Full of chocolate chips, chewy oats, crunchy peanut butter, and M&M candies, Monster Cookie Bars are a fun, convenient twist on the old favorite. Monster Cookies have been my family’s favorite cookie ever since I was a child.

We use my grandmother’s monster cookies recipe and make a giant batch every year for our family’s camping trip. However, one year we simply ran out of time for our baking plans.

Monster Cookie Bars

I adjusted Grandma’s recipe slightly and pressed the cookie dough into the bottom of a large baking sheet. In less time than it would have taken to bake a single tray of cookies, the bars were cooling on the counter.

Easy as can be and the bars were a huge hit with everyone that tried them.

I was expecting a fun treat to snack on over the weekend, but these bars came close to trumping the original Monster Cookies.

Slightly more gooey than the cookies and still crisp on top and bottom, this is one of the best bar cookies I’ve ever tasted.

If you’re crazy for Monster Cookies like I am, try out Monster Cookie Ice Cream swirled with chunks of peanut butter and loaded with cookies. It will leave you craving just one more bite every time you make it.

Chewy oats, peanut butter cookie dough, brown sugar, and butter all combine to create these chocolate and m&m filled snackable Read more

Roasted ’til crispy with a signature accordion appearance, Hasselback Potatoes are a favorite in our house. They’re deceptively easy to make using a couple of simple tips, and they add a little flair to your side dish game.

What are Hasselback Potatoes?

This distinctive-looking method of preparing potatoes originated in Stockholm, Sweden in the 1950s at the Hasselbacken Restaurant. While they look fussy, they’re really quite simple to prepare if you use one easy to remember trick.

Lay a chopstick along either side of the potato. This allows you to slice through the potato at intervals without slicing all the way to the bottom. Doing this keeps the slices connected at the base which makes the potato fan out as it bakes.

This in turn allows the outer edges to crisp up while the inside remains creamy and tender. I think we can all agree that this is the ideal state for a potato to achieve. Potatoes forever!

It took me less than 3 minutes to prep these, thanks to the chopstick tip that I stumbled onto years ago while browsing Chris’ mouthwatering blog, Nibble Me This.

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Blackberry Puff Pastry Snowflake

Creating a beautiful and delicious puff pastry snowflake is easier than you think! Load it up the most delicious Oregon blackberries and you have a gorgeous and tasty holiday treat!

When you search for a puff pastry snowflake on Google, most of the recipes you will find use Nutella as the filling. Now, I don’t have a single thing against Nutella. We have a Nutella Dulce de Leche Christmas Tree that you can make alongside this blackberry snowflake! But I would choose a berry snowflake over a chocolate-filled snowflake every single time.

We turn to Oregon berries for all of our recipes that use blackberries or raspberries. There simply isn’t a better berry out there! They are juicy and perfectly sweet with just the right amount of tartness.

Why Oregon Blackberries?

I’ve toured Oregon Berries farms several times and I’m floored every time at how dedicated they are to growing the best berries in the world. They truly do have the best flavor of any berry I’ve ever tasted.

Their berries are picked at the peak of ripeness for a better tasting berry. Once they are harvested, they are flash frozen within 24 hours of being picked to lock in the best taste, color and nutrition.

The state of Oregon was also made for growing the best blackberries. It has the perfect climate, optimal soil, abundant water and the right temperatures and air for berry-growing. Oregon blackberries are grown in the USA on multi-generational family farms where local family are stewards of the land supporting environmentally sustainable practices.

Can you tell that I’m their biggest fan? Berries from any other place just pale in comparison.

What Do I Need to Make a Blackberry Snowflake?

