Virtual Cookie Swap!

My dear friend Michelle always has great ideas; this time it's a Holiday Cookie Swap. Here are the details:

Ever since my buddy Tom gave us a gift of salted peanuts from Whitley's, I've been a fan of their peanuts, so I like to find recipes that call for peanuts. And this one, Chewy Chocolate Peanut Bars, is from my alma mater, the University of British Columbia, which makes it doubly special for me.

Ooey-gooey, crunchy, and chocolatey...what more do you want?

Chewy Chocolate Peanut Bars

"Reminiscent of Almond Roca, this bar is more like candy than other bars. Thin, crisp and delicious, it's great with fresh fruit." I've never had it with fresh fruit, but there's no wrong way to eat this.

Bars:
2 C oatmeal (500 mL)
1 C graham wafer crumbs (250 mL)
3/4 C brown sugar (175 mL)
1/4 t baking soda (1 mL)
1/2 C salted peanuts (125 mL)
1/2 C corn syrup* (125 mL)
1/2 C melted butter (125 mL)
1 t vanilla (5 mL)

Topping:
1 6oz pkg semi-sweet chocolate chips** (170 g)
1/2 C smooth peanut butter (125 mL)

Bars:
Preheat Oven to 375F (190C).
Grease 10x15" (38x25 cm) pan with sides.
Combine oatmeal, graham crumbs, sugar, baking soda and peanuts; mix well.
Combine corn syrup with melted butter and vanilla. Stir into oat mixture and mix well.
Press firmly into pan and bake for 15 minutes.

Topping:
Melt chocolate chips and peanut butter in a double boiler.
Spread over warm, baked bars and let cool 10 minutes.
Cut into 2x1" (5x2.5 cm) bars and refrigerate to set.

*I had a jar of organic corn syrup to use up, but if you don't or don't want any part of corn syrup, you can try a substitution: recipes at  Food.com, Taste of Home, or alternatives at FitDay.

**We prefer less sweet desserts so I used bittersweet chocolate chips.

Hope you like them as much as we do!

Now go visit the other participants' blogs to see what scrumptious goodies they're handing out: [PLEASE NOTE: AS THIS POST WENT LIVE, SOME OF THE FOLLOWING HAVE NOT YET POSTED THEIRS YET, SO PLEASE BE SURE TO KEEP CHECKING ON THEIR SITES TO GET THEIR RECIPES!]
Alina,
Monica,
Kathy,
Carrie,
Michelle

Heads up: next week, my regular Monday post will be postponed (no pun here; move along) to Wednesday, December 19th for a special holiday edition dedicated to my very special sci-fi critique group, the "SFF Minnows."

Until then, have a terrific week...and bake lots!

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

And the award goes to....

Since the Academy won't let us say "And the winner is..." anymore.  Oh, but this isn't the Oscars.

Sooo, today's The Day. I was supposed to spend the morning baking cookies, but instead worked on how to do the drawing for The Clean Giveaway.

I counted up all the entries: one for a comment, one for following Carrie on Twitter, one for Liking the Under The Willow Facebook page, one for each re-tweet of the giveaway. So here they are, the entries (and yes, I did get some butter on the paper...oops) - Jaime, Stace, Janet G, Michelle, Kathy x 6, Squid (for My Kids Eat Squid) x 3, KP x 4:

All cut up and ready to go in the bag:

Son2 helping me pull out a name:

And the winner is.....

Stace!! (I know you're all in awe of my fabulous iPhone photography.)

Since I know how to get a hold of Stace - I am a regular stalker of her blog - I'll go notify her now. It'll make her day; my presence has that effect on people. Hah.

Thank you to everyone who entered and played along, particularly Kathy who helped re-tweet this several times to her many followers. I urge you all to go try Carrie's products even if you didn't win!

And for those of you who are looking for a seriously hefty giveaway, check out:
http://www.theculinarylife.com/2011/win-a-le-creuset-deep-covered-saute-pan/

Have a great week!

BREAKING NEWS this just in: Stace has generously donated her prize to Kathy in the spirit of the season and because she was seriously impressed by the number of entries Kathy had. Thank you, Stace!!!

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams