Triple Vanilla-Bean Bars

I confess that I'm a Vanilla Gal. When faced with the 'chocolate or vanilla' dilemma, it's never a dilemma for me. Chocolate doesn't do wonders for my skin and I can't handle the caffeine very well. Don't get me wrong... I buy chocolate, I blog about chocolate, and I even eat it & enjoy it... but vanilla is most definitely the preferred choice for me.

That may be why this recipe appealed to me: Triple Vanilla-Bean Bars. This little treat accompanied me to a New Year's Eve get-together.

Here's the 'How-To':

Triple vanilla = scraped vanilla bean, vanilla extract and melted vanilla baking chips. Mixed with brownie-like ingredients, it's baked into one big bar. The bar dumps easily out of the pan and is topped with a vanilla icing.

I went nuts with a little extra melted chocolate decor (after all, it was New Year's Eve). I just melted a few chocolate chips w/ a dab of shortening and spooned it into a zip top baggie... then I snipped the corner and drizzled away.

Since I prefer to cut the edges off of my bars before cutting them into nicely shaped squares, I didn't worry too much about getting the icing all the way to the edges. I always use the edges to sample my product!

Super tip: It is much easier to cut clean squares when bars & brownies are chilled. Use a long, sharp, thin knife, and wipe it with a paper towel after each cut.

Up close yummyness. These were very moist and very sweet. I believe that you must be a lover of vanilla to enjoy them. I loved them, of course. And it seems that all of the other samplers enjoyed them too as they slowly disappeared from their platter throughout the evening.

This recipe can be found HERE.