Clean the Cupboard Cookie Bars #FilltheCookieJar

Our theme for this month's Fill the Cookie Jar is Back to School cookies.  Didn't summer just start? The kids around here have only been out of school for 2 weeks and don't go back until after Labor Day.

Evidently, some of the other States have year round school and the kids are getting ready for the upcoming school year already.  I'm not sure how I would have felt about that as a parent of school aged children.  I know that many parents have to work and it is probably easier for them to have school year round with smaller breaks throughout the year instead of having the entire summer to worry about finding daycare for the kids.

Are your kids still in school?  How do you feel about year round classes?  I was lucky enough to be a stay at home Mom until my kids were old enough to stay home without me.  I liked having them home during the summer but I think I would have equally liked having them home more throughout the year.  It will be interesting to see if this trend comes to Michigan and how it works out.

Okay.....enough of the rambling.....so anyhoo, the theme is Back to School cookies.  This is a pretty broad field so I opened the cupboard to see what I had on hand.  And found this.........

Does your cupboard look like this? Half a bag of this, quarter of a bag of that, couple Tablespoons of something else.....ridiculous.  Faced with this and the task at hand, I decided to make some bar cookies and just dump all my odds and ends into the mix.

I had some milk chocolate morsels, some white chocolate morsels, some peanut butter morsels and some mini M&M's.  I had just enough butter flavored coconut oil on hand for these but you could use plain coconut oil or butter or margarine.  Whatever floats your boat makes your cookie crumble.

I know my kids would have loved to find one of these cookie bars in their lunchbox.  It would have been packed right next to their PBJ sandwich.  Of course, I understand that those are no longer allowed.  Probably not my cookie bars either with the peanut butter chips, maybe you should leave those out.....or just save these cookies for your kids to have as an after school treat before homework. My kids were always famished when they got home and while much has changed in this 20 years, I'm pretty sure that hasn't.

Make sure you stop by and see what the others are sending with their kids back to school.....I'm going to enjoy mine, with my Little Miss, poolside and say a prayer of gratitude that she is not yet in school.

Clean the Cupboard Cookie Bars

2 1/4 c. flour

1 t. baking soda

1 t. salt

1 cup coconut oil

3/4 c. sugar

3/4 c. brown sugar, packed

1 t. vanilla

2 eggs

2 1/2 c. assorted chips and candies (whatever you have in the cupboard)

Place the flour, baking soda, salt, coconut oil, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla and eggs into the large bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Beat on low speed until combined.  Add the chips and candies and stir in until evenly distributed.

Spread into a 9x13" pan that has been treated with baking spray.  Bake in a preheated 375* oven for 25-30 minutes until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the cookie removes cleanly.

Let cool completely before cutting into bars. Print Recipe

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