Caramel Apple Bars & a Crazy Weekend

January 23, 2012

Apple DessertIt was a really busy weekend.

Our Sunday activities included a church potluck at lunch and a 4H Soup Supper Fundraiser in the evening – with exactly one hour between the two.

That meant that we needed to be totally ready for both on Saturday – which made for a pretty crazy kitchen on Saturday afternoon!

I had Angel Girl, her friend Bethany and Dagmar all assisting. When we ran out of dishes we’ll call Buddy and Pedro to wash a few so we could keep moving.

In one afternoon we made barbecue venison, Grandma’s Cherry Dessert (but with blackberries) a chocolate oatmeal cake, lasagna, bread sticks, homemade caramel sauce, potato soup for 100, and a new creation – some yummy Caramel Apple Bars.

At one point – when I was mentally multiplying potato soup recipes in my head and praying that it would all turn out okay (it did!) – I handed Dagmar 2 different apple bar recipes and told her to make something work.

She did! The end result was an oatmeal crust with a gooey caramel apple filling.

We used homemade caramel sauce – since I forgot to buy caramels when I was shopping that morning – and it worked great!

Caramel Apple Bars

Crust:

1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup oatmeal
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional – we didn’t use)

Filling:

4-1/2 cups peeled and chopped baking apples (we used a fat quart of our frozen apples)
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 – 14 ounce package caramels
3 tablespoons butter or margarine

Cream together the butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Add flour, oats, salt and baking soda. Mix well. Stir in pecans.

Set aside 2 cups.

Press remaining oat mixture into the bottom of an ungreased 13 x 9 inch pan.

For filling, toss apples with flour and spoon over the crust.

In a saucepan melt the caramels and butter over low heat and drizzle over the apples.

Top with the remaining oatmeal mixture.

Bake at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned.

Cool before cutting into bars.

Enjoy!

I’ve linked this post up with Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed with Grace and Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.

By Country Gal | Posted in 4H, Cookies and Bars, Cooking and Food, Desserts | Tagged , , | Comments (2)

Chocolate Chip Gingersnaps

December 12, 2011

Matt's homecoming balloonsWhile Jan and I were adventuring in Colorado to see Matt, the other four kids held down the fort at home.

Although they can all cook and had a stocked pantry, they lived on frozen pizza, canned soup, and ham sandwiches. :)

But then again – they probably didn’t have time to cook. They were much too busy cleaning the entire house, filling Matt’s room with balloons – each with a handwritten message or silly family memory -  and baking him these welcome home cookies.

While Matt was in Pagosa Springs he discovered a small coffee house that made the most wonderful chocolate chip gingersnaps.cookies

He raved about these cookies so much – that Dagmar went to work to replicate them for him.

And you know what? They are really good!

So good – they have earned a place on our Christmas cookie plates this year!

Soft inside with a touch of chocolate – they are everything I’m looking for in a cookie!

Chocolate Chip Gingersnaps
(adapted from Two Peas in a Pod)

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup molasses
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 – 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon
1 – 1/4 teaspoons ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 large eggs
3 – 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 – 1/2 cups mini chocolate chips
1 cup granulated sugar-for coating cookie dough balls

Cream together butter and sugar. Add the molasses, canola oil, vanilla, baking soda, salt, and spices. Mix until well combined.

Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until smooth. Slowly add in the flour.

Stir in the mini chocolate chips.

Scoop the dough into balls and roll in granulated sugar. Place on greased baking sheets, about two inches apart. Bake for 10 minutes, the cookies will still be soft.

Remove from oven and let cookies cool on the baking sheet for five minutes.

Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.

Enjoy!

I’ve linked this post up with Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at At the Well.

By Country Gal | Posted in Chocolate, Cookies and Bars | Tagged , , | Comments (3)

Caramel Bars

October 10, 2011

CaramelI really should call these “panic bars” because I made them in a panic!

It was about 10:30 in the morning and I realized I had company coming at 1:00 – and that company didn’t like chocolate. (Poor kid.)

All of my favorite go-to quick recipes include chocolate (of course!)

To  make matters worse – I was out of butter and margarine.

A quick thumb-through my cookbook collection yielded this recipe – and a quick perusal of the pantry yielded the needed ingredients.

