Stress Relief: Applesauce Bars

Ha, the reason this is named stress relief is because my 16 year old daughter (Randi) came home yesterday from a tough day at school.



Peer Pressure (absolutely stinks)!!



Talking to me about what happened through tears, and feeling a little better after the conversation, she headed to the kitchen.



Pots banging, bowls clanging she created these scrumptious applesauce bars from my chicken-scratch recipe.



Look what a little stress can do....


Do you ever have cravings where you have to have a certain food right here, right now?



That is exactly what happened with this Mott's applesauce.



I was craving applesauce so bad, I went to the store, bought a jar, satisfied my craving, and now it just sits in my frig.



Well, I decided to put it to good use in this recipe I found.





I am a huge recipe sniffer....



The definition of recipe sniffer is: A person that locates a recipe, studies it, crosses off ingredients, adds ingredients, and makes the recipe taste to their approval.



As you can see in the picture above, that is exactly what I did.



I know exactly how I want these applesauce bars to taste.






Applesauce Bars



1/4 c. butter, soft

2/3 c. brown sugar

1 egg

1 c. applesauce

1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 c. wheat flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 c. Ocean Spray Craisins

1/2 c. chopped walnuts



Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.



In a medium bowl, mix together the butter, brown sugar and egg until smooth. Stir in the applesauce. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and spices; stir into applesauce mixture until well blended. Stir in craisins. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.



Bake for 25 minutes (mine was done sooner), I would check the bars at 20 minutes with a wooden pick.



For the frosting, Randi used the recipe from the pumpkin cupcakes http://alilcountrysugar.blogspot.com/2010/10/pumpkin-cupcakes.html.

She put just a thin layer of frosting on the top. She didn't want to take away from the applesauce bar flavors. She then sprinkled with 1/2 c. chopped walnuts (did you know walnuts are a stress reliever?).

No wonder Randi made this recipe.... She was stressed-out.

The frosting recipe makes a lot, so you better have a box of graham crackers on stand-by.

Don't tell her I said this, but I hope she gets stressed-out more often....these bars are AMAZING!!

Good Luck~Happy Eating~Enjoy