The end of summer is hands down the busiest time of the year for me. I always feel like there just aren't enough hours in the day to fit everything in (actually, I feel this way year-round). Between moving into my new house and sorority rush practice for hours on end every day, unfortunately baking had to take the backseat. But trust me, I would much rather be baking. I had to squeeze in a little time to bake some cookies the other day because I just couldn't stand not being able to grab something sweet on my way out the door. I think it's safe to say I am addicted to baked goods.

This post isn't for the cookies, though, because unfortunately my camera is dead and the two pictures of cookies that I managed to take before it died are still on there. I've talked about my issues with moving and losing things before, well, the camera charger is currently m.i.a. I had pictures on my computer from some pancakes I made a while back, so I figured I might as well post them.

These pancakes are nothing like regular pancakes. They are sweeter and have a completely different texture. I don't exactly know why they are called jelly roll pancakes, but if I had to guess I'd say it's because their texture allows them to roll up perfectly without breaking. This means you can put whatever goodies you'd like inside and roll them all up into pancake burrito. Yummm. I ate mine with honey and bananas, but I really wish I had some whipped cream and chocolate chips for them. These were good, but I definitely prefer regular pancakes. In my opinion you just can't beat a plain buttermilk pancake with syrup. The best thing I can compare these to would be a thicker version of a crepe.

Jelly Roll Pancakes
Recipe from The Girl Who Ate Everything
4 eggs
3 cups milk
1 tsp. vanilla
3 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt

Beat eggs with a fork until well blended. Add milk and vanilla. Beat with a fork until well blended.

Keep beating as you add the flour, sugar, and salt. Try and get it as smooth as you can. Melt a little butter in a pan and cook the batter as you would regular pancakes. Serve with butter, powdered sugar, syrup, jam, or Nutella.

S'mores are good in basically any form. I love s'mores cookies, s'mores ice cream, plain old s'mores and now these bars can be added to the list. There is a crust on the top and bottom, and in-between is a layer of Hershey's followed by a layer of marshmallow fluff. I don't have much time to write a post, so I'm keeping it short and sweet. These bars are quite tasty. I thought they were a 7 out of 10, but my brother thought they were practically the best thing I've ever made. That just proves all taste buds are different. These are best right out of the oven (I took the pictures a few days after so they don't look quite as warm and gooey). I'm leaving to be a counselor at camp for a week in an hour so I wanted to put up a new recipe before I left! Enjoy!

Smores Bars

  Recipe from The Girl Who Ate Everything

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs

1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 king-sized Hershey's milk chocolate bars (if you want a more subtle chocolate flavor use regular sized chocolate bars; enough to fit)
1 1/2 cups marshmallow creme/fluff (7 1/2 oz jar)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan.

2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg and vanilla. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture and mix at a low speed until combined.

3. Divide dough in half and press half of dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan. Place chocolate bars over dough. 2 king-sized Hershey’s bars should fit perfectly side by side, but break the chocolate (if necessary) to get it to fit in a single layer no more than 1/4 inch thick. Spread chocolate with marshmallow creme or fluff. Place remaining dough in a single layer on top of the fluff. This part can be tricky. I made little disks with the dough and formed them into a sheet on some parchment paper then transferred it over. Spread it around gently.

4. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool completely before cutting into bars.

Makes 16 cookie bars.

Blueberry boy bait--what a name.  When I first saw this recipe on someone's site I thought it was funny since it just looked like your run of the mill blueberry coffee cake. I really wouldn't have chosen this recipe over any of the others if it hadn't been for the name. Not surprisingly, it is really good.

I've always thought girls had it rough when it comes to the sweets department. We get cravings for the most insanely sweet/chocolatey/rich things out there, but find no sympathy from our male counterparts when we try to explain them. I don't know why it is that I can't resist a good cookie, but could turn down a hamburger in a second. I love hamburgers. I love steak. I love big, greasy sandwiches and fries...but I don't crave them. Those are the foods that males crave. What do I crave? Sweets. So blueberry boy bait stuck out because usually boys aren't drawn to sweets. The official consensus from all the "boys" in my life was that this was great. Was it the one dessert that they just couldn't resist? Nope.

