Cranberry Crumb Bars

I can't recommend this cranberry bar recipe enough...these bars are absolutely delicious and very festive! I was a little hesitant that it may be a little overwhelming with a little too much cranberry tartness going on, but I was wrong. They are delicious...not too tart or too sweet!

Last year I took them somewhere where the majority of people were not cranberry fans. They never asked what they were, so...I didn't tell! I left with an empty plate, so I think even the non-cranberry lovers became fans of these yummy bars!

The Dough:
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (lightly packed) brown sugar
1 1/2 cups quick cooking oats
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped small
12 Tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
1 tablespoon hot water

The Filling:
3/4 cup raspberry preserves
2 1/4 cup fresh cranberries

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a 9 inch square baking pan with butter.

Make the dough: Place all of the dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl, and stir with a spoon to mix. Add the melted butter and toss with the dry ingredients to incorporate.

Take a little more than half of the dough and press it into the pan. Bake on the middle rack of the oven until golden, about 14 minutes. Then remove the pan from the oven, but leave the oven on.
Meanwhile, add the hot water to the remaining dough and toss with a fork to distribute. Set aside.

Prepare the filling: Mix the preserves and the cranberries in a medium sized bowl until the berries are evenly coated.

Distribute the berry mixture over the baked base. Spread it so that it evenly covers the base. Crumble the remaining dough over the filling. Return the pan to the oven and bake until the top is golden and the filling is bubbling, about 45 minutes. Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack.

Makes 16 bars

Pumpkin Bars

(This is a repost from last November...since pretty much nobody read back then I decided it deserved some attention because it is a great recipe! Whew...it is taking a lot of power to not erase and rewrite everything I did when I first writing. I posted this in pretty much my first week or so of blogging...)

I made Paula Deen's pumpkin bars for the first time last week! I absolutely LOVE Paula! She is so awesome, and my dream is to meet her. I even went to her wonderful restaurant in Savannah, Georgia, but unfortunately she wasn't there. I was so bummed, but maybe my dream will come true one day! I just love her style of cooking, it is totally what has inspired me.

Bars:
4 eggs
1 2/3 cup sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 - 15 ounce can pumpkin
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

Icing:
1 - 8 ounce package cream cheese
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 F

Using an electric mixer at medium speed, combine the eggs, sugar, oil, and pumpkin, until light and fluffy. Stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix at low speed until thoroughly combined and the batter is smooth. Spread the batter into a 10x13 inch baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting. Cut into bars.

To make the icing: Combine the cream cheese and the butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and mix at low speed til combined. Stir in the vanilla and mix again. Spread on cooled pumpkin bars.

* I didn't have a 10x13 pan (I don't have one ), so I used a 12x12 cake pan. You could also use a 9x13, but you will likely need to increase your bake time.

Easy Pecan Pie Bars

When fall hits I get a real craving for a pecan pie! A chocolate pecan pie, to be exact.

Not wanting to fool with a pie crust, I tried this bar recipe hoping it would help with my pecan pie craving. Oh my goodness, this is stiff competion for my favortie pie. I really had no idea that they would be this impressive...

They could quite possibly be one of my favorite desserts, ever!

For starters, just look at that cookie crust. It is much better than a pie crust in my book. I also liked that it had all of the flavor of the pie, but it wasn't too gooey. Sometimes I feel like the crust to filling ratio is off in a pecan pie. The cookie crust really solved that problem.

I added chocolate chips for good measure. They would be good without them, but really...don't skip them!

These were so good that I had to send them to work with Daniel. If I didn't, I could have eaten them all. I guess it is nice to spread the love sometimes! Plus he came back and said they got rave reviews...


Crust:
1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz.) Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 egg

Filling:
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 cup chocolate chips


Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray bottom of 13x9 inch pan with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, stir all of the crust ingredients until dough is formed. Press dough into bottom of the pan using floured fingers. Bake 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, stir all pecan filling ingredients until well blended. Pour over hot crust.

Bake 15 minutes or until center is set. Cool completely, about two hours. Cut into 9 rows by 4 rows. Store covered in refrigerator.

