Peanut Butter Oat Squares

3 Ingredient NO Bake Peanut Butter Oat Bars...SO easy, only 3 ingredients!


                                                      Pic courtesy of Cookies and Cups


Ya'll, I'm so excited about these! They are so yummy and good for you and they're VEGAN! They have only 3 ingredients in them and are full of fiber and protein! Even my kids loved them- they're way better than granola bars!

Peanut Butter Oat Squares
from Cookies and Cups 
  • 1 cup peanut butter
  • 1/2 cup honey
  • 3 cups rolled oats
 Directions:
  • Line a 9x9 pan with foil. Spray lightly with non-stick spray.
  • Melt the peanut butter and honey together until smooth, either in the microwave or stove top. Combine mixture with oats.
  • Press into prepared pan. Place in refrigerator until set. Cut into squares. If you want them to remain hard, leave them in the refrigerator and pull one out when you need a yummy snack!


Pumpkin Blondies with Chocolate Chips


Pic courtesy Mel's Kitchen Cafe
I have been pinning everything from Mel's Kitchen Cafe lately. She's my favorite food blogger and pretty much everything I have tried from her blog has turned out great. And, this is no exception. I ate almost the whole pan myself, and I'm only partly embarrassed to admit that. Anyway, I followed her "low fat" option on these by subbing applesauce for half of the butter and it made it so moist and yummy, but not as rich and dense as I imagine butter would have made it (It was more like a cake than a brownie). But, it was so yummy and pumpkin-y.

Pumpkin Blondies with Chocolate Chips
adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe 

*Note: I adapted the original recipe so that I could sub out half the butter for applesauce. Yay for the cut in calories! By doing this, the bars become slightly more cakey than brownie-like so if you want the denser texture, use 2 sticks of butter and omit the applesauce instead. Also, if you don’t have pumpkin pie spice on hand, I’ve included a DIY below the recipe (for this recipe, triple the DIY amounts to get the 1 tablespoon called for in the recipe).

*Makes 9X13-pan of bars

INGREDIENTS:
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice*
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 (15-ounce) can pure pumpkin puree
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips


DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9X13-inch pan with parchment paper or foil, leaving an overhang on each long side so the bars can be easily pulled out of the pan once they are done baking and cooling.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl using a handheld electric mixer, cream the butter, applesauce, granulated sugar and brown sugar on medium-high speed until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Add pumpkin puree and mix until combined. Don’t worry if the mixture looks curdled – that’s completely fine!
Mix in the dry ingredients, stirring just until combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.
Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan. Bake until the edges begin to pull away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely in the pan before lifting the bars out of the pan, cutting into squares and serving.

*For a homemade pumpkin pie spice mix use the following, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon ginger and 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg and 1/8 teaspoon cloves. Mix together for the equivalent of 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice.

Pumpkin Streusel Bars

Pic courtesy Google images

My SIL, Macy made these for dessert a few weeks ago and I fell in love with them. So much so, that I made them a week later for a dinner party we went to. I'm not usually a huge fan of pumpkin, but these were amazing. Seriously. I think I'm going to forgo the pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving this year and go for these instead.

Pumpkin Streusel Bars
Macy Bell


1 box yellow cake mix
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 egg

Stir together cake mix, melted butter, and egg until well combined. Reserve one cup for topping. Press remaining mixture into the bottom of a 9x13 pan.

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
1 egg
2/3 cup sugar
1 t. vanilla
1/4 t. salt
1 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. nutmeg

Whisk together pumpkin, egg, sugar, vanilla, salt and spices. Spread filling over pressed crust.

1 cup reserved cake mix
1/2 cup sugar
1 T. cinnamon
3/4 cup old fashioned oats (I used quick oats with great results)
1/2 cup cold butter, cut into pieces

whipped cream , for serving

Stir together reserved cake mix, sugar, cinnamon, and old fashioned oats. Cut in cold butter with a fork or pastry cutter until mixture resembles course crumbs. Sprinkle over filling and bake in a 325 oven for 35-40 min.* , or until topping is lightly browned (do not over bake). Serve with whipped cream.


*Mine took more closer 50 minutes to bake.

Pistachio Creme Dessert

My dad jokes that this recipe is in the handbook of the church because so many mormons make it. Whatever...I just think its that good. Its so creamy and delicious that every bite will have you wanting more- its certainly not on the weight watchers menu, so watch out! :) You can use whatever flavor of pudding you prefer- chocolate and pistachio are my favorites. You are only limited by your imagination!

Pistachio Creme Dessert
The Mormon Handbook :)

Crust:
1 1/4 cup flour
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cube butter (room temp) cubed

Mix the flour and butter together and add the nuts. Reserve about 1/4 cup and set aside. Press remaining mixture into a 9x13 pan and cook at 350 for 20 minutes. Cool completely.

Layer One:
8 oz. Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 c. fresh whipped cream (or use Cool Whip)

Mix together until smooth and spread on the cooled crust.

Layer Two:
1 small package instant pistachio pudding
1 small package instant vanilla pudding
2 1/2 cups milk
1 tsp vanilla

Mix together, cool until thickened (about 2 min.) and spread over layer one. Top the whole thing off with a layer of fresh whipped cream and sprinkle reserved crust mixture on top. Enjoy!

Lemon Cheesecake Bars

I'm pretty sure Rebecca introduced this to the family a while back. We've made them several times since and they always earn rave reviews. Again, this is a super easy recipe and you'll probably have most of the ingredients in your fridge or pantry. Need dessert tonight? Here you go.
pic courtesy Google images

Lemon Cheesecake Bars
Rebecca Bell?

