Rocky Road Cookie Bars

I haven't been baking much lately.  Mr. Terrific gave up sweets and snacks for Lent and I don't want to tease him by whipping up fabulous concoctions that he can't eat.

Since Sundays are Lenten-resolution free, however, I did do a little bit of baking on Sunday night.  And wondered what would happen to my Rocky Road Bars come Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.......although the rest of us are making other sacrifices and are free to indulge in sweets, we don't have Mr. Terrific's sweet tooth.

I was sure I'd be feeding Rocky Road Bars to the garbage disposal.

Teenage boys to the rescue.

School vacation week, my son has friends over, I set out the Rocky Road Bars and.......sayonara.

I took this recipe out of a booklet of Betty Crocker recipes.  And of course, I tweaked it.

Double-Chocolate Rocky Road Cookie Bars

Cookie Base

• 1 pouch (1 lb. 5 oz) Betty Crocker double chocolate chunk cookie mix
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 egg

Filling

• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 egg
• 2 cups mini marshmallows

Frosting

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 cup unsweetened baking cocoa
• 1/3 cup milk
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray bottom and sides of 13 x 9-inch pan with cooking spray.

Add double chocolate chunk cookie mix.........

......to remaining cookie base ingredients in a large bowl.

Spread cookie dough in bottom of baking pan. 

Set aside.

Place filling ingredients in large bowl.

Beat on medium speed, until smooth.

Spread over cookie base.  Bake for 26 to 28 minutes or until filling is set.

Sprinkle evenly with mini marshmallows.  Bake for 2 minutes longer.

I like the way the marshmallows puff up when you bake them.

Have you ever made s'mores in the microwave?  They puff up in the microwave, too.  Makes me think about the marshmallow peeps which are rather ubiquitous (oooooooh, high school vocab word!  I've been waiting 30 years to use that word in a sentence, who knew that blogging would give me that opportunity?  Now I'm excited at the prospect that I may get to use omnipotent and sobriquet in future posts.....) this time of year.  I wonder if the marshmallow peeps would get fatter in the microwave?  Or you could make Easter s'mores with them.  Sorry, I digress...........back to our recipe.

In 2-quart saucepan, melt 1/2 cup butter over medium heat.  Stir in cocoa and milk. 

Heat to boiling, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat. 

With wire whisk, gradually stir in powdered sugar until well blended.  Stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Immediately pour over marshmallows, spreading gently to cover.  Cool for 30 minutes, then refrigerate for about 2 hours until chilled.

Cut into bars.  (Should be stored, covered, in refrigerator.)

Enjoy!