Graham cracker frenzy.

Okay, do you see these cookies?  They were my first attempt at making a cookie called, "Everything but the kitchen sink."  They're called that because, well, you can put a whole lot of stuff in them and it doesn't really matter what it is.

The problem that occurred, though, is that I think I over-mixed the butter and sugar so that the cookies came out super flat.  And they were so flat that I had a terrible time trying to lift them off of the baking sheets - they just crumbled apart no matter how careful you tried to be.

They are the failed kitchen sink cookies.  They still tasted good, but they just...weren't cookies.  My family didn't like them.  Nathan begged to differ, though.  He loved them.   

Failure kitchen sink cookies - chocolate chips, walnuts, coconut, cinnamon

Anyway, I decided to try and redeem myself because I love the concept of these cookies.  I took another recipe (from joyofbaking - I'm telling you that website is absolutely wonderful) and tried it out, adding my own little random ingredient...graham crackers.  I added the graham crackers to the kitchen sink cookies because, well, I mind as well since they were being used already for the million other things I was baking.  And hooray, they turned out to be awesome!  Well, you were at least able to hold them in your hands without them falling apart.  I'd deem that a winner.

Winner kitchen sink cookies - chocolate chips, coconut, walnuts, toasted pecans & graham cracker chunks

So in reality, I was baking three things at once:  I was making a second batch of s'more granola bars (these were the batch I made for Libby), along with four and a half dozen kitchen sink cookies and the nanaimo bars, which are documented below.

Please don't ask me to pronounce these nanaimo bars.  I have enough trouble saying it myself.  They're Canadian, I believe.  I just saw them on the joyofbaking website while I was browsing around and their layers intrigued me, so I've been wanting to make them ever since I saw them.

They were added to my bucket list of things to bake (this doesn't really exist - it's just a mental list of things I'd want to try baking one day in my life), thinking I would make them some time in the future, especially since the custard layer required an odd ingredient like pudding or custard powder, of which I've never really worked with before.  But lo and behold, one day there was a brand new can of custard powder sitting on our kitchen table.

Nanaimo bars

My mom so happened to buy it (actually, I don't know what she really bought it for; I never asked) on some random day.  But I didn't put two and two together until a few days later when I was brainstorming what to bake next and saw those nanaimo bars.  As I glanced through the ingredients, I spotted the custard powder and realized I had recently seen a can of it in our kitchen.  I called my mom up to ask if I could use it, and she said, "Sure!"

I was able to make all three baked goods at the same time because after I'd make one layer of the nanaimo bars, I'd have to stick them in the fridge to chill and then scoop kitchen sink cookies onto baking sheets, and while I'd stick those in the oven, I'd prep all the ingredients that needed to go into the s'more granola bars and then pull out the fresh-baked cookies, make the next layer of the nanaimo bars while the cookies cooled, stick that back in the refrigerator, and then work on the next batch of cookies or work on the s'more granola bars.  

The kitchen was hopping, I must say.  It was quite a rhythm I had gotten into.

Well, the only thing that bothered me about making these bars was that when I poured the melted chocolate onto the custard layer, I think it melted the custard a little so that the bar ended up being not very sturdy.  

And, it's interesting because...I don't think I'd make them again.  I mean, they're easy to make and they taste okay-ish, but they're super sweet (which, I know, is usually awesome because I love sweets), and I feel like they wouldn't be a winner with the majority.  

Hahaha I was just thinking of an analogy and I'd hate to compare it to this, but they're kind of...like people.  They remind me of snobby, materialistic rich girls that wear too much make-up and heels the size of two pencils stacked on top of each other, that expect to be treated like spoiled princesses.  It's as if the nanaimo bars act like they're so special because they've got special ingredients and have specific instructions that no other baked good requires.  They're really high maintenance (you can't keep them out for too long because they'll get melty so you have to keep them in the fridge), they expect the world to drop at their feet when really, who's ever heard of a nanaimo bar?  And they're sweet, but they're too sweet, so they're sappy and not enjoyable to be around -- I mean...eat.

Wow, I'm giving my baked goods their own personalities.  I spend way too much alone time with my oven.