1 box yellow cake mix (although I've used white w/ good results too!)
1/3 cup oil
2 eggs
8 oz cream cheese
1/3 c. sugar
2 tsp. lemon oil (I usually use all of the juice from one large lemon)

Mix cake mix in a small bowl with oil and one egg until crumbly. Reserve 1/2-1 cup of cake mixture and put aside. Mash remaining mixture into the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Bake in 350 degree oven for 12-15 minutes (this is better underdone!). While baking, mix together until smooth- cream cheese, sugar, remaining egg, and lemon juice (no matter how much lemon juice you put in, its not a huge flavor). As soon as the crust comes out of the oven, spread cream cheese mixture evenly on top and then crumble remaining cake mixture over this. Bake in 350 degree oven for 13 minutes (again- underdone is better!). Cool and cut into bars.

Triple layer brownies

I am not going to lie. I found this recipe on the back of the brownie box. I was in a bind one night and needed a quick dessert. I was out to impress. I wasn't about to take JUST brownies! :) So I was desperate for a recipe and a fast, easy one. One where I had all the ingredients on hand. This is just that type of recipe and it looks like you spent hours. And it's so yummy.

Make brownies according to recipe in 9x13 pan.
Cool. Top brownies with vanilla frosting from tub. Then put a layer on chipped peanuts on top. In a sauce pan melt two cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1 cup of peanut butter together. Then pour that mixture over crushed rice cereal. I used Special K but it actually called for Rice Krispies. Smooth that mixture over brownies.

Peanut Butter Bars

Brian's birthday was last week and these delectable treats were his request for a birthday cake. I halved the recipe and it worked perfectly in a 9X13 pan instead of a cookie sheet. They have oatmeal in them, which not only gives the bar a great texture, but makes you feel like it might be slightly healthy for you (don't worry, they're not). Addicting and delicious, these peanut butter bars really deliver.
Peanut Butter Bars

1 cup butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2/3 c. peanut butter
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 cups oats

Chocolate Frosting:
3 c. powdered sugar
4 Tbs. butter
4 Tbs. cocoa powder
4 Tbs. milk
1/3 c. peanut butter (or to taste)

Mix butter, sugars, peanut butter, eggs and vanilla. Add salt, flour, baking soda, and oats. Mix well and spread out on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350F for 16-18 minutes. Cool completely and then frost. Enjoy!

Black and White Cheesecake Squares

Pic courtesy of My Kitchen Cafe

Wow. These were soooo devilishly good. They might set you back a couple pounds on your New Year's diet, but if you are going to indulge, I would definitely reach for these babies. I made them last night for a game night and they went over hugely. They are really, really rich (think 2 1/2 cubes of butter and 2 cups of sugar) so thankfully, you really can't eat that many at a time.

Black and White Cheesecake Squares
from My Kitchen Cafe

Nonstick cooking spray
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 sticks butter, softened
2 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Coat a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.

Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. In another bowl, cream butter and granulated sugar with a mixer until smooth. Add 2 eggs and 2 teaspoons vanilla, and beat until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl. Reduce speed to low; add flour mixture. Increase speed to medium; beat until incorporated.

Reserve 1 cup of dough; cover, and refrigerate. Press remaining dough into bottom of prepared dish. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Bake until base is set and edges are puffed, 22-25 minutes (don't overbake or this brownie layer will be too hard and crumbly). Let cool in dish on a wire rack.

Mix cream cheese, confectioners' sugar, and remaining egg and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla in a medium bowl. Spread over cooled base; crumble reserved dough on top. Bake until filling is set, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool in dish on wire rack. Cut into 24 squares. Squares will keep, covered and refrigerated, for up to 3 days.

Perfect One Bowl Brownies

Merry Christmas! I made these brownies the other day from The Sister's Cafe and they were delish. I've always a strong supporter of brownies from a box because it just didn't seem like homemade brownies were ever as moist and chocolatey as boxed ones. But, I tried this because I needed something fast, easy, and last-minute. "Mmmm good," is all I and everyone that tried them had to say.

Perfect One Bowl Brownies
from The Sister's Cafe

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
4 eggs
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cup flour
1 cup chocolate chips (or however many you like)


Preheat oven to 350. In a medium bowl melt butter in microwave, then stir in oil, sugar and cocoa. With a wooden spoon stir in the remainder of the ingredients except for the chocolate chips. Spread into a 9x13 pan sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top (I like my chocolate chips better mixed in, but whichever you prefer). Bake in a preheated oven for 25-30 minutes. If your toothpick comes out clean you have cooked them too long! DO NOT OVERCOOK!

Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

photo courtesy of My Kitchen Cafe

I saw Paula Deen make these on the Food Network and I couldn't resist trying them. I love a good pumpkin recipe and these definitely fit the bill. They are so moist and delicious- definitely a holiday splurge! Enjoy!

Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

Bars:
4 eggs
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil (can substitute 1/2 cup applesauce for 1/2 cup oil)
15-ounce can pumpkin
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

Icing:
8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Using an electric mixer at medium speed, combine the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until light and fluffy. Stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix at low speed until thoroughly combined and the batter is smooth. Spread the batter into a greased 13 by 10-inch baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting. Cut into bars.

To make the icing: Combine the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the sugar and mix at low speed until combined. Stir in the vanilla and mix again. Spread on cooled pumpkin bars.