Peanut Butter Crunch S'mores Bars.

Remember when I made those better-than-crack peanut butter cup crunch brownie bars? 

These are similar. Except instead of fudgey chocolate chip brownies, the melted chocolate, crunchy peanut butter, and Rice Krispies are poured over an irresistable s'mores layer of graham crackers and ooey, gooey, toasted marshmallows. 

Also known as rich, decadent, over-the-top deliciousness.

I'll wait while you preheat your oven.

These are addicting. Like... thick-puffy-campfire-s'mores-covered-in-crispy-candy-bar addicting. 

Or fudge. Peanut butter fudge. Crispy fudge. Melt-in-your-mouth fudge.

The point is... make these. Then eat them. Then eat three more. Calories, what? They don't count on Fridays.

... I'm hungry. 

Peanut Butter Crunch S'mores Bars

Printable Recipe

7 graham crackers
2 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows
1 package (12 ounces or 2 cups) semi-sweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup light corn syrup
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
3 cups Rice Krispies cereal

Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray a 13x9x2-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Arrange graham crackers in a single layer in dish, breaking crackers as needed to fit.

Sprinkle marshmallows evenly over crackers. Bake for 7-8 minutes or until marshmallows are puffy. Cool completely.

In a 2-quart microwave-safe bowl (or in a medium saucepan over medium low heat), combine chocolate chips, corn syrup, and butter. Microwave on high about 1 1/2 minutes or until chocolate is melted, stirring every 30 seconds. If melting in a saucepan, stir constantly until melted, then remove from heat.

Stir in peanut butter, then stir in Rice Krispies until combined. Spread evenly over marshmallows.

Cover and refrigerate about 1 hour or until firm. Cut and store in an airtight container in refrigerator.

Source: Rice Krispies.

Next time? I'm adding chopped peanut butter cups on top of the marshmallows. Because everything's better with peanut butter cups.

... especially s'mores. 

I can't wait til summer.

Cookies and Cream Popcorn.

One of my most favorite snacks indulgences is a bowl of popcorn with M&Ms. Especially dark chocolate M&Ms. Or peanut butter. Or both. Don't make me choose. There's just something about the taste of sweet, melted chocolate with crunchy, buttery popcorn.

Or... there was.

Then this happened.

Cookies and cream popcorn.

Hot, buttery popcorn mixed with crushed Oreos and rivers of melted white chocolate. It's addicting.

And simple.

And delicious.

Make this or we can't be friends anymore. 

Cookies and Cream Popcorn

Printable Recipe

*1 bag popcorn, popped
6 ounces white chocolate candy coating
10- 15 Oreos, crushed or roughly chopped

Place the popped popcorn and Oreos in a large bowl (I poured the popcorn out on a paper towel & picked out the kernels first). Heat the white chocolate candy coating in the microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring in between until melted and smooth.

Drizzle the white chocolate bark over the popcorn/Oreo mixture and stir to coat. Dump out on a large sheet of wax paper and spread into a single layer. Let cool and harden. Break into small pieces and serve.

*I used a butter-flavored popcorn, which is why mine looks a little yellow. Next time I'd use a white popcorn like Amy did, to make it a bit prettier and more cookies & cream-y.

Source: Sing for Your Supper.

Maple Pecan Pull-Apart Scones.

Monkey bread + scones + the sweet, buttery, maple deliciousness of pancakes = 

These. 

Maple pecan pull-apart scones.

Swoon.

I made these for Mother's Day since my mom likes anything I make scones and maple and the pull-apart fun of monkey bread. 

And also because I love her and she's the best mom in the world. 

On the outside the scones are crisp and flaky, with a sugary crust and a rich, melt-in-your-mouth maple icing, but on the inside they're as light and tender as a buttery biscuit, full of pecans and maple flavor, but not so much that it's overpowering or super sweet. 

If there's such a thing as a maple pancake scone, then that's what these taste like. Even my dad loved these... and I'm pretty sure I've never seen him eat a scone. 

