Brownie Batter Larabars

I posted here about my love of Larabars.  They're a great grab-and-go breakfast. I always keep one at my desk, in case I can't get away for lunch one day. And I'm always throwing one in the purse for long roadtrips.

And while I love a company that prides themselves on using only whole, quality ingredients, I have a hard time forking over $20/box. However, the best part about loving something made with whole, quality ingredients? Easily reproducible, and for much cheaper.

And even better? There are infinite flavor possibilities. All you need for the base are dates and nuts {I've found cashews and walnuts work best}. Then you can throw in whatever you'd like.  Dried fruit {cherries, bananas, apples, blueberries}, other nuts {toasted pecans, almonds, or hazelnuts}, spices {cinnamon, cocoa powder}, and anything else you can think of {paleo-friendly chocolate chips anyone?}

I've played around with a lot of varieties and two favorites have been Banana Bread {dates, cashews, walnuts, and dried banana} and Apple Pie {dates, cashews, pecans, dried apples, and cinnamon}.

But sometimes a girl just needs a brownie

Super Hero Cookies for a Super Birthday Boy

I know it's been pretty quiet around here for a while, but I'm breaking my silence. And for a very good reason: Ben's 3rd Birthday!!!

Who's Ben? The spectacularly awesome kid.  I work with Ben's dad, Mike, and through that, I've gotten to know Mike's whole family: Mackensey, Mike's wife, along with Ben and Ben's adorable little brother, Nathan.  This family couldn't be any cuter: Parents and kids alike love all things Disney, Superheroes, Legos and Starwars! A nerd family after my own heart.

So when Mike asked if I would make cookies for Ben's upcoming birthday, I couldn't say no. And while these little Spider-Men were labors of love, the end result was totally worth it.

I used Dorie Greenspan's sugar cookie recipe, with a little bit of a twist when it came to rolling it out.  Roll out the dough room temperature between two pieces of wax paper to about 1/4" thick and then chill it.  Once chilled, cut out shapes and then re-chill until ready to bake. (Mine sat in the freezer, wrapped in plastic wrap, for about 2 days before I baked them up). So much easier than attempting to roll out chilled dough.

I then used Brown-Eyed Baker's royal icing recipe and tutorial to decorate.  For the eyes, I made a stencil, laid wax paper over the stencil, then piped the black for the eyes outline on to the wax paper. Flood with black and white appropriately. Allow them to dry for 24 hours.

When it came time to assemble, I piped a red outline around all the cookies, flooded with red and then while still wet, placed the eyes. **Hint: Use a thin, offset spatula to get the eyes off the wax paper**  Once the flooded red icing was set, I piped on the black webbing.

Like I said, not the easiest assembly in the world, but the results were awesome.

As an aside: If anyone is interested in planning a family vacation soon, Ben's mom Mackensey works as a Wishes Family Travel agent.  From their website: "Wishes Family Travel is a home-based agency. Opened in 2006 specifically as a Disney Destination agency, has since expanded to other luxury family travel products. Wishes only sells travel to families and romance seeking couples, the products that meet their high standards. Value, safety, fun, relaxation are the key factors that Wishes looks at when selecting vacation products. Wishes sells products that they have experienced themselves! There is never any guesswork because Wishes KNOWS!"  So please give Mackensey a call!


**This is not a sponsored post. I do not receive anything if you contact or book with Mackensey. I am just helping out a friend with a shameless plug ;)**

Hot Cocoa Cookies

Last weekend a beautiful thing happened. Me + Sur la Table + a giftcard from last Christmas that I found deep in my wallet.  The result- my "happy place". 

So there I am, in the middle of that glorious store with money to spend, and I see it.  A tower full of cookie cutters- all shiny and new.  I couldn't look away.  Nor was I able to decide which ones to get.  I mean, there was everything from a T-rex to a baseball bat.  Point of the story- if there's a holiday or occasion, I now have a cookie cutter for it.

Included in this cookie cutter shopping spree were these little guys- I'm ashamed to admit that before I put that giftcard to good use, I didn't have a single tree or snowman cutter.  But now that they are in my possession, I had to put them to good use.  Enter hot cocoa cookies.

