Paleo Coconut Lemon Bars

I have been really into lemon these days. Just can't get enough of the stuff!

I tend to go through food phases- not unlike every other person on this world, correct? Another obsession being mustard. 

Any kind, straight from the bottle. 

I just can't help myself when left alone with a bottle of the stuff...this is not weird.

My (mostly) Paleo experiments these days have been pretty successful, which is exciting, and it hasn't been nearly as scary or difficult as I thought it would be to be creative and somewhat inventive! I've actually had a lot of fun with it!

So I made these paleo lemon bars today to satisfy a fierce lemon dessert desire.

They are a little different than the traditional lemon bar, in that the crust isn't your typical shortbread crust. It's more heavy, because it's made with almonds. It also has a slight coconut taste because of the coconut oil...so if you despise coconut, you probably wont really like these.

I halved my recipe, but this is the full 8x12" pan version.

Paleo Coconut Lemon Bars

adapted from Civlized Caveman Cooking

Filling:

6 whole eggs

1/2 cup raw, organic honey

1/2 cup coconut oil

1 cup lemon juice 

Unsweetened shredded coconut (for topping, but optional)

Crust:

Pre-heat oven to 400.

2 cups raw almonds

1/4 cup raw, organic honey

1/2 cup melted coconut oil

2 organic eggs

For the filling:

Whisk together eggs, honey and lemon juice in a pan. Add in coconut oil and turn heat up to medium high and whisk constantly until filling is thickened and bubbling.

Pour mixture into a bowl and refrigerate until the crust is done and cooled completely.

For the crust:

Place almonds in a food processor and grind until they are small chunks. You do not want them in a powder.

Melt coconut oil, and mix honey and eggs with oil.

Stir in almonds.

Pour mixture into greased pan. (I greased mine with coconut oil)

Bake for 15-18 minutes.

Allow crust to cool completely before pouring filling on top, and sprinkling with coconut.

Place in the freezer for at least 30 minutes before cutting.

Enjoy!

Reese Smore's Bars

I have a problem with people.


More specifically, people in their cars.


I was out running errands the other day, and noticed a man driving next to me, shamelessly digging for gold with his finger halfway  up his nose. 

A GROWN man. 

Do people think their cars are an invisible bubble?! You probably see this all the time....But some of my favorites are the people that are checking themselves out, flashing smiles in the mirror, making sure their nose hairs are all plucked, checking for lipstick on there teeth.

I just feel like if you're on the road with thousands of other people, and in a car that is very 
window-y, you would maybe remember that like, EVERYONE CAN SEE YOU.

So if you're tempted to pick your boogers in your car on a highway, don't do it. I can see you, and It's gross. Super gross.

Now we go from boogers to possibly the best bars in existence.

Just this past summer, when my family would have a fire in the firepit we started making our smores with reeses instead of hershey bars. And we never went back. 
It's nothing earth shattering and I'm sure many of you have done the same....but if you haven't, you are living a sad, sad life.

These bars taste like Reeses smores, except better.

Reeses S'mores Bars
adapted from The Sweet Life
Oven:350

• 1 Cup Butter
• 1 Cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 Cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 TBSP. vanilla
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 2 tsp, baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 Cups graham cracker crumbs
• 24-30 Large reeses PB cups
• 3-4 Cups fluff (I did one large container)

Spray a 9x13" pan with cooking spray.

Beat together butter and sugars until fluffy- for about a minute.

Beat in eggs and vanilla. All at once add the flour, baking powder, salt and cracker crumbs and mix on low until combined.

Press 1/2-2/3 of the dough onto the bottom of prepared pan.

Evenly arrange the PB cups and lightly press into the the dough.

Spread fluff all evenly all over the PB cups.

With the remaining dough, break it up in 4 or 5 chunks and press each chunk flat on a lightly floured surface.

