Caramel Nut Revel Bars ( The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap)

The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap

I signed up for the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap with cookieswap@loveandoliveoil.com with Lindsay and Julie. It is a secret Santa style swap- so I am not supposed to contact my matches until after the swap! Lindsay and Julie told me not to ruin the surprise. I am terrible with secrets, this is killing me! I want to call my swap matches and ask- Did you get the cookie bars? Did they arrive in bars and not crumbs? Do you like them? Do you really ? Huh? Huh? Oh yeah, this is torture! So far, I have received one dozen cookies from my secret Santa and they were oh- so- yummy! I baked over three dozen bars and shipped one dozen cookies to three different people! I can't wait for the responses!

These bars are so dreamy and delicious, your kids will be fighting over them, Amy's kids were- LOL!

All of my favorite cookie bar ingredients, Oatmeal crust, caramel, chocolate, roasted almond slivers, marshmallows.....YES!!

This is what the picture looks like in the magazine- oh please let my cookie bars turn out like these!

It came out better than the photo!

Sunshine on my cookie bars, makes me happy, sunshine in my eyes....la dee da......Caramel Nut Revel Bars for The Cookie Swap

•     1    cup butter or margarine
•     2    cups packed brown sugar
•     2    eggs
•     2    teaspoons vanilla
•     2 1/2    cups all-purpose flour
•     1    teaspoon baking soda
•     3    cups quick-cooking rolled oats ( I used regular oats)
•     1    14 ounce can (1-1/4 cups) sweetened condensed milk
•     1    12 ounce package (2 cups) semisweet chocolate pieces
•     1    cup chopped walnuts ( I used roasted almond slivers)
•     2    teaspoons vanilla

Directions

1. Set aside 2 tablespoons of the butter or margarine. In a large mixing bowl beat the remaining butter or margarine with an electric mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add brown sugar; beat until well mixed. Beat in eggs and 2 teaspoons vanilla. In another large bowl stir together flour and baking soda; stir in oats. Gradually stir dry mixture into beaten mixture. Set aside.

2. In a medium saucepan combine the reserved butter or margarine, the sweetened condensed milk, and chocolate pieces. Cook over low heat until chocolate melts, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Stir in walnuts and the 2 teaspoons vanilla.

3. Press two-thirds (about 3-1/3 cups) of the oat mixture into the bottom of an ungreased 15x10x1-inch baking pan. Spread chocolate mixture over the oat mixture. Using your fingers, dot remaining oat mixture over the chocolate.

4. Bake in a 350 degree F oven about 25 minutes or until top is lightly browned (chocolate mixture will still look moist). Cool on a wire rack. Cut into 2x1-inch bars. Makes about 75 bars.

    Make Ahead Tip Line the baking pan with foil, extending the foil over edges of pan. Prepare and bake bars in foil-lined pan as above. Cool; lift bars out of pan on the foil. Place uncut bars in freezer bag or container. Seal, label, date, and freeze up to 1 month. Thaw bars at room temperature about 15 minutes. Once thawed, cut into bars.

Recipe from Better Homes and Gardens
Christmas Cookies Magazine.

These are the adorable boxes that I used for the cookie swap!

Santa's elf helping me with packaging and wrapping the cookie bars!

My Christmas Wreath that I made with help from Sweet Annie Designs.

One of the Christmas wreaths from Church.

My beautiful bouquets from my loving friends and paper whites about to pop! Merry Christmas 2011! Love, Nettie This post has been linked up to some of my favorite blogs!!

 

Easy Shortbread Cookies

When I think of Christmas, I think of going to the Murphy's home on Christmas day and eating Kris' amazing shortbread cookies. They disappear very quickly so you have to get them quick! They are absolutely my favorite cookie ever! I asked Kris for her recipe and she was so kind to share it with me. You know how when someone bakes something for you it tastes better than when you make it yourself, well when I baked these cookies, I kept imagining Kris in her kitchen baking. When I took my first bite of the cookie, tears came to my eyes....yes! I got it! Kris' shortbread cookies! My dream come true!

2 sticks softened butter- Land O Lakes please.

Merry Christmas LOL butter!!

Cut butter and flour.

Make a ball with the dough. Roll it out.

Cut into bars.

Place on a cookie sheet with a spatula.

Bake until golden brown.

Shortbread… so easy!  2 sticks Land O Lakes salted butter ( the lady who gave me the recipe insisted)

                                   2 and ¼ cups flour

                                   6 tablespoons of white granular sugar

Let the butter soften in a bowl to room temp – not runny. Mix the dry ingredients with a fork and a knife.  Keep “cutting” and cutting until you have pea sized balls and then use your hands gently to form it together in a big mass.  Don’t play with it too much.

Flour your working surface and lay it out on top.  Roll it with a well floured rolling pin, or just flatten it with your hands to about ¾ inch high.

Cut into 1” x2”  pieces and lift them onto an ungreased cookie sheet with a spatula.

Prick with a fork three or four times

Bake in a 325 oven until they start to brown up ( it will happen faster on the bottom, but a little brown is better than undercooked)  watch them closely and use your nose!

Lift them off with a spatula and let them cool on a hard surface.

Yummy! Recipe from Kris Murphy's kitchen.This recipe has been linked up to these wonderful blogs!

Cherry Cheesecake

This is my favorite cheesecake recipe because it is relatively simple and doesn't have a lot of steps. It is very festive for the holidays and everybody loves cheesecake! This recipe is from my dear friend, Sandi Roman, she is such a great cook! She brought this to our home for Christmas Eve dinner many, many years ago when our kids were small and we didn't know many people in town. I was so impressed and I said," I have to have this recipe!"Well, I have been making it every year since then! So as I was doing the foodie shoot, I used my daughter's brand new camera and now I don't know how to download pics from her camera and she has a cold, so I don't want to bug her....so anyway, these are the pics from my camera when I was mixing the ingredients in the Kitchen Aid. You can see how high the cake rises. It feels like it weighs 10 pounds when you are all done baking and adding the cherries for the topping.

If you have a Kitchen Aid, it makes this recipe so easy, if not I always used a hand blender, keep beating until the ingredients are smooth.

Pour cream cheese batter into pan.

I was so excited how high the cake rose, I took the pic in the oven, I know I am a spaz! But it really is the little things in life, but this is huge!! LOL!

Beautiful!! It does fall when it cools and when your kids slam the door! I still hear my Mom's voice---don't slam the door and don't walk like an elephant!

When cake cools completely, add cherry topping.

Spray the pan before pressing crumbs on the bottom, I didn't so some cake stuck even though it's non- stick.

Hubs and I actually split this piece in half because he said it was too big! Ha-big baby-I could have eaten it by myself hands down!

CHERRY CHEESECAKE
Recipe from the kitchen of Sandi Roman

1½ cups Graham Cracker Crumbs ( 10 graham crackers, 1 full cracker sheet)
4 Tablespoons butter ( melted)
(3)- 8 ounce packages Cream Cheese
(1)- 14 ounces Sweetened Condensed Milk
4 eggs
(1)- 8 ounces Sour Cream
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
1 can cherry pie filling


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Spray your pan with PAM. Combine crumbs and butter, then press down on the bottom of a 9" spring form pan.

In a Kitchen Aid, beat cream cheese until fluffy, add condensed milk, eggs, sour cream and vanilla. Mix until batter is nice and smooth. Pour into prepared spring form pan. Bake for 50 minutes. Let cool completely, add cherries on top.

Serves 12-14 depending on how big the slices are!

Abundanza! I have linked up this yummy recipe to these fabulous blogs!