Golden Bars of Happiness

3/4 cup peanut butter or sunbutter
3/4 cup honey
1 cup oats
1 cup brown rice cereal
2 cups total of any combination of:  chopped nuts, coconut flakes, sunflower seeds, dried fruit, mini chocolate chips, etc.

In a medium sized saucepan, melt together peanut butter and honey.

Remove from heat and add oats and cereal.  Mix in chosen nuts/fruits.

Line 9x13 or quarter sheet baking pan with wax or parchment paper.  Spread and press mixture into pan.

Chill for two hours, then cut into bars.

Wrap in plastic wrap for a quick grab and go snack!

Experimental Brownies - Part 2

I think I've discovered a solution to my brownie "problem". My past attempts have been alright, but there is room for improvement. I think my new baking buddy is oat flour. It has a higher gluten percentage and higher moisture content than wheat flour, so my theory is that combining a small portion of oat flour with wheat flour will give a less crumbly and more moist result. The use of white bean puree is just to lower the fat content and hopefully give the brownies a fudgier texture.

1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup white bean puree
1 cup sucanat, powdered
3 eggs
2 tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup oat flour
3/4 cup wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 deg.  Grease bottom of 9"x13" baking pan.

Mix butter and sucanat in a mixing bowl.  Add bean puree, eggs and vanilla and mix throughly.  Add remaining ingredients and mix for two minutes on high.

Pour batter into baking pan and bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Experimental Brownies

I have a good recipe for moist, fudgy brownies.  But I have been trying to find a more healthy recipe for brownies using whole wheat flour.  Every time I have tried one they come out crumbly and dry.  So I doubled my recipe minus one egg and used half white/half wheat flour this time.  They still came out crumbly but more fudgy than other attempts.  I have a few other tricks I'm going to try, but it is getting better.

1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup oil
1 1/2 cups sucanat, powdered
3 eggs
2 tbsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 deg.  Grease bottom of 9"x13" baking pan.

Mix butter, oil and sucanat in a mixing bowl.  Add eggs and vanilla and mix throughly.  Add remaining ingredients and mix for two minutes on high.

Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Rocky Road Brownies

Favorite brownie recipe to fit a 9"x13" pan  (I used a box mix.  No need to fix what's not broken!)
1/3 cup buttermilk
½ cup butter
3 tbsp cocoa
1 lb powdered sugar
2 cups mini marshmallows
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped walnuts

Make brownies.

While brownies are cooling, combine buttermilk, butter and cocoa in saucepan.  Bring to boiling, stirring constantly.  Mix in powdered sugar.  Stir in remaining ingredients quickly.  Immediately pour over brownies.  You can also use this with a chocolate cake.  But come on!  Brownies are WAY better!

Oat Crispies

Compliments of Simple Healthy Tasty

½ cup peanut butter
½ cup syrup
1 tsp vanilla
½ tsp maple flavoring
3 cups rolled oats
pinch of salt (optional)
Options: chocolate chips, raisins, raw cashews, unsweetened coconut or whatever you like.

Mix peanut butter, syrup, vanilla and flavoring together in large bowl. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Press into 9”x13” baking pan spreading to about 1-inch thick. Freeze.

Decadent Brownie Dessert

Easy to make and so delicious!

Makes about 16 bars

1 box fudge brownie mix
1 egg
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
2 tsp vanilla
21 oz can cherry pie filling

Prepare brownies as directed on box. Meanwhile, combine cream cheese and egg. Whisk in milk and vanilla.

Pour mixture over hot brownies; bake additional 25 minutes. Cool 2 hours; top with pie filling.

Peanut Butter Cups or Bars

6 tbsp butter
1 cup peanut butter
¾ cup graham cracker crumbs
½ lb powdered sugar
Chocolate frosting or chocolate chips

Cream together butter and peanut butter in medium bowl. Mix in crumbs. Add powdered sugar and mix until combined.

Cups: Roll about ¾ - 1 teaspoon of peanut butter mixture into balls. Melt chocolate chips and pour a bit of chocolate into mini cups. Place a peanut butter ball in each cup. Pour about 1 tbsp of chocolate over each ball. Let cool completely.

Bars: Line a 9”x13” baking pan with foil. Press peanut butter mixture into pan. Frost with chocolate frosting. Remove from pan and cut into bars.

Butterscotch Brownies

Sorry, no picture. I ate them all! It's my alternate to chocolate brownies. And they are delicious! TIPS: These are really easy, but you will ruin them if you use a larger pan. They will come out hard and dry instead of soft and chewy. To remove them, invert them onto a lightly oiled cooling rack, remove parchment paper, then flip them onto a cutting board. Cut into 2-inch squares with a pizza cutter.