Piece all the dough on top of the fluff layer and gently press down on everything to bring all the dough together into one sheet of dough.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Allow to cool for at least 2 hours before cutting. You can dig into them right away, but don't expect nice neat bars....they will be a beautiful disaster.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Butterfinger Bars with Peanut Butter Frosting

75% off  halloween candy, anyone?

Usually the week after halloween, the only candy left over that they mark down to 50 and 75% off is all the gross, cheap, fruit stuff. You know, like smarties...and other gross things. I can't think of any other ones they have. But they're not chocolatey so they're not good.

When you have bags and bags of candy in your cupboard, it's impossible to not go crazy with insane combinations of sugary-ness.

Lately I've been doing really well with not having dessert always in the house, and keeping stocked up on plenty of fruit and veggies instead. It's a love hate thing....I love sugar, but I feel SO much better not always eating it. It's amazing how much better you feel when you feed your body clean, whole food! 

That being said- I will never ever ever ever give up my sweets. Ever.

So this is for your inner fat kid.

Chocolate Chip Butterfinger Bars with Peanut Butter Frosting
1 Cup Butter
1 Cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 Tbsp. vanilla
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups AP flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
about 16-18 fun sized butterfinger bars, roughly chopped
2 Cup chocolate chips


Pre-heat oven to 350.
In an electric mixer with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar.
Add in vanilla and eggs an mix well, scraping down the sides of the bowl.
Turn off mixer and all at once add flour, baking soda and salt.
Mix just until combined, and add in butterfingers and chocolate chips, mixing until everything is mixed together well.
Press into a 9x13" pan and bake for 20-25 minutes. NO LONGER!
Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before frosting.

Peanut Butter Frosting
2 Sticks Butter, softened
1 cup peanut butter
5-6 cups powdered sugar

Beat butter and PB til smooth, scrape sides of bowl and one cup at a time, add in powdered sugar.
Frost cooled bars.

Chocolate Ganache 
2 cups chocolate chips
1/4 Cup cream
In a small saucepan over low heat melt chocolate with cream just before it is smooth. Turn off heat and keep stirring until smooth.
Spread over frosting layer.

Sprinkle with additional chopped butterfinger bars, if desired.

Enjoy!

Banana Bread Bars with Browned Butter Icing

My husband and daughter love bananas.
Although I don't hate them, they're definitely not my fruit of choice...I would go for watermelon or mango over banana any day!
But I do love me a good banana bread...Sometimes, though, you need something different to do with all your almost rotten bananas.
Try these bars. I LOVED them! The browned butter frosting and heath chips kick it up a notch....and they're not too sweet, either, for those of you that have something against sweet things.

Banana Bread Bars
3/4 cup sugar
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 egg
2 large very ripe bananas
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1 cup AP flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup heath milk chocolate bits (In the baking aisle)

Grease a 9x13" pan and pre-heat your oven to 375.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together first four ingredients until smooth and creamy.
Add in bananas and vanilla, mixing for 1 minute on medium- high.
All at once add flour, baking soda,  salt and heath bits, and mix on medium- high for another minute.
Spread into prepared pan and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.
Cool slightly for a few minutes and make your browned butter frosting.


Browned Butter Frosting:
1/4 cup butter
2 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
2-3 Tbsp. cream

In a medium sauce pan, melt butter over low-medium heat until it is boiling and a delicate brown color.
Remove from the heat and immedeately add the rest of the ingredients.
Mix very well. You want it to be thicker than a glaze, but thinner than a frosting. Add more cream if needed.
Pour over bars and spread so it's smooth.

Enjoy warm, cold or room temperature- you can't go wrong!

Gooey Chips Ahoy Chocolate Cookie Bars

One of my best friends in the land got married this past weekend.

It was a really great weekend. Busy, very busy, but very fun. Wedding stuff is always fun, I think.
I know it's cheesy, but it always makes me remember mine, and how young and in love we were, and after you see two people profess their love for each other all romantically I just want to go home and watch my wedding video and cry. A good kind of cry- don't worry, I'm still happy to be married.