You only need 8 ingredients to make this stunning snowflake dessert! Perfect for the holiday season, this flaky treat will leave everyone asking for more! Here is everything you’ll need:

• Blackberries: you can use either fresh or frozen but fresh blackberries are hard to find in the winter, choose frozen blackberries that say “Grown in the USA” to make sure they are from Oregon!
• Brown Sugar: adds sweetness and rich flavor
• Cornaby’s EZ Gel: my new go-to for thickening berry fillings but you can substitute with 1 ½  Tablespoons of cornstarch instead
• Cinnamon: adds warm flavor
• Puff Pastry: You could make your own homemade puff pastry but it’s so worth it just to buy a store-bought puff pastry. Find it in your frozen section at the grocery store.
• Egg: mixes with the water to create an egg wash
• Water: used to make an egg wash which will help the puff pastry bake up golden and glossy

Welcome to the weekend, my friends! And happy happy happy birthday to my little sister, Jenny! (Aren’t you thrilled that your birthday fell on a newsletter day, sis?) I hope that your day is a wonderful one – and I wish the same for every person reading this today.

My day has already been filled with yoga, a Costco date with Sean, delicious hot pretzels here in Granville, and time spent at home with my oldest son. Here’s to all the normal, everyday, very unfancy things that make our lives lovely.

ON THE BLOGS THIS WEEK:  Sweet bites of oranges are tossed with crisp lettuce and parsley and then topped with caramelized almonds to create this refreshing orange parsley salad. You’ll be hooked from the first bite – I know I was!

Elegant enough for a fancy occasion and fast enough to serve any night of the week, pan seared scallops might become your new favorite way to eat seafood. Restaurant-quality scallops are easier to make at home than you ever thought! Each bite of these scallops has a light and almost sweet flavor, highlighted by the caramelized crust on the outside.

Pasta and sausage in a rich tomato pasta sauce is topped with an abundance of cheese to create this cheesy sausage pasta. Everything bakes and melts together to create an irresistible dinner for any cheese or pasta lover!

I’m a big fan of vegetable side dishes (no surprise there, right?) and lately I’ve been all about roasted broccoli and sweet potatoes. Together or separate, it’s a winning side dish.

And if you like roasted carrots, you might not want to make them any other way after tasting parmesan-roasted carrots. Bite-sized and toasty perfect, you can’t eat just one!

Have you tried your hand at making french bread pizza in the air fryer?? This method creates cheesy pizzas with a crispy crust. It’s homemade pizza that’s fast enough for a quick lunch or casual dinner.

Sweet chunks of edible cookie dough fill each scoop of this rich and creamy chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.

What I’m CRAVING: The answer is still dark chocolate Oreos – thanks a lot, Lynne. I should probably hand the remaining stash of cookies over to my boys to get them out of my

Snowman Soup – Easy Neighbor Christmas Gift [+Video]

Looking for a quick and easy Christmas neighbor gift? This snowman soup recipe comes together in minutes and is a fun and festive way to spread holiday cheer. Just add hot water to this white hot cocoa mix and you have a creamy, comforting warm drink for those cold winter nights!

Plus, check out our step-by-step video tutorial! It’s so easy and only 4 ingredients! Basically just dump everything in a bowl and whisk to combine, then package up the powder mix to share with friends and neighbors with instructions for how to make it. Such a simple and great gift idea!

Now this might be a little morbid, but picture jolly ol’ Frosty or Olaf getting too close to the warm fire or accidentally finding themselves in San Diego in the winter and melting into a puddle of sweet and delicious goodness. Snowman soup!

It tastes like the vanilla steamer from Starbucks with a hint of cinnamon and it is a family favorite! It’s a great alternative to hot chocolate or wassail for a warm holiday beverage.

Ingredients for Snowman Soup

You’re just 4 ingredients away, well 5 I guess if you count water, from the most delicious warm holiday beverage! Here is what you will…

• Powdered Milk
• Instant Vanilla Creamer
• Sugar
• Cinnamon

A single batch of this recipe makes about 24 servings, so you can scale up or down depending on your needs! The measurements for each ingredient can be found in the recipe card at the end of the post.

How to Make Snowman Soup

There’s not really much to this recipe which is why it’s such a great neighbor gift for the busy holiday season.

Pour all the ingredients into a large mixing bowl and whisk until everything is combined. Divide into smaller jars to give to neighbors or store in an airtight container in a dry place for your family.

Combine 1/3 of the cinnamon vanilla hot cocoa mixture with 1 cup of hot water and stir to combine.

The complete instructions can be found in the recipe card at the end of the post.

Watch How to Make Snowman Soup