Easy Rolo Cookie Bars

I totally wanted to post these yesterday, but I had 4 dozen cookies to bake and decorate on Sunday when I got home from church.  So...I had to do what I had to do, but better late then never, right?

Our church hosted Alan Sibley and The Magnolia Ramblers Saturday night.  If you are a fan of Bluegrass Gospel music, I highly recommend them. They put on an amazing show!  To have award winning musicians in our small church is such a blessing.   You can find where they are going to be playing on their Facebook page.  Our church hosts them a few times a year, and it is always such a wonderful show.  We host a small reception after the concert, and we all bring desserts to share.  I always try to come up with something new and fun.  So I made a quick and easy Rolo cookie bar.

These are the perfect combination of a cookie and cake, so I called it a bar.  The Rolos are really the star of the show though.  Creamy, chocolaty, caramaly (is that a word?), with a rich bar base. These bars have four ingredients in them, how cool is that?  Really, if you happen to have Rolos in the house, you can make these.

 I picked up a ton of candy after Valentine's day...like 30 bags!  I could not walk away, bags of Rolos, Kissses and Hugs for $1.00 and M&M's for $0.75!  As a baking blogger, candy always comes in handy, and seeing at such a discount, I took the opportunity to stock up.  Yes the Rolos and Kisses were wrapped in Valentine colors, but that does not matter if using them in a recipe, right?  

That is my blogging/baking tip for you..buy candy when it goes on sale after a holiday.  It is usually highly discounted and if you are using them in a recipe, no one will know.  You save money and get to bake with products that are usually pretty expensive.

Make these...you will not regret it!

Easy Rolo Cookie Bars

by thecookiepuzzle

Prep Time: 15-20 minutes

Cook Time: 30-35

Keywords: dessert cookie

Ingredients

• 1 cake mix, I used a yellow cake( I used a 16.25 size box, see note)
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 35-40 Rolo Candies, unwrapped, cut in half

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray. In a medium bowl, combine cake mix, milk and butter, mix well to combine. Mixture will be thick and a little sticky. Place a little more then 1/2 of the batter in the pan, spread evenly to the edges of the pan. Bake for 9-10 minutes until, until just set. Remove from oven. Press the Rolo Candies, cut side down into cookie bar. With a teaspoon, drop remaining batter randomly over the Rolo Candies. Return to oven and bake 24-26 minutes until the top is golden brown. Cool completely, cut into bars, serve.

 *Inspired by Baker Lady

* I used a smaller 16.25 size cake mix rather then the 18.25 size used in the recipe that Baker Lady used, so I got a more cookie type of bar, then a cake bar, hence the name change.  Using a large size cake mix, will yield a more cake like bar.

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Chocolate Mint Bars

The Holiday Season can be all kinds of crazy for

everyone.

I am no exception.

I work full time, try to manage a house,

have a Husband, Special Needs Son,

two crazy dogs and an aquatic turtle.

When I bake, I need to be quick, and simple.

These bars fit the bill perfectly.

You can whip them up in like 5 minutes,

and have a delicious treat for the family,

to take to a Christmas Party, or give as a

gift.

A cake mix, some mint chocolate chips and a

few other kitchen samples, and you are done!

When I decided to make these last weekend,

I planned on using a chocolate cake mix,

but sadly I did not have one, so I used a yellow cake mix,

and added some cocoa powder and some brown sugar.

The result was a think, soft and delicious almost

cake like bar.  You could also put some icing on them

and call it a snake cake.

What ever floats your boat, I will not judge.

Just make them, they will make you smile!

Here is a quick tip that I always do when baking bars,

I line my pan with aluminum foil before baking.

When done baking and completely cooled, simply lift the

bars out of the pan, and cut squares  with a bench scraper.

The result is perfectly cut bars that look great on a

platter and are sure to wow your recipient.

As a bonus, the pan is completely clean! 

Bonus points right there!

Chocolate Mint Bars 

Printable Version

The Cookie Puzzle

1 Yellow Cake mix

1/4 cup cocoa (I used Hershey's Special Dark)

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1/4 cup butter, melted

1/4 cup water

1 package Nestle Dark Chocolate Mint Chocolate Chips

 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Spray 9x13 cake pan with Non-stick spray or line with foil.

 

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine, cake mix, cocoa, brown sugar, eggs, butter, and water.

Mix on low until combined.  Turn mixer to medium and beat for 2 minutes.  Gently stir in chocolate mint chips.  Bake for 23-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.  Cool completely, cut into bars.