But one thing that really makes me mad is Pinterest.

My friend had the cutest little ideas for her wedding decorations, adorable things they did for the ceremony, little touches with the flowers and just everything was so darn cute!

Leading up to the day she had about 6 thousand things pinned on pinterest, and she actually did a lot of them. I'm more the type that pins things, then forgets about it and never does it.

When I got married (a whole 3 years ago!) we didn't have cool things like Pinterest to get great ideas from. I had to use imaginaton.

Imagination stinks.

Do you ever wish you could get married again?? I would do so many things different. Plus, weddings are a great excuse for a great party and lots of presents.
It doesn't help that for my wedding we only had 5 weeks to plan the whole thing....but that's another story for another time. In the meantime, I'm going to pin more ideas that I'll never do and continue inventing yummy ways to consume sugar. Like these bars.

Good thing I made them after the wedding. Whenever I'm in a wedding I get all panicky about fitting in my dress. My weight never really flucuates more than the normal 5 pounds thing so why I suddenly think I am going to gain 20 pounds is beyond me.

In me and my husbands opinion, a good desserts needs a chewy layer, a smooth layer and most importantly, a crunchy layer to add some excitment. The chips ahoy in these bars really makes them perfect! We loved them. And they're actually quite incredible heated up with a huge scoop of ice cream! Try it!

Gooey Chips Ahoy Chocolate Cookie Bars
-1 Package of chocolate chocolate chip cookie mix
-Ingredients called for on the back of package
-1 1/2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
-12 Chips Ahoy cookies, crumbled
-1 can sweetened condensed milk
-2 Tbsp. butter
-1 Cup peanut butter

Pre-heat oven to 350.
Mix cookies mix and ingredients together, and press into the bottom of a 9 x 13" pan.
Bake for 20 -25 minutes.
Right away when it is done baking, sprinkle chocolate chips all over, allow to sit for a minute and spread carefully so you have a nice layer of melty chocolate.
With your hands, crumble the chips ahoy all over your chocolate layer. Get some good chunks in there!
Place pan in freezer while you prepare your gooey PB layer.
In a medium pan on the stove top, pour in sweetened condensed milk, add peanut butter and butter, and stir over medium heat until smooth.
Remove bars from freezer and pour PB mixture all over.
Allow bars to cool COMPLETELY before cutting.
I kept mine in the freezer until I was ready to cut them...remember, they will be messy and gooey but oh-SO-amazing!

No-Bake Golden Cookie Bars

These bars are so easy, and nothing short of amazing!

I ate so many of them I couldn't eat lunch and wasn't hungry for dinner. But that didn't stop me from eating 2 lobsters I got at the farmers market for only $4 a pound!! I love lobster. And farmers markets. It's going to be really sad when summer is over and farmers markets are over... 

I spied these over at Cookies and Cups last week and have been dying to try them...do you ever see a recipe, and you just feel in your heart you need to make them? That's what I felt with these bars and they did NOT disappoint! They're a cross between a  bar and fudge...you need them, I tell you!

Golden Cookie Bars

Adapted from Cookies and Cups

2 1/2 cups (or 30 cookies) golden oreos or other vanilla sandwich cookie

1, 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk

10 oz (a tad more than 1 1/2 cups) white chocolate chips

1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup chocolate chips for garnish (optional, but strongly suggested)

In a Ziploc bag, crush cookies with rolling pin until in crumbs and small chunks.

In a medium saucepan over low heat, combine sweetened condensed milk and white chocolate. Stir frequently until smooth.

In a large bowl, mix together cookie crumbs and white chocolate mixture.

Let cool for 5ish minutes before mixing in chocolate chips.

Press into prepared pan, and press the other 1/2 cup of chocolate chips on top into cookie mixture. (If you want)

Chill in freezer for about 30 minutes before cutting and enjoy this amazingness!

