Blondies prove that pantry staples like flour, brown sugar, butter, and eggs can be spun into pure gold—and without a mixer, at that. Amp up their flavor with a touch of dark rum and a tumble of toasted pecans, and a new favorite is born.

Source: Martha Stewart Living, June 2018

Total Time:  45mins

Prep: 20mins

Yield: 24 bars

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 1/2 cups whole pecans
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, melted, plus more for brushing
• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 cups light-brown sugar, plus 2 tablespoons for sprinkling
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon dark rum (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread pecans on a rimmed baking sheet; toast until fragrant, 6 to 7 minutes. Let cool, then chop.

2. Brush a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with butter, then dust with flour, tapping out excess. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and salt. In a large bowl, whisk together butter and 2 cups brown sugar until combined. Add eggs; whisk until combined. Add vanilla and rum. Fold in flour mixture with a spatula until just combined (do not overmix). Fold in half of nuts.

3. Transfer batter to prepared dish; smooth top with an offset spatula. Sprinkle top with remaining nuts and 2 tablespoons brown sugar. Bake until golden around edges and a tester inserted in center comes out with very few crumbs, 22 to 24 minutes.

4. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely before cutting into squares. Blondies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.

VARIATIONS:

If you'd rather not use rum, increase the amount of vanilla to 4 teaspoons.

Invite your kids’ friends over to pudding paint on a shower curtain! This is one of those uber-sophisticated parties that you just really hope to be invited to! Letting kids paint with pudding? What kind of crazy moms are we?

Materials:

• vanilla pudding
• food coloring
• shower curtain liner
• Paint brushes

You can make the vanilla pudding per the directions on the box and let it set up to perfection. After it set, spoon it into some smaller bowls and added the food coloring.

Don’t worry – the food coloring doesn’t change the taste and it was still just as delicious dyed red.

Source: busytoddler.com

Glob the pudding out onto the shower curtain and add some brushes and kitchen utensils. 

The kids can have so much fun experimenting with the pudding, smooshing it, painting it, and of course, eating it. LOL!

They can make delicious art, fabulous memories, and then just let them go right into the bath tub to get their stinky bodies cleaned off.

The shower curtain was a quick hose off on the patio and all was clean and perfect in under 5 minutes. You’ll love when it’s a fast up and fast take down project – especially when it involves a mess like this..

Who doesn’t like cookies? Stuff it with caramel and let’s see if they still won’t like it!

The secret to this recipe is freezing the balls of dough for just 15 minutes before baking. That way, the center cooks more slowly, and you achieve that blissful balance of melted, gooey interiors and crispy edges. Source: Martha Stewart Living, September 2017

Recipe photo courtesy of Armando Rafael

Total Time:  1 hour

Prep: 20mins

Yield: 12 servings

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups packed light-brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips (1 whole bag)
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 24 caramels, such as Kraft, halved

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees, with racks in top and middle. In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together flour, both sugars, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add butter; beat on medium speed until combined but some pea-size butter chunks remain. Add chocolate chips and beat until combined, then beat in eggs, one at a time, and vanilla.

2. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment. Scoop dough into 4-ounce balls (each about 1/3 cup); make a deep, wide hollow in each center. Enclose 3 pieces of caramel in each; roll back into a ball. Place 6 balls on each sheet. Freeze 15 minutes.

3. Bake, with one sheet on each rack, 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees, swap sheet positions, and bake until centers are almost but not completely set (press gently on tops with your fingers to check), 7 to 10 minutes more. Remove from oven. Bang sheets on a counter a few times to create cracks in tops of cookies. Place sheets on a wire rack; let cool completely. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.

You can replace the caramels with nutella too, or even marshmallows (use four minis, or cut a big one into pieces).