Caramel snickerdoodle bars

I was so incredibly excited to make these. The flavors were totally there and I definitely need to try this again. The dulce de leche just didn't set and made a complete mess. This was #2 of my absolute failures for the weekend. Someone else, please try these so I can have the courage to try again!

Caramel snickerdoodle bars-adapted from Taste of Home
Total time: 1 hour, plus chilling
Serves 48

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 (13.4 ounce) cans dulce de leche
• 12 ounces white chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon light corn syrup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 inch baking sheet with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, beat butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add in eggs and vanilla. Whisk in flour, baking powder and salt until blended. Pour into the prepared baking dish. 

In a small bowl, mix the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle 2 tablespoons over the batter. Bake for 25 minutes or until edges are light brown. Allow to cool on a wire rack.

Spread dulce de leche over crust. In a small saucepan, heat white chocolate chips, whipping cream and corn syrup over medium low heat, stirring frequently until smooth. Pour over dulce de leche. Refrigerate for at least one hour.

Snickerdoodle Bars

For the holidays my office had a baking contest. Obviously, I had to enter something. I didn't win any of the prizes, but I sure got a lot of compliments on these!

As I'm sure I've mentioned before, snickerdoodles are my favorite cookie. We're even having cookies at our wedding instead of cake (we just aren't cake people) and snickerdoodles are a must have flavor for me. When I saw these in bar form, I just knew I had to have them! As my coworker Brett said, snickerdoodles in bar form just seems like an impossible dream:

@heatskitchen @TheScottNorman I'm SUPER excited! Snickerdoodles are my favorite cookie and them in bar form seems like an impossible dream
— Brett Vickerman (@vicksvapor77) December 18, 2013

These were so easy to throw together and to be completely honest, I always have all the ingredients on hand! When you're craving something sweet, just pop these in the oven. I also tried out my homemade brown sugar for the first time with this recipe (link in the ingredient list below).

Snickerdoodle Bars-adapted from The Pinterest Project

Total Time: 45 Minutes

Makes 24 bars

• 2 2/3 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups light brown sugar
• 1 cup softened butter
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. In a separate large bowl, beat together brown sugar and better for 3-5 minutes. Add in eggs one at a time and vanilla extract and beat until well blended and smooth.

Stir in flour mixture and combine until blended. Pour into a greased 9x13 inch baking dish. In a small bowl, combine two tablespoons white sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar over prepared pan. Bake for 25-28 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow to cool slightly before cutting into bars.

Three Ingredient Brownies

These brownies were just another recipe that I decided to make yesterday because I had things on hand and time to spare. Overall, they were fine, but not my favorite brownies. They were a bit bland. I'd prefer to have them be more moist and rich.

Three Ingredient Brownies-adapted from Real Mom Kitchen
Total Time: 20 Minutes
Makes 16 bars

• 1 1/4 cup hazelnut spread
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix all ingredients until well combined. Pour into a lightly greased 8x8 inch baking pan. Bake for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Ginger Chocolate Chip Bars

I made these bars for Mother's Day (I know it's super late). They were really good! They tasted like chocolately gingerbread cookies...but in a bar-if that makes sense at all. They were very easy to make and will definitely be made again!

Ginger Chocolate Chip Bars-adapted from Real Simple
Total Time: 1 hour
Makes 24 bars

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon cloves
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 1/4 cups brown sugar
• 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 12 ounces semi sweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking pan and line with two criss-crossed pieces of parchment paper. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, baking soda and salt. 

In a separate bowl, beat the butter and sugars until fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla until well combined. Gradually add the flour mixture until just combined. Mix in the chocolate chips.

Spread the batter evenly in the pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center, about 40-50 minutes. Cool completely and then cut into bars.

This can also be frozen for later:

Instead of baking the batter, freeze it in the pan for up to 2 months. Bake as directed above

Apple Crumble Bars

Even though this is generally a fall recipe, I didn't care. Apple crumble just sounded amazing, and I couldn't turn it down. Using the canned apple pie filling saves a bit of time and it still tastes great! The baking takes a bit of time, but you can sit and enjoy the company of others during that time! The prep doesn't take too long.

Apple Crumble Bar-adapted from Betty Crocker's Fall Baking
Total Time: 3 hours 40 minutes
Makes 24 bars

Crust

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Filling

• 2-21 ounce cans

Crumble

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup quick-cooking oats
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 stick butter, cut into small pieces

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Grease 13x9 inch pan with cooking spray. In large bowl, beat crust ingredients with an electric mixer on low until mixture looks like coarse crumbs and press into pan. Bake 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool about 30 minutes and reduce heat to 350 degrees.

