Carmelitas

Photo to be added soon :-)

Carmelitas

Found this recipe on pintrest. My family is in love with it! These remind me of a caramel version of our much beloved "Fudge Nut Bars".  I have waited a long time to try this and it was well worth the wait.  You can see the original recipe on Averie Cooks below I listed the way I adapted it for a larger pan- we always need larger than an 8x8 for family dinners! This Quick and simple layered bar cookie.  The crust and topping are an sweet brown sugar, vanilla (heavy on the vanilla), oatmeal and flour mixture. The middle there's layers of rich chocolate and caramel sauce. This cookie is chewy and just oozing with caramel. We served it up with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and they are a match made in heaven.  Averie suggested that "You can add salt, to taste, to the caramel sauce for salted carmelitas" I chose to add a little kosher salt and loved it. You must let these bars set up for at least 4 hours before slicing or even overnight. I put mine in the fridge to help with the set up time too. These got rave reviews and 5 stars from all.

Carmelitas 

1  cup margarine, softened at room temperature

1/2 cup butter, softened at room temperature
1 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cup all-purpose flour
2 cup whole-rolled old fashioned oats (not instant or quick cook)
2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt, optional and to taste
58 caramel squares, unwrapped (I used one bag Kraft caramels) 
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon salt, optional and to taste, if you prefer salted caramel sauce
1 cup (6 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

1 Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 11.5 x 13.5-inch pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper and spray with cooking spray. Lining your pan is highly recommended for ease of cleanup due to the stickiness of the caramel; set pan aside..

2 Add the brown sugar, vanilla, and whisk until smooth.

3 Add the flour, oats, baking soda, optional pinch salt, and stir until combined. Mixture will be quite thick.

4 Add half of the mixture to the prepared pan (just eyeball it), and smooth it with spatula or the back of a spoon, to create an even, smooth, flat layer; set remainder aside.

5 Bake for 10 minutes. While it bakes, make the caramel sauce.

6 In a large microwave-safe mixing bowl or in a sauce pan. For the microwave: combine the caramels, cream, and heat on high power in 60-second bursts to melt caramels, stirring after each burst. It will likely take about 4 to 5 minutes total to melt; heat until mixture can be stirred smooth. Alternatively, combine caramels and cream in a medium saucepan, and heat over medium-low heat to melt, stirring nearly continuously, until mixture can be stirred smooth.

7 Optionally stir in 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste, for salted caramel sauce; set sauce aside.

8 After 10 minutes, remove pan from the oven and evenly sprinkle with the chocolate.

9 Slowly and evenly pour caramel sauce over the chocolate.

10 Evenly crumble reserved oatmeal-brown sugar mixture over the top.

11 Return pan to oven and bake for about 15 to 18 minutes (I baked 16 1/2), or until edges are lightly browned and center is bubbling slightly.

12 Allow bars to cool completely in the pan before slicing and serving, giving the molten caramel time to firm up. This can take up to 4 hours, or overnight, at room temperature. You can speed it up by placing pan in fridge with a sheet of foil over the top to prevent fridge smells. If you don't wait for bars to cool completely, they'll be a literal hot mess. They'll taste fine (don't burn yourself), but they won't slice neatly with clean cuts. Bars will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 4 months.

THANK YOU AVERIE FOR A NEW FAMILY FAVORITE!

German Chocolate Cookie Bars

I have so many recipes "pinned" that I want to try, but often don't get around to trying them because I haven't planned well enough that I have the items on hand.  These little bar cookies were a hit for my family! I had everything but the box cake on hand so it was easy enough to pick up one ingredient to give it a whirl! (This recipes came from www.favfamilyreipces.com)


German Chocolate Cookie Bars

Crust:
1 box Devil's Food cake mix (not the kind with pudding added)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg

Filling:
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk (fat free works great too!)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup shredded sweetened coconut
1/2 cup milk chocolate chip

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Greased a 9 x 13-inch baking pan; spray with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, mix together the cake mix, butter eggs, and press into the bottom of the prepared pan.  The crust should not come up the sides. Bale for 7 minutes and remove from oven. The crust will not look done.

