a victory. Standing to wait for the places to be called, our team thought we had come in second until another team was called for second place, and we finally figured out we had come in first. Though, because of my injury, I haven't been able to run this season, I still love coming to the meets to cheer all my teammates on and I was so proud of how they all preformed yesterday that I knew I needed to make them something to munch on while we celebrated the win at practice the next day.

I wanted to make something easy to serve and transport (as I knew we would be eating it out on the track) so I decided to turn the popular sugar cookie into a bar form, and decorate them using our team colors of blue and gold!

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Bars-

1/2 cup softened butter

1 cups sugar


2 eggs


1 teaspoons vanilla extract


2 1/2 cups flour


1/2 teaspoon salt


1/4 teaspoons baking soda

 

Icing-


1/2 cup softened butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract


Dash of salt

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

3 tablespoons milk

Food coloring

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 F and grease a 13 x 9 inch pan.

To make the bars, cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy and then add in the eggs one at a time. Mix in the vanilla and in a separate bowl sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Slowly add this dry mixture into the butter and sugar mixture. Spread the dough evenly into your prepared baking pan(s). You may want to use your hands to pat it down more easily.

Place the bars in the oven for 12-15 minutes until lightly golden on the edges.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, beat together the butter, vanilla, and salt to create the frosting. Slowly add in the powdered sugar, and then add in drops of food coloring until the desired color is acquired.

Remove from the bars from the oven and let cool before icing.

After icing, you may decorate with sprinkles or other toppers.

Refrigerate the bars before cutting to make for easier slicing.

These bars would be great to make and have people decorate. You could either ice them before and buy a variety of candies and sprinkles for people to create their own little treats, or you could even divide the icing into several parts, coloring each differently so people may also ice their own bars as well (though the icing will not be cooled and hardened as well, it will still taste yummy!)

"Crack Brownies" Version 2

Every Thanksgiving my mom makes an array of amazing desserts, and always has a tray with all different types of cookies and squares. My Aunt Amy particularly looks forward to this one type of bar that never ceases to be included on that Thanksgiving platter. Because these bars never had an official name, we have deemed them "crack brownies" for their ridiculously addicting-ness.

Make sure to evenly pour and spread.

At this time I am forbidden to disclose the exact recipe (hence the "version 2"), but I have since made my own version of these "crack brownies" that are based upon the recipe for magic cookie bars on the back of the Eagle sweetened condensed milk that is an easy, and tasty classic that's just as easy to turn up a notch.

You can use really any type of chips or nuts you like to create your own favorite version, but here's mine- 

Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup butter

3 cups graham cracker crumbs

½ teaspoon cinnamon

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1 cups semisweet chocolate morsels

1 cup butterscotch chips

2 cups flaked coconut

1 ½ cups chopped walnuts

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 F and grease a 13 x 9 inch pan.

Over low heat, melt the butter in a saucepan. Once melted, add in the graham cracker crumbs and cinnamon. Stir well and pour this mixture into the greased pan and pat it down evenly so it is distributed evenly throughout the entire pan.

In a bowl, dump the different chips, coconut, and nuts and mix with a spoon or your hands (cleaned of course).

Pour the bowl’s mixture over the graham cracker crust evenly, and press this mixture down slightly as well.

Then, pour the sweetened condensed milk evenly over everything.

Bake for 22-26 minutes until lightly browned.

Let cool before slicing.

The sweetened condensed milk gives these an almost
fudge-like texture too.

These are great to make when you're running out of eggs in the house and need to bake but don't feel like putting in a lot of effort or time. Don't worry though, everyone loves these.

Peanut Butter Brownies

Peanut butter + chocolate = yum.

I have made peanut butter and chocolate treats before but these bars are a little different since they are truly peanut butter, instead of chocolate with peanut butter. 

I added in chocolate chips, but you can make this recipe and completely omit all of the chip to just make peanut butter brownies (which would be great lightly iced).

Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup peanut butter

2/3 cup margarine, softened

11/3 cups white sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

2/3 cup peanut chips

2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 F and grease a 9 x 13 inch pan.

In a bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, and peanut butter. Add in the eggs and vanilla. Afterwards, gradually mix in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Once all these ingredients have been well mixed, mix in the mini semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Make sure to press down the batter evenly into the pan.

Pour this batter into your greased pan and sprinkle the 2/3 cup peanut chips and 2/3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips evenly over the top.

Place in the oven for 30-35 minutes and let cool before slicing into bars.

Right before entering the oven.

I made the batter for these during one of my free periods, but didn't have enough time to bake them so I left a sticky note for my mom for when she came home to pop them in the oven. When I came home from school, I went inside thinking I would be able to try them out, but it turned out that my mom hadn't even come home yet. 

