No Bake Oreo Bars

I dont think there is any baked good that makes me feel like as unhealthy as these bars. That being said I think I still ate half the pan. I love making rice crispy bars because you get to eat the gooey bars right away. It's such an easy idea to do the same recipe but with different items, I can't believe it hasn't been more popular before. I can't wait to try this with other things!!

 Ingredients:

1. One 16 oz package of Oreo Cookies
2. 6 cups large marshmallows
3. 4 tablespoons butter

Directions:

1. Butter an 8X8 inch baking pan. Line the baking pan with parchment paper letting the paper extend up two sides of the pan and overhang slightly on both ends. Butter paper; set pan aside.
2. Crush Oreos to desired size. I like the larger pieces but it you grind them up it can make a whole different bar. 
3. In a large, microwave safe bowl, melt butter and marshmallows in the microwave until puffed, about 1½ - 2 minutes. Stir in crushed Oreo Cookies until combined. 

     
     4. Transfer to prepared baking pan. Using a piece of wax paper, press mixture evenly into prepared pan
     5.  Let set up for at least 10 minutes. Cut into bars and serve.

At Picky Palate:

 At Sweet Pea with ground cookies:

Yields: 16 bars

 Credit:
Sweetpeaskitchen.com
Picky-Palate.com

Toblerone Shortbread Bars

A blank canvas is something a baker loves. We create epic stacks of cake and decorate it with hues and dots and textures until it's become a real work of art. I love the basics for this reason. Cookies, pie, and bars are my top three, and I've come to realize it's because of the endless possibilities. These Toblerone Bars are the perfect example. The base is as basic as you can make, and then I just put a candy bar on top. The two together make a wonderful duo.

Since it's my mother's 50th birthday week I made these bars in her honor because she is a total Toblerone fiend.

The ingredients:
1 C Unsalted Butter (softened)
2/3 C Sugar
2 1/4 C A.P Flour
Pinch of Salt
1 Large Toblerone Chocolate Bar, coarsely chopped

Preheat your own to 325.

Cream together your butter and sugar and salt. Add your flour slowly.

Since the mixture is a shortbread it will be crumbly.

  

Picture wise, this is as far as I got. My dad hid the rest of the bars from my mom and I because we ate half the pan in two hours. The rest of the pictures are from Teresa at Blooming On Bainbridge, who also made these bars, but added pecans at the end!

Lightly spray a rectangle pan and press mixture down.

Bake until lightly brown, between 30 - 40 minutes. Meanwhile, chop up your Toblerone bar. If half the bar somehow ends up missing because you ate it, it will be ok ;)

Once the bars are done, place chopped chocolate on top while still hot.

Yum.

Add as much as you like!

Put in fridge to set chocolate, or eat while still gooey.

Biscoff Shortbread Cookies

Do you remember the first time you had Nutella? I was in Switzerland with my host family, and I think they thought I was crazy because I loved it so much. I thought I was in heaven.
Well, now I've met my new love, and that loves name is Biscoff cookie spread. If you've ever flown Delta you've probably seen these little cookies that they pass out with sodas. I love them and always steal my family's when we fly together. I did not know though that these little cookies have been crushed up into an amazing spread called Biscoff Spread! I wish I could explain how good this cookie butter is via blog...but you just need to go buy a jar for yourself. Actually buy two jars, you'll eat the first and then want more for baking.  Apparently the spread was invented in 2007 during a Belgian reality TV show. I wish I had known about it since 2007. This might be a cause to buy more to make up for lost time =)

Either way, the spread is perfect for baking. It's the same consistency as peanut butter so you can use is any way you'd like. I was looking for peanut butter cookie recipes as a base, and ended up changing the whole recipe. In the end, I ended up with these heavenly Biscoff short bread cookies. I feel a little ironic using cookie butter to make cookies, but my stomach cares not.

Prep time: 45 mins

Cook time: 10 mins

Total time: 55 mins

Serves: Makes 2-4 dozen

For the Cookies:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 Tbsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup Biscoff cookie butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

P.S This was my first cookie I made in my new Kitchen Aid! Hooray for Biscoffs!

Anyways, first things first, in a medium bowl add the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, salt, and baking soda together. Whisk together thoroughly to combine and aerate. Set aside.

In your mixer, cream the butters together with the sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and mix again.

With the mixer on slow, add the flour mixture a little bit at a time until the dough is fully combined. Make sure to scrape the sides of the bowl often.

Refrigerate the dough for at least half an hour.

When the dough is thoroughly chilled, preheat the oven to 350F. You now have to options. I found the dough to be very dry so rolling was hard for me. So I used a tablespoon and formed them all into half circles like so.

You can othrwise lightly flour a large surface and roll out the dough to 1/4″ thick as best you can. Using a small biscuit or cookie cutter of your preference, cut as many cookies as you can out of the rolled out dough.Combine the leftover dough into a ball again, and roll out again. Only do this once, as reworking the dough too many times will result in tough cookies.

Bake cookies for roughly 9-10 minutes. Watch the oven very closely after the 7 minute mark. Because of the thinness and high sugar content, the cookies are a lot like caramel and can go from perfect to burnt in a flash.

Once these come out of the oven, you can enjoy as is, or if you're craving more cookie butter (who wouldn't be) you can spread a little on top while the cookies are hot, creating a kind of glaze once they cool. If you use a cutter, you can also make some delicious sandwhich cookies!

Biscoff.com also has a ton a products if you're craving more cookies. Soon this set will be arriving at my door...mmmm Biscoff waffles....Once I invest in an ice cream maker, Biscoff ice cream will sit upon these waffles and I will probably die from the amazingness of it all.