Hello Dolly!

"Well, hello, Dolly...."

Can't help singing that tune when I make these cookie bars from the Magnolia Bakery cookbook :) (also known as 7-layer bars, due to their 7 ingredients). These are ridiculously easy, especially if you cheat and buy graham cracker crumbs pre-done like I did. In fact, now that I think about it, I'm kind of shocked that you can't buy a mix for these. Just add butter!

Next time I want to try peanut butter chips instead of butterscotch-- the recipe doesn't use the full bag, and I've got nothing else to use the butterscotch chips for.

No-Bake Cookies

No link for this one-- I've been eating these cookies for 20+ years, and since I had chunky regular Jif (not natural) for the blondies, I had to make a batch. You can't really lose with chocolate and peanut butter.

Combine 2 cups sugar, 1/4 cup cocoa, 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup milk in a saucepan. Boil for 2 minutes, starting as soon as the mixture starts to boil. Remove from heat and add 1/2 cup chunky peanut butter and 3 cups oatmeal. Drop on wax paper and refrigerate until firm.

$30 Chocolate Chip Cookies

The title is only kind of a joke-- the chocolate disks called for by this famed NY Times recipe will be around $12 at Central Market, plus when you add in the specialty flours, the ample amount of butter and sea salt, you end up with not cheap cookies. I have to put in this warning, because once you make these and serve them to your family and friends, they will refuse to eat any other kind of chocolate chip cookies you make. These cookies literally ooze chocolate and fall apart in your hands. They are actually the best chocolate chip cookies in the whole world.

Peanut Butter and White Chocolate Blondies

One of the gems on the new Cooking Channel is Rachel Allen: Bake! While many of the Food Network shows will feature desserts, there are fewer regular series that focus on them. Rachel Allen is a charming British woman who finally convinced me to like blondies! I'd never had any blondie that could top my favorite chocolate brownies until I tried these. To be clear, they are heavy on the peanut butter, so "blondie" may be a stretch-- they're really a thick peanut butter cookie.