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Saturday, October 31, 2009

Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween to all of you!! We love Halloween in our house. I think because we all love Fall so much. I am following the Brenda Photo Challenge and this weeks theme is "Halloween". http://brendaphotochallenge.blogspot.com/2009/10/next-challenge-and-theme-10-31-09.html
I like to bake cookies for the neighbors and for the adults to enjoy while the kids are trick or treating. We get between 100-200 kids every year. It is a fun night, I hope the weather holds up this year. It has been raining and cold the past few days. My husband bought me a wonderful present just for fun. It is a baking pan that has dividers for brownies or bars. When you are done baking and it has cooled slightly, you just lift out the divider and you have 18 perfectly cut pieces of whatever you baked. I have seen it on TV and mentioned it, so he surprised me with it.


I have used it for brownies and bars and it works wonderfully for both. It didn't do so well with a regular cake mix, it came up too much and baked over the divider and was hard to get out. I was just experimenting with it. The bars I have here are apricot bars and the recipe follows. You can use a regular 13x9 pan, I just wanted to show you my new pan.

Apricot Bars
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1 and1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 and 1/2 cups quick cooking oats
1 and 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
3/4 cup butter(1 and 1/2 sticks)
1 and 1/2 cups apricot jam(or any flavor you like)
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Preheat oven to 350
Grease a 9x13 inch pan
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In a large bowl mix flour, baking powder, salt, oats and brown sugar. Cut in butter until very crumbly.
Pat 2/3 crumb mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan and then spread the jam over that. Sprinkle remaining crumbs on top. Bake for 35 minutes and cool before enjoying.
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Nothing on Earth so beautiful as the final haul on Halloween night. ~Steve Almond
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Shadows of a thousand years rise again unseen,Voices whisper in the trees, "Tonight is Halloween!"~Dexter Kozen
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I'll bet living in a nudist colony takes all the fun out of Halloween. ~Author Unknown
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A grandmother pretends she doesn't know who you are on Halloween. ~Erma Bombeck
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Be safe and have a wonderful weekend
Anne

15 comments:

SquirrelQueen said...

Anne,

The cookies looks spooky & yummy. The divider is so cool, I like that all the bars or brownies will be the same size.

It sounds like your whole neighborhood gets into the Halloween spirit together. Here's hoping for good weather and a great Halloween.

Judy

Al said...

Hi Anne, thanks for sharing you cookie recipes. I remember last Christmas I baked cookies for children and I wrapped it with orange paper and tied with black ribbon. Someone asked me...is it Halloween LOL. I didn't notice, it is supposed to be a Christmas wrapper.

The trick or treaters will surely enjoy the treats. Happy Halloween!

AL

Betty Manousos said...

Hi Anne,
Cookies look delicious. Yum!!
Happy Halloween!!
hugs hugs

Jeanne said...

I'm with you, fall is my favorite time of year. Those bars look yummy and what a great idea that pan is. Love the pics of your puppy in her costume on your other blog!

Anonymous said...

Awesome post! All the treats are so delicious! Now if I could just sink my teeth on those sweets..

Donna said...

WOW!!! That's a LOT of kids!! And some Serious baking!! Thanks for the recipe! I'm going to try them!!hughugs

wenn said...

happy halloween!

Lynn said...

Love the cookie cutter and the cookies sound delish. The background is super too.

Lillian Robinson said...

I love the Erma quote!

I saw that pan advertised just last night. I thought it looked great for brownies. Maybe I'll put it on my want list.

Tes said...

Yum, the cookies look good! Your new pan looks cool and so is the divider. Gearing up for Halloween! You guys keep safe! Thanks for sharing the recipe. *hugs*

Donna said...

BOOOO!!!!!!

Love the pics of the yuumy treats! And some of those saying are really a hoot!

The Adventures of the LLB Gang said...

Hope your Halloween was all that you wished it would be!!!

You are awesome Anne!!!

Ebie said...

Hmm, sweet smell in the kitchen! Thanks for sharing the recipe!

Happy Halloween!

Ebie's Halloween Photo challenge.

Scooter said...

hi
MY mom has seen those dividers too and has owndered if they work very well or not. Your recipe sounds good, we just may have to try it.

Does Sasha ever get any bits of your good food??

Smiles
Jazzi

Culture Served Raw said...

“There is no sincerer love than the love of food.”

Can't believe I missed these bars!

Hope all is well,
Valerie