White Chocolate Chip Buckeye Brownies

My husband dear ate one of these and said: 'wow, I just want to eat the whole plate!'.
So, that means they're good and you should make them for your husband. And yourself.
They're nothing crazy or fancy pants, just plain old good.

White Chocolate Chip Buckeye Brownies
Preheat oven to 350.


- 1 package of brownie mix
-2 eggs
-1/3 cup melted butter
-1 cup white chocolate chips
-1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
-3/4 cup peanut butter


Combine brownie mix, eggs and melted butter. Mix very well.
Spread 3/4 of the brownie mixture on the bottom of a greased 9 x 13" pan with the back of a greased spoon.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine sweetened condensed milk with peanut butter and mix until smooth.


Pour over brownie layer.

With greased hands, roll balls of brownie batter and flatten into discs, laying over peanut butter layer.

Bake for 28-33 minutes.

Let cool completely before cutting.

Enjoy!

No- Bake Peanut Butter Rocky Road Bars

My husband loves rocky road things, and although I don't share his passion or see what the big deal is about rocky road things, I like to keep him happy, so I came up with this combination for him...but I won't lie. I secretly really liked them a lot!!!

No-Bake Peanut Butter Rocky Road Bars
Makes 12-16 bars


1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. cocoa
1/4 cup milk
1/2 stick butter
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1/4-1/2 cup roasted peanuts
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup marshmallows
1 1/2 cups oats


In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, cocoa, milk and butter. Over medium heat, stir constantly until mixture boils, then cook for 1 minute.
Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter and oats.
In a waxed paper lined, lightly greased 8x8" pan spread and press half the mixture. Use your hands if you need to, but be careful cause it's probably pretty hot!
Over the first layer, sprinkle 1/4 cup chocolate chips, marshmallows, and peanuts.

In 4 sections, drop the remaining batter over your toppings, working carefully, and press top layer into them. 

Top off with remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips, pressing in to top.
Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before lifting wax paper out of the pan and cutting.

Enjoy!

Easy No-Bake Granola Bars

Sunday night, as me and my husband were getting ready for bed, I realized I hadn't packed a lunch for him.

I almost left him a note just saying he should grab something at mickey-d's or whatever for lunch...but quickly I decided against that because 1: I despise McDonalds with PASSION, and 2: we had just had a conversation about being better about saving money and all that.

So it was time for me to get creative.

Did I mention Sunday is the day before monday which is usually shopping day? Which also means finding something to fill and satisfy a big hungry man is nothing short of a great mission.

So I boiled some pasta, slapped some pesto and grated peccorino romano cheese on it, threw some cottage cheese in a tupperwear with blueberries sprinkled on top (does he even like cottage cheese?), and gave him 2 cookies from the freezer and a peanut butter granola bar that was so small it wouldn't have even been enough to feed our 10 month old daughter for a snack.

Later on when he came home, (I had since grocery shopped) I asked him what he thought of his 'creative' lunch?

The pasta was underdone, he doesn't really like cottage cheese, but ate it cause it was food and he was hungry, the cookies melted and somehow got on the ladder in the back of his truck on the ladder ( don't ask me how that happened) and when the guys were unloading at a job, they thought it was dog poop all over everything.

Nice.

I made up for the horrible lunch and we had a fantastic dinner. All is forgiven.

When I was grocery shopping earlier that afternoon, I was going to buy him some manly granola/energy bars, but they are so expensive and I have a love/hate relationship with them. 

I love how they are big and manly and have lots of protein in them for my big man and are all wrapped up, and ready to throw in his lunch box, but I hate how they are like, over a dollar each.

Sometimes I make them, sometimes I buy them. Depends on my mood.

Since I was trying to spend as little as possible on this shopping trip, I opted for making them.

These couldn't be easier...5ish ingredients, and 5 minutes. No sugar, plenty of protein and lots of yummy.

