If you've been reading this blog/if you know me at all, you know how excited I was/am about our new apartment. So excited I decided to throw a housewarming party! The apartment's not huge so I wanted to make sure not to invite too many people (especially because some people might bring other people...etc.), but I also wanted to invite enough that people would actually come. I made a facebook event, and texted, inviting somewhere around 10-15 people, with around 2-3 weeks notice before the date. There were more people I would have loved to invited, but, again, space issues. I was so thrilled! A good amount of people told us they would at least maybe be coming, and some said they were definitely! I planned the menu, bought lots of soda, bought snacks, made cheesy chicken dip and 4 Layer Cookie Bars (recipe below). I decided to make the 4 Layer Cookie Bars because they looked good, but also like the kind of thing that are perfect for sharing (not like the thing you want to hide away all to yourself...like a certain chocolate decadence I will post sometime). I cooked, we cleaned the entire apartment, and then pretty much spent all of party day waiting...and waiting....and waiting. 2 people ended up showing up. One of them was my neighbor who's door is like 2 feet from mine. It was a disaster (don't get me wrong, Robert and Brandon were fun and I was so happy they came but....table full of food, me dressed up, music playing....4 people total). I was completely devastated. I started texting extra people. I got, all on that day, a barrage of texts from people cancelling (for perfectly good reasons, I'm not mad at anyone for not coming, I understand. It just figured they all would have something come up on the day of the one party I throw). It was just dead. I kept fighting back tears. Barely any of the food got eaten. Poor Michael had to eat practically nothing but chips for a couple weeks. And I ate way more of these cookie bars then my tummy should have allowed me. The cookie bars came out great, Robert and Brandon raved about them-definitely make them when you're entertaining! The moral of this story, for me, though, is that I just should not throw parties. They always end this way. *sigh*
4 Layer Cookie Bars
Adapted slightly from Picky-Palate "The Motherlode Layered Cookie Bars"
Layer 1. Sugar Cookie-
Ingredients:
- 1 roll Pillsbury Sugar Cookie Dough
Preparation:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Press sugar cookie dough into bottom of a 9 x 13 dish that has been lined with foil and sprayed with PAM.
Layer 2. Double Chocolate Cookie-
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- slightly over 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla
- slightly over 3/4 cup flour
- slightly over 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1/8 tsp. salt
- a little over 1/2 cup chocolate chips (sorry some of the measurements are approx. I halved the original recipe, because I didn't feel like having extra double chocolate cookie dough sitting around).
Preparation:
- In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars. Then, slowly add the egg and vanilla until combined.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Then, slowly add to wet ingredients.
- Stir in chocolate chips.
- Layer over the sugar cookie layer, press gently.
Layer 3. Peanut Butter Cookie-
Ingredients:
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
Preparation:
- Mix all the ingredients in a bowl until combined.
- Press over chocolate cookie dough layer.
Layer 4. Chocolate Chip Cookie-
(This makes double what you need. You can freeze the extra half or do what I did...eat it.)
Ingredients:
- 2 sticks softened/melted butter
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tbsp. vanilla
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 bag choc. chips (or if you're going to eat 1/2 of the dough-like me-and you prefer your choc. chip cookie dough...without choc. chips-like me-then just use 1/2 a bag for the dough you use in these bars)
Preparation:
- Cream butter and sugars until combined.
- Beat in eggs and vanilla.
- Mix flour, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl, then slowly add to wet ingredients.
- Stir in chocolate chips.
- Spoon 1/2 the dough evenly over the peanut butter layer.
Final Steps-
- Bake 35-45 minutes (it was def. closer to 45 for me), cover the pan with foil for it's final 15 minutes.
- Let cool COMPLETELY (AKA...don't make my mistake. Put the pan in the fridge to speed it along) then lift the foil out.
- Cut into squares and voila! Instant crowd (or 4 people) pleaser!