Baking Junkie

Bars Category

Monday, October 11th, 2010

Caramel Apple Bars

Recipe by Aimee, inspired by Let’s Dish

Happy Columbus Day everyone! Hopefully some of you are enjoying a nice day off from work, but if not, hopefully thinking about these will help get you through the day! This is caramel recipe #2 in a row, and the first of several caramel apple recipes to come. Caramel, apple, and cinnamon are my favorite fall flavors so anything that combines all of them scores huge points in my book. Earlier this summer I made oatmeal carmelita bars, and Derek and I both loved them. As soon as I made them I knew I wanted to make a caramel apple version and have been looking forward to these ever since!

I used a 9 x 9 inch pan for these, but if you wanted to use a 9 x 13 inch pan just follow the portions listed on the original recipe and add more apple pie filling and caramel. While I truly love everything I put on this blog, again these have made their way to the top for both of us. My in-laws were visiting for a night and helped us eat them, and they only lasted for about 36 hours. They are delicious cold, but even better heated up and served with vanilla ice cream and a little whipped cream. Enjoy!

Caramel Apple Bars
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1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, softened
2 cups flour
2 cups quick cooking oats
1/2 cups brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 can (20 oz) apple pie filling
1 cup Hershey’s caramel syrup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium sized bowl combine together the first seven ingredients. This works best with a pastry cutter but a spoon or fork could be used as well. Mixture should be crumbly. Press half of this mixture into a greased 9 x 9 inch pan. Bake for 10 minutes then remove from oven. Cover with apple pie filling, and pour caramel syrup over the top. Sprinkle remaining oatmeal mixture on top. Place back in the oven and bake another 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely before serving.

Tags: Apple, Bars, Caramel, Cinnamon, Fall recipes, Oatmeal

Posted in Bars | 7 Comments »

Monday, September 13th, 2010

Special K Bars

Recipe from Derek’s aunt Lou

Good Monday morning everyone! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend. Mine was wonderful, filled with a fantastic wedding and great friends! Unfortunately it’s back to the work week, and for me this is my first full week back after having two short ones (although Derek likes to say I never work a full week since I have Monday afternoons off)!

I can’t think of a better way to start off the week than with these. Most of the country seems to know them as scotcheroos, but I have grown up knowing them as Special K Bars. My sister and Derek’s aunt both make them frequently, so they are pretty much a staple at any family function, and we don’t mind! Chocolate, butterscotch, and peanut butter are a fantastic combination and you really can’t go wrong. These are very quick and easy, and also no bake! I have a lot of friends who say they can’t bake, so guys, this one is for you! It is pretty difficult to mess these up I promise! The most difficult part of the recipe is stirring in the cereal, as it gets very thick at the end. If that’s the hardest part of recipe, then you know it has to be pretty easy! My biggest piece of advice is if you melt the chips in the microwave, please please please do it in 20 second intervals. If you try to melt it in one long interval it tends to become quite a mess (ok so I obviously did mess these up the first time I made them ). Enjoy!

Special K Bars
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1 cup sugar
1 cup Karo white syrup
1 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
5 cups Special K cereal (or Rice Krispies)
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips

Combine sugar and Karo syrup in a medium saucepan over medium high heat. Bring to a boil, then remove from stove and add peanut butter. Mix until smooth. Add cereal one cup at a time. This mixture will get thick. Pat mixture into a 9×13 inch pan. Place chocolate and butterscotch chips in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave in three 20 second intervals, stirring after each one. You may need one last 10 second interval to get the mixture smooth. You could also do this using a double boiler. Pour and spread chocolate over bars. Refrigerate at least one hour before serving.

Tags: Bars, Butterscotch, chocolate, No Bake, peanut butter

Posted in Bars | 6 Comments »

Monday, August 16th, 2010

Oatmeal Carmelitas

Recipe adapted from Let’s Dish

So this just happens to be my third chocolate/caramel combination dessert in a row. Completely unplanned I promise, but definitely not a bad coincidence. This combination is almost as delicious as chocolate and peanut butter, but let’s be serious here, nothing can really beat that!

Do you ever look at a recipe and think “oh my goodness I MUST try that”? Lately that happens to me more and more, and this was one of those recipes. I love oatmeal. I love chocolate. I love caramel. The stars aligned people, and these are absolutely heaven!

I added cinnamon to this recipe because

a. to me you just can’t have oatmeal without cinnamon, and

b. cinnamon makes almost everything taste better.

Danelle originally adapted these to make a 9×13 pan. Once I started putting things together I thought the bottom layer was a little too thin and didn’t leave much for the topping (I didn’t eat that much I swear), so I multiplied everything by 1.5. I also didn’t have a full bag of caramels so I just used what I had left. I left out the nuts in this recipe because I am not a huge fan, but if you wanted to add nuts you certainly could (just click on the link to see the original recipe).

