Dark Chocolatey Hazelnut Spread Stuffed Blondies #Chocmeister

Ok sooo....I've documented that fall is not my favorite time of year. I know I know, everyone else in the world loves it. Sorry, all-it's not for me. HOWEVER-one small perk about the cooler weather and fall is that it's time to LET THE RICH FOOD COMMENCE! Bikini season is over? Eat all the yum yums! Plus we have Halloween and Thanksgiving--holidays largely known for eating an excess of food. And this is a thing I'm totally down with. SO, in the spirit of EAT ALL THE FOOD I made us some brown butter blondies stuffed with rich and gooey dark chocolate hazelnut spread (My new fave=PB & Co's Chocmeister). You're welcome :) 

Admittedly, I made these blondies in my old house. BUT I still have to gush about how much I'm loving baking in my new kitchen-the counter space is downright intoxicating. There's the big old island that is the perfect workstation for all of my masterpieces-making even more complicated treats fun to make. Of course...these blondies are so far from complicated. I would have been able to easily whip them up even in my super tiny New York apartment kitchen, So gather 'round bakers with kitchens large or small....you're going to want to give these blondies a try.

So these are essentially deliciously chewy, yet somewhat crisp, brown sugar cookie bars made with browned butter (aka the thing that makes all other things better), studded with chocolate chips, with a layer of gooey chocolate hazelnut spread (such as Nutella, Nocciolata Rigoni, or-my choice-Chocmeister!) And then I topped the whole thing with some sea salt. 'Cuz that's what we do here.

Brown Butter Toffee Blondies

It's graduation season! People are getting their caps and gowns and getting ready to bit high school adieu. I have 4 family members graduating this year-3 of my cousins and my precious little sister-in-law. Tomorrow is Shannan's graduation and I couldn't be more excited for her! It also makes me realize how ridiculously far removed from that I am. Like...I think that I'm not that much older than an 18 year old buuut I AM. I can barely even remember my graduation-I remember being mad because my hair wouldn't curl the way I wanted it to (typical) and I remember feeling sort of...underwhelmed during the whole thing. Everyone around me was crying and I was just sitting there willing myself to feel...something. But, that's fairly typical for me when it comes to big events-I sort of have a hard time wrapping my head around the situation. Also high school wasn't exactly the most fun time for me, so I wasn't too sad to be ending it. It's funny to look back and think how I had absolutely no idea where my life was headed. Especially considering I have an adorable photo at graduation with my mother-in-law, long before I had any inkling that is what she would eventually be for me :D

Anyway. With graduations, come graduation parties. Which are such a fun celebration of the graduate-I'm so excited for Shannan's and my cousins' and I know that, if asked, I would 1000% make these blondies to bring to a grad party. Because they're totally impressive and delicious and if you've graduated high school you deserve something epic to mark the occasion. And...I mean...on the practical side--bars/blondies are awesome for parties because you just grab one and go. Not messy and super addictive. Everyone will rave about them!

Technically I already gave some of these to Shannan after her last choir concery buuut I mean...I'd make them again for her party! Or just for me to horde and eat by myself while I watch Orphan Black. Because they're gooey and chewy and brown-sugary brown-buttery delish. And the toffee adds a bit of delightful crunch. And chocolate gives us life. And salted caramel on top is probably just a necessity, yeah? Yeah I think so too.

{Healthy} Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Oat Bars- #ChocPBDay

Welcome to the 2nd annual Chocolate Peanut Butter Day!!! 

A group of bloggers (hosted by the amazing and talented Carla of Chocolate Moosey and Miriam of Overtime Cook) have declared March 25th the official day to celebrate the ultimate of flavor pairings: chocolate and peanut butter! We had so much fun last year that of course I was excited to celebrate again this year!

Chocolate and peanut butter are my absolute favorite. My favorite candies growing up all had that beautiful pairing and SO MANY of the desserts I've made are choc/pb-fied (last year I even did a round up of 35 chocolate and peanut butter recipes on the blog...and goodness knows I've made many many more over the course of the year!) I've even been known to melt together some chocolate and peanut butter for a quick and richly delicious treat when I have no other sweets around. That is the depth of my love. (In a perfect world I'd have chocolate cake with peanut butter filling for my wedding cake but...alas...I'm playing it safe in case there are allergies.)

