Whole Wheat Peanut Butter Oat Bars

Hey everyone! How are you guys? I missed doing a Valentine's Day post. I'm so sorry about that. I've been busy.
Anyway, my week has been okay. Valentine's Day was just like any other day. The only thing different was that people brought all these balloons, teddy bears and what not just for the special day. It's crazy carrying it around school, but it's a really sweet thing.
Now, let's get back to baking. As you know, I love granola bars. LUNA bars, Clif Bars, Larabars, you name it. I guess I just like any kind of bars in general. So, I decided to look for a delicious, healthy bar recipe that uses simple ingredients that everyone has on hand. The sad thing is that, I didn't have any chocolate chips on hand to make chocolate chip bars, but, at least I had peanut butter, the next best thing. I also have tons of oatmeal. So, I decided to make Whole Wheat Peanut Butter Oat Bars. You can add chocolate chips to it too. I will next time. Here's the recipe. Enjoy. :)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup fat free milk 
• 1  1/2  cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla or banana extract
• chocolate chips (optional)

Directions: 

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. 
2. Butter a 9 x 13 pan. Or, cover it with aluminium foil. 
3. In a bowl, mix the peanut butter with the sugar. Mix in the vanilla extract. In another bowl, combine the oats, flour and baking powder. 
4. Mix the flour mixture into the peanut butter mixture. 
5. Mix it until combined. The dough should be crumbly. 
6. Pour in the milk and mix well. Stir in the chocolate chips. 
7. Place the mixture into the pan and spread it evenly. 
8. Bake it for about 30 minutes. 
9. Take out, let it cool and then cut it into pieces. It will crumble if you cut it when it's hot. 
10. Enjoy. 

No Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

Happy Superbowl Day everyone! I didn't watch the Superbowl, but I heard that the Giants won.
Anyway, my aunts came over yesterday and we made a lot of foods, including chinese steamed cupcakes 发糕, Steamed Sweet Glutinous Rice Balls , and 碱水粽. The only thing is that for the Steamed Sweet Glutinous Rice Balls, my aunt made them and they look so much better. I'll post pictures later in the post, but for right now, let's talk about cookies.
I made no bake cookies yesterday before my aunts came over and I just had to share the recipe. They are so delicious! No Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies are so delicious. It's my first time making and eating no bake cookies, actually. I'm surprised they turned out. I've heard people having problems with it setting or it being to crumbly. Mines came out perfectly, except for the looks. They don't look that good.
My sister likes these cookies. The only thing is that they might be a bit too peanut buttery. However,  I love them. My dad says they are a bit too sweet but I can change that for next time. My aunt said the cookies were good. Then again, she loves peanut butter. Anyway, here's the recipe for the no bake cookies. Warning: They're addicting.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar (maybe 1 1/2 is enough)
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder (4 tablespoons)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 3 cups quick cooking oats 

Directions: 

1. Set wax paper out so that you can make the cookies right when it's ready. 
2. Combine the sugar, cocoa powder, butter and milk together in a sauce pan. Bring it to a boil. Once it's at a rolling boil, boil for 2 minutes. 
3. Remove from heat and mix in the vanilla extract. Then, add the peanut butter and mix it until it's melted. Quickly mix in the oats.
4. Working quickly, drop teaspoonfuls of the mixture onto the wax paper, trying to make it a cookie shape. 
5. Let it cool. It should set. Then, enjoy eating it. :)

* I just added the pictures of how to make the cookies. 7/20/12. Please excuse the day and time of the pictures. I haven't changed the date from the China time since I came back from there a couple days ago.

 Anyway, here are some pictures of some things me, my mom and my aunts made.

Steamed Sweet Glutinous Rice Balls

 碱水粽

 I don't know the English name, but it's suppose to look like some sort of bird.

How the dough is suppose to look.

 发糕

"It looks like an elephant!"- my sister said that.

PB and Choco Chip Cookies

Hey Everyone! How's everyone's summer going? It should be relaxing. It is a bit hot though. So, Anyways, who here likes peanut butter and chocolate? Well, these are the cookies for you then! I baked these Peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, aka, PB and Choco Chip Cookies today. They are quite delicious, if I say so myself. I was in a mood to make chocolate chip cookies, but I didn't want to use any butter. So, I thought, why not just use peanut butter? It turned out all good though, which I am happy about. Also, I don't have to use regular butter, with all the saturated fat. These cookies aren't the healthiest though, because the healthier ingredients cost more. I would have used them instead of the regular ingredients, but at least these taste good. I'll also tell you guys the healthier ingredients to use instead if you guys want to make it healthier. Well, here's the recipe. My brother loves these cookies. 

Ingredients

• 1 cup Peanut Butter (or All Natural Peanut Butter with Omega 3s)
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup flour ( or wheat flour)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (dark chocolate chips)

*For the sugars, you can also use just all brown sugar or all granulated sugar. It's your choice. I've tried the recipe with all granulated and with both the sugars, and both are equally delicious. 

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
2. In a bowl, sift and mix together the flour and baking powder.
3. In another bowl, cream together the sugars and the peanut butter.
4. Mix in the eggs and the vanilla extract into the sugar mixture.
5. Mix the flour mixture INTO the sugar mixture.
6. Add in the chocolate chips.
7. Make golf size ball doughs and place them on a baking pan/cookie sheet.
8. Bake for 10-12 min. Take them out and enjoy. :)