sometimes you need to take 5

sometimes life doesn't go as planned, as the last month has been for me.  i had big plans of handmade gift guides, wearing handmade wednesdays AND weekends, and many recipe postings of all my holiday baking.  instead i feel like i've been crazy doing things i HAD to, and didn't get much time to devote to things i really WANTED to do...  the holidays seem to do that to me.  maybe that's why i'm not the biggest fan of them.

anyway, one of the things i did manage to get to was making these cookies.  i really love all the flavors of hershey's take 5 candy bars (chocolate, pretzels, caramel, peanuts, and peanut butter) and was looking for something that was similar in cookie form.  i spent hours looking for recipes a few months ago and found nothing remotely close so of course, i decided to make up my own.  i'm pretty pleased with them as i ate a lot of them in the last couple of weeks.  i'll be seeing the treadmill a bit more in the next couple of weeks, lol!

deb's "take 5" inspired cookie bars

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup butter, melted
1-1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
1-1/2 cups flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 11.5 oz bag (2 cups) hershey's milk chocolate chips
1 cup (or more if you like more pretzel taste) pretzel sticks chopped into 1/2" pieces
heath bits o' brickle toffee chips

1. preheat oven to 350.  spray a 13 x 9 x 2 pan with non-stick cooking spray.
2. in a large bowl beat peanut butter, butter, brown sugar and eggs til well blended.
3. sift together flour, baking powder and salt.  add this to the mixture and beat just a little bit (dough will be dry at this point).  add in milk and vanilla and beat until all is well blended.  when done, spread the dough in the pan.  use a lightly floured glass as a rolling pin if needed.
4. bake for 15 minutes.  add the entire bag of chocolate chips to the top and bake 3 minutes more (you may need an extra minute or so for the chocolate to melt thoroughly - test by trying to spread the chocolate with a spatula).  remove from oven.  sprinkle pretzels over the top of the chips.  immediately start to spread the chocolate and pretzel mixture into a nice layer across the top with a spatula.  when finished, sprinkle toffee chips over the top.  if needed, put in refrigerator to harden the chocolate.
5. to serve, cut into bars.

makes about 3 dozen cookies.  enjoy! =)

♠ ♠ ♠

download a printable copy of this recipe at...
http://www.oncupcakemoon.com/recipes/take5inspiredcookiebars.pdf

wearing handmade wednesday: Stellar Cheri!

for those of you who know me personally, you know i'm REALLLLLLLLY into shoes.  i have a pair of vampiress shoes that are wonderfully wicked but when i wore them out i realized i did not have a bag that truly compliments them.  enter StellarCheri...  she listed some lace bags in her shop and i noticed the lace matched my shoes quite nicely.  so i asked cheri if she could make me a red wristlet.  when i received it i couldn't believe how closely they really did match, both in the red and the lace!

besides accessories, cheri makes some fabulous DIY clothing.  she's great with custom orders as i will personally attest to.  so if you need a gift this holiday season for someone who is reallllllllllllllllly into accessories, go check out her shop.  i'm sure you'll find something that will be an instant love!