No Baking Required- S’more Bars

Right now, I really wish it was summer and we weren’t in a blizzard warning. You know what reminds me of summer? S’mores. On top of that, no baking required recipes are sometimes the best recipes. Whenever I need to make a quick treat, my default is something that doesn’t require a lot of effort or thought. I obviously love baking and decorating baked goods (otherwise this blog wouldn’t exist), but I’m also all for a no bake.

S’MORE BARS

I feel like everyone and their mom has a recipe for these bad boys. I first found this recipe in a Taste of Home book. I’ve also seen it on the side of cereal boxes. I have made it enough, that I tweaked it a little bit over time.

This recipe is super simple. It’s basically like making rice krispie bars. Fact: I used to be so afraid of making rice krispies because I thought I would burn the marshmallows (and that, you know, they’d burst into flames). But once I concurred that fear, the world opened up. In place of the rice krispies, these use Golden Graham cereal. And you throw in a chocolate chips. There really is nothing better.

These bars are so sweet, sticky, and gooey. What more could a person want?

S’more Bars

3 tbls butter

1 16 oz bag marshmallows (regular or mini)

1 teaspoon vanilla (optional)

12 oz box Golden Grahams cereal (or the store brand works too)

1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

1- Heat butter in a large sauce pan until melted. Stir in marshmallows (big or small, whatever you have on hand). Stir until smooth and combined.

2- Take off the heat. Stir in vanilla, if using. Add cereal. Mix until coated and combined.

3- After cereal is all mix in, stir in chocolate chips. The chocolate chips will became all melty. That’s what you want- keep stirring.

4- Pour mixture into a greased 9×13 pan. Let cool before cutting.

Notes:

*You can use up to 5 tablespoons of butter. I just don’t like too much of a butter flavor coming through.

*Vanilla isn’t required for them to be tasty. Kind of related to what I said above about not liking much butter flavor. I like what the vanilla adds.

*If melty chocolate isn’t your thing, you can also sprinkle the chocolate chips on top after putting the bars into the pan.

You can bet we are eating these today while watching the Vikings game. SKOL.

 

Trust Issues- Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I’m basically a grandma. I try to eat dinner around the same time every night, my hobbies include reading and baking, and I like to be in bed before 9:30. Day in and day out. And, I will never turn down an oatmeal raisin cookie. Oatmeal raisin cookies have always been gas stations cookies for me. I have never once made them- until now.

I always thought they were a “healthy” cookie. And maybe they are healthier than a double chocolate cookie, but there is still quite a bit of not great stuff in there (I’m looking at you sugar and shortening). Mixing in all those oats though, that’s the good stuff.

I love these scoops. I have one this size, and two in the perfect cupcake scoop size. It makes everything look a little more uniform.

The cookies came out a little crisp. I read the directions as 10-15 minutes. So, I baked them for about 14 minutes. It wasn’t until I was typing this that I realized the directions say 10-12 minutes. This is what happens when I try to read fast. And, in general, I’m not super confident in knowing when a cookie is done. I was thankful these looked like oatmeal raisin cookies though. Nothing is worse than thinking it’s a chocolate chip cookie, when it’s actually a oatmeal raisin cooking. That my friend is how trust issues start.

All in all though, they made me very happy. Next time, I might sub out some of the shortening for butter. I just don’t find shortening as appealing as butter, that’s all. At first, I was worried it wouldn’t be enough raisins, but it turned out just right. I ended up getting 53 cookies with this recipe. Cookies for days! And the grandma inside me has never been happier.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies– from Taste of Home Baking book

1 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups old fashioned oats

1 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup golden raisins

**I omitted the walnuts and increased the amount of raisins. I used regular raisins, not golden raisins.

1- In a large bowl, cream together shortening and sugars until light and fluffy. Add in eggs and vanilla and beat until combined. In a separate bowl, combine the oats, flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add into the creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in walnuts (if using) and raisins.

2- Drop by tablespoons 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets (I used parchment paper and it worked well). Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire racks.

Milo is a little bit camera shy. :D

Cosmic Brownie Points

A few months ago, I made Twinkies for my moms birthday. When I posted that, Nick challenged me to make cosmic brownies.

I do love a good baking challenge. I also love learning how to make snack cakes. Because really, what’s better than eating a food that basically sums up your childhood? When Josh asked what I was making, I explained what cosmic brownies were and showed him a picture of the final product. He didn’t think he had ever tried a cosmic brownie before. He asked me what the candy crunch pieces tasted like. So, apparently cosmic brownies don’t sum up his childhood… I guess you were raised in a snack cake family or you weren’t.

I found the recipe I was using on Pinterest. Where all food lovers can lose themselves for hours. Phase one of the recipe was making the brownies. The recipe gave the time and said “they are done. Don’t keep them in or they will be dry”. Weirdly, when I pulled them out after my timer went off, they 100% did not look done. But I pulled out a toothpick and popped it in a few places, and it came out clean every time. So they were right, just trust that they are done.

Next was the ganache. That was just 2 kinds of chocolate chips and heavy cream. What more could a person want? Not going to lie, this is now my phone home screen backround..no shame.

Melt that all up, and spread it over the top of the cooled brownies. These offset spatulas are one of my favorite baking tools. It makes frosting things such a breeze.

I found the little candy pieces somewhere…I truly don’t remember where. Gosh, that’s sad. It wasn’t even very long ago. I’m almost thinking Ace Hardware of all places. The Ace in my town has a nice baking section. Weird, I know. But they are Wilton brand, so you could probably find them wherever you can find Wilton stuff (JoAnn’s, online, etc). As much as I covered the brownies, I barely used an eighth of the sprinkle bottle. So these babies should last awhile.

I then covered them and let them sit overnight. Because I wanted to let the ganache set a bit and for the candies to get pretty stuck into it. The next day, I cut them, individually wrapped them, and tried one. There was of course a difference. I would say my brownie was softer. But, I’m not going to complain about soft brownies. These bad boys were also super rich. Like, could’ve been cut into bite size pieces rich. I would say I got brownie points for this one.

Homemade Cosmic Brownies

¾ c (1.5 sticks) butter, melted

1 c sugar

2/3 c brown sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 ¼ c all purpose flour

¾ c cocoa powder

½ tsp baking powder

1 tbsp cornstarch

Pinch of salt

3 tbsp milk

1 c semi sweet chocolate chips

½ c milk chocolate chips

½ c heavy cream

Candy crunch chips to top (or mini M&M’s would work)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 9×13 pan with foil and lightly spray with baking spray, set aside.
2. In bowl, beat (stand mixer or hand mixer) melted butter, sugars, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing until combined.
3. In small bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, cornstarch, and salt.
4. Mixing on low, alternate adding dry ingredients and milk. Mix until combined. Batter will be thick! (Even Josh noticed how think it was :D). Pour batter into prepared pan in an even layer.
5. Bake for 20-25 minutes. (I baked mine for 21 minutes, and they were done. They did not look done, but do the toothpick check). Allow to cool in the pan.
6. To make the ganache, use a 2 cup glass measuring cup. Combining chocolate chips and cream in measuring cup. You can use half power on the microwave to microwave or just do short period on full power (start with 45 seconds). Take out and stir. Continue warming and stirring until all the chocolate chips are melted and the ganache is smooth. When smooth, pour over the top of brownies and spread evenly. Top with candy chips.

Recipe I used: http://lifemadesimplebakes.com/2014/03/homemade-cosmic-brownies/