It’s that time of year again…when children cry and parents cheer. Summer memories of swimming, biking and camping are long gone. But they don’t have to be. You can pack a bit of summer memories in their lunch with these super easy, super chocolatey and super marshmallowey (If that’s not a word, it should be!) S’mores Bars.

And I found this cool new marshmallow creme that tastes like the perfect toasted marshmallow.  You know, the one you set on fire so it gets just a little black but then you eat it and burn your tongue and can’t wait to get another and burn your tongue again?  Well, this stuff tastes like that only without the black burnt pieces. I thought it worked perfectly for these, but regular marshmallow creme is just as delicious.

S’Mores Bars

1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/3 cups flour
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch salt
5 chocolate bars (I used about 12 mini Hershey bars)
1 cup marshmallow creme

Preheat your oven to 350 F.

Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy with a mixer set on high.  Add the egg and vanilla and beat some more.

In another bowl, mix the flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt then slowly pour this into the butter/sugar mixture.  Take out about 3/4 cup of this stuff and set it aside.

Take the rest and pat it into a greased 8″x8″ square baking pan.   Set your candy bars on top of this base.  Spread the marshmallow creme over the candy bars. Finally, drop spoonfuls of the graham cracker mixture you set aside on top.

Bake for about 25-30 minutes.  Cool and cut into squares.  Campfire taste without Smoky the Bear showing up.

        

Today is your lucky day, chickens, because I have searched for years for the perfect rolled sugar cookie recipe, the one that’s thick and soft but doesn’t puff up and has a buttery taste that’s not too sweet and that perfect frosting that stays glazed and hardens beautifully like the ones that magazines taunt you with every Christmas.  Well, I found it..the last sugar cookie recipe you will ever need.  Now, I know some of you will get defensive because a sugar cookie recipe is a personal thing…so if you have the perfect recipe for you, I won’t even attempt to dissuade you.  But for those of you who are on the endless quest and still searching, you may now rest.  You’re welcome.

PERFECT ROLLED SUGAR COOKIES

For the cookies:
1 cup butter softened (no substitutes)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract (or extract of your choice…I like orange or lemon)
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the frosting:

2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 tablespoon milk (adding in more if needed)
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon almond extract (again, use what you like)
food coloring

In a large bowl, combine butter with sugar, eggs, vanilla and almond extract; beat using an electric mixer on high speed until light and fluffy. In another bowl, combine the flour with baking powder, baking soda and salt; gradually stir into the butter mixture until well blended. TAKE YOUR FINGER OUT OF THAT DOUGH. You heard me. Now cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours.

When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 400°F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper (remember, parchment paper is our friend). On a very lightly floured (sometimes I use powdered sugar) surface, roll out the dough into about 1/4-inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes using cookie cutters. Use a spatula to lift and place on the cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes and let ‘em cool for about 5 minutes before lifting onto a wire rack to cool.

Now for the frosting. In a small bowl, mix the confectioners sugar with about 1 tablespooon of milk. Beat in the corn syrup and extract until the icing is smooth and glassy. You don’t want it too thin yet because you’re going to flood your cookies. Here’s how:  (Disclaimer:  the lighting seemed to change with every pic…just pretend it’s beautifully photographed. If this really bothers you, you should just leave now and go here.)

        

Ah, holiday baking.  The delicious smells, the smiles as the kids decorate cookies, the powdered sugar smeared on your face and some unnamed dried syrup on your shirt that you can’t identify and the mountains of dirty dishes from eleven hours of baking that will sit there for two whole days because if you keep your flour covered butt in this kitchen ONE MORE SECOND, the kids will think you are a gingerbread man and begin to frost you. But it’s worth it…because is there anything better than a holiday cookie?  How about a warm holiday cookie from the oven?  How about a warm holiday cookie from the oven with peanut butter inside?  BOOYAH! Didn’t see THAT one comin’, didja? Oh, you did?  Ok, well I guess I put it in the title, but I digress. My youngest didn’t see it coming, the same kid who has been known to smuggle a peanut butter jar and a spoon into her bedroom, and she thought these were nirvana.  So will you.

Peanut Butter Filled Chocolate Cookies

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup sifted powdered sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter

Preheat oven to 350 degree F. In a medium mixing bowl stir together flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda. In another mixing bowl, beat together butter, the 1/2 cup granulated sugar, brown sugar, and the 1/4 cup peanut butter with an electric mixer until combined. Add the egg, milk, and vanilla; beat well. Beat in as much of the dry ingredients as you can with mixer. Stir in remaining dry ingredients by hand with a wooden spoon. I have a powerful Kitchen-Aid mega mixer which could mix cement so I used the mixer the entire time. Form chocolate dough into 32 balls about 1-1/4 inches in diameter.

For peanut butter filling, in a medium mixing bowl combine powdered sugar and the remaining 1/2 cup peanut butter until smooth. Shape mixture into 32 (3/4-inch) balls. On a work surface, slightly flatten a chocolate dough ball and top with a peanut butter ball. Shape the chocolate dough over the peanut butter filling, completely covering the filling. Roll dough into a ball. Repeat with the remaining chocolate dough and peanut butter filling balls.

