chocolate oat bars

these delicious and messy little bars come from one of my favorite places for baking recipes, "America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book."  i recommend this book (as well as the original "America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook") to people all of the time.  i wonder if i can convince someone to give me a commission?   the recipes are clear and well-developed.  and even when the recipes have a lot of steps, they're easy to follow and have a sound rational.  this recipe is very easy, my only problem is remembering to leave enough time for the crust to cool before adding the filling...which means i invited myself to complete the baking at jj's apt last night.  like a good guest always does.  i had odin assist with the measuring and whisking portion of the baking:

and then he got really into it, thompson-style concentration with mouth open:

let's face it, those were just opportunities for me to take pictures of odin and put them somewhere.

the bars: crust of oats, brown sugar, butter.  filling is lots of dark dark chocolate and sugar and a little salt (salty chocolate is so good!).  and more oats and such on top.   

i've apparently made these before, because in my cookbook i've written "very good!" and they were.  good thing i've already got the note there, because i'll most certainly forget i've made them again.

robot spaceship birthday cupcakes

odin had a very belated friend birthday party this year. but, it was a lovely little affair, and felt more like a family party than anything, with just 2 little families joining us on a sunday evening. i made these delightful cupcakes:

the recipe is for a cake that factors in often for thompson birthdays. it's a chocolate sour cream cake with chocolate sour cream frosting. the recipe came from my great aunt, and it's super moist delicious cake, with frosting that tastes almost like fudge, especially if it's just come out of the fridge.

my mom, generous and clever, gave odin these adorable robot and spaceship toppers and papers as one of his birthday gifts. he was so excited to help decorate them. he went for a more-is-more look, and i had to limit the toppers to 2 so we had enough to go around.

and, because he can't help himself, he directed the singing of happy birthday, and joined in:

sour cream chocolate cake:

2 c sugar

2 eggs

2 heaping c flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

5 Tbsp cocoa

1/2 c butter, softened

1 c sour cream

2 tsp baking soda dissolved in 1 c boiling water

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp salt

combine all ingredients and beat 2 min with electric mixer until well combined.

those are all the instructions i have from the recipe. this is a very un-fussy cake.

bake at 350 until toothpick comes out with just a few crumbs attached. for a 9x9 or 9x13, about 40-55 min. for cupcakes, i did 12-15 min (made 24 cupcakes).

frosting:

1 c bittersweet chocolate chips

3 Tbsp butter

1/2 c sour cream

3 c powdered sugar

melt chips and butter. mix in remaining ingredients until smooth.

this makes a lot of frosting! i made a half batch, and it was enough to frost about 20 cupcakes. if you're really fond of frosting, go for the whole thing! it's amazing.