As you can tell if you've visited this little blog-ette of mine in 2015--I'm on a bit of a "healthier" kick. Partly just because I want to get back to a better place physically and partly because my wedding is quickly approaching! So these bars that I decided to make are on the healthier side. But you know what's funny? Almost every healthy dessert I make involves chocolate and peanut butter. Why? Peanut butter is delicious BUT also full of protein and good stuff and oftentimes makes an excellent substitute for butter. And chocolate is an antioxidant and...well...I need it. So I throw it in nearly everything to keep me sane. The point is-it was definitely not difficult to find something to make for Chocolate Peanut Butter Day! 

Here is the beauty of healthy treats: they can be dessert, a snack, or breakfast! So these chewy, hearty, delicious bars (which have just the right amount of sweetness) may be consumed thrice a day. In fact...I think I'd recommend it. Good for the soul and all that.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Mud Hen Bars

These mud hen bars are the FIRST thing I baked for the blog in my kitchen!

Isn't that crazy? I feel like it makes 'em super special.

You know what else makes these mud hen bars special? How much better the photos are when you compare them to the last mud hen bars I made (go ahead. Click the link. Take a look. Laugh at my atrocious pictures. Then come back here to continue reading and get the ooey gooey recipe.)

Now that we've all had a good laugh. Let's discuss THESE mud hen bars. They're not your typical MHB (got tired of typing out that whole, long, random name. Yeah, I've no clue where the name "mud hen bar" came from). Most MHB's have a sugar cookie base topped with choc chips and marshmallows and  a brown sugar meringue. And like...they're ok. But-I'm not in love with sugar cookies (notice how I have no recipes for them in the archives?) so it makes sense that it wouldn't really speak to me.

But these are CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE MHB's and...um...I sort of loooove CCC's!

Ooooh these bars are crazy goooey and brown sugar-y wonderful! That meringue on top is all crackly and wonderful-mmmmm. Now, mine might have been a little extra gooey beeeecause....I underbaked 'em a bit. 

Oops.

It's cool though! A yummy gooey cookie bar is a win, regardless!

Butterfinger Fudge Cookie Bars

So, the school season is upon us. I know many of you are either in school, or have children in school, so your whole lives are totally different right now than they were a month ago. It's so crazy for me to realize it's been 4 years since I started a new school year. 6 years since high school. Gah! I feel old. But I still have very distinct memories from those school years. Here are some things I learned: 

• Don't bring baloney and peanut butter sandwiches to school. It's weird and the other kids WILL mock you.  
• If you do something consistently, that will become your thing and reflect on you. My hair was oftentimes in a ponytail so I was told that I was essentially Patty from Grease. Because she always had a ponytail.
• Some kids will eat paper...and somehow that will be viewed as OK and cool.
• Popular groups form earlier than you may think. 3rd grade for my school-and it was a like, conscious effort. While it formed I asked if I could be in it and was told, no, because I had a Barbie lunchbox.
• Girl Scouts are fun. If you're a girl, JOIN! They're especially fun if your mom is a troop leader.
• Even though you may not be able to tell it at the time, some of these friends you have, you may end up like...adoring in the future. One of my main grade school friends who, I thought, was drifting away from me and thought she was too cool, and then transferred to a different high school. I thought that was the end for us. But then she moved to NYC and now we're really close and we have tons of fun getting all nostalgic about the old days. A ton of my mom's close friends she's known since grade school too. Craziness.
• Treats in lunchboxes=best part of the day.

Now, I don't have any little ones BUT I do have a boyfriend whose lunch I pack for him to take to work. And he so rarely makes a specific request for treats. But after I shared a photo on my facebook page of these bars from Shugary Sweets, he texted me saying "Can we please have those?" Of course we can honey. Next trip to the grocery store I got some butterfingers and then voila! Whipped these beauties up!

And then they went in the lunch.

I mean...these were also totally gobbled up at home. By me. As per usual. One thing that isn't very normal for me is-I think these tasted much better chilled. Yeah. I know. Crazy! But seriously, pop these in your fridge. You'll thank me later.