Viola!

Easy No-Bake Granola Bars

Makes 12-5 bars

2 cups oats

1/2-1 cup raisins and/or chocolate chips (I didn't have chocolate chips, just raisins)

3/4 cup melted smooth peanut butter

1/2 cup honey

Mix all ingredients very well.

Press very firmly into a 9x13" pan lined with wax paper.

Refrigerate for at least an hour before lifting out of pan and cutting into desired size!

Add in's:

dried cranberries, cherries 

chia seeds

flax seeds

nuts

seeds

coconut

Butterfinger Nutter Butter Cheesecake Bars

Butterfinger, for whatever reason has to be one of my all time favorite candy bars. I have no idea why seeing as I'm usually an ooey gooey chunks of chocolate kinda person.
I think it may be cause it's just so sweet. I love sugar. Ugh. It's terrible.
Like I only eat cake if the frosting to cake ratio is pretty much even. And if it's not, I settle for the piece with the most decorations and frosting flowers on it. You know, the piece the kids always want. Then I eat the frosting and throw the cake part away...Unless there's ice cream to go with the cake, then I'm more gracious if there is a lack of frosting and I'll eat the whole piece...

I'm not particular!

So anyways, I saw this Butterfinger/Nutter Butter-full recipe on The Farm Girl and almost died from excitement.
I needed these.

You need these.

I made a double batch in a 9x13" pan cause were going to a cookout later....I decided it was probably good to share- I am so weak.

Butterfinger Nutter Butter Cheesecake Bars
Makes a 9x13" pan. If you want to half the recipe, just use a 9x9" pan.
Pre-heat oven to 325, and line your pan with parchment paper, or lightly greased tin foil.


For the crust:

• 1 package Nutter Butter Cookies
• 1/2 Cup butter, melted

For the cheesecake:

• 2, 8 oz packages of cream cheese
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 Tbsp. AP flour
• 12-16 fun sized butterfingers, crushed in a Ziplock bag

Topping:

• 1 Cup chocolate chips
• 2 Tbsp. butter/shortening for melting

Grind Nutter Butters in a food processor or blender. If you're doing it in your blender, crush the cookies in 2 batches. Pour in melted butter and pulse a few times to mix.

Press very firmly into prepared pan.

In an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter together for 1 minute on medium/high, or until fluffy and smooth.

Add in vanilla, eggs and flour.

Fold in crushed butterfingers.

Pour over prepared crust and bake for 24-28 minutes, or until set in the center.

Cool at room temperature, then stick in the freezer for an hour.

After the hour, melt the chocolate chips with butter or shortening in 20 second intervals. 2 should be enough. If you still have a few chips that aren't melted, but the rest is just keep stirring and it will finish melting and become smooth.

Pour over cold cheesecake and freeze again for another hour-ish before removing foil from the pan and cutting into bars.

Keep in the refrigerator until ready to serve!

Enjoy!

Scrumptious Strawberry Bars

My poor husband was in his office the other day for 7 hours doing taxes.


He started his own company last year, we had the world's cutest baby, and did maaaajor renovations on our house.


Needless to say, our taxes are a bit more complicated and time consuming this year than usual.


After sorting receipts and paperwork for hours, I knew he would be getting hungry. Paperwork is exhausting. I made him these bars, to take a break from the regular crazy chocolate stuff I bake, and I guess he really liked them cause he ate 1/4 of the 9x13 pan!


Either that, or he was so famished, he would have eaten a bowl of worms.


Just kidding.


After eating the first piece, he yells to me from the kitchen: 'WOW THESE ARE SO GOOD!'
And proceeded to go for round two. And three.


They're very refreshing just so darn yummy. Sweet, but not overly sweet. The buttery crust just melts in your mouth. The only thing I would have done differently though its to add 1 to 1 1/2 cups jelly/jam, cause it was a bit scarce. But I think It was just cause my pan I used is a wee bit bigger than a 9x13. It's more like a 10 x 15.
Regardless, these are still super yummy!


