when i make these raspberry oatmeal squares they are gone almost immediately. once you have one - you just can't stop. the original recipe for these bars was great - but i made it better with adding fresh raspberries to the filling. now they are perfect!
raspberry oatmeal squares
adapted from joyofbaking.com
1/2 c unsalted butter (room temp)
1 c. light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 c. all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp vanilla powder
2 c. old fashioned oats
filling
1 half pint raspberries - smashed up
1/8 tsp cinnamon sugar
1/4 c . raspberry jam
vanilla sugar
cinnamon sugar
for sprinkling on top
preheat oven to 350
butter 9x9 baking dish
oatmeal base
cream butter and sugar. add egg and vanilla...beat to combine.
in medium bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, vanilla powder. add to butter mixture and combine, stir in 1 3/4 oats.
press 2/3 dough into bottom of pan.
smash raspberries, spinkle with cinnamon sugar, and add jam. stir to combine. smooth raspberry mix over dough.
add 1/4 cup oats to remaining dough. stir to combine. crumble over top of raspberry.
sprinkle cinnamon sugar and vanilla sugar over top.
bake 30 minutes.
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these carrot cake cookies almost converted me from a pumpkin lover to a
carrot cake lover. yes, they are that good. the cookie itself is soft
and moist - yet strong enough to hold up as a sandwich cookie. i added
more spice to the mix because that is how i roll. i think it is a major
improvement over the original recipe. i usually could leave the frosting
out of the equation but in this case - the frosting makes these
cookies. the cookie itself is not very sweet and the creamy sweetness of
the cream cheese frosting balances out the cookie with the perfect
amount of sweetness to compliment the spices in the cookie. these carrot
cake cookies would be the perfect picnic or backyard barbecue dessert. 
i love the idea of using rice krispies in a cookie. i have adapted the
recipe a bit by adding toffee and cinnamon but i think the rice krispies
are what make them special. the cookie itself is crisp but the middle
is still chewy. the toffee melts the perfect amount to be chewy but
still hold that toffee texture i love. ever since i made 
these cookies are INCREDIBLE! i am not exaggerating - they are
perfection. the crispy cookie and the white chocolate would be amazing
on their own but the addition of the sea salt - oh my! the salty crunch
on top makes these cookies one of the best i have ever made.Session dataSession data 
these peanut butter and jelly bars fit the bill perfectly. not only are
they simple to make - you can easily double the recipe for a large
crowd. i need my peanut butter to be chunky - the smooth stuff just
doesn't feel like peanut butter to me - so i substituted chunky for
smooth. any kind of berry jam will work great and for those of you
grape jelly fans - that would work as well. i added a bit on honey to
the batter and honey roasted peanuts to the top because i think peanut
butter and honey are naturals together. 
the mixed apple pie was probably one of my favorite pies i have
made because each apple was so different - different flavor and
texture. they combined perfectly. the all butter pastry crust was flaky
and i had a lot of fun making up the top crust. i have done lattice - i
have done full crust - i have done crumble topping. i wanted something
special this time. i took the top crust and cut out circles with a
biscuit cutter and overlapped the circles. it looked like a flower. i
will be using that one again - it makes a traditional pie new again. 
this cake met every expectation i had and then some. i used a different
recipe for the cake because i have one i love and the baked recipe makes
a three layer cake which i thought was overkill. i made everything else
from the baked recipe. this was not an easy cake for me to make as i
seem to be cursed when it comes to caramel but it was worth all the
effort. the balance of the sweet & salty flavors is perfection. the
cake itself is pure decadence but with fleur de sel and caramel it puts
it into a whole other world.
i get why people love these brownies and i am sure they are equally
fabulous on their own but i am telling you they are a little slice of
heaven when marbled with a cream cheese swirl. i upped the amount of
espresso powder and decreased the sugar by a bit because i do that in
most recipes. both adaptations worked really well and i think they
enhanced the deep chocolate flavor in these brownies. 