Makes 36 bars

Slightly adapted from: Betty Crocker

This post is linked to WFMW at www.wearethatfamily.com and URS at www.lifeasmom.com

Blondies

Have you had a chewy, full-flavored blondie lately? No? Well, neither had I.

That is the caption above this recipe in my newest cookbook, America's Test Kitchen 10th Anniversary! It captured me...because it is so true. Every blondie recipe I had ever made, had been a dud. They were dry. They lacked flavor. They were just plain old boring.

I tried this recipe the day after I got the cookbook. It had totally change me mind on the old blondie. This recipe is packed with brown sugar flavor and is studded with both white and semisweet chocolate chips. Toasting the pecans does wonders for the flavor.

I promise this recipe won't let you down...

Oh, and as for the cookbook...I highly recommend it. I have tried several recipes already and all have been winners!

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar

12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), melted and cooled

2 large eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup pecans, toasted and chopped coarse

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Adjust the oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 13 by 9 inch baking pan with 2 pieces of foil and spray with vegetable oil. (Then you can lift and transfer the cooled bars to a cutting board)

Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl; set aside.

Whisk the brown sugar and melted butter together in a medium bowl until combined. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well. Using a rubber spatula, fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture until just combined. Do not overmix. Fold in the nuts and white and semisweet chocolate chips and turn the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with a rubber spatula.

Bake until the top is shiny and cracked and feels firm to the touch, 22-25 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and cool completely. Loosen the edges with a paring knife and lift the blondies from the pan using the foil sling. Cut the blondies into 2 by 1 1/2 inch bars and serve.

Recipe credit: America's Test Kitchen 10th Anniversary

This post is linked to Ultimate Recipe Swap at www.lifeasmom.com

Creamy Cranberry Orange Bars

This recipe comes from Rosie's Bakery Cookie Book. There is just something about the combination of cranberry and orange, they just blend so perfectly together! It gets even better when you add cream cheese. These bars are one of my favorite desserts! Whenever I take them somewhere there are gone in a hurry! They would be great to make for your Thanksgiving dinner, in addition to a pumpkin pie of course:)

The list of instructions looks really long, but I promise these are easy to make!

The Base:
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, cold, cut into 8 pieces
1 large egg white

The Topping:
10 ounces cream cheese, room temp
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 tablespoons sour cream
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 tablespoons orange marmalade
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons fresh cranberries
2 tablespoons freshly chopped orange zest

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 8 inch square pan with butter.

Place the flour and confectioners' sugar in a food processor, and process for 5 seconds. Scatter the butter over the flour mixture and process until the dough comes together, 20-30 seconds. (If you don't have a food processor you could just use a pastry blender or a fork to combine the crust!)

Press the dough gently into the bottom of the pan and about 1 inch up the side. Pour the egg white over the dough and slide from side to side so the white spreads completely over the surface. Pour off the excess.

Bake the base on the center rack of the oven until golden, about 25 minutes. Transfer the pan to the refrigerator to cool, 15 minutes. Keep the oven on.

Meanwhile, prepare the topping. Using an electric mixer on medium low speed, cream the cream cheese and granulated sugar together in a medium size bowl until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Stop the mixer once or twice to scrape the bowl.

Add the sour cream and beat the mixture on medium high until smooth, about 1 minute. Scrape the bowl.

Add the eggs and vanilla and beat on medium high until smooth and creamy, about 10 seconds.

Add the marmalade and beat on low speed until blended. Fold in cranberries and orange zest by hand with a spatula.

Pour the cream cheese mixture over the cooled base.

Bake on the center rack of the oven, until the top is slightly golden around the edges and a tester inserted in the center comes out dry, 35-45 minutes. If the topping bubbles up during baking, prick the bubbles with a toothpick or knife.

Allow to cool completely in the pan on a rack. Then cut into 2 inch squares.

Makes 16 bars

(There is a link to Amazon at the bottom of the blog, I have linked the cookbook to it in case you are interested in purchasing it!)