Baking Monday - Peanut Butter Crunch Bars

On the heels of last weeks's success, I went back to the bookshelf for this week's recipe. I decided on these bars from the Pillsbury Best Cookies cookbook.



These were suuuuper rich and peanut-buttery. Basically a peanut butter cookie with chocolate and krispies on top. I did not have a jelly roll pan, so I made them in a 9x12, so they turned out thick. I also put the pan in the fridge to speed up cooling after spreading the chocolate.

I can't find the recipe online, so here you go!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch Bars

1/2 c sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c butter, softened
1/2 c peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 1/4 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c crispy rice cereal

For topping:
1 c chocolate chips
1/2 c peanut butter
1 1/2 c crispy rice cereal

• Mix sugars with butter until light and fluffy.
• Add peanut butter, vanilla and egg, mix well.
• Add flour, baking soda and salt, followed by cereal, mix well.
• Press into 15 x 10 x 1" pan. Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes until golden brown.
• Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan over low heat, melt chocolate chips and peanut butter. Stir in cereal.
• Spoon mixture over slightly cooled bars and spread gently. Cool completely before serving.

Lego Party

We celebrated a very Lego birthday this week. I was so excited that Theo wanted to have a Lego-themed party, there are SO many cute ideas out there (like this, this, and this.)

Theo helped me with the invitations. The figure originally had a regular candle in his hand, and my backseat designer said, "The candle should be made out of Legos, too!" Of course, he was right. He brought me the flame piece so I could see what it was supposed to look like.



Surprise party? Yes. But more on that later. First things first: Lego wrapping paper. Clark tried to help me with this, but was cranky and quit after five minutes. This was super fun and easy, and I found that good acrylic paint worked better than the kids' washable tempera.



We had our family here over the weekend, so I got to set a cute table:



... and I splurged for the coordinating color M&M's, couldn't resist.



I also made little picks for the swirly cupcakes.



Now, here's where the insanity struck ... I found instructions to make a little folded Lego guy online and used that as the inspiration for favor boxes. These printed on a sheet of cardstock and were big enough to hold Pop Rocks, fruit snacks and a Lego minifigure pack.



Want it? You got it. Download printable Lego Minifigure favor boxes here.



Only slightly less insane, but SO fun ... we ordered minifigure parts from the Lego website. An assortment of heads, bodies, legs, hats/hair, accessories and base plates. I used clear labels to personalize a name plate for each guest.

And for Theo's friend party, I made Lego head cake pops!



This was my first attempt at shaped cake pops. (Thanks to Living Locurto for the idea!) I used M&M's to make the little pegs on top. I had some trouble with the Wilton food markers, they did not go on nearly as smooth as I thought they would. Jeff thought they looked like boobs, but the kids knew what they were supposed to be, so (raspberry sound).



They were slightly wonky, but (high-pitched sing-song voice) dee-lish-ous! I used the extra chocolate to dip pretzel sticks.



Snack table staging area. It was a gorgeous day, so we had the party and all the food outside. So much nicer than having ten 7-year-olds stomping through the house.



Theo requested chocolate chip cookies again this year, but there's never any good place to put the candle ... oh, wait!



I borrowed my brother's old Legos from my parents' house so the kids would have them to build with during the party. I set up a gallery area and made round labels for awards (most creative, craziest, biggest, etc.) The kids LOVED the competition, and Dora loved handing out the awards. Everyone who participated got a title, and they were proud to wear their badges. (Seven-year-olds are not too old for stickers yet, yay!)



Here are their minifigure creations. They had SO much fun with this. There was a fair amount of chaos when they were putting them together - everyone grabbing at once - but I tried to move the dishes around the table and give everyone a chance at a first choice.



Okay, so the surprise. Dora REALLY wanted to have a surprise party for Theo. I thought it would be impossible to plan a friends' party without him knowing about it. Our solution was to plan the party for a Thursday ... but tell Theo that it would be on Friday. Dad picked up the kids from school and took them out while the guests arrived. Everyone hid in the treehouse for the big reveal, and Theo was really, truly surprised, it was so cool. Dora got many accolades for the great idea and planning.

And, OH! the party. It was such a boy party. They did not stop moving for 90 minutes. They shot baskets and played soccer and tossed footballs and hula-hooped. They wrestled and imagined a police chase and walked in the woods and played hide and seek.



There was also a lot of treehouse play ...



Lego building ...