Ever. 

Maybe it has something to do with this icing?

Either way, they're fast, fun, and easy to throw together, they bake up quickly, and warm from the oven with a spoonful of icing will make any morning a little more special, whether it's a Mother's Day or Monday. 

Bake them? Please?

Maple Pecan Pull-Apart Scones

Printable Recipe

Scones
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into cubes
3/4 cup chopped pecans
3/4 heavy whipping cream
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon maple flavoring
1/4 cup sugar

Maple Glaze
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon maple flavoring
2 to 3 teaspoons milk

Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray a 12-cup muffin pan with no-stick cooking spray; set aside.

Combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Cut in butter with pastry blender or fork until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in 3/4 cup chopped pecans.

Combine whipping cream, egg yolks, and 1 teaspoon maple flavoring in small bowl; beat with wire whisk until well mixed. Pour whipping cream mixture into flour mixture; stir until a moist dough forms. Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface; gently knead 10 times or until smooth.

Place sugar in small bowl. Roll dough into 48 (1-inch) balls. Roll each ball of dough in sugar. Place 3 balls of dough into bottom of each muffin cup...

... and top with another ball ball of dough.

Bake for 16 to 18 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pan 2 minutes. Remove from pan; place onto cooling rack.

To make the maple glaze, combine powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon maple flavoring, and enough milk for desired glaze consistency (I used a little more than 3 teaspoons) in a small bowl until well mixed. Drizzle glaze over warm scones.

Makes 12 scones.

Source: Land O' Lakes Recipe Collection: Harvest Baking Magazine.

A Thursday List.

1. I woke up this morning to my dad making a batch of salt river bars.

I'm pretty sure I inherited my sense of compulsive baking from him.

We ran out of Club crackers. In case you were wondering, they taste almost as good with Saltines. 

(But even better with breakfast.)

2. Today I'm: making these cookies for my boyfriend, avoiding packing, curling my hair, avoiding packing, watching Tangled for the seventeenth time, avoiding packing...

3.This time tomorrow, I will be bleary-eyed & glaring at Daniel for dragging me out of bed at this hour (but hopefully packed) and singing the following songs on loop as we head off to Disneyland for a weekend of magic:

I will probably also have this look on my face.

I'm so excited I almost want to start packing.

Almost.

4. Three words: whipped cream vodka. Where can I find this and how fast can it be in my root beer?

5. In no particular order, I am currently craving... Coconut shrimp. A thick slice of banana nut bread, preferably slathered with melting butter. Chocolate chip pancakes. With blueberries. And these.

Oh and a peanut butter cup. In this form. Frozen, please.

I'm a healthy one.

6. Thank God for ExerciseTV.

7. This just in: Daniel bribed his boss with homemade cookies for an extra day off work. What should I make? 

8. These maple scones will change your life forever.

But that's nothing compared to the deliciousness I'm posting tomorrow. 

Happy Thursday! 

Five Things.

1. I made this over the weekend for a very important reason: I wanted to. If you've never had chocolate sheet cake before, please make one as soon as possible. Make one yourself, pay someone to make it, find me and I'll make it. In fact, even if you've had it, you should probably make one again. Just to be safe. 

2. Or better yet, could someone make me this cake? 

I still can't get over how beautiful it is. 

3. I just picked up the new Sweet Valley High book from the library.

... I may be up all night reading.

4. I'm making kale chips for dinner tonight. Wish me luck. I hear kale is a vegetable?

5. Last but not least: I'm going to Disneyland! 

Last time I went, I took this photo on my phone of a woman making Matterhorn Macaroons. I remember thinking, how much fun would it be to bake in the most magical place on earth? When was the last time I baked anything? Also: what's a macaroon?  

... this was before I started blogging.

My mission this year: Mickey beignets from the Cafe Orleans.

What are your favorite things to eat in the Magic Kingdom? 

Lemon-Glazed Miniature Tea Cakes.

The only thing better than cake is mini cake. 