While the crust is baking, mix together the sweetened condensed milk, vanilla, eggs, pecans and coconut.  Pour evenly over the warm crust and sprinkle evenly with the chocolate chips.  Bake for 24-30 minutes, until the top is  light golden brown.  Remove from the oven and cool completely before cutting into squares.

Watch them disappear!

Scotcheroos

My little sister that lives in New York keeps me on my toes. Oh how I love her! We live far to many miles apart, which makes me forever grateful for the technologies of todays day and age. Am am grateful that she makes me feel so good by occasionally using my blog. She is a great editor by the way! She catches all my little mistakes and I love it!

We both inherited the "sweet tooth" gene! This morning she was asking for some good cookie recipes to take to her weekend filled with parties.  I starting thinking of all the yummy cookies and  bar cookies. Then I thought thats the last thing someone 36 weeks pregnant wants to do is stand in the kitchen making batches and batches of cooks.  So I gave her all my favorite no bake options.  I am grateful that she actually uses my blogs because she helps me discover my favorites that I don't have on her yet! So today I will post a few cookie recipes for her. These are always a huge hit no matter the occasion. I can't make them very often because I can eat the whole pan by myself one sliver at a time in about 24 hours! Serious.

Scotcheroos

1 cup Sugar
1 cup Peanut Butter
1 cup Corn Syrup
6 cups Rice Krispies (of Corn Chex for a gluten free version)
1 (6 oz) bag chocolate chips
1 (6 oz) bag butterscotch chips

In a large saucepan, combine sugar and corn syrup. Heat to dissolve sugar and bring to a boil; remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter. Add Rice Krispies and mix well until blended. Press into a buttered 9 x 13 inch pan. In small saucepan, melt together chocolate and butterscotch chips. Spread combined mixture over top of Rice Krispies mixture. Cut into 36 bars. More like 16 if I am eating them! 

Chess Squares

Recently a group of friends gathered for a surprise birthday party for Nicole. Nicole's mother did a bang up job with a pasta bar and dessert bar menu for everyone. Sharla brought these "Too-licious" dessert bars. I have to admit I ate more than one! They look very similar to a lemon bar. The texture is much the same as well. They are sweet and heavenly. My family loves them. Cameron was begging for me to get the recipe from Sharla so we could have them again.  I finally did it and we served them at our weekly Sunday family dinner. My niece who hates lemon bars, loved these and gave them a BIG 5 stars! Thank you Sharla for finding and sharing this recipe with us.


Chess Squares

1 box yellow cake mix
3 eggs
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, melted
4 cups (1 lb) powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 300 F degrees and spray a 9 x 13 pan with cooking spray.  Mix cake mix, melted butter, and one egg into a soft dough.  Press into the bottom of the pan. Mix powdered sugar, soften cream cheese and remaining two eggs until smooth, about 1-2 minutes. Pour on top of crust.  Bake for 40-50 minutes or until the top is a golden brown.

(Mine seemed to take closer to an hour and I had my oven at 325. Just go for the nice golden color and you should be fine.)

Salted Peanut Chews

These are one of Jack's favorite bar cookies--I haven't made them in a couple of years. Again they were made for the thank you plates to add variety, but we had to keep half of them because Jack and the boys love them. Jack wishes I would make them more often. I agree they are pretty darn good. So give them a try for your next pot-luck gathering.

Salted Peanut Chews

Crust:

1 1/2 cups flour

2/3 cups firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup margarine or butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 egg yolks

3 cups mini marshmallows

Topping:

2/3 cup corn syrup

1/4 cup margarine or butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 (10 oz) package peanut butter chips

2 cups Rice Krispies

2 cups peanuts

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all crust ingredients except marshmallows at low speed until crumbly. Press firmly into bottom of ungreased 9 x 13 pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes or until light golden brown. Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle with marshmallows. Return to oven and bake an additional 1-2 minutes or until marshmallows just begin to puff. Cool while preparing topping.