I ate this for breakfast and dessert..and snacks throughout the day. I see anything short of pound cake with blueberries in it as breakfast-worthy. This cake isn't exactly like a coffee cake, though. I'd say it's a mix between coffee cake and regular yellow cake. The cinnamon sugar on top is delicious, and the cake is moist and flavorful. I brought it on my family beach trip this week and there's only a piece or two left. Wonder whether it's the boys or girls who are eating the most?


Blueberry Boy Bait
Recipe from Momofuku for 2


2 cups plus 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon table salt
16 tablespoons unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen (if frozen, do not defrost first as it tends to muddle in the batter)
*I doubled the amount of blueberries here.

Topping
1/2 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen (do not defrost)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
For the cake: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 13 by 9-inch baking pan. (I lined a 9×9 inch pan with parchment paper)
Whisk two cups flour, baking powder, and salt together in medium bowl. With electric mixer, beat butter and sugars on medium-high speed until fluffy, about two minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until just incorporated and scraping down bowl. Reduce speed to medium and beat in one-third of flour mixture until incorporated; beat in half of milk. Beat in half of remaining flour mixture, then remaining milk, and finally remaining flour mixture. Toss blueberries with remaining one teaspoon flour. Using rubber spatula, gently fold in blueberries. Spread batter into prepared pan.
For the topping:
Scatter blueberries over top of batter. Stir sugar and cinnamon together in small bowl and sprinkle over batter. Bake until toothpick inserted in centre of cake comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool in pan 20 minutes, then turn out and place on serving platter (topping side up). Serve warm or at room temperature. (Cake can be stored in airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.)

Recently it's been increasingly difficult to make good cookies in my house. This happens often in North Carolina summers since we get 100 degree weather paired with 100% humidity (not a great combination for baking).  Ahh, the south.  My house gets warm too because we have a porch that is closed in, but doesn't have any AC. We leave the door to it open for my dog so she can go through it to the backyard. It's fine 320 days a year, but let me tell you, on a hot day it makes for a miserably hot house. Still, everyone loves cookies (including me) and I feel like batch of cookies around the house is a must in summer..or any other time of the year! I hate when batches spread too much, but I'm willing to take a chance with the humidity all in the name of cookies.

In my house, we've got a house divided on a number of different things. There are obvious things, like my Duke fan parents and two siblings who attended Duke versus my brother and I, UNC kids to the core. There are also other minor things, mostly these deal with food. Coconut is one of those foods. It used to be my mom against the house. She would choose a coconut cake over just about anything else, but nobody else liked it one bit. Then I realized coconut really just sweetens things up and that's always a plus in my book. So now it's me and my mom against the house. That's why whenever possible I love recipes like this that sneak in coconut in a subtle way. Coconut makes these cookies chewy and sweet. They are the perfect summer cookie. Because my house was an oven the day I made them, they didn't turn out exactly how I wanted, but the taste is great.

Coconut Lime Sugar Cookies  
Recipe from The Girl Who Ate Everything

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 ½ cups white sugar
1 egg
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
zest of one large lime, finely minced
3 tbsp lime juice
½ cup unsweetened toasted coconut
½ cup sugar for rolling cookies

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. If you haven't already toasted your coconut just put a layer of coconut on a cookie sheet and bake it at 350 degrees for 5-7 minutes. Watch out. It goes from white to burnt really quick if you aren't watching closely.
2. In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
3. Using a mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until smooth and very fluffy.
4. Beat in egg, vanilla extract, lime juice and lime zest.
5. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients and toasted coconut.
6. Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls, and roll in sugar. Place on lined cookie sheets about 1 1/2 inches apart. I made mine too big and they ran together. These do spread quite a bit.
7. Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly browned.
8. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.