Strawberry Almond Bars
3/4 cup butter, softened (I used Bestlife)
3/4 cup powdered sugar, plus more for garnish
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup seedless strawberry or raspberry jam
3 egg whites
6 tbsp. sugar
1/2 cup flaked coconut
1 cup sliced almonds


Pre heat oven to 350.
Beat butter and powdered sugar in an electric mix til light and fluffy.
Gradually add in flour and mix well.
Press the mixture in the bottom of a greased 9x13 pan.

Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, til golden brown.




Spread the jam over the crust, evenly.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk egg whites until light and fluffy.
Gradually add sugar, one Tbsp and a time, on high.
Gently fold in coconut, and 1/2 cup of almonds.
Evenly and gently spread the meringue over the jam. 
Sprinkle with remaining almonds.
Return to oven and bake for another 18 - 22 minutes or until golden brown.

Cut into squares and sprinkle with confectioners sugar!

Enjoy!

Butterfingers! YES!

A couple things are on my mind this morning.


1) Why don't babies love sleeping as much as real humans? 
I am soooooo tired and the coffee maker is being a tease and taking FOREVER to brew. Do you ever feel like that on extra sleepy mornings?! I feel like a drop an hour is coming out. It's torture.
My daughter has taken up this new thing of singing in her sleep. We've been watching American Idol lately, so maybe she's been inspired. Cool. NOT at 3 am though, honey.
It is adorable to hear her little voice making song like noises whenever she hears music. But when she wakes you up in the middle of the night to do so, not so adorable. Especially when you roll over and see that she is dead asleep. Greeeeat...How do I stop this thing???!!
So, needless to say, I'm tired.
And my coffee is finally done brewing. *singing songs of joy*


2)another thing:
Have you been watching American Idol this season???
Man are they cruel to those kids! Me and Mr. Husband felt for them as they completed their song for the day and were passed through to the next round, only to be kicked off at the end of the day cause the judges passed too many people through, so they had to do more cuts. AFTER THEY TOLD THEM THEY WERE THROUGH!!! Is it just me, or is that just downright cruel?!


3)Also, what is it with guys calling each other 'bra'?
Is it really that hard to say the "o"? It sounds so lazy. And also, It's part of our undergarments. 
How dumb would that be if us girls called each other "boxer"? Or, we could just shorten it to "box"....that's much easier to say.
I just hate hate hate improper and lazy english. 
Like the There, They're, and Their's. WHY CAN'T PEOPLE GET THOSE STRAIGHT?!
Or when someone says "I aint sayin' nothin'". What exactly does that even mean? Cause what you're actually is saying is that you are saying something, because your 'aint' negates your 'nothing'. And you know 'aint' isn't even a word and never should be used because when you type it out it gets underlined with the red squiggly.


4)So go learn your English grammar and make Butterfingers.
Which is another thing I've been thinking about. 
HOMEMADE BUTTERFINGERS!
Can you even believe It?!
Something about butterfingers makes me so happy...I'm usually a chocolate, chocolate on more chocolate kind of girl...But for some reason I love these things. And the homemade taste pretty much identical to the original store kind! How dangerous is that? 
They're a cinch to make, and ridiculously amazing.
Did I mention they're healthy? They have a whole jar of peanut butter in them- which means they're protein packed!
Actually, if that jar of PB wasn't in there, we'd all die from sugar overdoses...seeing as there is a whole bag of candy corn in there too. But the protein makes our blood sugar not go crazy and kill us, or something like that. 
I'm not a doctor, okay?

Butterfingers

adapted from Plain Chicken

1, 16 oz. can of Peanut Butter

1 Bag (16-19 oz.) Candy Corn

1 Bag Milk Chocolate, Semi-sweet chocolate chips/Melting chocolate

2 Tbsp. Shorteing (For melting, if using chocolate chips, which I did)

Melt candy corn in microwave at 30 second intervals.

