Homemade Granola Bars!

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup honey (or brown rice syrup or light corn syrup)
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
3 1/2 cups quick cooking oats
3/4 (plus up to 4 tablespoons) whole wheat pastry flour (or all-purpose)
1 square vanilla almond bark

Line an 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper.  Set aside. - NOTE I did not have parchment paper and the first time I used wax paper - no bueno.  The second and third time I didn't use any.  I sprayed the pan with Pam Baking (with flour) and it was just fine.

In a large mixing bowl combine the butter, syrup, brown sugar and granulated sugar.  Heat on high in the microwave for 1 minute.  Remove and stir and repeat cooking on high for another minute.  Remove from the microwave and stir again.  Cook for one more minute (for a total of 3) but watch the mixture closely as it may boil and bubble over if not watched. 

Add the vanilla, cinnamon, cream of tartar, and salt.  Stir until combined.  Add the oats folding until incorporated.  Add the flour in three portions taking care to mix well after each addition.  If the mixture is still very wet and sticky, add more flour one tablespoon at a time. 

Press the mixture into the prepared pan and refrigerate for an hour to set.  

Remove from the  pan.  Melt the almost bark on low heat, then spread over the granola bars.  Cut into desired size.  

Homemade Samoas Girl Scout Cookies

Ingredients: For the cookies:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the coconut topping:
3 cups shredded sweetened coconut
15 ounces store-bought or homemade soft caramels
3 Tablespoons milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 ounces dark chocolate (See Kelly's Notes)

Directions:

Make the cookies:

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. In three increments, add the flour mixture to the creamed butter, mixing between each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add the milk and vanilla extract, blending until combined and the dough begins to come together in large pieces.
Use your hands to divide the dough in half, pressing it together to compact it into two disks. Wrap the disks securely in plastic wrap and refrigerate them until firm, about 1 hour.
Once the dough has chilled, roll each disk out onto a lightly floured surface until it is 1/8-inch thick. Cut out as many cookies as possible with a doughnut-shaped cookie cutter. (See Kelly's Notes for cookie cutter alternatives.) Place the cut-out cookies on a Silpat or parchment paper-lined baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough.
Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the baking sheet half-way through, until the cookies are pale golden brown. Transfer the cookies to a wire wrack to cool completely.

Make the coconut topping:

Spread the coconut flakes onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake the coconut for about 10 minutes in a 350ºF oven until toasted, stirring frequently to ensure even browning and so that it does not burn. (See Kelly's Notes.) Remove the toasted coconut from the oven and set it aside.
Melt the caramels, milk and salt in a double-boiler by placing the caramels in a medium saucepot set over a large saucepot of simmering water. Cook, stirring, until the caramels are fully melted. Remove the saucepot from the heat and combined 3/4 of the caramel with the toasted coconut in a large bowl.
Carefully spread the remaining 1/4 cup of caramel atop the cooled cookies then press on a portion of the coconut mixture. Let the cookies cool for 30 minutes. If the caramel-coconut mixture thickens too much at any point while pressing it onto the cookies, return it to the double-boiler and warm it until it's spreadable again.
Melt the dark chocolate in a double-boiler or in the microwave. Dip the bottoms of the cookies in the chocolate and place them on a wax paper-lined baking sheet. Use a fork to drizzle the tops with chocolate. Let the cookies sit until the chocolate hardens fully.



Notes:

If you don't have a doughnut-shaped cookie cutter, you can use two cookies cutters (such as a circular 2-inch and a circular 1-inch) to form the ring shape. Alternately, you can use the caps to any dry spices to serve as cookie cutters.

If the dough is too firm to roll out after being refrigerated, let it rest at room temperature for 10 minutes before rolling and cutting out the cookies.

If using dark chocolate chips, 8 ounces is equal to about 1 1/3 cups chocolate chips.

Coconut burns very quickly, so keep an eye on it and stir often!

Spreading the cookies with the reserved 1/4 cup of caramel gives the coconut mixture a stickier base to adhere to.

Cinnamon Bread

I found this recipe online. So yummy. Jeff and Sadie ate one whole loaf today.

