The 90-degree weather this week won't fool my appetite because my stomach is ready for fall. After missing a grilled cheese and tomato soup lunch last week, I'm constantly craving a study snack with a hint of autumn flavor.
While browsing Pinterest and avoiding my homework, I came across some photos that got my stomach growling. The first, from a blog entitled "Two peas and their pod," is something I will be trying over fall break when free time is easier to come by — pumpkin chocolate chip bars sound delicious and would be perfect with a cold glass of milk. The second recipe, a cinnamon snack mix from tasteofhome.com, is something I intend to try this week as it calls for far less time and preparation.
Take a time-out from homework to bake dessert or steal a few minutes to make a study snack before the fall season passes.
Your stomach will thank you.
Cinnamon Snack Mix
(Yields 32 servings)
Ingredients:
- 11 whole cinnamon graham crackers, broken into bite sized pieces
- 1 package (17.9 ounces) Crispix cereal
- 1 cup miniature pretzels
- 1 cup pecan halves
- 2/3 cup butter, melted
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1 cup vanilla or butterscotch chips
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the graham crackers, cereal, pretzels and pecans in a large bowl.
- Combine butter and honey, then drizzle over graham cracker mixture and mix well.
- Bake the mixture in two greased 15x10x1 inch. baking pans for 12-15 minutes, stirring once halfway through the bake time.
- After the mixture is cooled completely, mix in the vanilla or butterscotch chips.
*For a simpler, faster snack, omit steps 2-3 and create your own fall-themed trail mix.
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars
(Yields 24 bars)
Ingredients:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
- 1 package (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk the flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt into a medium bowl and set aside for later.
- With an electric mixer, mix the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla until combined, then add pumpkin puree and mix well. The mixture should look somewhat curdled. Mix in dry ingredients on a low speed until combined. Finally, fold in the chocolate chips.
- Spread the batter evenly into a greased 9x13 inch baking pan and bake the bars for 35-40 minutes or until the edges begin to pull away from the sides of the pan.
- Let the bars cool completely in the pan before cutting into squares to serve.
–Green is a sophomore from Muncie, Ind. majoring in Spanish and communications. She is the features editor for The DePauw.
features@thedepauw.com.