Spoon pie filling evenly over crust. In a medium bowl, mix 1 cup flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add butter and mix with a pastry cutter until crumbly. Sprinkle mixture over filling.

Bake 40 minutes or until lightly brown. Cool completely, about 2 hours. Cut into 6x4 rows.

Caramel Rice Krispie Bars

For what seems like FOREVER I have been craving rice krispie treats. I don't know why, but the thought of making them myself has always terrified me. I think I tried once a long time ago and way over cooked the marshmallows so the bars were uber hard.

I made this recipe for the Superbowl gathering we had and they were AMAZING. I LOVED the caramel flavor, and the chocolate turned out great. It really was an easy, albeit sticky, recipe.

Caramel Rice Krispie Bars-adapted from Making Memories with your Kids
Total Time: 45 Minutes (that includes cooling time)
Makes 28 bars

• 1 cup caramels
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 10 ounce bag mini marshmallows
• 6 cups rice krispie cereal
• 1 bag chocolate chips
• 1 tablespoon shortening

In a large saucepan, melt the caramels and butter, stirring frequently, until smooth. Add the marshmallows, and stir until melted. Turn off the heat and add in the rice krispies, stirring until completely coated. Pour into a lightly greased 9x12 inch baking pan. Let cool for about 30 minutes.

Once cool, place chocolate chips and shortening into a microwave safe bowl. Heat in mircowave in 30 second intervals, stirring after each round, until fully melted. Pour over rice krispies and spread across entire pan. Let cool and cut into squares.

Samoa Bars

Girl Scout cookie season is almost here. I haven't bought any this year and don't really plan to. These were just about as good though! We didn't dip the bottom of the cookie in chocolate, but I definitely would the next time. These were good, but a little dry on the bottom and I think the chocolate would help it. They're pretty simple, and yummy!

Samoa Bars-adapted from Baking Bites

Total Time: 1 Hour

Makes 30 Bars

Cookie Base

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt

Topping

• 3 cups shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
• 12-oz good-quality chewy caramels
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp milk
• 10 oz. dark or semisweet chocolate 

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking pan, or line with parchment paper. In a large bowl, cream together sugar and butter, until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla extract. Working at a low speed, gradually beat in flour and salt until mixture is crumbly, like wet sand. Pour dough into prepapred pan and press into an even layer. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until base is set and edges are lightly browned. Cool completely on a wire rack before topping.

Preheat oven to 300. Spread coconut evenly on a parchment-lined baking sheet (preferably one with sides) and toast 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, until coconut is golden. Cool on baking sheet, stirring occasionally. Set aside.

Unwrap the caramels and place in a large microwave-safe bowl with milk and salt. Cook on high for 3-4 minutes, stopping to stir a few times to help the caramel melt. When smooth, fold in toasted coconut with a spatula. Put dollops of the topping all over the shortbread base. Using the spatula, spread topping into an even layer. Let topping set until cooled. When cooled, cut into 30 bars with a large knife or a pizza cutter (it’s easy to get it through the topping).

Once bars are cut, melt chocolate in a small bowl. Heat on high in the microwave in 45 second intervals, stirring thoroughly to prevent scorching. Dip the base of each bar into the chocolate and place on a clean piece of parchment or wax paper. Transfer all remaining chocolate (or melt a bit of additional chocolate, if necessary) into a piping bag or a ziploc bag with the corner snipped off and drizzle bars with chocolate to finish. Let chocolate set completely before storing in an airtight container.

Oatmeal and Coconut Raspberry Bars

I've really been on a baking kick lately. I want to learn how to bake as well as I cook! The only thing I don't like is that if you mess up with baking, more often than not you can't recover from it. With cooking you can usually mess around and find a solution. But this recipe turned out very well! Except that I burnt the first batch of coconut. So just make sure to watch it! For me, I think it is a little bit sweet & rich, but definitely the flavor it's going for. It was relatively easy for a baking recipe, and if someone asked for it I'd make it again. But like I said, it's awfully rich. Scott would give it a 4/5, I would say 3/5 so I'll compromise at 3.5/5 overall!

