Category Archives: Sweets: Cookies & Bars

Happy Valentine’s 2015!

Basically all my cookbooks and websites are “Americanized,” right? I can’t get the majority of ingredients favorite recipes call for, so I have to plan far in advance for treats like this.

I came back from our latest Stateside trip with white chocolate chips and cinnamon oil… we had already brought the Red Hots down. :) That’s how much I wanted to make these, I know I have funny priorities…

I didn’t change a thing from I had pinned ages ago. The cinnamon really “dies down” in the ocean of white chocolate so it shouldn’t be too spicy for anyone. It was a grand combination.

Hope you all have a great February 14th tomorrow and enjoy your loved ones to the max. xoxo

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ritz-rolo cookies

Okay, I made these a long time ago and got other people hooked on them, too… so this is a must-share!

There are no Rolos in Ecuador that I know of, buuuut I had Mike bring down a bag on his last Stateside trip a few weeks ago so I totally need to make these again soon.

I couldn’t find where I found these originally so I went on a hunt. I’m annoyingly careful about giving credit where its due but it’s also in turn annoying to find blog after blog that credits the next that credits the next, etc. I THINK the original creator was ‘s? Good grief. This is why I like cookbooks. Oh I miss my cookbooks…

Anyway! I’m not kidding about these! All skeptics shut their mouths after they experience the perfect blend of chocolate-y sweet and cracker-y salty. Plus, I only share recipes I like on here, so just trust me.

All you do is:

  1. Preheat to 350 F.
  2. Place crackers (salty side down) on baking sheet.
  3. Put a rolo in center of each cracker.
  4. Bake in oven until soft enough to easily squish down but not too melted or that just gets messy.
  5. Remove from oven and place another cracker (salty side up) on each. 
  6. Press down until Rolo reaches edge of cracker.

You can even make one at a time, but who would do that. ;) You need at least 20 at a time, ha.

One note – the couple times I made these we preferred them hardening for much longer than says (till they’re cool). It really can be eaten at any time, but we enjoyed it more after several hours (I know, torture, right). Whatever you prefer!

P.S. These will totally work for high-altitude dwellers. Nothing to it!

high-altitude turtle cookies

Before you throw this one away because you live at sea level – I noted on the printable recipe below notes for either. :)

Half the fun of making these was just that they’re pretty. :)

This recipe is from as shared by , but I have adjusted it for high altitude. Remember I’m talking over 9,000 feet elevation, so this should work for most “high-altitude” dwellers!

I don’t really know why but these always scream “Christmas” to me. At least I’ve made them for a Christmas party before! Just a holly jolly cookie, I guess.  ;)

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pumpkin swirl brownies

Looking Back: Originally posted on Nov 14, 2010.

Original post:

I started preparing these way too close to the time we needed to leave the house the other evening that I was scurrying around like a crazy lady trying to get them into the oven in record time.  I probably did set a record!!

I literally pulled them out of the oven, put them where the rest of the family couldn’t see them and left the house.  I didn’t get to enjoy them till the next morning, but it was worth the wait!

I borrowed the recipe from and adapted it slightly.

You can print it .

white chocolate-dipped cranberry-oatmeal cookies

Looking Back: Originally posted on Dec 23, 2010.

From Original Post:

Whew!  Long name.  But turns out not that difficult to make…plus they’re pretty!

It’s basically a normal cookie recipe made fancy by the dipped look. ;)

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perfect pumpkin cookie

Looking Back: Originally posted on Dec 18, 2010.

If you followed this blog back in 2010, you’ll remember how crazy I went with pumpkins! I cooked up a bunch and used it to make all sorts of cookies, muffins, bread and more.

 

When a I followed posted , I immediately saved the recipe and ta-da, have now shared it with you. I remember actually making them in my Grandma’s house in Idaho. Let me tell you, it’s harder to cook in someone else’s kitchen than I had originally thought! But it was enjoyable.

Print the recipe  (just slightly adapted from ).

white elephant fortune cookies

Looking Back: Originally posted on Dec 18, 2010.

Mike and I have hosted some sort of Christmas party since the year we began dating [2007]. Last year was the smallest – a dinner with close friends – as I was over 8 months pregnant and not up to putting on a big one!

A couple of the parties stand out in my memory and 2010 is one of those. I went baking crazy!

These were my favorite things I made though. There was a White Elephant exchange and I tried to think up a new way of drawing numbers, something to change things up a bit.

Each person received a fortune cookie – they got a yummy treat AND their White Elephant turn number.

And just for fun, I put some Christmas jokes in about 10 of them so the recipient could read them aloud to the group before they took their turn.

It was great fun.

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no-bake cookie bars

Looking Back: Originally posted on Sept 12, 2013.

Original post:

Spurred by the ever-broken oven in this house, I find myself discovering more and more crockpot, stovetop, and no-bake recipes out there! I’ve tried several this year but thought I’d share this one for fun.

All I can say about these is that they were incredibly easy to produce and were well-loved. Even Mike brought them up again later and he’s not a huge “sweets” fan {except me, of course!}. 

……………….I drafted the above a few days ago, had an interruption and forgot to come back. #storyofmylife. So here I am with a potentially exciting update. Since Monday morning, I’ve been a little sick to my stomach the way I get with any conflict. Mike finally laid it out to our landlords (lovingly, of course) and basically said, hey the contract said you’d provide an oven and we haven’t had one all year. Here are some option ideas, how can we have an oven this week? Fortunately, it produced action and they accepted one of our options. We were allowed to go out, do the leg work, and buy a new oven insert!! We purchased it last night, it will be delivered on Saturday and {crossing my fingers} the hook-ups will happen early next week. There has to be some adjustments due to it being gas and the previous one being electric, so please pray that is an easy switch. Nothing really ever is down here on this continent…. ;)

Anyway, I’m letting my hope actually go up this week and am praying that I’ll be baking away in a week!

You can find the cookie bar recipe .

Ecuador Note: for the “white chocolate bars,” I could only find ones with “crocante” in Quito. Worked just fine but I bet it’d be better as the recipe calls for. ;)

 

saturday morning lemon bars

Looking Back: Originally posted on Oct 15, 2010.

Original post:

Ahh, Saturday morning…my favorite time to bake. This morning was particularly peaceful – whether it was because the Oregon rain and clouds had descended upon us or that most of my family was out of the house, I don’t know. :) Maybe it was knowing that I don’t have to work today if I don’t want to. Or that I was baking with LEMON. That might have been it..I love lemon.

I made these straight from . My first attempt at lemon bars. Unfortunately, forgetting to set the timer, I let the crust cook a little too long. I should never EVER depend on my memory; it always gets me in trouble. Oh well. They still tasted fabulous…at least I thought so!

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high-altitude ginger molasses cookies

As I mentioned before, I tire of trying to adjust my own recipes to produce good results at high elevation, so I went on a hunt for a proven ginger cookie recipe. I’ll always save my mother’s for when I’m baking at sea level, but this I found is a phenomenal substitute.

How to describe how it tastes…?

In one word – CHRISTMAS. It tastes like Christmas, folks.

I didn’t adapt a single part of Mountain Mama’s . It’s that awesome.

Also, as she says and as I’ve tested out more than once, these freeze really well!

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