DIY Larabars

I'm kind of proud of myself for making these. Not that they were difficult - actually they were kind of stupidly easy. But because they are a healthy, "real food" alternative to one of our go-to snacks. In stead of tossing the kids a granola bar on the way out the door (becasue we're running late... again) and feeling guilty for giving them junk, I can feel good about this. Plus, both the boys and my husband love them. Easy-peasey breakfast or on-the-go snack while we're running round.

I found a variety of recipes for homemade larabars on Pinterest and finally settled on making my own variation based on flavors I like. I made two kinds. Total time spent, including clean-up = 20 minutes. See? Super easy.

These are the two I tried...

"Cherry Pie"
1/2 C natural almonds (not roasted or salted)
1/2 C pitted whole dates
1 tesp cinnamon
1/8 tesp salt
1 T coconut oil
1 T warm water
1/4 C dried cherries

Pulverize the almonds and dates in the food processor until it gets all crumbly. Add the cinnamon, salt, oil, and water. Mix together on "pulse" mode until it comes together and kind of looks like a dough ball. Then add cherries and pulse a few more times. I wanted bigger chunks of cherries so I added them at the end. I guess you could add them in the beginning if you wanted them all mushed up. If the mixture is too dry just add another Tbsp or so of warm water. It will be kind of sticky, but more dry than cookie dough. Then take all the mixture together in your hands and squeeze it tight - really pack it together like a snowball. Place in a small square pan or loaf pan lined in plastic wrap. Press down and get it all level, however thick you like your bars. Then wrap up in plastic and put in the fridge for a few hours until it gets nice and firm. Remove from the pan, cut into bars, wrap each bar in plastic wrap, store in the fridge.

"Double Chocolate"
1/2 C natural almonds
1/2 C pitted whole dates
1/8 tesp salt
1 T coconut oil
1 T unsweet cocoa powder
1 T warm water
a handfull of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Pulverize the almonds and dates in the food processor until it gets all crumbly. Add salt, oil, cocoa, and water. Pulse until it comes together like a dough ball. Add a little more warm water if mixture is too dry. Take mixture out and smash it together in your hands nice and tight like a snowball. Then place in a plastic lined small square pan or loaf pan. Press down until it's all level and smooth, sprinkle a handfull of chocolate chips on top and press them down so they stick. Refrigerate a few hours until it gets firm. Remove from pan, cut into bars, wrap each bar in plastic wrap, store in the fridge.

A few notes:
I hate dates. Really, I think they are way too sweet and gross. But in these recipes you honestly cannot taste them. They provide the sweetness and texture to hold the bars together. So if you hate dates like I do, don't be afraid of making these. Also, coconut oil, if you're not familiar, is a solid when the temp is cool (which it is now), so I don't know how it would act in the summertime, but I think it would be fine.

Also, the possibilities of flavor combos are really endless. I'm looking forward to trying the Key Lime variety on my next batch.

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UPDATE:
Now that I've made these a few times, I'm finding that my family prefers the more simple recipe. {almonds, dates, salt, coconut oil, water} Then I divide the base "dough" in half and put dried cherries & dark chocolate chips in one half and dried cranberries in the other. My boys don't care much for the cocoa or cinnamon kinds.

Flourless Fudge Cookies

{Photo & Recipe credit: chocolateandcarrots.com}
I'll be honest, I didn't think these would taste as good as they did when I read the recipe.  I was pleasantly surprised. This is something I'll definitely be making again.

Preheat oven to 350.

• 3 C powdered sugar
• 2/3 C unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 2 to 4 large egg whites, at room temperature
• 1 Tbsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 C 60% cacao chocolate chips

Combine dry ingredients. Mix in the vanilla and 2 egg whites.  You're looking for brownie batter consistency. If more liquid is needed, add a 3rd egg white and mix well, add the 4th if necessary.  {I only ended up needing 3 egg whites.}

Fold in the chocolate chips.
Drop spoonfulls of batter onto a very well greased cookie sheet.
Bake 12 minutes. Remove carefully after letting them cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet.

Mine didn't turn out nearly as pretty as the photo above, but they were chewy and fudgy and somehow at the same time light and crispy. A very satisfying chocolate dessert!