Makes 16 squares

½ cup butter, room temp
1 cup dark brown sugar
2 large eggs, room temp
1 tbsp vanilla
1 tbsp molasses
1 cup flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
¾ cup pecans, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350°. Butter an 8”x8” baking pan and line bottom with parchment paper.

Beat butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla and molasses with electric mixer for about 1 minute, until creamy and smooth. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt and add to butter mixture. Fold gently with rubber scraper until flour is about half incorporated. Do NOT over mix. Stir in nuts and continue folding gently until flour is fully mixed in.

Scrap batter into prepared pan and spread top until smooth and even. Bake for 30-35 minutes, turning pan 180° half way through. When brownies are done, the center top will be firm and spring back when pressed and the sides will start to pull away from pan. Let cool completely in pan.

A Most Splendiferous Brownie

I thought the recipe I had for brownies was pretty good. My only complaint was that they would fall. They are very fudgy, but I wanted a thicker brownie. WOW!! These are incredible!!!! They are thick, chewy, fudgy, HEAVENLY!!! Unfortunately, I can't eat them. But my husband wouldn't shut up about how perfect they were! TIPS: The cooking time on these varies slightly, but makes a HUGE difference. If you leave them in for 50 minutes, they will be very moist, almost fudgy. But if you leave them in for 5-10 minutes more, they will be slightly drier, but chewier. Bake them how you like them. If you really want fudgy, I tried adding chocolate chips instead of walnuts. It may as well have been fudge. They were so rich and chocolatey. I (or my husband) preferred the walnuts as they were already very fudgy and chewy. Lots of different combinations! Enjoy the results!

Makes 16 squares

4 oz unsweetened chocolate
10 tbsp (1¼ sticks) butter, room temp
3 large eggs, room temp
2 tsp vanilla
1¾ cups sugar
½ tsp salt
1¼ cups flour
1 cup walnuts (not optional)

Preheat oven to 350°. Line an 8”x8” baking pan with foil.

In a small saucepan, melt chocolate and butter over very low heat. In a medium bowl, whisk eggs and vanilla together. Add melted chocolate mixture and whisk to combine (mixture will thicken considerably). Add remaining ingredients and mix together with a rubber spatula. The batter with be thick and greasy looking.

Scrap batter into prepared pan and press into place with rubber spatula. Bake about 50-60 minutes. Let cool at least 2 hours (if you can handle it) before removing from pan, cutting and serving. They will continue cooking and become chewier as they cool.

Coconut Caramel Bars

Holy cow these are delicious! They are so easy to make and taste so good they will be gone before the end of the day. I didn't have pecans when I made them, but I'm sure they would be delicious with them as well. If you aren't a chocolate fan, try butterscotch or white chocolate chips instead.

I have also discovered the BEST way to cut brownies, sheet cakes, bars, etc. In this recipe I lined my pan with parchment paper. When the bars where mostly cooled, I lifted them out and put it on my counter. Then I used my pizza cutter to cut the very edges off. Then I cut them into 2" squares. The pizza cutter doesn't drag through the bars like a knife does so you end up with much nicer looking pieces. I did the same with my frosted brownies and they looked store bought! So get yourself a nice sharp pizza cutter and have perfect looking desserts!

1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup butter
2 cups pecans, coarsely chopped
1 cup flaked coconut
1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
2 tsp vanilla
20 caramels
2 tbsp milk
1 cup chocolate chips

Crust
Preheat oven to 350°. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour and sugar. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs. Press crumb mixture into an un-greased 9"x13" baking pan. Bake for 15 minutes. Sprinkle pecans and coconut over hot crust.

Filling
Combine sweetened condensed milk and vanilla; pour over pecans and coconut. Bake for 25-30 minutes more or until filling is set. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

In a small saucepan, combine caramels and milk. Cook and stir over medium-low heat just until caramels melt. Drizzle caramel over filling. Sprinkle with chocolate chips. Cool completely and cut into bars.

Best Ever Brownies

These are usually gone within hours! They are delicious fudgy brownies. Our favorite!

½ cup butter
6 tbsp cocoa
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
½ cup flour
½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350°. Melt butter and cocoa in medium saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat.

Add sugar beating well. Add eggs one at a time beating well after each. Stir in flour, baking powder, and vanilla.

Pour into greased 8”x8” pan. Bake for 25 minutes. Allow to cool before cutting. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and enjoy!