I am always asking Derek to rank things and pick his favorite, which he absolutely hates (I’ve already warned him that he needs to make a top 10 list for an end of the year post). Without even being asked, the first words out of his mouth after sampling these were “top 5 for sure”, and I have to agree. Enjoy!

Oatmeal Carmelitas
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2 1/4 cups butter (4.5 sticks), very soft but not melted)
3 cups flour
3 cups quick cooking oats
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
3 tsp cinnamon
2 cups milk chocolate chips
1/4 cup flour
32 caramels (about 3/4 of a bag)
Just under 1/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium sized bowl combine together the first seven ingredients. This works best with a pastry cutter but a spoon can be used as well. Mixture should be crumbly. Press half of this mixture into a greased 9 x 13 inch pan. Bake for 10 minutes then remove from oven. While baking, stir together chocolate chips and flour and set aside. Combine the caramels and milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring frequently once the caramels start melting. Sprinkle chocolate chips and flour over crust, then pour caramel mixture on top of chocolate chips. Sprinkle the remaining crumb mixture on top, return to oven and bake for another 20-25 minutes. Cool completely before cutting.

Tags: Bars, Caramel, chocolate, Cinnamon, Oatmeal

Posted in Bars | 4 Comments »

Monday, August 2nd, 2010

Lemon Bars

Recipe adapted from K Bakes

I will have to be honest with you, I have only had lemon bars on a few occasions, always from a box mix. I have never been crazy about them and have never thought about making them.

Until I saw this recipe.

The pictures were making me drool, and I couldn’t get them out of my mind. Me being me (uber organized and anal), I created a blog schedule for July and August, and pretty much stuck to it for July, until these. I thought about them every single day until I broke down and had to try them. Luckily, I happened to make them on a day my parents came up to visit, and my dad just happens to love lemon bars, so I knew I would get a good opinion. Now with anything lemon, I do not like a strong, overpowering flavor, so I backed off a little. This is entirely a personal choice. I thought they were perfect, dad thought they could be stronger, Derek thought they were too strong (he doesn’t even like lemon bars, just tried them because he’s a good husband). What my dad loved most about the bars was the crust. He thought it was the perfect texture and made the bars nice and chewy, and I agree.

I offered to send some home with them but he declined (he’s trying to watch his blood sugar so I was proud of him). However, he called me the next day saying that after they left he was regretting his decision and had been thinking about the bars ever since. Now that is a compliment! Enjoy!

Lemon Bars
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Crust:
1 1/2 cups flour
2/3 cup powdered sugar
3 Tbsp brown sugar
3/4 cup butter, room temperature

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients for crust using a pastry cutter. Pat into greased 9 x 13 inch pan. Bake for 20 minutes or until lightly golden brown.

Filling:
6 eggs
3 cups sugar
6 Tbsp flour
Zest from 1 lemon
Juice from 1/2 a lemon
1/4 cup store bought lemon juice

While crust is baking mix together all filling ingredients until frothy. Pour over hot crust and place back in the oven, baking for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, cool, then dust with powdered sugar.

Tags: Bars, Lemon

Posted in Bars | 7 Comments »

Monday, July 19th, 2010

White Chocolate Chip Blondies

Recipe adapted from The Secret Recipe Blog

I have to admit that I feel like a terrible, imposter of a baker when I say that I have never had a blondie until now. I have been wanting to make these goodies for quite some time, and now I have the perfect excuse (a definite blogging bonus)! Whenever we eat at Applebee’s I always think about ordering this dessert because it looks so fantabulous (another blogging bonus, I can make up my own words!). I am usually too stuffed and feeling too guilty to order dessert, but now I can just make it on my own time.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with blondies, they are simply brownies, minus the chocolate. To some people this may not sound too appealing. Brownies are just so good, why would you want to take the chocolate out of them, right?

Wrong (well, sort of).

Yes brownies are delicious and a little piece of chocolate heaven, but these are just as good folks! This recipe comes with a maple butter sauce, which I decided to leave out on this round. Maybe it was my imagination, but I swore I could still taste a slight hint of maple in these bars. The brown sugar is what gives these their incredible flavor. The dough is incredibly easy, which always scores points with me. My one and only complaint is that they turned out a little thin. I think next time I will double the recipe to make thicker bars. Enjoy!

White Chocolate Chip Blondies

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1/3 cup butter, melted

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup flour

½ tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

1/8 tsp baking soda

½ cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium size mixing bowl combine melted butter and brown sugar. Add in egg (beaten) and vanilla. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix well. Add chocolate chips. Spread dough in a greased 8 x 8 in pan. Bake 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

For thicker bars double the ingredients.

Tags: Bars, Blondies, White chocolate

Posted in Bars, Blondies | 2 Comments »