Bride of Frankenstein Bars

Quick note about the blog, I changed the name from "Mandi's Baking Blog" to "A spoon full of sugar..." For some reason I had Julie Andrews singing in my head one day and it seemed to fit.

Moving on, in the first blog I posted I wrote about Frankenstein Bars. Today I’m going to tell you about the Bride of Frankenstein Bars. They're slightly different than the original just like Mr. and Mrs. Frankenstein.

When I asked Nikki (my someday sister-in-law) what sweet thing she would like me to make for her birthday the text message conversation went something exactly like this:

Me: Happy birthday a day early! Id love to make ya something sweet for your day. What do you want? :)
Nikki: Thank you!! :)  u know that big giant cookie you made with m&ms and cashews?!  Is that hard to make?
Me: You're very welcome! Not at all! Do you want it with or without raisins? Did u see the finished bars? With the frosting and rice krispies? Do u want that or the cookie only?
Nikki:  No raisins...i didnt see the finished bars....i dont think.  On fb?
Me:  Ok! Yup...take a look and let me know :)
Nikki:  Oh my!!!  Yes....that looks so yummy!!  :-)
Me: Ok sounds like a plan. I'll make them for ya this week and get it to ya soon.

To say that I was excited to make this again, with a few revisions, is an understatement! I had a ton of fun making them the first time and they were very good! Also, I was excited to play around with the extra ingredients.

I was out of cashews so I stopped at the grocery store one night after work. In the baking aisle, (Am I the only one who geeks out in this aisle at the grocery store?!) near the nuts, I stumbled upon these:

That’s right, little caramel balls that could easily be mixed into anything. I snatched them up and texted Nikki from the checkout line. Yes, she liked caramel. I was good to go.

When I got home, I preheated the oven, prepared the baking pan and whipped up a half batch of the basic dough. Then I got to adding the fun stuff; M&M’s, chocolate chips, and the precious caramel balls. After I pressed it into the pan, I added the cashews and some more M&M’s:

Right before they went into the oven. (Sorry for the blurry picture.)

I let it cool overnight:

YUM!

Then I made the frosting:

Cream the butter and vanilla

 

All creamed together

Add powdered sugar, it's supposed to look dry at this point.

Add Milk

Cream until light and fluffy!

I transferred the monster cookie to a larger pan and frosted the cookie:

How can you go wrong with a frosted cookie?

I put it in the refrigerator while I made the rice krispie bars:

Slowly melt butter and marshmallows

Until they're smooth (here is where I add vanilla)

Add Rice Krispies

Stir until completely combined

I pressed them into yet another pan (I don’t mind the extra dishes but if you do, you could reuse the pan that you baked the cookies in. It’s all going to get mashed together eventually!)

Here’s a tip: warm rice krispie treats are a sticky mess. I use a lightly buttered sandwich bag to smooth them out:

After they had cooled I got the frosted cookie out and pressed the bars into the frosting. Back to the refrigerator to cool/harden.

Then they were ready to be cut up. I think these were even better than the first batch.

When I was thinking about posting this blog last night before bed (you know prime thinking time) I thought that the possibilities for this kind of bar are endless! Here are a few ideas that I came up with between last night and this morning:

Cookie crust - Frosting (or something to stick 2 things together) - Topping

Chocolate chip cookie - butter cream frosting - chocolate rice krispies
Snicker doodle cookie - cinnamon frosting - regular rice krispies
Peanut butter cookie - butter cream frosting - cereal treat topping (old family recipe that I will share sometime.)
Oatmeal cookie - cream cheese frosting – A cinnamon sugar something (something Churro like perhaps?)
Short Bread cookie -Lemon frosting - A crunchy coconut something (a macaroon perhaps or maybe just toasted coconut?)
Short Bread cookie -Strawberry filling  - Macadamia Nut bar 

I could go on and on!

I'm going to skip the reviews and recipes this time, because they're pretty much the same as they were in the first blog I posted. Here's another link.