Wedding Weekend Goodies

Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars, Milk Chocolate Cookie Bars,
& Ooey Gooey Butter Cake Bars

Near the end of the wedding dinner dance, the bride and groom borrowed the mic from the band, and addressed their wedding guests. Sweet, heartfelt words that made everyone smile and go "awww..." and made a few guests shed a tear. Jessica said she was happy to have new "bonus parents." What a lovely phrase to use instead of the typical word "in-laws."

We were all happy that both families could spend some comfortable time together in those long hours before the wedding ceremony. Let's be honest. The lead-up to any wedding is stressful. Thankfully, our stress was more of the high energy, eager anticipation kind. While hair and make-up was being done on the wedding day morning, excited chatter and lots of laughter filled the cottage as we got to know each other better.

The bridesmaids, three from each family, quickly became one family. They paired up, finding new best friends. Baby Girl, age 4, was nearly inseparable from the 5-year-old niece of the groom. Little Sister, age 7, felt very grown up as she buddied up with "that middle girl" who is 9. Little Sister understands being a middle sister. The biggest age spacing was between the two oldest, but I was happy to hear Big Sister giving words of advice to the oldest of the groom's nieces as they talked about school.

The new mother-in-law (or "bonus mother" as Jessica put it), being very thoughtful, sent us a huge tin of baked goodies to enjoy during the weekend. This resort was like a village, with lots of colorful cottages where guests stay. The cookie tin made it from her cottage to the groom's blue cottage. He was in the process of delivering it to us when his sister spied it and mistakenly took it back to their big family cottage.

The almost mother-in-law, who baked these goodies, was unaware that this red tin was still traveling from cottage to cottage—but had not made it to us. She asked me at the rehearsal dinner if we had enjoyed the cookies, I had heard that she had baked something for us, so I mumbled some generic words of thanks. The next morning the new bonus mom arrived at our brown cottage for hair and makeup, with a big red cookie tin in her hands. She thrust it forward and laughed, "I wondered why I got that underwhelmed response last night when I asked about the cookies. I DIDN'T KNOW you didn't have them!"

Well, those goodies were wonderful! And delicious! And appreciated! And we gave proper thanks to the baker. We nibbled before the wedding. But when we got back to our cottage after the wedding, at nearly midnight, they were devoured. I knew by the time I went to bed, there were two left. The morning after the wedding, I was up early and headed for my coffee and those last two cookies. And I was greatly disappointed to see that someone beat me to them.

I settled for the crumbs. And asked for the recipes. I still have that red tin, so I can fill it up again. But I'm sure the next batch won't be nearly as good as what we enjoyed during that wedding weekend. Those cookies got an extra measure of love mixed in with the butter and sugar.

Every flavor was someone's favorite. The Ooey Gooey Butter Cake was my personal pick. And, lucky for me, the easiest to make. You've got time to make these for your royal wedding viewing this weekend. Pair them with a cup of tea and you can pretend you're a guest at the royal wedding,....while watching it on TV in your pajamas!

OOEY GOOEY BUTTER CAKE BARS

1 box yellow cake mix
3 eggs
1 cup butter (16 tbsp), melted, divided
1 (8-oz) block of full-fat cream cheese, softened to room temp
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine cake mix, 1 egg, and 1/2 cup (8 tbsp) of butter and mix well with an electric mixer. Pat the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 9x13-inch baking pan.

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth Beat remaining 2 eggs. Add the beaten eggs, vanilla and remaining 1/2 cup (8 tbsp) butter and beat together. Next, add the powdered sugar and mix well until all is incorporated.

Spread the cream cheese mixture over the cake batter. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes. make sure not to over bake as the center should be a little bit gooey—but not so gooey that they completely fall apart. Let cool completely before cutting into bars. Dust with a little extra powdered sugar before serving.



For the record, 1 cup of butter is 2 sticks. Look on the butter wrapper. Each stick is 8 oz.

Looking Back

I am slowly floating down from the wedding cloud. My coming-down-to-earth took a detour over the weekend to watch Little Sister play in her piano recital. (She just finished her first year and played Beethoven's German Dance In G Major. And she played beautifully.) But I am finally back at home where I can sit down and catch my breath. Who knew fun was so exhausting?

Jessica's wedding was held at a garden resort and most of the guests stayed on the property. It was like a big weekend house party. The resort itself had the feel of a summer camp. A camp for grownups. There was golf, of course, but there was also hunting and fishing and horseback riding and sport/clay shooting and a petting farm and hiking and lawn games and bicycles and fire pits for s'more. It was a great place for their friends, who are now scattered across the country, to gather and spend time together.

The ceremony itself was lovely. The prayers and the readings and the vows were all personal and meaningful. The bride chose to have only nieces, ages 4-17, as her attendants. They were thrilled to be included. Between the bride and groom, there were six nieces to stand with them. Yes. It's all girls on both sides. It was sweet when they exited, little ones holding hands with their groomsman.

It was an outdoor wedding, which I find a little scary to plan. The morning weather forecast gave a 50/50 chance for rain the evening of the ceremony. There was a "plan B" in case of rain, but the bride and groom rolled the weather dice. And they won. The rain held off and the the clouds kept us cool. And the ceremony went on as planned. Then the rains came while we were having dinner and dancing under the tent. (The band was fabulous.) And then the rain stopped before the music did. Perfect.

Thankfully, there were very few mishaps. There was the wedding guest who hitchhiked the last few miles in his tuxedo after his car broke down. There was a group of party crashers who wandered into the reception party...and were quickly ushered out by a guest. There was my momentary panic when Daddy-O told me my dress wouldn't zip up and I needed to "suck it in." Blessedly it was only an obstinate zipper and not a chubby mother of the bride!

And there were interesting things that happened. While our photographer was making photos of the wedding party before the ceremony, we had other resort guests walk past who asked to make photos of the bride because "this is part of our vacation!" Not exactly paparazzi like this weekend's royal wedding will have, but still. There was Baby Girl's disappointment when she saw my dress. "Mimi! Your dress. It's not fancy!" I told her I thought it was pretty fancy. "But Mimi. Gray is NOT a fancy color!" 

I look forward to having our newly expanded family together soon to swap stories about the wedding weekend. We can all hear about the parts we missed. And we are waiting anxiously on the official photographs. Everything was just beautiful and it will be fun to see it all over again.

It was a wonderful weekend, filled with family and friends. So much love. So many beautiful memories. So many good wishes for the new couple as they start a life together. Blessings to them!

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words