Homemade Samoas

Homemade Samoas

Cookies
1 cup butter, soft
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
up to 2 tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 350F.
In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Mix in flour, baking powder and salt at a low speed, followed by the vanilla and milk, adding in the milk as needed to make the dough come together without being sticky (it’s possible you might not need to add milk at all). The dough should come together into a soft, not-too-sticky ball. Add in a bit of extra flour if your dough is very sticky.

Roll the dough (working in two or three batches) out between pieces of wax paper to about 1/4-inch thickness (or slightly less) and use a 1 1/2-inch cookie cutter to make rounds. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and use a knife, or the end of a wide straw, to cut a smaller center hole. Repeat with remaining dough. Alternatively, use scant tablespoons of dough and press into an even layer in a mini donut pan to form the rounds.

Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes, until bottoms are lightly browned and cookies are set. If using a mini donut pan, bake for only about 10 minutes, until edges are light gold.
Cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Topping
3 cups shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
12-oz good-quality chewy caramels
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp milk
8 oz. dark or semisweet chocolate (chocolate chips are ok)

Preheat oven to 300. Spread coconut evenly on a parchment-lined baking sheet (preferably one with sides) and toast 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, until coconut is golden. Cool on baking sheet, stirring occasionally. Set aside.

Unwrap the caramels and place in a large microwave-safe bowl with milk and salt. Cook on high for 3-4 minutes, stopping to stir a few times to help the caramel melt. When smooth, fold in toasted coconut with a spatula.
Using the spatula or a small offset spatula, spread topping on cooled cookies, using about 2-3 tsp per cookie. Reheat caramel for a few seconds in the microwave if it gets too firm to work with.

While topping sets up, melt chocolate in a small bowl. Heat on high in the microwave in 45 second intervals, stirring thoroughly to prevent scorching. Dip the base of each cookie into the chocolate and place on a clean piece of parchment paper. Transfer all remaining chocolate (or melt a bit of additional chocolate, if necessary) into a piping bag or a ziplock bag with the corner snipped off and drizzle finished cookies with chocolate.
Let chocolate set completely before storing in an airtight container.

Makes about 3 1/2-4 dozen cookies.

Note: These cookies are fairly time consuming to make, but if you take your time and have fun with them, the results will be worth it. That said, if you want something a little bit quicker, try baking a batch of Samoas Bars instead, which require no rolling and cutting of the dough!

Brownie Mix Cookies

Preheat oven: 350 degrees
Yield: aprox. 18 cookies

• 1 (15.8 oz.) pkg brownie mix
• 1/3 c. crisco, melted
• 1 large egg
• chopped nuts, optional
• frosting, optional

Mix brownie mix, melted crisco, egg and nuts together. Scoop balls onto cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes at 350. Frost after cooling.

Chocolate Chip toffee Bars

Preheat oven: 350 degrees
Bake time: 25 minutes

• 2 and 1/3 C. flour
• 2/3 C. brown sugar
• 3/4 C. butter
• 1 egg
• 1 and 1/2 C. chocolate chips
• 1 C. chopped pecans (or walnuts)
• 14 oz. can Eagle brand sweetened condensed milk
• 1 and 1/2 C. toffee bits

Stir together 1st 3 ingredients. Add in 1 egg; slightly beaten. Mix well.

Combine: chocolate chips and chopped nuts. Stir half into mixture, save half for topping.

Press crumb mixture into greased 9 x 13 pan. Bake 10 minutes.

Pour sweetened condensed milk over crust. Top with reserved chip/nut mixture and toffee bits. Return to oven, bake until golden brown. Cool completely, cut into bars.

Chocolate Pie - a family FAVORITE!

• 1 and 1/2 C. sugar
• 1/2 tesp. salt
• 2 and 1/2 Tbsp. corn starch
• 1 Tbsp. flour
• 4 Tbsp. cocoa powder
• 3 C. milk
• 3 egg yolks, beaten (you can save the whites to make meringue if you want)
• 1/4 C. butter
• 1/2 tesp. vanilla
• baked pie crust or graham cracker crust
• cool whip for topping (optional)

Mix sugar, salt, corn starch, flour and cocoa together in a large sauce pan. Beat together the egg yolks and milk. Place pan over medium-high heat then whisk wet ingredients in with dry ingredients.

Bring to simmer and whisk continually until it thickens. (Don't walk away or it will burn!) It's done when it reaches the consistency of thick pudding. Do not overcook or the cornstarch will turn back to liquid.

Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla.

Cool completely before pouring into pie crust. Yes, you must wait until its completely cool.

*You can just bake a ready made store bought pie crust. I think they're just as good as homemade.

Peanut butter Pie (Mom's)

• 1 C. powdered sugar
• 1/2 C. peanut butter
• 1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
• 1 (12 oz.) container cool whip
• 1 chocolate graham cracker pie crust
• 2 Reeses peanut butter cups, chopped up for garnish

Use an electric or stand mixer to combine powered sugar, peanut butter, cream cheese and cool whip. Pour the mixture into the pie crust. Top with chopped peanut butter cups. Refrigerate several hours before serving.

Mom's Chocolate Chip Cookies (the BEST)

Toll House (Adapted)
Preheat oven: 350 degrees
Bake time: 10-14 minutes

To make a double batch (and why would you make a single, when you can make a double?)
Cream together:

• 1 cup Crisco
• 1 cup butter (2 sticks); softened to room temp.
• 4 eggs
• 1.5 cup sugar
• 1.5 cup brown sugar
• 4 tesp. vanilla

Add:

• 1 tesp. baking soda
• 1.5 tesp. salt
• 4 cups flour (slowly)
  

Once mixed together, dough should be tacky, not stiff.
Stir in chocolate chips (aprox. 1 bag), nuts, toffee bits, etc at the end.

Use a small ice cream scoop to scoop dough balls onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake 10-14 minutes.
If you have extra dough, you can scoop it into balls, and place in the freezer in a zip-top bag. Then bake a few whenever you need a sweet fix. :)

Sea Salt Caramel Brownies

Sea Salt Caramel

(adapted from Baked Cookbook)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1/4 cup sour cream

In a small saucepan, combine the cream and the salt. Simmer over very low heat until the salt is dissolved. set aside.

In a medium saucepan combine the sugar and corn syrup carefully. They will not combine well until the sugar begins to melt. Cook over high heat until an instant-read thermometer reads 350 degrees, 6 to 8 minutes. Without a thermometer, just pull the sugar off the heat when it is a medium goldish brown – it will continue to cook in the heat of the pan. Better to pull it too early than too late. Remove from the heat and let cool for one minute.

Add the cream mixture and the vanilla to the sugar mixture. Whisk in the sour cream. Let the caramel cool to room temp, then follow the brownie instructions.

Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate any leftover caramel. It makes a great ice cream topping or tastes great straight out of the jar.

Brownies

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 eggs
1 cup all purpose flour
pinch salt
1/4 cup Chocolate Syrup
half of the above caramel recipe

Preheat oven to 325F.

Melt Chocolate and butter in small saucepan over low heat until smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes.

In a bowl, mix together sugar, eggs, and vanilla until well combined.
Add flour, salt, chocolate syrup and chocolate mixture and blend well.

In a greased 8×8 pan, pour a little over half of the brownie batter and bake for 18 minutes. Remove from oven and pour in the caramel. On top of the caramel, add the rest of your brownie batter. If it doesn’t pour smoothly, just plop it in a swirl it around a little bit. Return to oven and bake for another 18-22 minutes. Brownies will still appear a little shaky, due to the caramel, but they will firm up once cooled. Do not overbake.

Serve a warm with a tall glass of milk -- or ice cream. :)

Recipe taken from CuisineNie.

Stay-Soft Chocolate Icing

In a medium heavy saucepan mix together:
1/2 C. unsweetened cocoa powder
4 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 & 1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tesp. salt

gradually add 2 cups milk - whisking well
Cook over medium-high until thick like pudding, stirring consistently. *Be careful NOT to overcook or it will lose thickness!

remove from heat
add 1 Tbsp. butter and 2 tesp. vanilla
whisk together well

cool completely before icing cake

This is a family favorite for baby birthday cakes. It stays ooey-gooey and is perfect for little ones to dig in and make a big mess! Plus its the yummiest homemade icing you'll ever taste. It's very similar to ganache.

Baked Bananas

• 2 bananas, sliced lengthwise
• mini marshmallows
• handfull of semi-sweet chocolate chips
• drizzle of chocolate sauce
• scoop of vanilla ice cream (optional)

Preheat oven to 400. On a cookie sheet arrange bananas, topped with chocolate chips, then marshmallows. Just put as many as you want. Bake until chocolate looks gooey and marshmallows get golden-brown. You have to watch it becuse they can burn quickly.

