Today was my last day at my job! On Monday, I begin a new role – I’ll be in the same company, but I’m transferring to a project management role in our International business unit. I’ll be traveling a lot more (in fact, I’ll be on a plane to Hong Kong on my first day on the job), and working on some really neat projects with our teams around the world, with the side benefit of getting to tell you all about the awesome foods I get to try. I’m very excited about my new job, but the past few days have been bittersweet. This was my first job out of college, and I’ve had two and a half great years in the group that I’m leaving. I’ve learned a ton, developed so much more confidence in myself, and, maybe most importantly, met some really great people. When I was first looking for jobs, I didn’t realize the sheer volume of time you spend with your coworkers, and I consider myself lucky to have found myself in a group of smart, entertaining, and caring people who have become my close friends. I spent a good part of most days at work laughing with an intensity that I never expected to experience in a workplace, and I know I’m lucky to be able to say that. I’m certainly planning on maintaining my friendships with everyone, but it will be different not being there for the little day to day stories and jokes. So, thank you CS&R, for being awesome.

Although I’ve brought baked goods in to work once or twice, I have to admit that overall, I probably fell short of my coworkers’ expectations of having a food blogger around. So today, to celebrate my time in the group and make good on all my “yeah I’ll make those someday” promises, I brought in a batch of classic, gooey, super sweet seven layer bars. I considered going all fancy/homemade with these – you know, homemade cookie crust, a caramel drizzle, etc. – but in the end, what I really wanted was just the classic version, over-processed store bought ingredients and all. So that’s what I made, although it turns out that if you live in Cambridge, it’s pretty difficult/expensive to try and find things like sweetened coconut flakes, butterscotch chips, and sweetened condensed milk when Wholefoods has taken over the local grocery scene (typically a good thing, but not for something like this). Still, these are certainly worth making in my book, and hopefully my coworkers thought so too. Now I just have to start managing the baking expectations of my new coworkers.

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Peppermint Bark Brownies

Blackberry Cheesecake Bars

Toffee-Coconut Crack Cookies

Classic Seven-Layer Bars

Adapted from Brown-Eyed Baker. Makes 18-24 bars.

• 1 package of  graham crackers (8 or 9 whole crackers)
• 1 stick butter (8 TBS) melted
• 1 1/2 c. whole pecans, coarsely chopped
• 1 c. semisweet chocolate chips
• 3/4 c. white chocolate chips
• 1/2 c. butterscotch chips
• 1 c. sweetened coconut flakes
• 1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 9×13 inch baking pan with tinfoil so that the foil hangs slightly over the sides. Place graham crackers in a blender and pulse several times until crackers are finely ground. Pour into a bowl and add the melted butter, stirring to fully coat the crumbs with the butter. Spread the buttered crumbs into the bottom of the lined pan, pressing to create a thin and even layer.
2. In order, sprinkle the chopped pecans, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, butterscotch chips and coconut flakes evenly over the graham cracker crust. Spoon or pour the can of sweetened condensed milk evenly over the surface of the entire pan. Place in the preheated oven and bake until the top is golden brown, about 25-30 minutes. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for about two hours. Cover and store in the fridge.

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I’ve been craving cookies. I usually try to resist baking them for as long as possible, just because I know once they’re on the counter it will be hard not to eat them by the handful. But I’ve been putting off this particular craving for weeks, and it was time to give in. I thought about trying to come up with some creative new cookie that would really wow you, but, the thing is, I didn’t really want a fancy cookie. I just wanted something simple and sweet and crunchy. And when I remembered Oatmeal Scotchies, one of my favorite, favorite cookies, I suddenly couldn’t justify making anything but those.

This is a back-of-the-bag recipe – sometimes, those are the best kind. There’s something so comforting about recipes like these, ones that you’ve made a dozen times before. You barely have to look at the ingredient list to know – two sticks of butter, softened, three-quarters of a cup white sugar, three-quarters of a cup brown sugar, two eggs, one at a time. Like a mantra from your childhood. The first thing you helped your mother make once you’d graduated from boxed cake mix. The recipe you wrote for your “how-to” paragraph in first grade. Also, one of the few recipes you make where the time it takes to preheat the oven is all the time you need. Twenty minutes after you’ve started, you’re eating the first cookie, still so hot that the molten butterscotch chips in the middle burn the tip of your tongue. The first cookie eaten on it’s own, standing over the oven, the second one sitting at the table with a cold glass of milk. You spoil your dinner, and feel a little sick from eating one too many spoonfuls of dough. It’s a welcome ritual at the end of a long week.

These are one of my dad’s favorites, too, and when I eat them, I think of him standing at the counter, sneaking just one, OK maybe two more from the cat-shaped cookie jar. My family is away this week – in Colorado and New Mexico for my baby brother’s spring break – but maybe when they come back I’ll make another batch, to share with them. After all, it’s such an easy way to show your love.

Oatmeal Scotchies

Recipe from Nestle Toll House. Makes 48 cookies.

• 1 c. (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 3/4 c. white sugar
• 3/4 c. brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/4 c. flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 c. oats
• One 11-oz bag butterscotch chips

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. In a large bowl, cream together butter and both sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, until fully incorporated. Stir in vanilla to incorporate.
2. In a separate, smaller bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Stir into the wet ingredients until the dough has an even, slightly sticky texture. Stir in the oats and the butterscotch chips.
3. Drop rounded spoonfuls of dough (a little more than a tablespoon each) onto a baking sheet to form cookies. Bake for 7-8 minutes for chewy cookies, or 9-10 minutes for crispy cookies.

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