Place balls 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake ‘em in for 8-10 minutes or until they’re just set and surface is slightly cracked. Let cookies stand for 1 minute. Transfer cookies to wire racks; cool. They will be slightly soft so don’t overbake ‘em unless you want to play ice hockey out front with them.

You can pretty these up with a little drizzle of chocolate, but I had to get my flour covered butt out of the kitchen.  They’re just as good without.

        

First, make the cookie dough.  This is my favorite chocolate cookie dough. It holds its shape well and is soft and not too sweet.

Yummy Chocolate Cookie Dough

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup baking cocoa
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture.  Try not to eat all the dough. Feel free to chill it if you want but you can work with it now.

Little Martha Stewart type note here – when I make this recipe for grown-up functions, I use cocoa powder instead of the sugar to flatten.  It makes a less sweet cookie.  Also, I leave off eyes and other body parts.  Most adults prefer to eat a cookie without eyes.

You could always put a popsicle stick under these and make lollipop cookies.  You know I love me some food on a stick.

        

By now, you know that my family is from the south so turnip greens, soup beans and cornbread were a staple growing up.  What you don’t know is that I grew up smack dab in the middle of Amish country where every mailbox listed Miller, Swartzentruber or Yoder, where our local grocery had more hitching posts than parking spaces and where out of towners descended to buy quilts, wood furniture and delicious baked goods.

The Amish were green before green was hip. They reuse, recycle and make do.  Simplicity is a way of life.  So with today’s economy, I’m reaching back into the recipes my Amish neighbors taught me.   From Shoofly pie to Soda Cracker Pudding,  Homemade Egg Noodles to Half Moon Pie, Amish recipes are simple, frugal and delish!

Today we’re going to learn how to make the Amish version of Snickerdoodles which are large, soft, puffy cookies dusted with cinnamon and sugar.

Oh, and when my Amish neighbors said they were baking, they were B-A-K-I-N-G! Not one pie, not two, but 5 or 6 pies at a time, 12 loaves of bread and 6-8 dozen cookies.  So if you’re wondering if the measurements in this recipes are correct, the answer is, as my friend Wanda Swartzentruber would say, “Ja!” (yep!). This recipe makes about 5-6 dozen cookies but it can easily be split in half.  I like to bake the whole batch because they freeze well, and my neighbor happens to love them.

AMISH SNICKEROODLES

• 1 cup shortening (traditionally, homemade lard is used but since I haven’t slaughtered a pig this summer, shortening will do)
• 4 eggs
• 3 cups sugar
• 4 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 5 1/2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tsp. vanilla (the vanilla isn’t traditional either but I like the taste with the cinnamon)
• Cinnamon and sugar for rolling

Preheat oven to 350° Farenheit.

In a mixer, cream the shortening and sugar together.  Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each.   Add the vanilla.

Sift the flour, baking soda, salt and cream of tartar together.  Add slowly to the mixture until well combined.

Mix about 2-3 Tablespoons each of sugar and ground cinnamon in a shallow bowl.  Roll into walnut sized balls and roll into the cinnamon/sugar mixture.  Place on lightly greased baking sheet and bake for 12-14 minutes.

        

As I recover from being sick the entire month of March, I’m gearing up for the one thing scarier than Tom Cruise when you ask him for a recommendation for a good psychologist…that scariest of scary events…the slumber party!  (Ominous organ and thunder crashing.) My eleven year old has invited eight of her bestest friends to celebrate.  It brings back memories of my slumber parties.    Sigh.  I remember laying there with my preteen friends, quaking with terror as I tried to fend of falling asleep to avoid having my hand dipped in warm water,  being slathered with shaving cream, or having “I love Scott Baio!” drawn on my forehead with the-world’s-most-permanent marker.   Ahh, good times.  Good times.

Now that my daughter is wanting her own parties, I think the fear level is greater.  We are talking about preteen girls here.  I’m going to have pizza on speed dial, high density ear plugs for my husband and LOTS of chocolate. I’m starting with these cookies….perfect pillows of chocolate decadence guaranteed to soothe even the most dramatic preteen.

Here’s how:

4 squares unsweetened chocolate
2 Tablespoons of butter
4 eggs
1 1/2 c. sugar
3/4 c. flour
3/4 c. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tsp. vanilla
1 c. chopped walnuts

• Melt chocolate and butter over hot water. Cool.
• Beat eggs in mixer until foamy then slowly add the granulated sugar.  Beat in mixer until it thickens, about 5 minutes.
• Pour in the cooled chocolate.
• Add flour, powdered sugar, baking powder and salt.
• Stir in vanilla and nuts.
• Roll into balls and drop onto greased cookie sheet (or use parchment paper).
• Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.
• Cool before eating.  You’ll burn your tongue because you won’t stop eating.  Then where would you be, huh?

Now, I must save some for myself as I recuperate the next morning.