So, what are we working with here?

We have a thick, chewy, peanut butter cookie base, topped with ooey gooey chocolate fudge, and then a wonderful top crust of Butterfinger candy bars. MMMmmm!! I don't know about you guys but I LOVE Butterfingers. I mean they're pb and chocolate. I remember being obsessed with them when I was young and constantly picking em out of my teeth...tell me you don't know what I'm talking about :P.

WORTH IT.

Gooey Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Bars (gluten free, dairy free, low fat)

Ok ok! I know, this is crazy! I post on Mondays, not Tuesdays. But, this week is a little different. 

Today I'm participating in a very special cause.

Today we are joining together to help raise awareness for Heart Disease. Kim of Cravings of a Lunatic lost her Mom to heart disease when her mother was 47, and Kim was 15. Each year on the day her Mom passed she shares stories and photos of her Mom. This year she joined forces with Jen of Juanita's Cocina, whose life was also touched by heart disease when her stepfather had a heart attack. Jen's stepfather is alive and well more than a decade later, and for that, Jen is thankful every day. The ladies got in touch with other bloggers to ask them to share their own stories about how heart disease has touched their lives. So today we share stories and recipes from our hearts to yours, in memory and honour of Momzie, Kim's Mom. We hope you will share your stories with us today as well.

I was so honored when I was approached about participating-my heart totally goes out to Kim today, I can't even wrap my head around life without my mom, and to all of you who have lost loved ones to heart disease. I knew that I had to be a part of this. Heart problems run in my mom's side of the family-some of my great-grandparents passed from heart attacks or other heart problems, my mom has had many cousins with heart problems (including an especially tragic story of her cousin who was extremely healthy, a pilot, and unexpectedly died of a heart attack at, like, 30), and one of my uncles has had heart surgery (triple bypass?). But, the most close to home, for me, is my grandfather, my mom's dad. He is the only one of my grandparents that has passed, and he'd had health problems for my entire life. Various factors led to his passing, but the earliest issues that I can recall him having were with his heart. When I was little my grandpa had a heart attack, and subsequently open heart surgery (I thought he had a bypass of some kind too, my mom can't remember and thinks it may have just been splints). It was especially scary for me as a young child, and I recall it being fairly touch and go for awhile. My mom is mostly fine, but she does have slightly high cholesterol and blood pressure. There's not a lot of health problems that run in my family, but I have always known that this was it: the thing for me to keep an eye on for myself and my family-I need to take care of this little hummingbird heart of mine. And so do we all.

Hearts are kind of amazing, right? They have such a big important job-it's the least we can do to just take care of the ole ticker.

One part of being heart healthy is eating right. I realize that eating healthy and my blog don't exactly go hand in hand but...they don't not go together either, you know? I even had that post with a round up of the healthiest recipes from the blog. Now, in some ways eating healthy for dinner and breakfast and for all the meals isn't that hard-throw in some veggies, don't smother everything in butter, voila! But...we still need to have dessert you guys. Dessert makes life worth living. So I am here to give you a delicious, decadent, fabulously addictive dessert that you will LOVE, and your body will love it too :).

First of all, omg this recipe is simple. You mix everything up in 1 bowl, then bake it all up in a dish. Easy peesy-cookie bars are awesome like that. These are easy transportable, so it's super simple to bake some of these up and share the goodness with loved ones or at some kind of event! I've already told you they're delicious-rich, gooey, the perfect balance of peanut butter and chocolate and sweet and that awesome heartiness you get from oats.

And you're wondering-but how are these healthy? These babies are gluten free (so long as your oats are gluten free). They have no butter (all the "fat" comes from the peanut butter and moisture from the applesauce) and only have egg whites (no yolks)-so they're dairy free, and low fat, and I assume low cholesterol (admittedly, that's not my area of expertise). And we all know dark chocolate is like...practically as good for you as broccoli*.

*(except not really)

Anyway, if you are being good boys and girls and being healthy and taking care of yourselves-you deserve some of these bars. And you like...won't even be being bad. Health food should always taste so good ;).