Though I had to then wait some more time to preheat the oven and bake the brownies, it was worth it. These were peanut chocolate goodness in every bite. (The edges were my favorite.)

Easy Chocolate & Peanut Chip Squares

I like to have an easy, quick recipe on hand for it I ever need to whip something up in a moment's notice. One of my easiest recipes is my chocolate and peanut chip squares, which are perfect to make when a friend calls you over, upset about something, and all they need is someone to take to and something comforting to eat.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter 

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk

2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

1 cup peanut butter chips  

Directions: Heat oven to 350°F and grease an 8x8 inch pan.

Melt the stick of butter and then mix it in a bowl with the graham cracker crumbs. Press this mixtureevenly to the bottom of the pan. Afterwards, sprinkle the semi sweet chocolate chips and peanut butter chips evently over the graham cracker mixture and then use a spatula (or your hands) to press down the chips into the graham cracker mixture. Once done, open up the can of sweetened condensed milk and pour it evenly over all of the chips.

Place the bars into the oven for 25-30 minutes. Let them cool before slicing.

You can use your hands too to press it down firmly.

Dulce De-Lish Bars

I bake a lot for my friend but when he brings the leftovers home, his younger sister never can have them because she’s allergic to peanuts. Even though I make a lot of things without peanuts, I found out that his sister can’t even eat toll house chocolate chips because they’re made in a factory that also processed peanut products.

So this time I decided to make something especially for Lindsey, and I checked all the labels to make sure it would be completely peanut free and yummy.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

1 cup package brown sugar

2 eggs

1½ teaspoons vanilla

1 (14-ounce) package caramels

½ cup evaporated milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F and grease a13x9-inch baking pan.

Stir flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl on the side and beat butter and brown sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until nice and creamy. Add the eggs and the vanilla to the large bowl and beat again until smooth. Slowly stir in the flour mixture.

Spread one half to two thirds of the batter in the greased pan and bake for 7 to 8 minutes.

While the first layer is cooling, melt the caramels and evaporated milk in a nonstick saucepan over low heat, using a wooden spoon to periodically stir this dulce de leche mixture.

Pour the dulce over the first layer, and reserve about two tablespoons to drizzle over later.

Afterwards, drop spoonfuls of batter in top of the dulce de leche layer and use a rubber spatula to spread the batter evenly.

Place back in the oven and bake for an additional 25 minutes. Cool and then reheat the left over dulce de leche and drizzle it over the bars. Let the drizzle cool and then cut into bars.

Packaging them up.

These bars may not look perfect but they taste so good they’re dangerous. Don’t let yourself stay alone in the house with a batch of these, they will be gone by morning.

                                 

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Bars

It’s Saturday and being a little tired from last night, Olivia and I thought we should chill out and bake…chocolate chip oatmeal bars of course!

This isn't an 8x8 but it is equivalent in size.

Ingredients:

1 ½ sticks of softened butter

1 egg

1 cup brown sugar

¼ cup milk

1 ½ teaspoons of vanilla

¼ teaspoon salt

1 ¼ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup flour

1/3 cup sweetened coconut flakes

2 cups oats

¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

½ cup chopped walnuts

Don't mind the X on her hand.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix together butter, vanilla, eggs, brown sugar, and milk. Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt and then slowly add it to the other mixed ingredients. Once those ingredients are mixed, stir in the sweetened coconut flakes and oats and then add the chocolate chips and chopped walnuts. Pour the batter into a greased 8 x 8-inch baking pan and bake for 23-25 minutes in the oven. Remove from the oven, let cool, and cut into squares.

These turned out thick and crisp on top with just the right amount of chocolate and nuts.

Snickerdoodle Bars

Tonight is Friday and also my friend’s birthday. She is having  big party and asked if I would bake for it, and obviously I said yes. I didn’t have a lot of time to bake though today so I wanted to make something that was quick but still tasted good. While cookies can be simple to make, I find the easiest think to make is bars. I still wanted to make something that wasn’t completely ordinary so I tried making regular snickerdoodles into a snickerdoodle bar recipe.

Ingredients:

2 1/3 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups packed brown sugar

1 cup softened butter

2 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon plus 2 tablespoons white sugar

1/4 plus 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F and lightly grease a 9 x 13 inch pan. Sift together flour, baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon, and salt and in a large bowl, beat together the butter, brown sugar, egg, 1 tablespoon sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Stir in the flour mixture until well blended. Spread the batter evenly into the lightly greased pan. Combine the extra 2 tablespoons white sugar and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon in a little bowl. Evenly sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture over the top of the batter. (I had a little left over but I would still recommend making this much because it is a good sugar to cinnamon ratio.)

Just sprinkling cinnamon sugar on top is even

easier than rolling each individual cookie in it.

Bake 25-30 minutes and cool slightly. While still warm, cut into bars with a sharp knife.