MORE BAKING!

I try to avoid reading the ingredients labels on the granola bars, but sometimes I just can't avoid it.  I want to give my kids healthy snacks in their lunch boxes (they don't eat half of what I pack anyway) and for some reason, I view a "granola bar" as healthy.  NOT SO!

I am kind of at a loss as to what to give them.  I have tried nuts, fruit (I don't even bother anymore-they don't eat it and it ends up in the composter.  Instead, I have a fruit plate waiting for them when they get home-they seem to eat that just fine!), baked chips, the dreaded sandwich and sometimes, a granola bar.  Most of the time the lunch box comes home just as I had packed it in the a.m.

So, I went on line and perused some of my favorite sites and looked for granola-type bar recipes.  Much to my surprise, there were virtually none.  I found one, but this is really more like a chocolate bar, rather than a granola bar.  My search continues.

ingredients

Chocolate Chip Apricot Bars

(epicurious.com)

Packed up and ready to go

I bake to relax.  I am not a lover of the basic chocolate chip cookie (not challenging enough), however I finally found one that is really, really good.  This is a Jacque Torres recipe and it loaded with lots of chocolate chunks.  I like to buy my chocolate at Surfas(surfas.com), actually, I like to buy EVERYTHING there!

ingredients

This batter is like a fine red wine.  The more it sits, the better it is.  I like to let the batter rest in the fridge for at least 24 hours, but you could let it go for as long as 3 days.
I shape the dough into little balls and then flash freeze them (lay on cookie sheet and put in the freezer for 2-3 hours).  Then I put the little balls in freezer bags.  That way, the kids can have hot, fresh cookies when ever they have that little craving (which is often).

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/09/dining/091crex.html