Symphony Bar Cookies

OK, I wasn't ambitious enough to try one of Bakerella's recipes, but I did whip up a batch of our favourite cookies...Symphony Bar Cookies.

Here is the recipe:

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 cup flour

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1 Symphony Bar; crushed into bits (I use the blue bars...the ones with almonds and toffee bits!)

1/4-1/2 bag of chocolate chips

Mix butter and sugars together. Add egg and vanilla. Add in dry ingredients and mix well. Add in chocolate chips and Symphony bar chunks. Drop onto cookie sheet and bake at 350F for about 7-9 minutes. Makes about 2 dozen.

Hints: I use a cookie scoop to make equal-sized cookies. It limits the fighting over who gets the bigger cookie. I also use a Silpat to bake them on. This will increase your bake time to about 10-12 minutes, but they will always turn out PERFECT! I freeze my chocolate bars then smash them against the counter to break them up. And you can easily double the recipe for a BIG Batch...they will disappear quickly.

Now, I know they do not have Symphony Bars in Canada, so a good substitution would be a couple of Skor bars and an Almond Hershey bar or two. I always stock up on Symphony bars when we head south and I just store them in the freezer.

"Can we bake?"

The weather has cooled down considerably this past week. Appropriate for school, as it is very much like fall around here. With the cooler weather, comes the request from the kids to bake something. I actually bake quite often; usually 2-3 times a month. It's usually cookies, but sometimes I find a scandalous looking dessert and if I'm ambitious, I'll give it a try.

A while back, I was reading some friends' blogs and I came across THIS blog (thanks, Lynette). I thought I should share the joy. Ohhhh, how yummy! I felt a bit like Pavlov's dog...the amazing photography of these delectable treats had me drooling! I have yet to try one of her recipes, but it is on my list of things to do!

First Day and BIG Changes

It's here again, the First Day of School. For Parker, this has been a long time coming. It all started when he turned 5 years old in January. "Do I get to go to Kindergarten now?" he asked on the morning of his birthday. "Not yet, Bud." was my response for the next 7 months. Well, today was the big day. He got to go to Kindergarten. There was pure excitement and anticipation last night and this morning, but when we walked in to his new classroom, the smile was quickly replaced by a stoned-face, non-emotional look.

Cardiff would have stayed in the kindergarten class if he could. "Me five!" he said to Wayne, trying to convince him that he was old enough to go to school too. His turn will come all too quickly!

For Emmy and Azia, I'm sure it was a morning of mixed emotions. We decided to have them attend the school that we are zoned for with our new house. We figured it would be better to start the school year at the new school, rather than move them over part way through the year. Azia was the first to get dropped off at her new classroom. I thought she would be alright, but the emotions overflowed as we stood by the door of her class. She really loved her old school and didn't like not knowing anyone. She misses her best friend Brooke, who has been in her class since Kindergarten. I tried to comfort her by telling her that her new teacher, Mr. Atkinson, was also MY grade 5 teacher (eons ago!) I sat with her for a few minutes as the other kids came in, but told her I had to check on Emmy and Parker too. I left her with tears in her eyes. She seemed fine as I checked on her as we were leaving. I know she will make some great new friends and enjoy this school just as much.

If I expected anyone to be really emotional about today, I thought it would be Emmy, not Azia. Wayne took Emmy to her new class and she seemed to settle in just fine. Perhaps she is just better at hiding (and controlling) her emotions. I went to check in on her and I found her putting her name on her coat hook. Emmy has the advantage of sort of knowing someone in her class already. My good friend Jaime Rollingson's daughter, Cayleigh, is in Emmy's class. Jaime told Cayleigh that we were best friends growing up and that Emmy was my daughter. It helps to sort of know someone when it is a new environment! This is Emmy's last year in elementary school. Next year...middle school!!!

So with that, I'm back down to 2 kids at home for the mornings. Parker finishes class at lunch time and I'm sure Cardiff will be thrilled to see him. And so another school year begins. (And if you're wondering why they are bundled up in jackets, it was a balmy 0 degrees celsius or 32 degrees F. this morning! Brrrrrr!)