Remove and plate, add scoop of ice cream on the side, and drizzle all with a little chocolate sauce.

I made this one up last night when I had a craving for something sweet using what was on hand. It turned out delish!

Caramel Cream Brownie Trifle

• 1 box brownies, made according to package directions
• 1 box (4-serving size) chocolate fudge instant pudding, made according to package directions
• 1/4 cup caramel ice cream topping
• 1 container (8 oz) Cool Whip
• 1 C chopped walnuts
• 1 C toffee pieces

Make brownies ahead, cool completely and cut into 1 inch pieces. Make pudding mix as directed on box; refrigerate. Thoroughly stir caramel topping into Cool Whip.

In 3-quart glass bowl, layer half each of the brownies, pudding, walnuts, toffee pieces, and Cool Whip mixture; repeat. Sprinkle a few toffee and nuts on top.

Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving but no longer than 24 hours. Store covered in refrigerator.

We had this for my brother's birthday a few weeks ago and about DIED! It's over the top delicious!

Frozen Raspberry Chocolate Mousse Pie

Prep time: 10 minutes
Freeze time: 1-2 hours

• 1 8 oz. container of light blended raspberry yogurt
• 1 package of sugar-free instant chocolate pudding mix
• 1 C. milk
• 1/2 container of light Cool Whip; softened slightly
• 1 graham cracker crust
• fresh raspberries for garnish (optional)
  

With an electric mixer combine yogurt, Cool Whip, and milk. Add pudding mix, and continue mixing on high until mixture becomes stiff and slightly fluffy. Gently fold in fresh raspberries. Pour mixture into graham cracker crust, cover, and freeze for 1-2 hours until firm. (Its better if you don't let it freez solid.)

Garnish suggestions: top with fresh raspberries, chocolate shavings, or dollop of Cool Whip.

I make all different variations of this in the summer time. Some other ideas are: strawberry yogurt with vanilla flavored pudding, use chocolate crust in stead of graham cracker, try different combinations of berries, fruits, and nuts as stir-ins.

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Post Edit: After trying this recipe different ways, I have decided this filling makes perfectly YUMMY fudgecicles. I put some in a dixie cup with a popcicle stick to freeze. I think I like it even better without the crust after all!

Chocolate Cake Mix Cookies

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Bake Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

• 18 oz. pkg. chocolate cake mix
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 1 T. water
• 1/2 C. chocolate chips or chopped nuts (optional)
  

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients at low speed until dry ingredients are moistened and dough is thoroughly mixed. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls 2" apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 350 for 9-12 minutes. Cool two minutes on cookie sheets, then remove to wire racks to cool.

These are so easy and fast you can whip them up on a whim when you need a good chocolate fix. They are my new favorite easy dessert for any night of the week. Plus, if you are a good coupon-clipper, you can get cake mixes usually under $1. That makes this a cheap treat too!

Easy Quadruple Chocolate Bars

Prep time: 10 minutes
Bake time: 18-20 minutes
Servings: 12

• 1 chocolate cake mix
• 2 eggs
• 1 stick of butter, melted
  
• 1 C. chocolate chips
• 3 Tbsp. chocolate syrup (optional)
  
• 1/3 C. chocolate frosting

Mix together cake mix, eggs, melted butter, and chocolate syrup until smooth. Stir in chocolate chips last.

Grease a glass 9 x 13 pan (bottom only). Spread batter in pan. Bake @350 for 18-20 minutes, until sides pull away from pan. Cool completely. Melt frosting in microwave, drizzle over top.

Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Turtle Pretzels

Prep time: 10 minutes
Difficulty level: easiest!

• 1 bag of Rolos
• 1 bag of mini pretzel twists
• 1 bag of pecan halves

(See, it looks easy already doesn't it?)

Lay pretzels on top of a cookie sheet lined with wax or parchment paper, unwrap the Rolos (this step is essential), place one rolo on top of each pretzel. Pop them in the oven for 3-5 minutes on about 350, just until they start to look melty. Take them out of the oven and quickly press one pecan half on top of each melted rolo. Squish down enough to get the pecan stuck in the chocolate, but not too much that they flatten all the way down. (You know, so they look like traditional Turtles.) Let them cool and munch away!