Carrot cake and Cathy's Crack Bars!!!

I hope Cathy from work doesn't mind me sharing her Indoor S'more recipe with you all. She also calls them "crack bars" because they are really that addictive. I made these, along with carrot cake, for Daniel's birthday dessert. The carrot cake recipe came from Joy of Cooking. The kids were swarming!

CRACK BARS:

13 oz. box Golden Grahams (I could only find 12 oz. box, and that worked fine.)
1 ½ C. chocolate chips (semi or milk both good)
6 C. mini marshmallows, divided (reserve 1 C. to add later)
¼ C. light corn syrup
5 T. butter, cut in chunks
1 t. vanilla


Melt chocolate chips, 5 C. marshmallows, corn syrup, and butter in large bowl in microwave. (I do like 1.5 minutes, stir, and do 20 to 30 second intervals until all melted.)

Mix in 1 t. vanilla.

Pour in Golden Grahams and reserved marshmallows. (This part kinda messy, but just keep stirring until it’s all mixed together pretty good.)

Press into greased (butter or Pam) 9x13 baking dish. (Spray a little Pam or butter your fingers up a little so you can press in dish good without it sticking all over your fingers.)

Refrigerate at least one hour and cut into bars.


CARROT CAKE:

Grease two round pans and preheat oven to 350.

Whisk together in bowl:

1 1/3 cups of flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp salt

Add to bowl and stir together well:

2/3 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cup grated carrots
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup raisings
1/2 crushed pineapple, lightly drained.

Scrape batter into pans and bake 25 to 30 minutes. Detach from pan and let cool. Frost with cream cheese frosting. Recipe below:

8 oz cream cheese
5 tablespoons of unsalted soft butter
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups of powdered sugar

Combine in a food processor and pulse until smooth and creamy. Yum!