Marshmallow fluff stuffed between two chocolate sugar cookies.  Made undeniably better by the fact that they're adorable.  Even Sammy wanted in on the cookie action.  P.S. photographing cookies is a bit trickier when your boyfriend brings his dog over to your apartment....

Peppermint Bark Puppy Chow

Oh Target- how do you do it?  I enter with a short list: facewash, socks, contact solution. I leave with face wash, socks, a mini Christmas tree, mini ornaments for the mini Christmas tree, a winter hat (that I'll probably never wear) and a bag a Chex Mix Peppermint Bark Muddy Buddies. And no contact solution.

I can not enter that store without dropping at least $50.  It's a disease.....a wonderful, cute accessory and unnecessary goody filled disease.

However, the latest trek did provide inspiration for my latest creation- Peppermint Bark Puppy Chow.  The muddy buddies I bought were great, but they didn't quite meet up to my expectations.  In my mind, peppermint bark should be the lovely marriage of white AND dark chocolate with the addition of peppermint.  The muddy buddies totally skipped over that dark chocolate part.

I, of course, had to correct this and make a proper peppermint bark puppy chow.

Sugar-Doodle Cookies

It's here. Christmas season is finally here.  The tree is up.  My Relient K "Let It Snow Baby, Let It Reindeer" album is playing on repeat. (Reindeer. Rain dear. Get it? Oh that Matt Thiessen is a genius). And I've forced Max to wear his santa jacket all weekend long.

P.S. If there's anyone wanting to adopt a slightly neurotic miniature schnauzer, please feel free. I'm fairly certain he's plotting my death due to the fact that I make him wear ridiculous things.

Oh right, and the reason you're here- the cookies. I finally made this year's inaugural batch of Christmas cookies!

How cute are these little guys?! Baby sugar cookies, covered in colored sugar.  The act of rolling them in sugar reminded me of another Christmas favorite- snickerdoodles. I don't know why cinnamon = snicker, however these I shall deem these sugar-covered treats sugardoodles :)

Peppermint Hot Cocoa Truffles

It's no secret that I'm slightly caffeine dependent  And my slightly, I mean if you try to take away my coffee or diet coke, I will turn into a caffeine-deprived Sarah-zombie.

OK- I probably won't turn into an actually zombie. I am, however, very likely to glare at you really passive-aggressively and then fall asleep.

But like everything else- too much of a good thing isn't necessarily the best for you. Which is why no matter how much coffee I consume throughout the day, I have to cut myself off by mid-afternoon. Otherwise I'm up at 2am watching the "Chaz Dean for Wen" infomercial for the 32nd time. 

So what is a girl to do when it's a cold, rainy night and all she wants is a cup of joe to warm her up yet doesn't need to be told once again that she's been shampooing incorrectly her whole life? Unfortunately my options are kind of limited.  I refuse to drink decaf - I think it tastes different and I feel like I'm cheating on my full-leaded true love.  And I'm not really a fan of tea.  I know it's the trendy, anti-oxidant filled thing to do, but it just isn't my thing.

The answer to my woes? Hot cocoa.  But this isn't just any old package of mix powder. No my friends- this is a rich, velvety, minty hot chocolate bomb that slowly melts into a warm cup of awesome.

P.S. If you do use Wen, I'm sure it works wonders. I mean- Alyssa Milano uses it..... I'm just too cheap to spend $60 a month on shampoo.

Spiced Pumpkin Brownies

Let's have a chat about Christmas season, shall we? I know there are people out there who believe once Halloween is over, everything should be decked out in holly and mistletoe and Christmas caroles should be playing 24/7.  I'm not one of those people. Those people might be crazy and if so, you should run away from them. Quickly.

There are others that start trimming their tree the day after Thanksgiving.  I'm slightly more tolerant of this "I'll wait until Turkey Day passes to bring out my green and red holiday decor" behavior, however I still don't function that way.

In my world, Christmas can't start until it's December. And since there's still nearly a whole week of November left, I'm going to enjoy all the perks Fall has to offer until then. That means getting my fill of pumpkin spice lattes and any other pumpkin-y treat I can get my hands on.  Including these brownies.

