Last night I was in charge of the activity for our Young Women and Young Men at church so I set up a “Chopped” activity for them, sort of like the tv show of the same name on the Food Network.  We divided them into 4 teams and gave each team a bag of ingredients (they all got a Granny Smith apple, a tube of biscuits and a pouch of Strawberry Pop Rocks) and then each team got sent off to a different adult’s home to make something with those ingredients in an hour.  They seemed to have a lot of fun and came up with some great creations – an apple pie, monkey bread, a caramel apple, baked apples, it was awesome to see what they made.  I made them treats, 3 different kinds of bar cookies so here is bar cookie #1.  All 3 recipes came from http://www.bettycrocker.com!

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup shortening

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1 egg

1 3/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup candy coated chocolate candies or semisweet chocolate chips (I used peanut M & M’s)

1/2 cup chopped nuts (left these out since I used peanut candies)

1  Heat oven to 375.  Beat brown sugar, sugar, butter and shortening on medium until light and fluffy.  Beat in vanilla and egg until well blended.

2  On low, beat in flour, baking soda and salt until dough forms.  With spoon, stir in candies and nuts.  Spread dough in ungreased 9 x 13″ pan.

3  Bake 15 – 25 minutes or until light golden brown.  Cool completely and cut into bars.