I was back in business!

With just five ingredients – not only were they fast to make -  but they were really rich and gooey and yummy!

Caramel Bars

1 package dry yellow cake mix
2 cups quick- cooking oatmeal (uncooked)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1- 12.5 ounce jar caramel ice cream topping

Mix together the cake mix, oatmeal, and brown sugar. Add the oil and egg; mix well.  Spread half of batter in to a greased 9 x 13 pan. Press a ridge around the edge; then spread with caramel topping. Sprinkle remaining batter on top. Bake 30 minutes ate 350 degrees.

Enjoy!

I’ve linked this post up with Tempt My Tummy Tuesday over at At the Well and Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.

By Country Gal | Posted in Brownies, Cookies and Bars | Tagged , , , | Comments (2)

Butterscotch Cream Cheese Bars

May 23, 2011

More Bars Both of my parents and most of my siblings are pretty adventurous when it comes to food.

So I always love to try new recipes – especially desserts – when my family comes to visit.

This last trip – when dad and my sister came to help prepare for graduation – was no different.

Even though the larder was pretty empty and our time was short, we were still able to dig up enough ingredients in the pantry and freezer to make these yummy bars.

The combination of butterscotch chips and graham cracker crumbs intrigued me – and of course I love anything with cream cheese!

Butterscotch Cream Cheese Bars

1 cup butterscotch chips
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/8 cup flour
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Melt the butterscotch chips and butter. Add the graham cracker crumbs and walnuts. Mix well. Reserve about one cup of the crumb mixture.  Spread the rest of the mixture in the bottom of  an ungreased 9 x 13 pan. Bake 12 minutes.

Beat the cream cheese and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each one. Add the flour and lemon juice.

Pour over the baked crust and sprinkle with the reserved crumbs.

Bake 20-25 minutes.

Cool. Cut into bars and refrigerate.

These are best when eaten after they have been in the fridge for 24 hours.

This post is linked up with Tempt My Tummy Tuesday over at Blessed with Grace and Tasty Tuesdays over at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.

By Country Gal | Posted in Cookies and Bars, Cooking and Food | Tagged , , | Comments (4)

Chocolate Nutty Shortbread

May 9, 2011

bars There’s a graduation gown hanging in my dining room, a pile of to-do lists on my counter, and a ka-jillion cookies in my freezer.

I can’t believe that we’re less than a week away from graduating our oldest son!

My dad and sister came down over the weekend to help out with the long list of projects.

What a blessing they were!

Dad worked on hanging doors and trimming out another room.

Teresa baked, sewed, ironed, cleaned, organized, and helped me make more lists. She even did windows. :)

All that good help needed some good food – like this shortbread cookie with a yummy mixed nut center topped with a layer of chocolate. Don’t even ask how many calories – trust me we worked them all off! :)

Chocolate Nutty Shortbread

Shortbread:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup butter (1-1/2 sticks)

Nutty Filling:

14 tablespoons butter
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
4 tablespoons light corn syrup
9 ounces mixed nuts

Chocolate topping:

12 ounces chocolate – I used a mix of semi-sweet and dark

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Line 9 x 9 x 2 inch-square baking pan with regular or nonstick foil.

Shortbread: In food processor, process flour, sugar and butter until mixture looks sandy and begins to clump. Turn into pan; press over bottom. Prick all over with fork. Bake in 325 degree oven 5 minutes. Lower heat to 300 degrees; bake 30 to 40 minutes or until crust is pale gold. Let cool completely in pan on wire rack.

Peanut-Caramel Filling: In large bowl, melt butter. Whisk in condensed milk and corn syrup. Cook on medium heat until boiling, stirring all the time. Mixture should be thickened and lightly golden brown. Let stand 1 to 2 minutes. Whisk. Stir in mixed nuts. Spread over cooled shortbread mixture.

Chocolate Topping: In double boiler, combine chocolates. Heat until melted, stirring to combine. Spread chocolate over nutty filling. Let cool. Once chocolate is set, with sharp knife, cut into 24 bars.

Enjoy!

I’ve linked this post up with Tempt My Tummy Tuesday At the Well and Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.

By Country Gal | Posted in Chocolate, Cookies and Bars | Tagged , , | Comments (2)