bars

Crunchy Coconut and Oat Bars

Sometimes you just need to bake something.  Maybe the weather is dreary, you’ve had a bad day, or, if you’re anything like me, you just need a project that has a beginning and an end and tangible (and edible!) results because no other task you’ve attempted that day has been successfully completed.  You want something quick with very little prep and a short bake time so that you don’t have to wait long to enjoy the fruits of your labor.  These oatmeal bars meet every one of those qualifications AND they’re delicious.  They remind me a lot of the oat and honey Nature Valley bars.  Drizzle on some melted chocolate chips to make them a bit fancier, but they are really good just on their own.

Crunchy Coconut and Oat Bars | Hottie Biscotti

This recipe is from a cookbook I have baked from a lot, but it’s been a while, Rebecca Rather’s Pastry Queen.  It is one of my favorite dessert cookbooks.  Most of you probably scrounge around on the internet for recipes, like I do.  But then you browse an old cookbook and find a real gem and you tell yourself you’ll do it more often.  But you somehow find yourself going back to the computer or pinterest the next time.  I urge you to go to your cookbooks!  I have so many of them, some I have never even cooked from.  And that’s a shame.  I vow to do more cooking from physical cookbooks.  You should join me.  Back to the bars.

Crunchy Coconut and Oat Bars | Hottie Biscotti

If you bake at all, then you have everything you need for these bars.  They come together in a snap and bake up in a mere 20 minutes.  After cooling they are very crunchy, so slicing them is really more like sawing or chopping.  If you’re not so concerned with appearance you can just break them apart into pieces.  Those pieces might be amazing along with a bowl of vanilla ice cream…and some hot fudge…

Crunchy Coconut and Oat Bars | Hottie Biscotti

Crunchy Coconut and Oat Bars | Hottie Biscotti

Crunchy Coconut and Oat Bars

From The Pastry Queen

Ingredients

  • 1 stick butter
  • 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon corn syrup
  • 2 cups old fashioned oats
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/3 cup sweetened shredded coconut
  • 1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F and grease a 9×13 pan.
  2. Melt butter, brown sugar and corn syrup over medium heat.  Stir until sugar dissolves, 1 to 2 minutes.  Remove from the heat.
  3. In a large bowl stir together oats, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and coconut.  Pour melted butter over and stir to combine thoroughly.
  4. Press firmly into the prepared pan and bake for 20-25 minutes.
  5. Cool for 20 minutes before cutting into bars.
  6. Melt chocolate and drizzle over bars or dip them.

 

 

Rosemary and Brown Butter Pecan Blondies

Did anyone else have the post-Thanksgiving blues?  I got home after a week with family and had a rough time adjusting back to normal life.  I wanted to stay in my pajamas and in bed all day.  I scoured the freezer for meals, bought groceries to make pot pies but when it came time to make them I just didn’t want to do it so we ordered pizza, and one night I ate salad straight from the plastic container it came in instead of using a plate.  Keeping it classy, y’all.  I am back from my hiatus and have even cooked a couple of proper meals this week.  Hopefully my post-Christmas blues don’t find me in this same predicament…

Christmas is fast approaching and while my shopping is mostly completed and our tree and lights are up I feel like I have a lot of cooking still to do.  I’m excited to make some of the nostalgic cookies that bring me right back to my childhood, but I always like to try my hand at something new.  So along with some reliable and time-tested recipes, I’ll also share some new ones that would be perfect for the holiday season.

I have a thing for rosemary.  An herb that is lovely in savory dishes but really gets along well with sweet flavors, rosemary is also incredibly easy to grow.  In fact, the rosemary plant I thought was dead and moved to the side yard to die a slow death is doing better than the one I have been caring for on the back porch.  That should give you an idea of my gardening skills.  The blog is already full of sweets that feature rosemary, but that isn’t stopping me from sharing another one with you!

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These blondies were a big hit with my husband, who prefers his sweets more on the savory side.  My 4-year-old was not a fan.  My 2-year old ate them up happily, a girl after my own heart.  It has butter and sugar in it?  We are in.

Brown butter and dark brown sugar make these blondies quite rich.  Add pecans and rosemary to the mix and the flavors are all warm and rich.  The cranberries are a welcomed sweet-tart addition that make these blondies more balanced and super delicious.

I went heavy on the salt and rosemary, but realize that not everyone has my taste buds.  Opt for less salt and less rosemary if you’re skeptical.  Then if you think it needs more you can adjust the next time.  I usually say it’s better to have too much than not enough, but that’s not the case with those ingredients.

