Halloween Candy Bars Revisited!

So every Halloween my husband and I buy WAY too much candy! We are left with mountains of mini everything; usually a variety that includes M&Ms,  Reese's peanut butter cups, Hershey bars, Snickers and Twix. We usually end up taking the leftovers to work or, somewhat unfortunately, eating them all ourselves. Every year, I turn them into what we call in our house a "yum-yum". A "yum-yum" is any kind of dessert cookie, bar or brownie that can be eaten in a brown bag lunch (or better yet, anytime you walk past the kitchen counter!). I make a different "yum-yum" every week. I know, I know...probably not the most healthy thing to do, but it makes my husband and toddler, and anyone who happens to visit, smile. Not only that, it makes the house smell really, really good! Below is the recipe~ it's nice and easy and tastes like a fancy schmancy chocolate chip cookie bar. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
1 1/2 sticks butter, softened
1 1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 jumbo eggs
3 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup pretzels
8-12 mini candy bars
1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Assembly:
Cream butter and sugars. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Add flour, baking soda and salt and mix on medium-low speed until combined. Chop between 8-12 small candy bars (leave M&Ms whole) along with 1/2 cup pretzels and stir them into the batter. Bake in a greased 9x13 pan at 350 for approximately 30-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely and cut into bars.

Rasberry-Pecan Crumble Bars

I'm back! I've been a negligent blogger these past few weeks... I thought I'd come back with one of my favorite dessert recipes. It's buttery and crumbly with tart raspberry preserves running through the middle. My husband asks for these all the time! I hope you enjoy them as much as we do.
Yields: Approximately 24 bars

Ingredients:

10 oz. rasberry preserves

4 cups all-purpose flour

4 sticks of softened, salted butter

3 egg yolks + 1 egg

2 tsp. vanilla

2 tsp. baking powder

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup pecan chips

Assembly:

Grease a 9x12 baking dish. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream the butter and sugar, then add the egg yolks (one at a time) and vanilla. Mix in the baking powder and flour on medium-low speed. Press half the dough into the bottom of the pan. Spread the raspberry preserves across the top (you may need to microwave the preserves if you had them in the refrigerator). Crumble the remaining dough over the top of the preserves and sprinkle with pecan chips. Bake approximately 30-40 minutes and allow to cool completely before cutting into squares.