Oatmeal Cup-cookies, Muffin-cakes, Or something.

This is a good "naked pantry" recipe. It is easy to vary and doesn't include anything too out-of-the-ordinary. These were my ingredients:

The black jar has sugar in it, but I bet Splenda or whatever would work. Also, I used real butter because I had some, but I'd use margarine any day. The honey is my personal substitution for brown sugar, and that is Almond extract which is extremely delicious but vanilla works, too. I jazz things up with white chocolate chips (because that is what I had at the moment) but the possibilities are endless. 

Okay, basic ingredients: 

1 1/2 c. oatmeal

1/2 c. sugar

1/4 c. honey/brown sugar

1 t. almond or vanilla extract

1 egg

1/3 c. butter, melted. 

"some" of whatever you want to add (nuts, chocolate chips, dried fruit, whatever)

Toss it all in a bowl and stir it up. Bake it in a 375º oven for 12-15 minutes. I bake them in a greased muffin pan, but admittedly, they don't stay together very well. Perhaps if you baked them a bit longer, but I'd rather have crumbly soft tastiness than perfectly shaped but overly hard cookies. You can put them in cupcake cups, but sometimes they stick to the paper. So, honestly, this is not a great recipe for company that you'd like to impress with presentation. I took it to girls night and we just ate them out of the muffin pan with forks. I'm sure if you have a silicone muffin pan, that would be better, but there still isn't a guarantee these will have the perfect shape. They make delicious, tasty morsels, though. Something else you could do is spread it out in a cookie sheet and turn it into granola. So, if you're home alone on a Friday night and craving something sweet but just have this assortment of randomness in your pantry, then have at it. Shove the crumbly mess in a plastic bag and I'm sure your kids or husband will not argue. 

Finished product:

S'mores Bars

Behold.

S'mores Bars, extra crispy marshmallows

Now, these have extra crispy marshmallows, as per request by some of the consumers of these delicious treats. However you can toast the marshmallows to whatever consistency you like.




INGREDIENTS:

2 C. Graham Cracker Crumbs
1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk
A lot of chocolate chips (about half a bag, at least)
1 t. vanilla extract
Dash Salt
Marshmallows

Oven: 375º
Dish: 8x8 or 5x3, greased

Simple Recipe, minimal commentary (detailed one below)

1. Mix all of that together except the marshmallows.
2. Spread the mixture in the pan.
3. Cook for 20ish minutes
4. Remove, sprinkle marshmallows on top.
5. Turn oven to BROIL. Return the pan to the oven, DO NOT SHUT THE DOOR ALL THE WAY.
6. Watch the marshmallows, remove when they reach desired state of toasted.

Recipe with commentary


1. Mix everything together except the marshmallows. This will be a pretty serious task. Be careful to mix all of the crumbs in, get them all moist, because the s/c milk will be soaked up quickly.
2. Spread the mixture in the pan. I found a fork to be helpful for this. Oddly enough a potato masher might help as well.
3. Cook for 20ish minutes. It should be a little brown on top, not too dark, just golden.
4. Remove, sprinkle marshmallows on top. You can do a lot or a little, your call.
5. Turn oven to BROIL. Return the pan to the oven, DO NOT SHUT THE DOOR ALL THE WAY. Seriously. The smoke detector went off and, needless to say, was disconcerting. But it was fine.
6. Watch the marshmallows, remove when they reach desired state of toasted. It might feel like nothing is happening, but seriously watch them, they toast quickly!



VARIATION


You can put half of the graham/chocolate mixture in the pan, add a layer of marshmallows, and then put the rest of the graham mixture, with or without also broiling more marshmallows on top. I tried both ways and they were great!


NOW the "bloggy" part. (When I read blogs for recipes, I sometimes care about what the people have to say as the "story" of the food, and sometimes I don't. So, I'm trying to make it easy to see the recipe but still write the "interesting" stuff.

Basically here's the deal. A bunch of girlfriends and I have a "girls night" every Wednesday. Most of us live in the same apartment complex so we alternate who hosts and it's just awesome, pot luck style, fun times. We often do a girly craft such as coloring, or decorating cookies. Yes. Seriously. So at one of these nights one of my friends made the graham cracker part of this recipe. I was addicted to it, I could not stop eating it. So then this past weekend I was having our group of "couples" over (my husband and I plus two other couples, and the women from each of these couples also comes to girls night) and I wanted to make S'mores bars because we all love s'mores. I was looking at the plethora of recipes on Pinterest but was dissatisfied with them all for one reason or another (I'm sure they are all wonderful but they lacked some aspect I was looking for). So, I remembered my friend's addictive graham cracker chocolate deliciousness and thought up the addition of marshmallows, both in the center AND on top, and just on top. I tried them out and while they are a disgusting amount of WW points (6 points for one little square!), they are amazing and easy.

I also realized post-posting that this is an odd first post for this blog, as I claim to hate recipes and amounts, etc. Future recipes, I think, will more accurately reflect my "style," which is making things up. So really the only part I "made up" about this recipe is the marshmallow part. However, tomorrow is girls night and I'm hosting and I'm making quiche, another recipe I didn't "make up" but the variations are ENDLESS which is definitely my style. It is a great meal you can assemble at night, cook the next morning, and eat from all week for any meal.