In a large saucepan, combine all topping ingredients except cereal and peanuts. Heat just until chips are melted and mixture is smooth, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; stir in cereal and peanuts. immediately spoon warm topping over marshmallows: spread to cover. Refrigerate until firm. Cut into bars.

Congo Bars

These Congo bars are something I remember Lynnette making for various functions when we lived in Connecticut. Thee are simple and come together quickly. I made these to also put on our thank you plates to those who had helped on the cement project on our new house. I love bar cookies because they are done all at one time instead of watching several batches.

Congo Bars

From Lynnette Strobel's kitchen

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour (11.25 ounces if you use a scale)

2 ½ tsp. baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

2/3 cup butter (5 3/8 ounces) at room temperature

3 eggs at room temperature

2 ¼ cups light brown sugar (18.5 ounces if you use a scale)

1 tsp. vanilla

1 12-ounce package chocolate chips

1 cup chopped nuts, optional

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. (Or you could sift the ingredients, if you are that type of baker. I’m not.) Set aside.

In a mixing bowl cream brown sugar and butter together until well combined. Add eggs, one at a time, making sure each is incorporated before adding the next. Add vanilla and beat until mixture is smooth and no lumps of sugar remain. Don’t get carried away mixing here. If you beat until everything is light and fluffy the Congo bars will be too cake-like.

Add flour mixture and mix just until combined. Add chocolate chips and mix again until chips are evenly dispersed.

Spray a jelly roll pan with cooking spray. Spread dough evenly on pan – much easier imagined than accomplished – and bake for 18 minutes, or until congo bars resemble the picture above.

Remove pan from oven, place on cooling rack and cool until firm enough to cut.

Fudge Nut Bars-Family Favorite

These wonderfully rich bar cookies have been made in my home for as long as I can remember. They always seem to show up on special gatherings and disappear as quickly as they arrive. They are what we always took to missionaries-homecomings and farewells of family and friends a like. They have been a cookie that Jack has fallen in love with! When you marry into my family you marry into a sweet tooth group and are bound to catch the bug after too long! So I made some of these famous bars to take to friends who have been so generous in helping us with their time or resources with the construction of our new home. It is the only safe way for me to make this recipe or I would end up eating the entire jelly-roll sized cookie sheet by myself. (Not exactly the best thing for weight gaining during pregnancy! ;-0)

Fudge Nut Bars

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup margarine or butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

3 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 1/2 cups quick oatmeal

Cream butters and sugars together. Add the eggs and vanilla. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Cover a prepared cookie sheet with dough-saving some dough to crumble over the top of the chocolate filling.

Filling:

1 (12 oz) package chocolate chips (my family loves milk chocolate, but I've made it with semi-sweet because Jack likes those best in his choco-chip cookies so that's what I keep on hand. The semi-sweet seems to make them richer because the chocolate is darker.)

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2 Tablespoons butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla

Chopped pecans (optional)

Put all ingredients together in a sauce pan and stir until chocolate is melted. Spread over the top of the prepared dough in cookie sheet. Crumble reserved dough on top. Bake at 350 degrees until edges are lightly browned about 20-25 minutes. ***Do not over bake or the oatmeal crust will be and taste dry.***

S'More Cookie Bars

These little bars are rich and tasty. The are a great alternative to the MAGIC Bars (chocolate chips, nuts, and coconut drizzled with sweetened condensed milk).

3/4 cup margarine

3 Cups graham cracker crumbs

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup butterscotch chips

1 cup mini marshmallows

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In 13 x 9-inch baking pan, combine the margarine with crumbs; press to form even layer in the bottom. Evenly sprinkle the chocolate chips, then butterscotch chips, then mini marshmallows. Pour condensed milk evenly over mixture. Bake 25 minutes or until bubbly. On wire rack, let cool in pan completely. To serve, cut into squares. For easier cutting, refrigerate 1 hour.

Makes 2 dozen bars (24 bars out of a 9 x 13 seems small, but their are rich so it works great!)