BakeStravaganza

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I hope you had a nice weekend.  I could be found in the kitchen over the weekend.

Pan of bars and three pans of cookies on marble countertop looking into living room

Making and baking was fun…

Bag of powdered sugar, red bowl of chocolate and sugar, and bag of chocolate chips with pink spatula

…Doing the dishes?  Not so much.  But unavoidable.

filled kitchen sink with red and yellow bowls with spatulas in themEveryone asks about these bowls when I post them.  They are these Zak bowls and they have been used multiple times per week for the past 3 years and I would say I have at least another 30 years left with them.  Extremely well-made.  They show no signs of wear, at all.

What did I make?

This was just some of it.  And I’m not even kidding.  I didn’t intend for it to turn into such a bakestravaganza but it did.  Not that that’s an awful thing or anything.

Pan of bars and three pans of cookies on marble countertop

The chocolate 9 x 13 pan is a pan of Special K Bars (No Bake and with easy vegan modification)

cookies and special k bar pans on marble counter topThey are so gooey, peanut buttery, chocolatey.  Make them.  My grandma will thank you.

And then the cookies.  Well.  Whoops.

Pans of cookiesThe cookie recipe I was developing accidentally made about twice what I thought I was getting into.

Extras?  Just freeze them.  I do it with all my desserts.  If you don’t need a pan of Special K Bars, 3 dozen cookies, Samoas Bars, last week’s Candy Corn Cookie Dough Pretzel Bites, and more…

Just throw it all in the freezer and dole out as needed.  Like around midnight when snack time is calling when company drops by.

What are the cookies?  Well, that’s a secret for now.

I developed them from this recipe for Peanut Butter Oatmeal White Chocolate Chip Cookies but you’ll have to sit tight.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal White Chocolate Chip Cookies stacked

The raw cookie dough for the new cookies was perhaps the best raw cookie dough I’ve ever eaten.  So, so, good.

Green bowl of cookie dough

Other than cooking and baking, stuffing my face with cookie dough, and doing the dishes, I also managed to spend time with Scott and Skylar.  We went to a pumpkin patch.

Wooden barrel of orange pumpkins

And Skylar jumped around in a Jumpy Castle You know, those blowup things you worry your kid is going to sprain their ankle in it or get some kind of bacterial skin disease from that grimy plastic.  Yeah, those things.

But she loved every jumpy second of it.

And I loved enjoying the 70F sunny weather and the day with my family.

Trees and blue sky

I also enjoyed a few Samoas Bars over the weekend

Samoas Bars with chocolate chips stacked They enjoyed them too which made me happy

Questions:

1. Best thing you ate or did over the weekend?

My list includes everything I mentioned in this post.  Baking, creating, cookie and bar eating, pumpkin patching it, being outside and with my family.

And I got some nice yoga and runs in, too.

2. Do you eat raw cookie dough?

Even though there is a raw egg in the dough I made over the weekend, and I ate a couple spoonfuls anyway.  I grew up eating raw batter, crusts, brownies, and cookie dough.  And I’m still here today.

You could always make raw vegan chocolate chip cookie dough which is made to be eaten raw.  No eggs.

There’s many schools of thought on raw eggs.  Some people think there’s nothing wrong with it and do it often (bodybuilders for example).  Other people would never eat raw eggs because they worry about salmonella.

Some people may eat something with a raw eggs only if they are fresh eggs or if they know exactly where the eggs came from or if they’re pasteurized as in homemade Caesar dressings, mayonnaise, eggnog, homemade ice cream or custards, and in Hollandaise sauces.

To each her own.

Remember Orange Julius when they really did have raw eggs in them?

I will never forget in my seventh grade Home-Ec class (do they still have “home economics” class?  I doubt it) but we made Orange Julius with raw egg.  In a public school in rural Minnesota and no one batted an eye.  Pretty sure that wouldn’t happen today.  Even though those Orange Julius’ tasted awesome.

So even though I don’t make a habit of eating raw dough, every once in awhile you have to taste the batter to make sure it’s okay before you bake it, right?

If you’re just catching up on posts from the weekend, here are mine since Friday:

Last chance for the $100 Visa Giftcard & Pedometer Giveaway

Have a great week!

About the Author

Welcome to AverieCooks! Here you’ll find fast and easy recipes that taste amazing and are geared for real life. Nothing fussy or complicated, just awesome tasting dishes everyone loves!

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Please note: I have only made the recipe as written, and cannot give advice or predict what will happen if you change something. If you have a question regarding changing, altering, or making substitutions to the recipe, please check out the FAQ page for more info.

Comments

  1. So amazing amazing baked goods here, yum! Shouldn’t read this when I’m hungry for breakfast! :-)

    1. Adopted a new dog, who is parked on my lap now.
    2. Raw vegan cookie dough? Yes! It’s been awhile since I’ve had the traditional stuff raw, but raw vegan stuff can taste just as good to me.

  2. Hooray for baking! And good mixing bowls! I have a set from Williams Sonoma that I have literally used a bajillion times and they also show no sign of aging! Best thing I ate over the weekend? hmmmm probably chocolate chunks or a salad I had out Friday night :) Opposites much? ;)