Especially if you make up for the fact that its mini by adding a glaze and a frosting. Because, really. What goes better with sugar than more sugar? 

Let's break this down.

These bite-size cakes were light, sweet, and summery, and even though I burnt my hand three times, shattered an egg, grated my finger, and broke a container of cooking spray, they were totally worth it in the end. 

It was one of those days. 

Please tell me you have them too.

The cake itself was a yellow vanilla-buttermilk cake that I spiked with lemon zest; they're nowhere near as lemony as these cupcakes, but with the glaze and frosting, they were perfect.

Aren't they cute? 

I like to think they're cuddling. 

Or maybe the one on the right is just sleepy and tired of being photographed from every angle?   

We all need a shoulder sometimes.

Lemon-Glazed Miniature Tea Cakes

Printable Recipe

Cakes
1 cup butter, softened
1 3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk
The zest from one lemon

Lemon Glaze
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Lemon Buttercream
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 of the juice & zest from one lemon
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease mini muffin pans.

In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar at medium speed until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in vanilla extract.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar. Add to butter mixture, alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Stir in lemon zest.

Spoon batter into mini muffin pans, filling a little bit less than 3/4 full. Bake for 12 -15 or until done. Immediately remove cakes to wire racks and allow to cool (be careful not to burn your fingers).

When the cakes have cooled completely, make the lemon glaze. In a small bowl, combine confectioners' sugar and lemon juice. Brush on cooled cakes.

*For the lemon buttercream, combine butter, sugar, and salt and beat until well combined. Add lemon juice, zest, and vanilla and continue to beat for another 3 to 5 minutes, or until creamy and the consistency desired, then pipe onto cakes. (I used a Wilton #1M tip for these cakes). You may have to add a little more lemon juice, depending on how thick you want your frosting to be, or more zest, if you want a more stronger lemon flavor.

*Note: I scaled down the buttercream recipe so that it only makes about 1 cup of frosting, just enough to pipe the stars on top. If you plan on using more frosting, I would double this recipe.

Makes 72 cakes.

Source: Mini lemon cakes and glaze barely adapted from Holiday Celebrations, 2008. Lemon buttercream from the Sprinkles Cupcakes Bakery.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Graham Cookies.

You know how when you go to one of those fancy create-your-own frozen yogurt places and you're suddenly inspired to throw gummy worms, bits of cheesecake, Captain Crunch, rainbow sprinkles, & a pound of fat, juicy strawberries on top of some vanilla ice cream? 

The same thing happens when I make cookies sometimes.  

It doesn't always work out. Like, say, when I felt it was a good idea to make popcorn cookies.

It's not.

But sometimes, it does. Sometimes you cross your fingers & hold your breath & dance around nervously in front of the oven while they bake, and you end up with a cookie you love.

And will probably be baking at least three more times this week month. 

I started off making peanut butter-oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Because I love peanut butter. 

... and oatmeal. 

And chocolate chips. So really, it was the convenient thing to do.

But then I found these. 

And in a fit of inspiration, I did this.  

These might be my new favorite cookies. 

Big, soft, chewy peanut butter cookies full of oats, chocolate chips, and graham cracker crumbs, with a bakery-style crackle top... everything about these was perfect. The graham crackers added a sweet, subtle cinnamon-honey sort of taste, which went really well with the peanut butter, and gave the cookies just a little bit of a crunch. 

I may or may not have burnt my fingertips eating them right off the baking sheet...

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Graham Cookies. 

Printable Recipe

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup chocolate-covered or plain graham crackers, roughly crushed

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or spray with non-stick cooking spray and set aside. 

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

Cream together the butter, peanut butter, sugar, and vanilla extract on medium speed, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and beat to combine. On low speed, gradually add the flour until just combined. Stir in the oats, chocolate chips, and graham cracker pieces.

Use a cookie scoop to scoop out dough, roll into balls, and place on the prepared baking sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly golden. Cool completely on the baking sheet.

Makes about 27 cookies.

Source: Barely adapted from Brown-Eyed Baker.