Peachy Groovy

Yesterday we discussed cookie dough love; today we'll talk about peaches.  Because the two are obviously equally matched.

I like peaches quite a bit,  but, let's face it, no matter how you spin it, peaches are not chocolate.

However, when you put peaches on a vanilla-y crust and top with a brown sugar, nutty crumble, you really can't go wrong.

Click on the hyperlink to get the peach cobbler bar recipe.  It's sort of a cheater recipe because it uses a cake mix, but can we just stop and talk a moment about the wonder of a yellow, or in this case, french vanilla cake mix.  I mean, the aroma alone is enough to make my spirits soar.  I'm a chocolate kind of girl.  I eat handfuls of chocolate chips and have often tinkered with the idea of offering my first born up for sale to the first person who brings me a chewy brownie the size of my head.  On a side note, my mom used to make brownies with peanut butter frosting.  I know!  Could there be anything better than that? 

However, as loyal as I am to the dark stuff, when it comes to birthday cake, I'm a yellow cake girl through and through.

Also, this recipe uses canned pie filling, which is gloppy and not very attractive, but it does its job.  In order to bulk up the peachiness, I also added some drained canned peaches.

Side note:  do canned peaches smell funny to you?

According to the recipe, you mix up the peaches, and spread over the cake mix/oatmeal crust, which went unpictured (I think because my hands were all gummed up from pressing the crust into the pan).

Then you top it with a crumble topping.  The original recipe called for pecans, but I used almonds.  I went to buy pecans at the regular grocery store (read:  not the commissary, aka the pricey store) but they were super expensive.  I bought the cheaper almonds, instead, only to find a bag of pecans in the back of my pantry after I already baked the bars.

Okay, back to the crumble topping.

I once knew a woman who didn't like crumble topping.  Talk about baffling.  I mean, really?  What's not to love about sweet, crunchy brown  bits?   Apropos of nothing, that same, crumble topping hating woman also proved to be a pathological liar/bad check writer.  She also still owes us $450 for the couch she 'bought' from us when we left Maryland and moved to Georgia in 2005.  Something tells me we're not going to ever see that money.

So we're out $450, but at least I have peach cobbler bars to make me happy.

They look enticing in the unbaked state;

but they're virtually irresistible when they emerge from the oven all golden brown and delicious.

But first, we must let them cool (and remind ourselves to practice courageous restraint, because they're for the teachers) before we cut them into bars and sprinkle them with powdered sugar.

I hope the teachers like them.

I was at the luncheon when it first started and I didn't see anyone take one, but that was early in the game. 

At least that's what I'm telling myself.

But wait, baking week isn't over yet.  Today was 'bring a goodie for the teacher day' in Caroline's class.  In honor of such a special day, I made my tried and true double chocolate chunk cookies.

Which we placed in these cute little lunch sacks and tied with a ribbon.

Caroline has three teachers but we also chose to include her beloved 2nd grade teacher,  the two PE teachers and her art teacher.  They all need a little chocolate love, too.

I found these cupcake bags on clearance at Michaels for .09 a piece! 

But, I only bought four of them, so I found the other green and blue bags at Walmart 4/$1.

In a way, I'm glad baking week is over because  I hope to restore my disaster zone kitchen to its usual tidy standard.  And also because I ate more chocolate yesterday than I have in several weeks.  I had one batch of cookies fall flat; they were too ugly to give the teachers, but not so ugly that I didn't help myself to one or three of them.

On the bright side, I think the cookies helped fuel my run this morning. 

Behold the power of chocolate.  Er...peaches.