I figure that the woman who invented blondies was a mom of many kids.  There she was, last few days of the month, children clamoring for something sweet and no chocolate to be had. What could she do? This brave woman had a choice.

• She could throw her really cute red and white polka dot apron over her head and cry
• She could create magic

I think she decided to create magic and threw ingredients together to make Blondies. You know why? These are the most versatile of bar cookies. I mean you can toss almost anything in there… well, within reason..I mean I am not suggesting Blondies as a way to get your kids to eat liver, you know? But any kind of nut, any kind of chocolate, butterscotch, peanut butter, or white chocolate chip… dried fruit…the list goes on.

I wanted something a little different. so I chopped up Snickers Bars. Marc is somewhat addicted to Snickers so I figured it would be a no brainer dessert.

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I wanted to share one of the recipes from my cookbook in case you wanted to pre-test it.  This is one of my favorites, and very unusual- blueberry white chocolate chip cookies.  I developed these because I loved the blueberry white chocolate muffins I made so much.  I kept thinking that it would make such an awesome flavor combination in the right cookie-and I was right!

These are crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside, with a buttery combination of flavors that just keep revealing themselves as you eat: lemon, white chocolate, nutmeg, blueberry… Read more

These butter bars are a family favorite.  They are sweet, very sweet and very rich.  Most people can’t eat a lot of them, in fact many times I can only eat a bite or two.  My family thinks I haven’t trained hard enough, most of them are able to gobble down several.  Cut them small unless, like my family, your family has been in training.

This is one of the recipes from my cookie cookbook, Everything Cookies and Brownies. This is perfect for potlucks and bake sales and just when you want to do something easy.

Basically, you can add anything to the cream cheese layer that sounds good:

• Coconut
• Dried cranberries
• Grated chocolate
• Pineapple
• Grated lemon rind

Or leave it plain, it is just that good.  No real tricky techniques involved here just be sure not to overbake.

You can see the layers.  The top is rich, gooey, and…something of the texture of chess pie.  The bottom is cakey/crumbly.  If you refrigerate  overnight you will have a slightly firmer texture.  It is kind of like warm chocolate chip cookies; some people just prefer them gooey.

Gooey Butter Bars

Makes 13x 9 inch pan

• 1 box yellow butter cake mix
• 1 egg
• 1 stick unsalted butter, melted
• 1 tsp vanilla, almond, coconut, or other flavor
• 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 lb of confectioner’s sugar
• 1 stick unsalted butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs

1. Mix the egg, the cake mix, first flavoring, and the first stick of melted butter in a bowl.  Press mixture in the bottom of a buttered 13x 9 inch baking pan.
2. Beat cream cheese, vanilla, confectioners, and eggs in a separate bowl.
3. With mixer running add remaining melted butter. Mix until well blended.
4. Pour cream cheese mixture over the cake base
5. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.
6. Cool slightly before cutting.

images:marye audet (c) 2009

Our kids are involved in JBQ (Junior Bible Quiz) at church and an extremely good friend of mine is the coach. She is an overachiever just like me so it was not a surprise to me personally when this small team, from a small church, beat enough other teams to go to Nationals.  This is a big deal for the whole church, but especially the kids and Mary. In order to send them to Rockford, Ill. we are having a bake sale this morning.

I really kind of sweated about what to make. Bake sales are funny things. Believe it or not, all you guys in foodie land, there are people that just aren’t interested in trying raspberry chipotle brownies, or bacon and chocolate chip cookies. I know, right? Bake sale items are the best if they are comfort food, normal stuff that you used to eat when you were a kid, or things that are very similar. So I thought that peanut butter chocolate chip would be different enough to feed my sense of uniqueness and familiar enough to do well. I will have to tell you the verdict on that later. But I can say that, since a cookie broke when I was removing it from the sheet and I was forced to eat it, these are the perfect balance of chocolate and peanut butter flavor.

*It’s later and the bake sale was called off for some reason.  But the cookies are…awesome!

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Not as good as in my dream.  Unfortunatly I have never made the perfect macaron.  Ever.  This was no exception but the result was delicious.

Not magazine cover beautiful…but delicious.

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Tomorrow is the Annual Audet Gingerbread House Party…it is also Sean’s 10th birthday.  So, if you have been wondering at the lack of Christmas festivity here at Baking Delights, wonder no more.  It isn’t Christmas until Sean’s birthday is over!

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We call Shiloh Snickerdoodle. I am not sure why, we just always have.  Erin is Bo, Chris is Bubba, Matt is Huck (or Thoreau), Ethan is E, Shiloh is Snickerdoodle, Sean is Bud, Nick is Buddy or Big Guy, and Kyrie is Buggie-boo.  In some cases the nicknames are longer than the names.

I am not sure why I filled your brain with that bit of trivia other than I always smile when I see the word snickerdoodle. Read more

Shiloh had a special ceremony in Missionettes tonight.  We has a great time fellowshipping  and eating the snacks.  Shiloh has really grown up this past year..I had to buy her a size 3 (those were the days) in Jr sizes.I can’t believe it. I think if I had time to think about how quickly life is flying by I would be sad! Read more

I have to tell you that although writing a cookbook has been a dream of mine it is much more fun in fantasy than reality. I found that to be true with the tea room as well as restoring this old house…so maybe I need to just throw myself on the Mercy of the Lord and beg Him to not let me have anymore fantasies. Read more

We had an afterglow at church last night and I am experimenting with some of the cookies I want to do for the cookbook. It was a great reason to spend my entire free afternoon baking cookies, right?

These came out fantastic, moist and chewy with a slight crisp crust. To me, that is the perfect chocolate chip cookie, not crispy not chewy but a combination of the two. Read more