Birthday Strawberry Jam Bars

Gooey Jam Bars

To celebrate Kevin's birthday I made him Strawberry Jam Bars because I remembered him liking raspberry ones I made a long time ago. I followed the recipe pretty closely but I think I used the whole jar of jam (the recipe calls for one cup of jam, but my jar of jam was a little bit more than that).

I think this recipe is quick and easy and a crowd pleaser...who doesn't love jam? You can change up the jam to whatever you have on hand or whatever you like best. Also, they have a good amount of rolled oats in them so they trick you into thinking they are healthy (with a stick of butter plus all that jam they really aren't that healthy...).

Once again the recipe comes from Joy of Baking!

Birthday Key Lime Bars

Pretty, Pretty Birthday Lime Bars!

For Madi's birthday I decided to make Martha Stewart's Key Lime Bars. They have a graham cracker crust which I think really complimented the creamy key lime filling. I think I like the graham cracker crust more than a shortbread crust usually found on lemon bars so I might try using this with a lemon bar filling on top. 

This recipe was quite simple, but for me one measurement was really off. The recipe calls for 2/3 cup of key lime juice and says it will take over 20 key limes, but it only took be about 10. I'm not sure if my limes were just extra big or extra juicy, but I would buy extra limes just in case. Also, I'm not sure how necessary the extra 2 1/2 tablespoons of graham cracker crumbs are, but I put it in. I only garnished a couple of the bars with limes because they were being transported but I wouldn't eat the lime garnish anyway so it isn't necessary.

Here is the recipe!

Lemon Bars

Stack of Lemon Bars

I hadn't baked anything awhile and I wanted something quick and easy to make. These lemon bars were just that. I made the crust and while it was baking I made the filling by hand, with just a whisk. It goes back into the oven for a little bit and then they need to cool. I found that they tasted a lot better after they had cooled for awhile in the fridge rather than room temperature/from the oven. These didn't come out super lemon-y, but pretty tasty nonetheless.

Here's the recipe...my changes were more lemon juice and I let them cool in the fridge before cutting and dusting with powdered sugar.

Lemon Bars

from the Taste of Home Baking Book

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

2 tbs flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tbs lemon juice (I think I used closer to 3 tbs)

1 tsp grated lemon peel

Confectioners' sugar to garnish

Directions:

1. In a bowl, combine the flour, butter and confectioners' sugar. Pat into an ungreased 8-in square baking dish. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.
2. For filling, in a small mixing bowl, beat eggs. Add the sugar, flour, baking powder, lemon juice and peel; beat until frothy. Pour over the crust. Bake 25 minutes longer or until light golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. Dust with confectioners' sugar. Cut into bars.

Girl Scout Cookies...Made at Home!

Samoas Cookie Bars

Usually, when I eat Girl Scout cookies I choose Thin Mints. I actually never really liked Samoas, but these Samoas Cookie Bars looked like they would be fun to make and eat. The end result was really yummy! I wish I could have used better quality caramels for the topping, but there was only one type at the store so I didn't have a choice. 

The bar is a shortbread crust that is baked and cooled. Then you melt the caramel and mix it with toasted shredded coconut and spread the mixture over the top. After the bars have cooled completely the bars and dipped and drizzled with melted chocolate. I cut the bars into small squares to more resemble the size of cookies rather than normal bars such as brownies. The result is a rich cookie with a great chewy texture. Yum.

Get the recipe here.

Brownie's relative...the Blondie!

Chocolate Chip Blondies

Mmm. I love brownies, but these Chocolate Chip Blondies are a nice change from the traditional brownie recipe. To me, they are a closer relative to chocolate chip cookie bars than to brownies but delicious nonetheless. I made these now because my boyfriend doesn't care for blondies so it would be a waste to bake them when he will be around. It's his loss.

I followed the recipe from Everyday Baking with a few changes. The main changes were that I left out the walnuts, added some white sugar and I also didn't melt the butter like the recipe stated. This might have been a bad choice because the batter was definitely a bit tricky to spread into the pan and melted butter might have made it a bit looser. This recipe was easy and super quick!

Chocolate Chip Blondies
adapted from Everyday Baking

Ingredients:
8 tbs (1 stick) butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8x8 baking pan and set aside.
2. In a stand mixer, cream together butter and both sugars until combined.
3. Add the egg and vanilla extract.
4. Slowly add in the flour and salt and mix until just combined. Make sure not to over mix.
5. Using a spatula, fold in half of the chocolate chips.
6. Spread the batter into the pan and smooth out the top. Top with the rest of the chocolate chips.
7. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. (I've found that I tend to bake a lot of things for less than the recommended amount of time. I think I'm scared the will become dry.)

Yield: 16 bars

More s'mores bars, please!

S'mores Bars (Photography: Ryan Mak)

This weekend my friend had a potluck/housewarming at his house. I always like to bring dessert so I chose s'mores bars. This was actually my second attempt at this recipe - the first one was a disaster. And it was my fault...I didn't follow the recipe and I used actual marshmallows instead of marshmallow fluff. They melted out too thin and created a toffee-like sugar bar thing instead of ooey, gooey s'mores.

This time I made sure to buy the marshmallow fluff (which, I realized is much more expensive than a bag of marshmallows) and it resulted in a delicious treat, very reminicent of your usual campfire s'mores. I got this recipe from Lovin' From the Oven and followed it to the letter (well, this time).

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 king-sized milk chocolate bars (e.g. Hershey's)
1 1/2 cups marshmallow creme/fluff (not melted marshmallows)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg and vanilla. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture and mix at a low speed until combined.
3. Divide dough in half and press half of the dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan. Place chocolate bars over dough. 2 king-sized Hershey's bars should fit perfectly side by side, but break the chocolate (if necessary) to get it to fit in a single layer no more than 1/4 inch thick. Spread chocolate with marshmallow creme or fluff. Place remaining dough in a single layer on the top of the fluff (most easily achieved by flattening the dough into small shingles and laying them together.
4. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool completely before cutting into bars. Yield: 16 bars.

I discovered that the bars were much easier to cut if after being refrigerated until solid. The recipe says it makes 16 bars, but I ended up cutting each bar in half because I found out that there would be a lot of guests attending the potluck. Overall, a very successful recipe - they came out with a distinct layers of graham cracker, marshmallow and chocolate and were delicious.