Oatmeal and Coconut Raspberry Bars

Oatmeal and Coconut Raspberry Bars--adapted from *Simply Scratch*

Total Time: 45 Minutes

Makes 24 bars

• 1-1/2 cups Sweetened Coconut Flakes
• 1-1/4 cup All Purpose Flour
• 1/2 cup Brown Sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt
• 1-1/2 sticks Unsalted Butter, chilled
• 1-1/2 cups Old Fashioned Oatmeal
• 8-10 ounces Seedless Raspberry Jam
• 1 bag frozen raspberries
• 8 ounces of Cream Cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup Powdered Sugar
• 1/4 cup Milk

Spread out 3/4 cup of the sweetened coconut onto a small un-greased cookie sheet. Place in the center of your oven and toast for 6-8 minutes, tossing it every 2 minutes. Watch carefully. Remove and let cool.

In a large bowl combine the flour, brown sugar and salt. Mix and then cut in the cold butter with a pastry blender. Then add the oats and toasted coconut. With your hands, blend together until large clumps form. Place mixture in a parchment paper lined 13x9 pan. Press down with fingers. Refrigerate until ready to use.

In a small pan; add jam and raspberries. Mash the berries and stir. Heat just until the jam mixture is thinned out. Remove from the heat.

In a large mixing bowl add in the cream cheese and powdered sugar, mix until combined and slowly add the milk. Mix on medium speed until creamy.

Spread the Raspberry mixture over the oatmeal and coconut crust. Then repeat with the cream cheese mixture, and sprinkle with remaining coconut. Place in the 350 degree oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, rotating the pan half way through. Let cool completely. Remove the bars using the parchment paper as handles, cut into bars and serve.

Nanaimo Bars

So I decided to join the Daring Kitchen where you can become a Daring Baker and/or Daring Cook with new challenges every month with specific reveal dates.  The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

I did not make the gluten-free graham wafers as I do not have the money to buy all the flours & I will probably never use them again and I'm really trying not to waste stuff anymore!

Anyway, I am going to post the Nanaimo Bars here and the graham cracker recipe here because you will be able to use store bought graham crackers if you wish (but if you have the time, try the graham crackers, even though I wasn't a huge fan).

The bars themselves were good--but VERY rich!  I would suggest using only one cup of powdered sugar in the middle layer.  If I make these again I am also going to use rice crispies instead of coconut in the bottom layer.  I may also try using peanut butter in the middle layer instead of the custard as well, since I think that is where the richness REALLY came from.

Also, for the top layer, make sure you have a HEATPROOF BOWL or a double boiler.  I thought my bowl was heatproof and I was wrong.  Everything turned out okay, but I need to be careful using that bowl from now on ;)  Now finally to the recipe (sorry for the long post):

For Nanaimo Bars — Bottom Layer

• 1/2 cup Unsalted Butter
• 1/4 cup Granulated Sugar
• 5 tablespoons Unsweetened Cocoa
• 1 Large Egg, Beaten
• 1 1/4 cups  Graham Cracker Crumbs-I just put the crackers in the food processor, you can also do this by putting them in a ziploc bag & smashing it :) 
• 1/2 cup Almonds (Any type, Finely chopped)
• 1 cup Coconut (Shredded, sweetened or unsweetened)--here is where I would substitute rice krispies

For Nanaimo Bars — Middle Layer--here I am thinking of substututing peanut butter or pumpkin

• 1/2 cup Unsalted Butter
• 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons Heavy Cream
• 2 tablespoons Vanilla Custard Powder (Such as Bird’s. Vanilla pudding mix may be substituted.)
• 2 cups Powdered Sugar--personally I think only 1 cup is necessary if using a custard middle

For Nanaimo Bars — Top Layer

• 4 ounces Semi-sweet chocolate
• 2 tablespoons Unsalted Butter

Directions:
1. For bottom Layer: Melt unsalted butter, sugar and cocoa in top of a double boiler. Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, nuts and coconut. Press firmly into an ungreased 8 by 8 inch pan.

2. For Middle Layer: Cream butter, cream, custard powder, and icing sugar together well. Beat until light in colour. Spread over bottom layer.

3. For Top Layer: Melt chocolate and unsalted butter over low heat. Cool. Once cool, pour over middle layer and chill.

Pumpkin Bars

I had extra cream cheese frosting from the carrot cake I didn't want to put to waste, so I made pumpkin bars instead!!

Pumpkin Bars
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
4 eggs, beaten
1 15-ounce can pumpkin
1 cup cooking oil
1/2 recipe Cream Cheese Frosting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and cloves. Stir in the eggs, pumpkin and oil until combined. Spread batter into an ungreased 15x10x1-inch baking pan.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack 2 hours. Spread with cream cheese frosting.  Cut into bars.

Alternative
Applesauce Bars
Prepare as above, except omit pumpkin and use one 15-ounce jar applesauce.