Lovin' From the Oven

Chunky Monkey Bars & Winner

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Before we get to the bars, I’m sure you guys are all wondering who the winner of the Shabby Apple giveaway is! Well, with some help from random.org, the winner is….

Tree! Congratulations! Keep an eye out for an email from me so I can get your contact information and size for the dress. 🙂

I was craving Ben & Jerry’s “chunky monkey” one night and didn’t want to drive all the way to the grocery store at one o’clock in the morning. Since I had the three main ingredients on hand, I decided to whip something up (not to mention my family somehow has a never ending amount of ripe bananas). Of course these aren’t as good as the real thing, but paired with vanilla ice cream, they’d give them a run for their money. This recipe does make quite a bit, so cut it in half if you’re not feeding a family of twenty.

These bars are very light– they’d make a great breakfast or brunch snack to take on the go. The walnuts can be omitted, and the chocolate can be changed to white or milk… whatever floats your boat.

  • 2 cups AP flour
  • 1 cup oats
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 cup softened butter
  • 1 cups granulated sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 4 very ripe, mashed bananas
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 8 oz chopped dark chocolate
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
  2. Grease a rimmed cookie sheet with butter or oil.
  3. Cream together the butter and both sugars. 
  4. Mix in the eggs, bananas, and vanilla until well blended.
  5. Mix in the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until incorporated.
  6. Stir in chocolate and walnuts. Spread into prepared cookie sheet and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

Marshmallow Monster Cookies

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I’ve got a bone to pick with you guys. With summer coming up in full swing, which sunscreen do you guys use? The spray or lotion kind? I’m usually a lotion kind of girl, but we recently bought the aerosol version since it seemed so much easier to apply.

Never again. The bottle lasted my DB and I literally 3 days. Not only that, but it doesn’t quite spread everywhere. We both got burnt with zebra stripes on our backs/arms/legs, despite our efforts of putting it on twice in one afternoon. Ouch. So it’s more expensive, doesn’t last nearly as long, and isn’t quite effective. I definitely won’t be using the aerosol kind anymore. Am I doing something wrong or does it truly suck?

These cookies were wonderful. They were hearty with a good mix of peanut butter, oatmeal, and chocolate, and had a wonderful texture. They were thick and chewy, while the marshmallows were a nice addition to the mix. My DB even ate these and he HATES oatmeal! He barely noticed that they were even there. This recipe is adapted from Pinch of Yum and lives up to the “monster” name!

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • pinch of salt
  • 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup peanut butter
  • 2 cups quick-cooking oats
  • 1 cup milk chocolate chips
  • 1 cup white chocolate chips
  • 1 cup miniature marshmallows
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 
  2. Stir together the flour, baking powder and baking soda in a large bowl. 
  3. Cream butter and both sugars until fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then add the vanilla. 
  4. Add the peanut butter and mix until smooth. Mix in the flour mixture until just combined.
  5. Stir the oats and chips into the dough with a wooden spoon.
  6. Drop the dough by heaping tablespoonfuls onto baking sheets, about 3 inches apart. Push in 4-5 marshmallows into each cookie dough ball. Bake for about 8-10 minutes, until golden.

Cheerio Snickerdoodles

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I’ve been a bad blogger. I’ve totally been MIA. Sorry I didn’t update while I was out… but I was in Paris! Carpe Diem! More on Paris, later… I’m just glad to be home.
Honey Nut Cheerio has always been one of my favorite cereals. I always try to convince the DB to get the pack from Costco when we’re there, but he argues that it’s just too much Cheerio for two people. Fine, you win. So, I drove over the local grocery store and buy it there instead. I was curious as to if Cheerios would go well in a cookie, so I gave it a quick Google. Sure enough, someone else has thought of it before me!
Cheerio and snickerdoodles. Why haven’t I thought of it before? They sound like they go together.. the cinnamon, sugar, and honey.. and of course they did! These cookies were so good. I kept eating the cookie dough like there was no tomorrow. I also refrigerated my dough overnight just to make sure the cookies were going to come out sturdy. The Cheerios gradually softened while in the fridge, so the cookie dough only tasted good just after mixing (I’m not encouraging you to eat cookie dough.. that’d be terrible of me!). The cookie turned out a bit crispy on the edges and soft with the bite. Adapted from The Caramel Cookie.

  • 8 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup oats
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 3/4 cups Honey Nut Cheerios

For cinnamon sugar:

  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  1. Mix together flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
  2. Cream butter and both sugars together until well mixed. Add in the egg and vanilla.
  3. Mix in the dry mixture to the wet mixture. Slowly stir in the Cheerios.
  4. Chill the dough for 2 hours.
  5. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  6. Shape dough into balls and roll in cinnamon sugar mixture. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before moving cookies to a cooling rack.

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