Category: Cooking and Baking

Chocolate Chip Smores Bars Recipe

Cooking and Baking

Instead of quilts, today I’m sharing one of our favorite summer desserts.  It’s also one of the easiest.  My daughter and I started making them last summer, and we take them to potlucks all season long.  It’s the first pan to empty every time!  These chocolate chip smores bars are perfect for a summer night when everyone would love smores but there’s no fire.

And they’re the perfect amount of gooey, with the toasted marshmallow, melted chocolate, and cookie dough, plus the crunch of a graham cracker on the bottom.  Fun, and easy to make, these chocolate chip smores bars will be a hit!

To make these bars, you will need:

1 box graham crackers

1 bag large marshmallows

1 large symphony chocolate bar (the giant size)

ingredients for your favorite chocolate chip cookie dough, or see below for the recipe I use.  (scroll to bottom of post for full recipe)

Start by spraying the bottom of an 11 x 17 inch cookie sheet with nonstick spray.  Then break your graham crackers into halves and cover the bottom of the pan.  Break the chocolate into pieces and place one on every cracker.

Using a pair of scissors, cut each marshmallow in half.  If you don’t do this, they tip over and don’t stay in place!  Place the two halves cut side down on top of the chocolate and crackers.

Mix up a batch of cookie dough, and then with your hands just drop little pieces of it all over the pan.

Then you bake it and the magic happens.  When it’s golden brown, and the marshmallows are melted and toasty on top, pull it out of the oven.

Allow to cool completely before cutting into bars.  Serve and enjoy!  Now, please excuse me while I go make some.

Chocolate Chip Smores Bars Recipe

Ingredients:

1 box graham crackers

1 bag large marshmallows

I giant sized Symphony bar (or you can use several of the small Hershey’s chocolate bars, but they don’t melt as well.)

for the cookie dough:

1 cup butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp baking soda

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2.5 cups flour

12 oz chocolate chips

 

Instructions:

Soften butter, then beat in large mixing bowl until creamy.  Add sugar, brown sugar and baking soda.  Beat till combined.  Add eggs and vanilla and beat till combined.  Add flour and mix until combined.  Stir in chocolate chips.

 

Assembly:

Spray large 11 x 17 baking baking pan with nonstick spray.  Break graham crackers in half and cover bottom of pan.  Break chocolate and place 1-2 pieces on each cracker.  Cut 1 marshmallow in half for each graham cracker half, and place cut side down on top of chocolate and crackers.

With your hands, gently place small handfuls or chunks of cookie dough all around the pan on top of and in between marshmallows.

Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes, watching for the dough and marshmallows to begin turning golden brown on top.

Remove from oven, cool completely, cut and serve!

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Blackberry Pie Recipe

Cooking and Baking, Desserts

I did not expect to love this blackberry pie recipe so much.  Maybe it’s the time of year, or perhaps it’s because I really needed to bake something beautiful.  Regardless, we all enjoyed it.  I learned recently that Abraham Lincoln served blackberry pie at his first inaugural luncheon, and I’m sure that’s what planted it in my head.  So when I saw delicious looking blackberries at the store on a snowy February day, I did what any sensible person would, and bought some.

Now we have a new favorite pie recipe that I’ll probably make every February.   Yum!  More than that, I feel like if I’m doing things at home to celebrate and discuss holidays like President’s Day and Martin Luther King Day, then my kids will be more likely to appreciate the “why” of these important days.  Baking this blackberry pie created an opportunity for good discussions about what these men have contributed to our country, and how we can honor them as citizens today.   I want these holidays to be more than just a day off school for them.  And of course, it helps that everyone loved the pie so much.  (My oldest son came to wake me up and thank me for it when he got home from work and tried it.)  So, now I’m sharing it with you!

I’m going to share my recipe, with a couple of thoughts.  I used instant tapioca in mine to thicken the filling but you could substitute corn starch.  Also, I increased the berries because my favorite pie dish is my Emile Henry ruffled 10″ ceramic dish and I wanted more filling.  For a regular pie dish, only 4 cups of berries should suffice.


Blackberry Pie Recipe 5 cups fresh blackberries, rinsed 1 cup sugar 1/3 cup instant tapioca 1/4 tsp salt 1/4 cup water 1 tsp lemon juice 2 Tb butter Dough for double pie crust 1 egg Cinnamon sugar or sugar crystals In medium saucepan, combine the sugar, tapioca, and salt.  Add 1 cup blackberries, 1/4 cup water, and lemon juice, then mix gently.  Cook and stir over medium heat until the berries burst and the mixture is gently boiling.  Remove the pan from the heat and gently stir in remaining berries.

Roll out one pie crust to 1/8″ thickness and gently place in pie pan.  Spoon berry mixture into pie crust and dot with the butter.

Roll the second pie crust to 1/8″ thickness.  Using cookie cutters or a knife, cut stars of various sizes and place them over the berry mixture until it is covered.  I started with larger stars, then medium, and used the smallest stars to cover tiny holes at the end.

Beat the egg in a small bowl, and brush over the pie crust gently.  Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar or sugar crystals.

Bake at 400 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbly.  Cool on a wire rack, and serve with ice cream or whipping cream.  It is delicious warm or cold!

(recipe adapted from Taste of Home) I hope you enjoy this blackberry pie!  Happy baking!

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(No-fry) Fried Ice Cream Dessert

Desserts

My mom started making this dessert when I was a girl, and we still love it.  It has the delicious crunch and taste of fried ice cream, except there’s no frying involved and you can make it in 20 minutes.  This no-fry fried ice cream dessert is one of my favorite go-to recipes when hosting a party or taking dessert to a gathering.  The ingredient list is short and simple, it can be made in advance, and everyone always asks for the recipe.  Today it is my gift to you.



No-fry Fried Ice Cream Dessert Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups crushed Rice Chex cereal 3/4 cup butter 1 1/2 cup brown sugar 1 cup shredded coconut 1 (8 ounce) package slivered or sliced almonds 1/2 gallon vanilla ice cream, softened (the kind in the box works best) fresh or frozen fruit, or chocolate sauce for topping Directions:

Remove ice cream from freezer to soften.  Crush cereal and set aside.   In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat.  Add brown sugar and mix well.  Remove from heat and stir in coconut and almonds, then add cereal and mix well to be certain everything is coated with sugar mixture.  Spread half of the cereal mixture into the bottom of a 9×13 pan and press gently.  Open box of ice cream by unwrapping box from around the ice cream.  With a large knife, slice ice cream into slices about 1″ thick and lay across the cereal mixture in pan.  (I usually have to cut the last slice or two into smaller segments to fit.)  Sprinkle remaining cereal mixture over ice cream.  Cover and freeze for at least 3 hours before serving.  Serve with fresh or thawed fruit, hot fudge, or any other topping.  Serves 15-20, depending on serving size.


A few notes:  When preparing this dessert, I usually check in advance with guests to be sure there are no allergies to almonds.  If you need to omit the nuts, simply add a little more coconut to the pan.  In the summer, we eat this with fresh fruit.  In the winter I serve it with hot fudge sauce and berries so my guests can choose their topping.  It looks especially pretty in an Emile Henry pan (my favorite baking dishes, which also make lovely gifts).


This no-fry Fried Ice Cream Dessert is always a crowd pleaser.  It’s also a win for the hostess:  it looks beautiful when served, feeds a crowd, can be prepared in advance and in just a few minutes, and has a short and inexpensive ingredient list.  It’s a winner!


I hope you’ll try this dessert for yourself, and I hope it saves you time and stress!  If your family is like mine, you’ll be making it for years to come.

Happy hosting!
Jennifer

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