Peanut Butter Cup Bars

There are few things better than a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. You can look that up. It's a fact. My love of Peanut Butter Cups runs deep, so you need to believe me when I say that this recipe makes something that tastes identical to a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup.

Cakey Coconut Brownies

I'm not entirely sure where September went. I can't believe tomorrow/today is the first day of October. Pretty soon Thanksgiving, then Halloween, and finally Christmas and New Years. Life has been kind of busy, more busy than usual, but not a bad busy. Work is a bit stressful but good, and home/personal life has been good even great. Why do I mention all of this? No reason really, or maybe because even great things can be made better with brownies :).

Coconut Oatmeal White Chocolate Chip Bars

I've been craving something with coconut for a few weeks now and have planned on and off to bake something with it but never got around to it. Probably due to a combination of laziness and extreme laziness. However, with last weekend having an extra day, I was determined to find something to bake, something simple, something easy, and something coconutty.

Butterscotch Walnut Oatmeal Bars

I've made this recipe three times to date. In fact, I was going to post it on the first week of September, but then I lost my mind and didn't visit my own website for four months. However, that time away allowed me to solidify my opinion that these bars are absolutely fantastic.

They are actually not that dissimilar in flavour and texture to the Scotchies I made earlier this year. But what they have over that recipe is walnuts, melted butter, and the potential to be made in one bowl. I say "potential", because I can't do anything with just one bowl. The nuts are an obvious bonus, as we both know that anything with nuts is already better than something without; and melted butter means that you can make the recipe without any forethought; and yes, if you're not like me, you can even enjoy the benefit of a one bowl clean up.

Toblerone Honey Brownies

In honour of the star ingredient I cut them into triangles

Considering it was a month ago now I'm hoping that this is the last time I mention Easter. This recipe wasn't something I made for Easter but something I made because of it. There's always a small chocolate treat exchange that occurs between my parents/aunts/uncles (but the uncles know they didn't do anything) and their nephews (there is one niece, but she's too fancy living it up in jolly old England to show up for Easter :)). Typically this exchange is a few chocolates of varying types to each nephew, but on this occasion my aunt (the same one married to this guy :)) handed me a baseball bat sized Toblerone and said "it's for baking". I was stunned.

I know it might not seem it (to a lot of people) but I like to swear. A lot. In some situations I believe that these words are the only ones that can effectively express emotion. However, I try to keep it to a minimum during family events. And then I checked the Toblerone's nutritional values. Out of shock I shouted HOLY FUDGE! Only I didn't say "Fudge." I said THE word, the big one, the queen-mother of dirty words, the "F-dash-dash-dash" word!" :) (+3 to Awesome if you know the reference). My aunts were shocked and proceeded to break out laughing. Like I said, it's not unusual for me to swear, just for them to hear me do it :). To be fair it's not the larget Toberlone I've ever seen. At one point, my friend and his family were the proud owners of a four foot Toblerone (no exaggeration) but one triangle of my Toberlone was the equivalent of an entire chocolate bar. It seemed excessive :). But much like the pumpkin challenge a few years ago, I grit my teeth and accepted.

Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Salted caramel sounds quite strange at first. Even to those who swear that they enjoy salty-sweet combinations have a hard time understanding the appeal. Perhaps it's the somewhat unapologetic mash-up of the two that makes it seem so unusual. But all doubts are removed after your first taste. You finally understand. Words can't describe it other than to say that it's salty-sweet and oh so good.

These Cookie Bars were actually a standby recipe for Easter in case my mother couldn't decide on something that she wanted to bake. Her choice was decidedly less sweet (it being bread and all) so we made both recipes and I’m really glad that we did. The combination of chocolate chip cookies and salted caramel should not be missed. Although it appears that my bars turned out incredibly different from the original recipe. This may have occurred for a number of reasons. However, I can't imagine they were any less delicious.

Oatmeal Scotchie Bars

I have taken to enjoying the flavour of butterscotch much more recently. It was one of those flavours that I never really liked when I was younger (butterscotch Lifesavers, bleh). Maybe it's just one of those more "adult" flavours, the subtleties of which I was too young to appreciate. However, it is now my goto add-in for blondies, and you will no longer find me turning down a butterscotch swirl ice cream.