I have to give it to Pinterest- there are some pretty nifty ideas floating around there.  I saw several pins that claimed 1 boxed cake pin + 1 can of pumpkin puree = pumpkin cake.  So I figured if it can be done with cake mix, surely it can be done with brownies. I love it when I'm right. ;)

Pumpkin-Maple Whoopie Pies

The end of the year always sneaks up on me. I'm strolling right along, enjoying my summer and like bam! (take that Emeril) it's Labor Day.  Then all of a sudden, September morphs into Halloween.  And by the time I'm barely coming down off my left-over candy sugar high, Thanksgiving is right around the corner.

I really should pay more attention. It's not like the world hasn't been trying to clue me in.  I've been wearing my thick wool coat to work for weeks now, barely a leaf is left on a tree, and my mom's already emailing me asking what I want from Christmas - it's obviously Fall. (And yes, my mom starts her Christmas shopping exceptionally early.  I guess you have to when you have 5 kids to shop for......)

All these signs, yet I'm still trying to grasp the fact that this week is Thanksgiving.  Thursday? You mean THIS Thursday? Are you kidding me? Even more shocking, I have yet to bake on thing made of fall-inspired pumpkin goodness.  And that my friends can not happen. It just can not. It's like kitchen rule #3.

Please don't ask what rules 1 & 2 are- it's kinda like Fight Club. I can't talk about it

So I called upon pumpkin and cinnamon and nutmeg and clove and last but certainly not least, maple syrup. Fall has officially arrived in Sarahland.

Chocolate Caramel Popcorn

As the old saying goes, it's the well-meaning thought of caramel corn that counts. (Trust me- it totally goes like that). I swear friends and co-workers- I did not intend to make 8 cups of caramel for the sole purpose of eating it all while getting caught up on American Horror Story.  I promise I meant to share. I'm just weak.

 It was just sitting there. All alone. On the counter of a girl with no will-power and a full Hulu queue. It's a recipe for a delicious disaster.

And don't stress out about making a caramel from scratch.  I promise you can't screw this one up. And you don't even need a candy thermometer.

Mini Berry Cheesecakes

I have a very awful secret that I must share with you all.  I am so very ashamed of what I have to tell you. You will probably think of me completely different after you learn this dirty piece of personal info.  I'm so sorry that I've misled you about who I am.

My name is Sarah....and I watch the Bachelorette.

Yes- it's true.  Every Monday I tune in and watch guys who can't seem to keep their shirts on make fools of themselves in an effort to win the affection of some girl with a tragic past love story.

And it's fantastic. Finally, I have the ultimate insight into the world of men and dating. I mean- it truly is the epitome of reality, right? Before I thought if a guy paid for dinner, he was a winner. Now I know that if a guy is really interested in me, I should expect every date I'm taken on to involve helicopter rides and rock climbing and rock concerts preformed just for me.  And Chris Harrison needs to be there. Chris Harrison is a must. No Chris Harrison, no second date.

But oddly enough, none of the dates I've been on recently involve spur of the moment trips to St. Lucia or shark diving.  So what's a girl to do when her reality isn't that of reality TV? That girl makes cheesecake.

Rich and velvety cheesecake covered in fresh berries.  Who need Chris Harrison when my own personal cheesecake is involved? Plus the red, white, and blue is perfect for the 4th of July. You'll be the star of any BBQ showing up with these bad boys.

Lemon Berry Cupcakes

I have a weird thing about fruit in my dessert.  I'm really not a fan. I don't get it. It's just a thing I have.  

If I'm going to eat dessert, I want chocolate. I want ice cream. I want cookies. I don't want fruit.  That goes for pies, tarts, a fruit plate disguised as dessert. Unless that fruit is covered in chocolate. Then I can get on board.  Other than that, it's just a thing. I'm weird. We can all acknowledge this and move on to....

Fruity cupcakes! Apparently my tastebuds will allow fruit to be transformed into cake and frosting.  Though, considering it's cake and frosting, I'm not really surprised. Note to self. 

I love this sweet lemony poundcake topped with rapsberry buttercream because it's so bright and fresh.  Perfect for a summery, weekend potluck.