Baking day

Last Saturday was a sort of baking day for me.  I was making a couple of different types of squares for Sunday's potluck lunch at church, and ended up trying two new recipes in addition to an old favorite.  I thought I would share the links and my thoughts on the recipes for those who may be interested.

One of my favorite sources for dessert recipes is Jocelyn at Inside BruCrew Life.  I don't think I have ever made a recipe from Jocelyn that hasn't been absolutely wonderful.  She just has a knack for putting ingredients together and her recipes work beautifully.

I looked at recipes I had saved and found these: Caramel Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars. 

Photo from Inside BruCrew Life

Oh, my!  Were these ever good!  I didn't bother with the sprinkle of sea salt on top.  It just didn't seem necessary.  I cut them in smaller squares than specified.

For the second variety of bars, I intended to make Cookie Dough Brownies, but discovered I was all out of baking cocoa.  I bake so seldom that it seems I run out of something every time I do!  Since I had already softened a stick of butter, I had to find a recipe calling for that amount, and turned to my old favorite Blond Brownies.

Photo from Taste of Home

I love this recipe because it does only call for one stick of butter (I usually use margarine, but this time I had butter on hand so used it), and it doesn't call for any ingredients I don't ordinarily keep on hand.  And it produces a lot of bars very easily.   I also cut these brownies into smaller squares than specified.  I usually do that for a potluck so people can try more than one kind if they like.

Then I also ended up making a coffeecake, just for our own breakfasts for a few days.  In perusing Inside BruCrew Life, I found a recipe that would work well to use up a couple of ingredients.  Mr. T ordinarily takes a banana in his lunch every day, and when he's not working he tends to forget about the bananas.  So I had some to use up.  This Banana Split Coffee Cake

Photo from Inside BruCrew Life

looked like a great idea to me, because it not only called for 2 ripe bananas, but also a cup of strawberry pie filling.  I seldom buy pie filling, and in fact had none on hand, but what I did have was about a cup of strawberry sauce.  It was left over from a waffle supper we had served to some of the grandkids one evening while their parents enjoyed a date night.  ("This is like having dessert for supper!", they exulted.)  So here was a great way to use up the strawberry sauce.

The coffeecake was delicious, too.  My hubby dearly loves coffeecake and was happy to contribute 2 of his overripe bananas to the cause.  I didn't bother with the icing on top, figuring to save a few calories.  I cut the coffeecake  in smallish squares and we enjoyed a square or two every day for breakfast.  Always a nice treat!

It's cold here today (3º -- yes, three degrees -- when I got up this morning).  The temps are not predicted to get out of the single numbers today.  More baking just might be in my future!