Chewy Malted Brownies

I mentioned in my BWYF Retrospective about the origin of these brownies and how they were originally supposed to be banana brownies. However, what I didn't mention was that I was an ounce short of being able to make the banana brownies anyways. Either I would have had to open a new bag of chocolate chips or fudge (haha) it by using unsweetened chocolate. However, when my craving for malted chocolate began I discovered a Martha Stewart recipe for malted brownies that, when halved, would use the exact amount of semi-sweet I had on hand. When the universe wants something as much as I do, I try not to argue :).

Kinder Surprise Brownies

This may be my new favourite brownie. Oh man, it was so good. To those who are unfamailiar with Kinder Eggs (mainly Americans) they are hollow chocolate eggs, with milk chocolate on the outside and white chocolate on the inside. But what makes them really special, and so sought after by children, is that hidden within the delicious chocolate lies a little plastic capsule with a toy inside. When I was a kid getting a Kinder Egg was so much fun. Whenever my grandmother would take me out, whether to the mall or to get lunch, or just stopping at the gas station, I knew I would likely be walking away with a pack of orange Tic-Tacs (they're not orange anymore) and a Kinder Surprise. I loved those little trips :). To this day, I love Kinder chocolate (I really do) and though I rarely buy them for myself, I am excited to see them in my stocking at Christmas, or my basket at Easter (I know, I'm a child :)).

Now the toys were never anything super special or complicated, but it was still exciting to discover what was inside. I remember Smurfs, and Yogis, maybe even some from the Disney camp (though my memory is a bit foggy). Nowadays the toys don't have licenses and for a while were pretty terrible. There was a brief period in the oughts where every other Kinder you opened provided you some type of garbage jigsaw puzzle or cheap magic trick. Terrible. Recently it seems Kinder (owned by Ferrero) has put out a mandate calling for better toys. This is good news, there are only so many times you can get excited about a mini pack of memory cards (for the record, the number of times is zero).

Lower Fat Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Brownies

I actually stumbled onto this recipe on my own a few years ago when I was trying to perfect my pumpkin pie filling. Somehow I ended up with filling leftover and I decided to mix up the remaining filling with some flour, pop it in the oven, and see what happened. The result was nearly identical to these "brownies."

Those quotation marks are significant because although I'm not sure where I stand with these (good, bad, indifferent), they're really not brownies. The texture of a brownie just isn't there. Texturally if you can imagine a more solidified pumpkin pie filling that's what these are. I even received a comment that if I hadn't mentioned "brownie" they would have just thought it was pie filling. Though, this doesn't mean they were bad, necessarily. Perhaps it was my alterations that lead to this, but I'm not so convinced.

Milk Chocolate and Peanut Butter Brownie

Last year for Thanksgiving I unintentionally stiffed my aunt's sweet tooth when I didn't bake anything with chocolate. I wanted to make amends this year with something a little special. Milk chocolate brownie base with a peanut butter swirl. How could it possibly go wrong? As made painfully clear in Jurassic Park, "nature found a way". And just like in Jurassic Park, it was human (read: my) meddling that created the problem.

I have had this milk chocolate brownie recipe bookmarked since Anna first posted it on Cookie Madness. It may have been the first time I had ever seen a recipe for a milk chocolate brownie. And though I do love all things milk chocolate (especially in candy bar form) I, as with most people, usually prefer my brownies on the semi-sweet to bitter-sweet side. Then again, I had never tried a milk chocolate brownie and this would finally be my opportunity to change that (for the most part). Not to mention that I would be using Lindt milk chocolate. It was a special occasion after all:). As for my thought process regarding the peanut butter it was literally to ask myself if anything went better with milk chocolate than peanut butter. When I didn't get an answer, I knew I was on the right track.

Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Brownies

These brownies really have been a long time coming. I think I've been bookmarking cream cheese brownies since I started baking (admittedly that's still only a few years). I guess I could blame my cream cheese hating brother on why it took so long to make these, but that's not entirely true. Sometimes when I look at a recipe I just think, wow.. that is a tonne of "not good for you" wrapped in such a tiny little delicious package. But seeing as I had a block of cream cheese sitting in the fridge, I decided it was time.

Fudgy Banana Brownies

So these are them. Three years ago these brownies were the first thing I ever made, uncovering my hidden passion for baking. I can't quite remember if I wanted brownies and stumbled onto this recipe; or if I stumbled on the recipe and then wanted brownies. What I do know is that after I saw the image of these brownies on the Food Network Canada site I was fixated. Then and there I made the decision that come my birthday vacation I was going to bake banana brownies.