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Halloween Magic Bars

Happy Monday!

 

Can I just go on record in saying that I am

stressed.

 

Ya'll....there is just not enough time in

the day to get done all that I have to get done.

 

My biggest stress right now is

sunlight, or rather the lack of it.

 

I leave for work and it is dark, I get home from work and

it is dark.

 

This is not a good thing for someone trying

to take pictures for a blog.

 

Can someone please do something about that.

 

I just can not seem to get a good picture anymore.

 

What do you do?

 

How do you get great pictures, when you have to

photograph with limited sunlight hours?

 

At this point, I am tempted to load up my

goodies, backdrops and camera,

and have a little photo shoot

in the parking lot at work on my lunch hour!

 

 

You know what is easy?

 

Magic Bars!

 

 

I found a bag of Halloween mix chocolate chips by Nestle, and knew

right away what I wanted to make with them.

 

Magic bars are easy and quick to make

and are always yummy!

 

 

 

I used the recipe from Eagle Brand, and you can find it Here.

 

As suggested in the recipe, I lined my pan with aluminum foil, and it made

removing the bars from the pan so much easier, when completely cooled

simply remove the entire batch out of the pan, using the foil, and you will get

perfect squares every time.

 

 

Here is a fun fact...

 

I have a dear friend, she lives in Missouri not, but

was born and raised in Tennessee, there, they call these

Hello Dolly Bars.

 

Why is that?

 

Anyway, if you are looking for a fun and fast Halloween

Treat for a party, or just to enjoy, make these...

 

they truly are MAGIC!

 

 

 

This post might be linked up at the link parties found Here

 

 



Funfetti Marshmallow Bars

I am not a very adventurous baker.

 

 

 

I use the same sugar cookie recipe I first tried.

 

I tried it, I liked it, others liked it, so why change?

 

Right?

 

 

I use glaze icing on my cookies,

because that is what I started with.

 

I liked it...why change?

 

 

I have tried to get out of my

comfort zone a few times,

it was not traumatizing, but I always go back to what

I started with.

 

 

Recently Kristan of Confessions of a Cookbook Queen

and Shelly of Cookies and Cups, announced that

they would be having a Recipe Contest.

 

 

This is a contest like none other I had seen before.
 

One that I thought I could actually do.

 

One that I got very excited about.

 

You see, they ask entrants to search THEIR blogs,

 find a recipe, and change it up a bit.

 

Take THEIR recipe, and adapt it into a different recipe all your own.

 

Oh...I can do that.

 

Yep Yep Yep.

 

 

I have been following them both for YEARS,

but not in the creepy, stalky way, but in a

"wow, they are amazing" way, which is totally cool.

 

 

I spent days looking around to find the

perfect recipe (which was really hard, because everything looked so YUMMY)

 

In the end, I chose

Kristan's

 

Red Velvet Marshmallow Bars

 

Here is a picture of her bars.

 

 

Don't they look Yummy?

 

While I have not tried them yet, they will be made soon, very soon.

 

I changed it up a little, adding my own little twist.

 

AND  OMG...I died a little!

 

Soooo good!

 

 

 

 

 

I changed it up by using a Funfetti cake mix and Mini M&M's.

 

I will be making this recipe again soon, like this week.

 

My mind is spinning at all the combinations that I want to try.

 

 

I am entering this Funfetti Marshmallow Bar  in the Creative Recipe Contest hosted by Confessions of a Cookbook Queen and Cookies and Cups!

 

Make sure you check out all the entries, I know I will be.

 

 

 

 

 

Funfetti Marshmallow Bars

 

Print it

 

Adapted from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen

 

INGREDIENTS

• 1 box Funfetti Cake Mix
• 1/4 cup (1/2 a stick) butter, melted
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 egg
• 3 cups mini marshmallows
• ½  cup Mini  M&Ms

INSTRUCTIONS

1.  Preheat oven to 375.  Spray 9×13 pan with nonstick spray and set aside.

 

2.  In the bowl of a mixer, combine cake mix, butter, water and egg.  Mix on medium low until a smooth, thick batter forms.  Press batter evenly into pan.  Bake for about 20 minutes, until puffy and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Immediately top with marshmallows and candy — place back in the oven for a couple minutes, just long enough for marshmallows to puff up.

 

3.  Let cool completely before cutting and serving.



 Thank you Kristan and Shelly for hosting this

fun project. 

 

Thank you for being the awesome supportive

bloggers that you are.

 

The world is much better place

because of people like you.