Berry Oatmeal Crumble Bars

I made these Berry Bars a while back, and I forgot to blog about them.  We always have a bag of Costco frozen mixed berries in our freezer. I wouldn't waste your money on fresh berries for this recipe.  This recipe is the perfect combination of sweet and tart.  The crust and topping tastes like a brown sugar oatmeal cookie, and the filling is to die for. 

Berry Oatmeal Crumble Bars

Filling: 

3 cups of frozen berries
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch 

Crumble and Crust:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups rolled oats (quick-cooking or regular)
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened and cut into 7-9 large chunks
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

Filling: In a medium saucepan, stir together berries and lemon juice and cook medium heat until fruit is defrosted.
In a small bowl, whisk together sugar and cornstarch, then stir into fruit mixture. Continue cooking until mixture comes to a boil. Boil for 1-2 minutes, until thick. Scrape berry filling into a medium bowl and set aside.

Crust: Preheat oven to 350 and lightly grease a 9×13″ baking pan.
In a food processor (or large mixing bowl), combine flour, oats, brown sugar, butter, baking soda , salt and vanilla extract. Pulse until mixture is thoroughly blended and resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside 1 1/2 cups of this mixture in a medium bowl. Pour remaining crumb mixture into the bottom of the prepared baking dish, spread evenly and pat down. Place filling in dollops over crust and carefully spread to cover entire surface. Squeeze reserved crumb mixture into large clumps with your fingers and sprinkle evenly over the top of the fruit filling.
Bake until golden brown, about 30 to 35 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.
Cut into 20 bars to serve.

 Recipe Source: http://bakingbites.com/2007/05/berry-oatmeal-crumble-bars/

Leftover Halloween Candy Bar Cookies

It's a couple days after Halloween, and we have ALOT of leftover candy.  Soccer season has ended and we have a potluck pool party we are going to.  I needed to bring something, and so the wheels turned in my head.  I used my favorite cookie base for chocolate chip cookies and instead of adding chocolate chips, I added all sorts of chopped up candy bars.  Snickers, Reese's, Baby Ruth, Malt balls, Hershey's bars, Nestle Crunch, M and M's....you name it, it went into the batter.  I went away from putting anything mint into the mixture and stuck with more of the caramel, nut, nougat, peanut butter profile.  These turned out incredible, and was a good way to use all those candy bars.  If you want to do one big chopfest, candy bar chunks can be stored a ziplock in the freezer for later uses.

Leftover Halloween Candy Bar Cookies

2 c. plus 2 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
12 tbs. butter, melted, then cooled till warm
1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. sugar
1 egg, plus 1 egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla
1 -1 1/2 c. assorted candy bar pieces chopped up

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Melt butter in a large bowl in the microwave just until it melts, don't scorch it! Add sugars, vanilla, and salt to butter mixture. Add egg and egg yolk, blend. Add flour and baking soda, mix until blended. Stir in candy bar pieces. Scoop tablespoon sized cookies onto an ungreased, light colored baking sheet. Cook for 14 minutes, or until edges are lightly golden...do not over bake. Let cookies sit for 1 minute until removing them from the pan to cool.