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 Rosemary and Brown Butter Pecan Blondies

Adapted from Tasty Kitchen

Ingredients

  • 1 3/4 cup flour
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1-2 teaspoons chopped, fresh rosemary
  • 1-2 teaspoons salt
  • 8 tablespoons butter
  • 2 1/4 cups dark brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup toasted pecans, roughly chopped
  • 1 cup dried cranberries

Directions

  1. Brown butter: Place butter in a small saucepan and heat over low-medium heat until butter begins to sizzle and spit.  Reduce heat to low, watch closely and swirl the pan occasionally just until butter smells nutty.  Pour into a bowl and let cool slightly.
  2. Preheat oven to 325°F and butter a 9×13 pan.
  3. Whisk flour, baking powder, salt and rosemary together in a small bowl.
  4. Beat cooled butter and brown sugar together.  Add eggs and vanilla and beat well.
  5. Mix in flour mixture and then the pecans and cranberries.
  6. Spread batter into the pan and bake for 20-25 minutes.
  7. Cool before cutting and serving.

Black Cherry Jam & Granola Crumb Bars

I spent last weekend in Richvale, California for my cousin’s wedding.  My mom grew up there.  It’s a small rice farming town where quite a few of my cousins are carrying on the rice farming business.  I was able to visit with a lot of family this weekend, many of whom remember me as being “just this big!” the last time they saw me.  The last day we were there we had brunch with my mom’s cousin’s family and a few other people.  Their daughter is a senior in high school and we started talking about baking.  She said one of her favorite things to make were these jam bars that had granola on top.  I asked her where she found the recipe and she said it was from a Barefoot Contessa cookbook.  As luck would have it I was able to find the recipe on food network’s website.  Thanks for sharing this recipe, Emily!  It is truly amazing.

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You can easily make these bars your own by using your favorite jam, your favorite granola or your favorite nuts.  I used Hero black cherry jam, an almond vanilla granola and sliced almonds.

These come together quickly, bake up beautifully and, once cooled, slice up wonderfully.  The crust is thick enough to keep them sturdy.  I cut my 8-inch square pan into 9 squares, but that makes for a hefty bakery-sized serving.  Which is really fine by me!  But you can cut the pan into 12 squares or cut larger squares into smaller ones after taking them out of the pan.

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Black Cherry and Granola Crumb Bars

From Ina Garten

Ingredients

  • 2 sticks of butter, room temperature
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 1/3 cups flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 jar (10-12 ounces) of your favorite jam
  • 2/3 cups granola (without dried fruits)
  • 1/4 cup sliced almonds (or your favorite nut)

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
  2. Beat butter, sugar and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer (or with a hand mixer) until combined.  And in the vanilla and beat.
  3. Whisk the flour and salt together.  Add the flour mixture to the butter and mix on low until it just comes together.  Remove about 1 to 1/2 cups of the dough.  Pat the remaining dough into the bottom and about 1/4 way up the sides of an 8-inch square pan.
  4. Spread the jam onto the crust, but not onto the edges.
  5. Mix the reserved dough with the granola then evenly spread over the jam.  Sprinkle with the almonds.
  6. Bake for 45 minutes.
  7. Let cool completely before cutting into squares.

 

 

Fruit Loop Marshmallow Treats

Having kids has somehow made it ok to for me to purchase certain kinds of cereal.  Lucky Charms is usually the one I fall for, and Carson loves it, of course.  But a while back I just had to buy a box of Fruit Loops.  I loved them as a kid.  It made the milk turn a lovely pastel color and made the milk taste super delicious, like most sugary cereals do.  I thought the kids would LOVE it.  Both of them refused to eat it.  I guess that’s good, but it did mean I had a huge family sized box that was just begging to be made into something delicious.

With a couple of bags of marshmallows in my pantry it was an easy decision to make Rice Krispy Treats, only with Fruit Loops.

fruitloopmarshmallowbars

I think these are beautiful!  The colors are just a lot of fun.  When Ben saw these on the counter he said, “Ewww.”  He isn’t a big fan of super sweet treats, so the combination of sugar cereal and marshmallow doesn’t appeal to him in the least.  They are a little over the top, I’ll admit.  And they are sweet, a small square is just enough.  I think they’d be a great little treat at a kid’s birthday party.  But they’re also a nice little treat for adults as well.

