Peanut Butter Oat Squares

                                                      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!

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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