Chocolate Peppermint S'mores Bars

Now that Christmas is over it's a great time to use up all of that peppermint bark you've got sitting around... and I've got a perfect recipe for it! These are a spin on one of my favorite treats, Hershey's Chocolate S'mores Bars. You start off with chocolate graham crackers as the base, then scoop mounds of chocolate cookie dough on top, then cover the cookies with chocolate chips, crushed graham crackers, peppermint marshmallows and a whole lot of peppermint bark. They're best served straight out of the oven when they're all gooey and warm, because that's just how s'mores should be eaten! I prefer piling up a plate full and eating mine with a mug full of cocoa, but a glass of milk would do too! I can't tell you just how good these are- even the hubby who doesn't care for peppermint was seriously digging 'em! I made us a standard batch, but next year I'll be doubling this for sure! Enjoy!!!

Chocolate Peppermint S'mores Bars

Ingredients
1 c. all-purpose flour
¼ c. natural unsweetened cocoa powder
½ c. sugar
¼ c. brown sugar
⅔ c. semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
8 tbsp. (1 stick) butter, room temperature
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
½ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. vanilla extract
¼ tsp. peppermint extract

1 sleeve chocolate graham crackers, more if needed
1 c. miniature peppermint marshmallows
½ c. regular miniature marshmallows
½ c. semisweet chocolate chips
1 Ghirardelli peppermint bark baking bar, chopped

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9x13 or a quarter baking sheet with parchment paper. Use the chocolate graham crackers to cover the parchment, set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together butter, sugars, vanilla and peppermint for 2-3 minutes. Add melted chocolate chips, mix until combined. Add egg, then egg yolk, mixing just until combined.
3. In a medium size mixing bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. With mixing speed on low, add dry ingredients. When no flour pockets remain, turn off and remove bowl from stand. Spread cookie dough over the graham crackers, in an even layer.
4. Place in oven and bake for 6 minutes, remove and gently press in remaining graham crackers (broken into pieces), marshmallows, chocolate chips and baking bar pieces. Place in oven and bake for an additional 10-12 minutes or until the marshmallows become lighty golden in color. Remove and allow to cool in pan for 25-30 minutes before removing and cutting into bars.
Yield: Approximately 15 bars (but depends on how big or small you cut them)

Gluten-Free Monster Cookies

A few months ago when my parents came to visit my mom made us a big batch of monster cookies. I couldn't believe how delicious they were... especially because they were flourless! I asked her for the recipe and altered it a bit so that the cookies baked better here in Utah (the altitude is an issue with lots of recipes). For some reason hers came out a tad bit flat and fell apart, not that I minded... I gobbled them up in just a few days! I mean what's not to love about peanut butter, oats, chocolate chips and M&M's?! Some my adjustments included adding quick cooking oats to help "glue" the cookies together, an extra egg yolk to create a thicker/chewier cookie, slightly less butter to prevent them from spreading, and letting the dough chill to allow the oats to absorb some moisture. All of my little tricks worked- they came out looking beautiful and tasting just as good as the ones she made :) I seriously would make these cookies on a daily basis if I could, they're that amazing!!! Happy gluten-free baking!

Gluten-Free Monster Cookies

Ingredients

2¼c. old-fashioned oats*
¼ c. quick cooking oats
½ c. sugar

½ c. brown sugar

1 egg + 1 egg yolk

1/3 c. (¾ of a stick) butter, room temperature

¾ c. creamy peanut butter

1 tsp. baking soda

pinch of salt

¾ tsp. vanilla

½ c. chocolate M&Ms 

½ c. chocolate chips

½ c. peanut butter chips

DIRECTIONS:

1. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat mats, set aside.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter, peanut butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add vanilla. With mixing speed on low, add one egg at a time, mixing until incorporated. 

3. In a medium size mixing bowl, combine oats, baking soda and salt. Whisk together. With mixing speed on low, add dry ingredients, mix until combined. Remove bowl from stand and fold in M&Ms, chocolate chips and peanut butter chips. Place dough in the refrigerator to chill for 1 hour.

4. Remove dough from refrigerator and allow to stand at room temperature for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Scoop cookies onto the prepared sheets using a standard size scoop, gently pat down to slightly flatten. Place in oven and bake for 10-12 minutes (they will look soft) before removing from oven. Allow to cool on sheets for 3 minutes before carefully transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
NOTE: DO NOT SKIP parchment or a mat... seriously, it really is a key part to making these cookies bake perfectly! Also be gentle with the cookies when you are transferring them to the rack to cool, they will probably break apart a little, but just push them back together and let them cool for a good hour or so and they'll be firm and sturdy!

*Please make sure that your oats are gluten-free. Bob's Red Mill Oats are gluten-free, Quaker Oats are not guaranteed to be gluten-free.

Life Made Simple family recipe adapted from The Amish Cook's Baking Book | Makes 24 standard size cookies

Top 10 Recipes of 2013

It's hard to believe that 2014 is just hours away! This past year has been such a great one, I'm a little sad to leave it behind. Stephen started his last year of law school, I got a wonderful job at Sur La Table and we found out we were expecting/welcomed our son into the world. Blogwise I joined the Lil' Luna contributor team and learned a whole lot about organizing and running the blog in a more efficient manner. Now that I've gotten the hang of things and have learned how to balance motherhood and baking/writing, I've started to plan out all of the things that I'm going to make during this upcoming year. I can already tell it's going to be a delicious one! Anyway, I thought I'd share with you the most popular posts of 2013, as chosen by your visits!