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Fruit Loop Marshmallow Treats

Ingredients

  • 16 ounces mini marshmallows
  • 1 stick of butter (plus more for the pan and your hands)
  • 8 cups of Fruit Loops

Directions

  1. Butter a 9×13 inch pan and set aside.
  2. Melt butter and marshmallows over low heat in a large pot until marshmallows are melted and the mixture is smooth.
  3. Add in the Fruit Loops and mix well to coat all the cereal.
  4. Pour the mixture out into the pan, then butter your hands and press mixture out evenly.  Let cool, then cut into squares.

Cream Cheese & Pecan Blondies

More than a few food bloggers I’ve read in the last couple of days have mentioned being done with chocolate.  After Valentine’s Day I was in the same boat.  And while I had the desire to bake something sweet and delicious I knew I needed to steer clear of cocoa.  These blondies were the perfect compromise.

creamcheesepecanblondies

I love blondies, maybe, just maybe more than I love brownies, but it depends so I can’t say for sure.  These blondies have a cream cheese swirl and pecans to make them even more delicious.  The top and edges get crispy and crunchy while the inside stays moist and chewy.  It’s a glorious combination.

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You can substitute walnuts for the pecans, or leave the nuts out altogether if you’re just not a fan of nuts or if you have an allergy.  The blondie batter can even be used on its own without the cream cheese.  You could mix in white or dark chocolate chips, toffee, or whatever you’d like.  The recipe calls for cake flour, and while I think all purpose would be OK, I haven’t tried it out.  Let me know if you come up with any spectacular combinations!

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These are wonderful on their own, but also quite nice with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  But really, what isn’t nice with a scoop of vanilla ice cream?  “Enjoy!” says Betsy.creamcheesepecanblondies7

Cream Cheese & Pecan Blondies

Adapted slightly from More from Magnolia Cookbook

Ingredients

Blondies

  • 1 1/2 cups cake flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 sticks butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
  • 2 eggs, at room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 3/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted

Cream Cheese Topping

  • 6 ounces cream cheese (1/3 fat is fine) softened
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.  Grease a 9×13 inch pan and set aside.
  2. Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl and set aside.
  3. Beat butter and sugar together in a large bowl until well combined and light in color, 2-3 minutes.
  4. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the bowl as needed.  Then mix in vanilla.
  5. Add in the four mixture and mix to combine, then fold in pecans.  Pour into the prepared pan and spread evenly.
  6. In a medium bowl beat cream cheese and sugar well.  Add in the egg yolk, flour and vanilla and mix well.
  7. Drop cream cheese mixture in heaping spoonfuls onto the blondie batter.  Use a knife to swirl the cream cheese through the batter without totally mixing it in.
  8. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until top is beginning to brown and cake tester inserted into the blondies comes out with just a few crumbs.
  9. Let cool to room temperature before cutting OR let cool for 20 minutes at room temperature then pop them in the fridge for half an hour before cutting.

 

Apple Pie Bars

When it becomes seasonally appropriate I immediately start cooking and baking comfort foods.  I cannot wait until it’s cool enough to cook a pot roast!  This one.  It’s beyond terrific.  But it’s 85 in Houston today, so even though we are technically in the season of fall, it doesn’t feel like it here and the thought of having the oven on makes me uncomfortable.  I know I shouldn’t complain because it’s not totally abnormal, this is what you get in Texas (certain parts of Texas at least…I miss you, Amarillo).  But soon enough we’ll have highs in the 50s and I’ll be able to wear jeans without sweating and I’ll be able to make these for a party where everyone is in boots and scarves and sipping hot chocolate and frolicking in the leaves.

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These bars are simply perfect with their buttery shortbread crust, sweet apple filling and crunchy oat topping.  The ingredient list is basic and they aren’t at all difficult.  Served with some sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice cream this is my idea of the perfect dessert.  If you have an apple pie craving but don’t have the time to make one, these are a perfect substitute.  I’ve used “perfect” three times so far.  And they truly are wonderful.  I want one right now.

I tried them a second time with cherry filling and made a half batch.  Half of them fell apart on their way from pan to plate, so I need to do some tinkering with baking time and some amounts.  But they were delicious and everyone who tried them sang their praises.  With the crust and topping you could use any kind of fruit filling, but the apple is nice for this time of year.  Please share if you try out anything spectacular!  Enjoy.

