Christmas Cooking Countdown 6 Days to Christmas-Magic Cookie Bars

Want to try a cookie with a big of magic?  The answer is magic cookie bars

(Note: This is not one of our pugs the image is from pugs in costume tumblr 

link)

Magic Cookie Bars from Magnolia Bakery

4 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

3 sticks melted butter

2 cups chopped pecans

1 cup chocolate chips

4 cups sweetened shredded coconut

3 14 ounce cans condensed milk

Preheat oven to 325.   Combine crumbs and melted butter in a large bowl and press into an ungreased jelly roll pan.    Top cookie crust with pecans, chocolate  chips, and coconut.  Pour over the the condensed milk and spread evenly.  Bake 30 to 35 minutes.

Bob's Birthday Party

Yesterday Bob celebrated his fourth birthday.   Unfortunately the whether was very bad so he didn't get to go on a walk in Palisades ,   but since I  have a week and a half of from work (Spring Vacation) I have promised to take him another day.   Bob's party went well.  He enjoyed his cake:

 I made him Humming bird cupcakes from the recipe on the Cupcake Bake Shop Blog

Hummingbird Cupcakes
makes 24 cupcakes

3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1-1/2 tsp vanilla
1 8oz can crushed pineapple, with liquid
2 mashed bananas
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans

1. Mix flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, salt with a whisk in a good sized bowl.
2. Beat eggs.
3. Add oil and vanilla to beaten eggs and mix until somewhat combined.
4. Add egg/oil/vanilla mixture to flour/sugar/baking soda/cinnamon/salt mixture.
5. Mix together pineapple, bananas, pecans until combined.
6. Add to the rest of ingredients and stir to combine.

Bake at 350 degrees for ~25 minutes until golden and a cake tester comes out clean.

This is a people recipe but nothing in it is bad for dogs.   For the dogs I frost them with vanilla yogurt but for people I use the Cream Cheese Icing recipe from the Magnolia Bakery cookbook.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients: 
1/2 lb (1 eight oz packages) cream cheese,softened slightly,cut into small pieces
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter,softened slightly,cut into small pieces
1 tsp vanilla extract 
3 cups sifted confectioner's sugar

Beat cream cheese and the butter with mixer until smooth,about 3 minutes.Add the vanilla extract.Gradually add the sugar and beat until well incorporated.

Bob seemed to enjoy his gifts.   

His Dad got him a bag of Elvis dog treats from Bocce's Bakery.   He also got a very cute bow tie collar from Pecan Pie Puppies, a Planet Dog Sol Ball and a  Mini Mr. Frog Toy   Bob's toys came from my absolute favorite online dog shop Olive Green Dog.

Bob had a great birthday.  The only downside was that his sister Ping seems to have hurt her leg.  She has a luxating patella and something must have aggravated it because she is limping. Sadly, we had to miss today's NNJPE 
Easter meetup because she was still not right this morning and without supervision she jumps on and off the furniture, very bad for the knee.   Now she seems to be doing better.