When completely melted, stir in Peanut butter.

Mix til completely incorporated and smooth. It might look like the mixture is seperating, but don't worry...It's fine.

Line an 8x8 pan with parchment paper so it comes up the sides of the pans. this just makes for easier cutting at the end.

Cool completely.

Lift out bars from pan, and cut into desired size.

Dip in chocolate.

Done, time!

Enjoy :)

*I let mine sit in the fridge for 4 hours before cutting them, so they were pretty hard and more broke off into chunks. Which is fine by me cause they still tasted like heaven, but for presentations sake, they weren't the most gorgeous looking things. So be smart and don't let them sit in the cold for too long!

Samoas Bars

I've been seeing these things all over Pinterest lately and have been dying to try them...plus, they are my husbands fav girl-scout cookie ever!


So now, instead of paying 27 dollars a box for like, 8 cookies- I can make them for like 2 bucks. And we'll have 30ish bars that will last a week. Yes, a week is a long time in my house. 
Even when my husband is on a health-kick.(Which, by the way, he has been doing surprisingly well...not the exercising part, but the food in moderation part. Go husband!)




They were super easy to make- a tad time consuming cause of the steps, but that actually turned out to be a good thing for me, cause I would complete one step, then need to take care of the child, and by the time she was all taken care of and what not, it was time for step #2 and all that stuff.
So it's not a bad thing, these steps.
Especially when the end result is super spectacular!


Samoas Bars
Adapted from baking bites
yields 30-36 bars


Pre-heat oven to 350.
Cookie Bottom:

• 1/2 Cup Sugar
• 3/4 Cup Butter, softened
• 1 Egg
• 1/2 Tsp. Vanilla
• 2 Cups All Purpose Flour
• 1/4 Tsp. Salt

Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.
In a large electric mixer, cream together your sugar and butter until fluffy.
Add in your egg and vanilla...mix well.
On low speed, add in flour and salt until mixture is all crumbly- it does not need to come together like a dough, it just needs to be combined.

Pour your crumbly dough into prepared pan, and press into an even layer.

Bake 20-25 minutes until edges are lightly brown.
Cool completely. 


Coconut Topping:

• 3 cups Shredded coconut (Sweetened)
• 12 oz-chewy caramels, unwrapped (I used Werthers)
• 1/4 Tsp. Salt
• 3 Tbsp. Milk
• 10 oz. Semi-Sweet  Chocolate (Chocolate Chips are good, too)

Lower oven temperature to 300.

Spread coconut evenly on a parchment covered pan. I used tin foil and it was all good.

Toast for 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes so it gets all evenly toasty.

When it's all golden and gorgeous, set it aside to cool a bit.

While your coconut is toasting, place your unwrapped caramels and salt in a large pot on your oven and melt over low-medium heat. Stirring almost constantly.

(This is just a nice picture of the caramels, not one of me melting them- you don't need my help on that one)

When melted, stir in your coconut.

Put dollops of the coconut-caramel topping on your crust. It's okay if the crust is not 100% cooled...Mine wasn't and they turned out just fine.

Spread topping evenly with a metal spoon til crust is completely covered. 

(Yum)

Let cool completely- I put mine in the fridge for an hour-ish.

When you are getting ready to cut them, Melt your chocolate in a glass microwave safe bowl at 30 second increments...If you have some shortening, I would highly recommend putting a few tablespoons in with  your chocolate so you don't risk seizing it.

When they are cool, cut into bars, whatever size you like. Smaller is easier to work with though when you dip them.

Dip the bottom of your cut bars in the melted chocolate and set on a large piece of parchment paper. 

Drizzle the tip with the rest of your chocolate to make them look all beautiful.

Let the chocolate harden before removing from parchment paper and serving.

Enjoy with a cold, tall glass of milk!