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I’ve promised to post some of my favorite recipes from my Baking with Betty experience, and I’ve kept you waiting long enough! These Gooey Layered Brownie Bars are delightfully delicious!  It’s a tough call, but I think they were my top favorite dessert that I sampled from our baking extravaganza. I’m disappointed in myself for not making them in my own kitchen yet, so hopefully this post will inspire me to bake up a batch this week right along with you!

Here’s What You’ll Need:

• 1 Box of Betty Crocker® Original Supreme Premium Brownie Mix (water, vegetable oil, and egg as called for on box)
• 1 c of Betty Crocker® Rich and Creamy Vanilla Frosting (or whip up your own homemade recipe)
• 1/2 c of Coarsely Chopped  Peanuts
• 2 c Crisp Rice Cereal
• 2/3 c Creamy Peanut Butter
• 1 1/3 c (8 oz) Semisweet Chocolate Chips

Here’s 10 Easy Steps to Follow to Make These Deliciously Gooey Treats:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease bottom of 9 in square pan with cooking spray or shortening. (Or line pan with foil for easier cutting and grease bottom only of foil.)
3. Make brownies as directed on box mix.
4. Cool completely.
5. Frost brownies with icing. Sprinkle with peanuts and refrigerate.
6. Measure cereal into medium sized bowl, set aside.
7. In 1 quart saucepan, melt peanut butter and chocolate chips over low heat, stirring constantly.
8. Pour over cereal in bowl, stirring until evenly coated. Spread over frosted brownies.
9. Refrigerate 1 hour or until set before cutting into bars.

And Finally…

10. Devour!

The layers truly make this bar – the sweet/salty combination, along with the crunchy texture… sooooooo goooooood!  Come back and tell me how much you love them!

QuatroMama

This post is linked at Oh Amanda’s Top Ten Tuesday, Bless with Grace’s Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, Beauty and Bedlam’s Tasty Tuesday and Southern Fairytale’s Mouthwatering Monday.

A week ago these handsome men dropped me off at the airport.  I’d never been away from them by myself before, and even though it was just for one night, it was hard to walk away to my gate.

In fact, I almost turned around and ran back in their arms. 

But I knew they had a fun night ahead of male bonding ahead, and I had 29 other women to meet and bake with…

photo: Matt Holland Photography

One of those “once in a lifetime” opportunities knocked on my door, as I was able to have access to the Betty Crocker Test Kitchens for a day of baking delight!

It’s hard to describe what a dream day we all experienced.  The creativity, ingenuity, and talent that fills this facility was so inspiring, yet warm and welcoming. We split into 4 groups and rotated to stations on Cookies, Cakes with Kids, Brownies, and Baking with Bisquick. 

photo: Matt Holland Photography

The group of bloggers were all such beautiful people.  (Kudos to Kelly from MyBlogSpark  for putting together such a sweet group!) My only wish is that we could have had more time together!  You should check out their outstanding blogs from deals to food to personal lifestyle to homemaking. 

Taste and Tell ~ 24/7 Moms ~ My Blessed Life ~ I Am Baker ~ Fake Ginger ~ Jamie Cooks It Up ~ A Few Shortcuts ~ HoosierHomemade ~ Mom Spark ~ The Snyder 5 ~ Joy’s Hope ~ Baking Bites ~ Save at Home Mommy ~ Utah Deal Diva ~ Real Mom Kitchen ~ From My Kitchen ~ The Adventures of Kitchen Girl ~Blogmania ~ Musings by Jacquelyn ~ Frugal Living and Having Fun ~ Family Fresh Cooking ~ Your Fun Family ~ Megan’s Munchies ~ Gourmet Mom on the Go ~ Nika’s Culinaria ~ Mama Latina Tips ~ My Big Fat, Cuban Family ~ Modern Mami ~ Latina on a Mission ~ Mami of Multiples

What a great way to get to know each other better by baking together! 

photo: Matt Holland Photography

Great friendships are built on brownies, after all.

I think my smile tells how much fun I truly had…

The facilities at General Mills were first class.  Unbelievable.  And although this sign gave us all a chuckle…

It was nice to have really great engaging conversations.  Not only was I able to take away a wealth of knowledge from my peak at Betty Crocker Kitchens, they were learning from us as well.  We had a mutual appreciation for one another. 

How would you like your cupboard to look like this?  The colors, shapes, and textures were gorgeous in the prep room for the photography division. 

photo: My Blessed Life

Love at first site.  Just think of the magic that happens in this place…

I literally had to pace myself on sampling these creations…

I can’t wait to share a few of these recipes with you all!  They are easy, fun to make with your family, and taste even better when shared! 

So now that I’ve got your taste buds hopping….what’s your favorite baked good to share with family or friends? 

Brownies?  Sheet Cake?  Cupcakes?  Make us Salivate!

I’ll be posting an easy treat recipe later this week…

General Mills covered my expenses for attending Baking with Betty. However, the opportunity to share the experience with you all was my own choice!  Thank you, General Mills and My Blog Spark for creating a lifelong memory!

I want to support my wife in all of her passions and pursuits.  It gives me tremendous joy to give her the opportunity to go do something SHE enjoys.  So when General Mills and the Betty Crocker team invited Jen to join them for their blogging event "Baking with Betty", I really encouraged her to go.  Since I am working at home now, I have the unique ability to volunteer my time so that she can take advantage of these sorts of opportunities.

So what does a dad do by himself with 4 little boys that are full of energy for 36 hours?

CAMPING!

Our itinerary:

- Grocery Run (hot dogs, smores, other unhealthy snacks)

- Build Fire, don’t burn down house

- Roast Dogs, make smores, eat cookies

- Pitch Tents, blow up mattresses

- Sleep under a full moon!

Ok, so I am not about to pack them up by myself and head for the woods, but we did have our very first camping experience.  I consider it a preview of many camping and fishing trips to come.

Our grass was crispy brown at the time, so I did have to water everything down before I struck the first match, but we built a roaring fire that the boys really enjoyed.  It gave me a great opportunity to talk to them about fire safety.

It was perfect weather for camping.  Once it was dark, the boys all cheerfully climbed into their tents without protest (much to my surprise).  When I was tucking him in, Brooks looked at me very seriously and said, "Daddy, the birds no get in my tent when it’s dark outside?"  I said, "Birds?  No buddy, no birds are going to get in your tent tonight."  He just smiled and put his thumb in his mouth, ready to drift off to sleep.

I was amazed, after 15 minutes of chatter, the back yard grew silent.  All four of my boys were sleeping outside for the first time!  It was this daddy’s dream come true until…..the swarm descended.  You see, we have individual travel tents* for the boys because we use them when we are on the road with the boys.  We do not yet have an adult tent, so I figured I would sleep on an air mattress under the stars.  That plan was going well until the dive bombing mosquitoes attacked at midnight.  I finally lifted each sleeping boy from his tent and retreated to the house.  My mission was still mostly accomplished, but I am going to have to find a tent for next time.

Man Camp was a success, but we were all 5 very glad to see mamma again.  Stay tuned, I think there will be many outdoor adventures to come!

QuatroDaddy

* Links to Amazon Affiliate