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Apple Pie Bars

From More from Magnolia

Ingredients

Crust

  • 1 cup unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and softened slightly
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 2 cups flour

Topping

  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 2/3 cup old fashioned rolled oats + 3 tablespoons
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, softened slightly

Filling

  • 1 can (21 ounces) apple pie filling

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
  2. Make the crust: Combine the butter, flour and salt in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until crumbly and well combined.  (You can do this with a pastry blender as well.)  Pat the dough into the bottom of a 9×13 inch pan so that it is even and firmly packed.  Bake for 20 minutes, remove from the oven, and allow to cool for at least 30 minutes.
  3. Make the topping: In the same bowl, mix together the flour, brown sugar, oats, cinnamon and salt.  Use a pastry blender to cut in the butter until mixture is crumbly and well combined, use your hands if necessary.  Set aside while the crust cools.
  4. Place the apples on top of the cooled crust, spacing them evenly and leaving about 1/4 inch edge around.  Spread any remaining sauce from the can evenly over the apples.  Gently spread the crumb topping evenly over the apples, then sprinkle with the remaining 3 tablespoons of oats.
  5. Bake for 45 minutes, remove from the oven and allow to cool before cutting into squares.

Shortbread, Salted Dulce de Leche & Brownie Bars

You have no doubt seen those bars on Pinterest, and floating around on the internet called slutty brownies.  I saw them posted on Pinterest by one of the last people I would have ever expected to allow the word ‘slutty’ to appear before her eyes, much less repin a recipe with the word in the title.  I immediately clicked on it when I saw her pin.  These things are ridiculous, and I mean that in a very good way.  A layer of Oreo cookies is sandwiched between a chocolate chip cookie layer and a brownie layer.  They make my mouth water and I’m pretty sure that looking at them just made my yoga pants stretch out a little more than they already were.  By the way, I did not do yoga in these pants today.  In fact, I did nothing.  Oh no, I vacuumed.  That’s something.

So here they are.  The slutty brownies.  And don’t you see what I mean?  Don’t you just feel a little fatter after looking at them?

Photo from whatsgabycooking.com

Anyway, the link I clicked on led me to the Londoner.  She uses boxes of mix, which is totally fine in my opinion, especially with something called slutty brownies.  The easier the better.  Another recipe, from What’s Gaby Cooking, uses scratch made cookies and brownies.  I typically don’t have that kind of time or patience, so I admire you, Gaby!  Jessica Simpson is apparently craving these brownies during her pregnancy, and I don’t blame her.

Now that you’re expecting to see how my slutty brownies turned out (and how much weight I gained after eating the entire pan), I did not actually make slutty brownies.  I just wanted to talk about them.  But I did make a three layered bar that brings together shortbread, dulce de leche and brownies.  I made the shortbread cookie and used a can of dulce de leche and a box of brownie mix.  I think they would have been better with a scratch brownie, which really isn’t all that hard to do and I wish I’d done it.  Next time.

Everyone seemed to like these.  The salt was nice next to the sweetness of the brownie.  The combination of textures, crunchy, sticky and gooey was quite delicious.  The only changes I might make would be to use more dulce de leche and, like I said above, make a scratch brownie.  You could add chocolate chunks or nuts to the brownies, I’d probably use pecans, but I’m biased.  Toffee pieces might also be really tasty, but that might be overdoing it…but not as over the top as the slutty brownies,

Shortbread, Salted Dulce de Leche & Brownie Bars

Ingredients

Shortbread Layer

  • 1 cup butter, cold and cut into cubes
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • pinch of coarse salt
Dulce de Leche
  • 1 can of dulce de leche
  • a couple pinches of flaked sea salt
Brownie Layer
  • 1 family size brownie mix (for a 9×13 pan)
  • ingredients called for on the box (eggs, oil, water)
Directions
Shortbread Layer
  1. Pulse all ingredients in a food processor until mixture resemble coarse sand.  Do not overmix.
  2. Press mixture into a 9×13 pan (greased if desired, I did not grease my pan).  Make sure to push the mixture slightly up the sides.  When you pour the dulce de leche on top you do not want it to touch the sides of the pan or it will burn and stick during baking.
  3. Bake at 325°F for about 20 minutes.  Let cool completely.
Dulce de Leche
  1. Pour dulce de leche into a microwave safe bowl and microwave in 20 second increments, stirring in between, until it is smooth enough to spread easily.
  2. Spread dulce de leche over shortbread layer evenly, making sure it does not touch the sides of the pan.
  3. Sprinkle salt evenly and lightly over dulce de leche.
Brownie Layer
  1. Prepare brownie batter according to package directions and pour evenly over the dulce de leche layer.
  2. Bake at 350°F for 40-45 minutes.  Check for doneness on the brownie layer and bake a little longer if batter is not cooked in the middle.
  3. Let cool for at least an hour before cutting.

 

 

Mixed Berry Bars

Recently I made these blackberry pie bars again.  The recipe is from Rebecca Rather’s cookbook The Pastry Queen.  Buy it.  This time around I found the bottom crust to be a little on the thick side, and there was an awful lot of filling.  These bars are so substantial that they are best eaten from a plate with a fork.  These are one of the best things you will ever put in your mouth.  Ever.  They are just really decadent and I thought it would be nice to have the same flavors, but in a bar that was a little easier to eat.

So, with some extra berries I decided to make the bars again with a thinner crust, and less filling.  Since I only had a small bag of frozen blackberries I used a combination of blackberries, blueberries and strawberries.  A total of 4 cups of any berries would do.  As with the Pastry Queen’s recipe, thaw and drain any frozen berries that you’re using.

I found these bars to be much easier to just pick up and eat.  There are tons of things you could do with these.  Use different combinations of berries, maybe use peaches, add some ground pecans, almonds or walnuts to the crust and/or crumb topping or even play with spices…cinnamon, nutmeg, cardomom.  Oh, the sweet and delicious possibilities!  I might try a small batch in an 8×8 pan so that I can try more of these variations without having too many extra goodies around the house.

I find these to be extra special served with a small (or maybe a rather large) scoop of Bluebell Homemade Vanilla ice cream.  Enjoy!

Mixed Berry Bars

Adapted from Rebecca Rather’s Blackberry Pie Bars

Ingredients

Crust and Topping

  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) cold butter, cup into cubes
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

Filling

  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup sour cream, regular or light
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 4 cups berries (any combination you like, make sure to thaw and drain any frozen berries)

Directions

For the crust and topping:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a 9×13-inch baking pan.
  2. Combine the flour,sugar and salt in a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Process until fully combined. Add the butter to the flour mixture and process until the butter is evenly distributed,but the mixture is still crumbly.
  3. Reserve 1 cup of the crumb mixture for the topping. Press the remaining crumbs into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake the crust for 12-15 minutes,or until it is golden brown. Cool for at least 10 minutes.

Filling:

  1. Whisk the eggs and sugar together in a large bowl,
  2. Add the sour cream, flour and salt. Gently fold in the berries.
  3. Spoon the mixture evenly over the crust. Sprinkle the reserved crumbs evenly over the top.
  4. Bake 50 minutes to 1 hour,or until the crust is lightly browned. Cool for at least 1 hour before cutting.

 

Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars

Oh.  My.  Good.  Gracious.  These things are crazy good.  And they came about all because of one lonely jar of chunky natural peanut butter that had been stashed in the back of my pantry for a while.  He was reaching the end of his shelf life on November 8, 2010.  I bet this jar of peanutty goodness never even dreamed of being used in something so wonderful.  He thought maybe he was destined to be the star player in a few PB & J’s or maybe to be spread on some celery.  I had much bigger plans for him.

In order to use my natural peanut butter I just searched “desserts with natural peanut butter” in Google and after searching through a few cookie recipes I found this recipe on Joy the Baker.  Here is the link to the recipe.  I made minimal changes to the original.  Chunky instead of smooth peanut butter, regular brown sugar instead of dark, and semi-sweet chocolate chips instead of milk chocolate.

These taste like a dressed up Reese’s cup.  The peanut butter layer comes together easily in one pot.  The chocolate frosting is also incredibly simple to make and spreads nicely on the cooled bars.  This is an altogether simple and delicious bar that I will definitely be adding to my go-to recipe collection.  After frosting the bars I chilled them in the fridge which makes the quite easy to cut.  We ate them cold from the fridge and they were delicious, but letting them warm up a bit makes for a wonderful melt-in-your-mouth experience.  Enjoy! (more…)

Colorado Oatmeal, Coconut, Chocolate Chip Bars

I am part of a family who thoroughly enjoys snacking.  That is why we needed some cookie bars up here in Durango for after finishing off all the cookies we had from Bread Bakery in Durango.  They have some incredible cookies, a delicious ham and brie sandwich and an incredible goat cheese and thyme scone that I plan to try to duplicate at some point.  So, after all the crazy delicious goodies were gone I made these cookie bars.  I found a recipe for oatmeal, coconut cookies from Allrecipes.com, and changed a few things in the dough and also made bars instead of cookies.  I was reminded by my sister after I had pressed the dough into the pan that I should have done something to compensate for the high altitude, but it was a little late for that.  So, I took my chances.  It turned out not to be an issue.  The bars did take a bit longer to bake than I would have thought.  Other than that, the flavor and texture were good.

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