1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 cups buttermilk (or 2 cups milk, plus 2 TBS lemon juice)
4 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda

Cinnamon/sugar mixture

2/3 cup sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350. Cream together butter, 2 cups sugar and eggs. Add flour and baking soda, alternating with the milk.

Grease two loaf pans. Fill each loaf pan halfway with batter, then sprinkle part of the cinnamon/sugar mixture on top. Cover with remaining batter and finish off with the rest of the cinnamon/sugar mixture.
Swirl with a knife.

Bake for 45-50 minutes and let cool before removing from pan.

Peanut Butter Cup Banana Bread

 

Ingredients

• 3 very ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/4 cup Canola or Vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 8 oz bag of Reese’s Mini cups

How to Make

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Grease your loaf pan (I used an 8 x 4 pan) with butter or shortening.
3. In a medium bowl whisk together your flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt, set aside.
4. In a large bowl stir together your bananas, peanut butter, oil, egg and sugars.
5. Pour your dry ingredients into your wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Batter will be lumpy. DO NOT OVER-STIR.
6. Fold in your Reese’s Mini cups and spread batter into prepared pan.
7. Bake for approx 1 hour or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
8. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then loosen the edges of the pan with a knife and remove from loaf pan, transferring bread to a cooling rack.

Notes

*I bake my breads in a stone loaf pan, but certainly you don’t have to. BUT if you notice the bread browning too fast, lower the temperature down to 325° and loosely tent it with foil.

**Also, some readers have noticed that if you over-stir the batter the texture will be crumbly, so make sure not to over-stir!

LOW -CARB, SUGAR FREE Peanut butter cookies

Ingredients:
1 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter
1 Cup Splenda, plus a little extra for dusting
1 Egg
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Put all 4 ingredients into a medium size bowl. Mix thoroughly until well blended. Roll dough into walnut sized pieces, and place on a greased cookie sheet. Dip a long-tined fork into a small bit of splenda, and press into the balls making cross hatched design.

Cook for 12 minutes & move to cooling rack. Dust with splenda & cool. Store in an air-tight container.

Number of Servings: 16

I MADE THESE LAST NIGHT.  THEY ARE JUST AS GOOD AS MY NORMAL PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES I MAKE...BUT A BETTER ALTERNATIVE!!!!!

Clean Towels

This isn't really a recipe. but something I found on Pinterest.

My towels get so stinky over time. Even washing them doesn't get out the musty smell.

So, set your washer on the hottest cycle. Add 1 cup vinegar, 1/2 cup baking soda and your laundry soap. Wash. It gets the funk out of your towels. I do this with my sheets, too.

Ranch House Crock Pot Pork Chops

This is another recipe I found online. Here

6 pork chops, 1/2 inch thick
1 packet dry Ranch Dressing Seasoning
10 oz can Cream of Chicken Soup
4 lbs peeled, cubed potatoes
5 Tablespoons real butter
1 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
6 cloves roasted garlic (directions are below)
1- 1 1/2 Cups warm milk
1 Tablespoon salt, or to taste
1 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper, or to taste

Place pork chops, Ranch seasoning and soup into a medium sized crock pot over high heat for 4 hours or low heat for 6 hours.
Place potatoes into a large pot of cold water. Place onto stove top over high heat and bring to a boil. Once water is boiling, cook for 10-12 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender. Drain and transfer to the work bowl of a stand or electric mixer. Mix on low until potatoes are mashed then add butter, Parmesan, garlic, milk, salt and pepper. Season to taste if needed. For thinner mashed potatoes add more milk, slowly until your desired consistency.
Scoop mashed potatoes onto serving plates and top with pork chops and soup gravy from crock pot. I put a little parsley on top to serve.

Roasted Garlic

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place bulb of garlic with skins on, wrap lightly in tin foil and bake for 1 hour. Remove from foil and let cool for 15 minutes. Remove garlic from skins, place in a bowl and mash with a fork until completely mashed. Set aside. One garlic bulb will have around 12 cloves.

* My changes? I doubled everything but the pork and potatoes. This was amazing and so easy.