... and potty talk (this is Theo making tooting noises for the crowd.)



They ran and ran and ran some more. Most were all sweaty when their parents came to pick them up. Hopefully everyone fell asleep quickly tonight. I don't think they get enough opportunities for so much physical play, it was such a thrill to see them having so much fun.



Yesterday's lost tooth confirmed it ... I've got a big kid now!!

Baking Monday 2 - Cinnamon Apple Streusel Bars

I ususally try to plan Baking Monday in advance so I can pick up any special ingredients on grocery day. Since I had parties to shop for, I didn't get the chance to think ahead for this week. I was also short on time ... I had exactly one hour to put something together before picking the kids up from school. So, I had to find something that I could make quickly with whatever ingredients I had on hand.

When I get a new cookbook, I like to look through it right away and mark all the recipes that sound good. So, I flipped through a few cookie books, looking for tagged recipes that fit the bill. I decided to make Cinnamon Apple Streusel Bars, which allowed me to use up the extra apple slices from Theo's school birthday snack earlier in the day.

Another time saver? Every dry ingredient in the recipe is in 1/4 cup quantities, which means only one measuring cup got dirty. Yee-hah!



These were really easy to make. (By the way, 1.25 c graham cracker crumbs is equivalent to one of the plastic-wrapped bricks of crackers.) The butter + graham cracker + sugar bottom crust got all carmalized and crunchy. I used 2.5 apples and would probably use even more next time.

Are you ready for the good news? These were voted Best. Dessert. Ever. I'm in shock. Especially because there was no chocolate involved!

Best Desserts so far (as declared by my panel of tasters):

Cinnamon Apple Streusel Bars
Peanut Butter Fudge
Better Than Pop Tarts
Chocolate Caramel Cookies

Baking Monday - Swirly Vanilla Cupcakes

I'm continuing my quest for a good homemade cupcake recipe, these are pretty close. Last time I tried from scratch cupcakes, they were a little dense - more like pound cake - but this one was pretty good.



It took Theo about ten minutes to describe to me the kind of cupcakes he wanted for his birthday. He wanted vanilla for sure, and he wanted vanilla and chocolate frosting so that he could have a bit of each flavor with each bite. (Imagine this being described to me with elaborate hand motions and biting mime).



I put chocolate and vanilla icing (store bought, sadly) together in a bag, and they turned out great ... like tiny little twist cones.



I had some leftover filling in the freezer from these, so they had a little sweet surprise in the middle. Dora wanted me to leave a few plain because she does not like frosting, and I preferred the plain ones, too.



Clark went the other way and chose to eat only frosting instead.

Birthday Highlights

• Jeff took the day off of work!

• Walking the kids to school and going to a PTO meeting ... which doesn't sound like it should be a highlight, but going without a three-year-old was a treat. Plus, it was the first meeting of the year, so everyone was energetic and happy.

• Many, many FB birthday greetings. My phone was buzzing with updates all day.

• Picking out new glasses ... again, not really thrilling, but much less stressful to do with one kid than three.

• Lunch at Five Guys, mmmm.

• Spa pedicure, using a gift card from our friends. I asked Clark what color my toes should be, and he said "blue!" You got it, little dude.

• Shopping at Kohl's.

• Gifts from the kids, including a hysterical video explaining the hazards of PFOAs to go along with a new set of pots and pans. I got spoiled this year: books, magazines, dvds, chocolate, jewelry and an iPod Nano (it's pink!)

• Dinner at my favorite restaurant with surprise guests and a giant margarita.

AND ...

For the very first time ...

Being sung to by he waitstaff of a restaurant. In Spanish. While wearing a giant sombrero. I do not believe my face could have been any more red.

One Last Summer Project

Two weeks before school started, Jeff and I were outside working on the treehouse.



Dora and Theo found boxes and decided to make treehouses for their guys.



And Clark wanted to paint, too.



You know, I was just at the point of the summer where I was starting to feel discouraged that the kids weren't spending enough time outside, initiating their own play, or doing enough creative projects.



... and then, by surprise, they did all three!



They got out all their own supplies, and put everything away, leaving only a few painty fingerprint surprises for me.



It's nice when we can balance out tv-filled afternoons with some of these days, too.

Baking Monday - Caramel Cookies

I felt a little cheaty with today's cookies, because they have a secret ingredient that makes them really awesome.



And they were apparently the best dessert so far, according to my panel of judges, both grown-up and child. Wow!