I remember telling everyone my plans and the subsequent looks, smirks, and “okaaays” I received, but I was determined. Granted, I didn't have the first clue what I was doing :). I at least made sure to check that I had the correct pan, and as the day approached asked my mother to pick up the required ingredients. I was on my way. I was excited and nervous. I wanted to prove that I could actually make something that would taste good, and also, I really wanted brownies :).

Fudgy Cocoa Brownies

I'm a relatively annoying person, which is quite unfortunate for those that I work with. I spend eight hours a day with these people and half the time I'm talking about food and the rest of the time I'm complaining about something or someone. I'm sure there are many hidden eye rolls and muffled sighs whenever my voice carries over my cubicle wall (which is often, I'm not a quiet person either). I feel especially bad for those I speak to frequently and face to face since they don't even have the opportunity to roll their eyes right away.

I have mentioned this before but I have a tradition that the week before I go on any type of planned vacation (whether for a few days, a week, or more) I bring in some baked goods for my coworkers (announced with an email containing an attempt at humour and a shameless promotion of my blog). On this particular week as my “birthday vacation” neared I must have been feeling extra happy and brought in Snickerdoodle Blondies on the Monday and these brownies on the Friday (my birthday). Hopefully these annual edible gifts of goodwill make up for some of my more annoying habits :).

Fancy Snickers

I first made these for Easter last year and it was a last minute decision too. I needed one more item for my menu and just couldn't come to a decision. My mother had shut down my idea for white chocolate pumpkin blondies (little did she know) and as a replacement I was leaning towards a caramel cashew bar. My only reservation was the (likely) uneven distribution of the cashews and chocolate, which I hate. As a result, I had direction but not destination. Then, as the eleventh hour loomed, I had a revelation: crust layer, caramel layer, cashew layer, chocolate layer. And so the Fancy Snickers were born.

White Chocolate Brownies

It's a good thing I have a few backlogged recipes from Easter because I have just not felt particularly good this weekend.

Enough whining: These "brownies" are awesome.

Olive Oil Brownies

I was hit by another lazy Saturday this past weekend and like the one before, decided not to wakeup until noon. Once again this lead me to finish “breakfast” somewhere around 3PM. However, unlike the previous week, this time I needed chocolate. Bad :). I went back and forth between a few bookmarked recipes before rediscovering these brownies. I immediately remembered how fascinated I was by the idea of an olive oil brownie and for some reason was even more fascinated by it now. The bonus? Brownies are quick and easy (even when you screw them up they're still guaranteed to taste good).

Snickerdoodle Blondies

I enjoyed my first and last snickerdoodle cookie two Christmases ago when my brother and his girlfriend randomly made a batch. I fell in love with the flavour right away. On paper there is nothing special about a snickerdoodle, it's a basic sugar cookie, except that it's rolled in cinnamon sugar before baking. And that makes all the difference.

I have had this recipe bookmarked for quite some time and since snickerdoodles are Christmas cookies, and I already had two cookies planned for Christmas (before the Maple-Oatmeal issue), this recipe was perfect.

Epic Brownies

My cousin currently lives in England. Not happy enough being smarter than most of her peers, she felt she needed to sound smarter too (although in her defence she hasn't adopted the “Madonna accent”). As such, I only get to see her once a year when she flies back home for Christmas. Previous to moving there we only really got together for family events, but you don't realize how much you miss someone until it's impossible to see them whenever you want. Anyway, because she was coming back for Christmas, I asked her if there was anything special she would like me to bake for her. The conversation went like this:

Is there anything special you wanted me to make for Christmas Day?

I can't think of anything in particular that I would like. How 'bout I say “anything with chocolate in it”, and you surprise me?

Are you looking for super rich or light and airy?

Super Rich.

And thus began my fall into madness.

Maple Oatmeal Bar (formally known as cookie)

In general maple is not my favourite flavour, but my brother loves it, and when I mentioned maple-oatmeal cookies his eyes lit up like it was Christmas morning. As a result, there was a lot of expectation riding on these cookies, and I definitely did not want to disappoint. But as you can probably tell from the title and images, this isn't a cookie. It was supposed to be a cookie, I tried it as a cookie, but a cookie it did not become. Quite simply, in my opinion, as a cookie, this recipe is broken.