Three Summer Bar Cookie Recipes

Summer is not a time for a lot of baking for me, but there are some things that I do love to bake even when the temps are hot. I recently made three different bar cookie recipes for a family gathering, and thought I'd share them here!

Blueberry Bars

These bar cookies have been a favorite of mine to make during the summer for quite some time. It has kind of become a habit. I must make these sometime during each summer, and this summer was no exception! The blueberries are such a fun ingredient to a summer bar cookie.

Click here for the recipe that I first shared back in the summer of 2014.

S'mores Bars

A few years ago I added another favorite summer bar cookie recipe to my collection, and have made it each year since then. You have to taste it to believe how delicious it is ... a taste of s'mores cooked over the campfire!

Click here to find this amazing cookie bar recipe.

Zucchini Brownies

And this summer I have added another favorite! Even more fun as we have zucchini growing in our garden this summer. We love these brownies, topped off with a wonderful cream cheese frosting.

Click here for the Zucchini Bar recipe.

And click here for the Cream Cheese Frosting recipe.

At our recent family get-together, two of our sweet granddaughters asked me for a few of these recipes. They both love to bake! So, this blog post is written and dedicated to Ali (15), and Eva (10) ... and this is also my way of sharing the recipes with them! It's such a treat for me to share recipes with my granddaughters!

Heart Connect: What We So Desperately Need

Probably a few decades ago, I started a new verse collection for a category of favorite verses on the topic of prayer. And I chose to call this new collection of verses, my "Heart Connect" verses.

"Heart Connect" captures what I believe is at the heart of prayer. It's not something that we do, or that we can check off of our list. For, we can even go through the motions of prayer, without really praying. That is the case for me, anyway.

I believe that though God hears all our prayers, and it doesn't matter the words we use, the key to grow deeper in prayer, is to realize the deeper purpose. To realize the deeper purpose of prayer ... and that is, that our hearts would become so closely connected to God's heart. So closely connected that praying becomes like breathing. 

To connect with the heart of God ... what He gave His life for, and what we are all created for. What a hungry and hurting world so desperately needs. What we as His followers, long for and desire. Each day.

The things you give to God in prayer - your worries, concerns, and needs - are the ties that bind your heart to His. Our struggles are His entry points. (Praying the Scriptures for Your Adult Children)

We can welcome struggles, even trials ... for they are windows that open our souls to our Maker. In our need, we become desperate for Him. And He always is there, ready to shower us with love, mercy, and grace. Just what we long for.

As a mom of six, a grama of ten, and soon-to-be great-grama of one  - plus all those each of these bring into our family, too - my husband and I have over two dozen family members to love, and care for. And each year there is more and more to draw us close, connecting with God's heart for them, and on their behalf. 

Remember the Lord,

who is great and awesome,

and fight for your families,

your sons and your daughters,

your wives and your homes.

(Nehemiah 4:14 NIV) 

All our concerns, all the things on our hearts, are all opportunities for us to draw close to Him, opportunities for Heart Connect.