Best Bar Cookie Recipe needed
August 29, 2016 9:32 AM Subscribe
I'm entertaining a big group this weekend and would like to make some bar cookies. I don't have the time or patience to make drop cookies, so I thought I would ask for your best bar cookie recipes.
BLONDIES
1-1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
In a large bowl, combine the brown sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla just until blended. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; add to brown sugar mixture. Stir in chocolate chips.
Spread into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking pan. Bake at 350° for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into bars. Yield: 3 dozen.
It's the easiest recipe ever, and they never come out wrong.
posted by xingcat at 9:51 AM on August 29, 2016 [5 favorites]
1-1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
In a large bowl, combine the brown sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla just until blended. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; add to brown sugar mixture. Stir in chocolate chips.
Spread into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking pan. Bake at 350° for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into bars. Yield: 3 dozen.
It's the easiest recipe ever, and they never come out wrong.
posted by xingcat at 9:51 AM on August 29, 2016 [5 favorites]
Best answer: Magic cookie bars! Same as FencingGal's recipe, but without the coconut and nuts (lots of people don't like them) and with butterscotch chips. 1/2 chocolate and 1/2 butterscotch.
posted by meemzi at 10:23 AM on August 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by meemzi at 10:23 AM on August 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
Best answer: West Tenth Street Brownies are amazingly good.
posted by ringu0 at 10:29 AM on August 29, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by ringu0 at 10:29 AM on August 29, 2016 [3 favorites]
Sorry to be so unimaginative, but in my experience, it's really hard to beat brownies out of a box. (The most common mistake is to over-cook them.)
posted by SemiSalt at 10:53 AM on August 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by SemiSalt at 10:53 AM on August 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
Best answer: I make chocolate chip cookie bars all the time! I use the recipe on the back of the Nestle's bag, spread the dough in a 9x13 pan, and bake for maybe 20 minutes? I do like them chewy rather than crisp, do YMMV. I never have leftovers when I make these!
posted by bookmammal at 11:10 AM on August 29, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by bookmammal at 11:10 AM on August 29, 2016 [3 favorites]
I do magic cookie bars with half chocolate, half peanut butter chips. You can make them in 2 pre-made graham cracker crusts to make it easier, but it doesn't come out as pretty.
posted by galvanized unicorn at 11:11 AM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by galvanized unicorn at 11:11 AM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
A friend of mine makes snickerdoodle bars -- she literally just makes a recipe of snickerdoodle dough, smushes it flat into the pan, and sprinkles cinnamon sugar on top.
They come out denser than ordinary snickerdoodles, but still very good. (Hard to go wrong with lots of butter.)
posted by mekily at 1:30 PM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
They come out denser than ordinary snickerdoodles, but still very good. (Hard to go wrong with lots of butter.)
posted by mekily at 1:30 PM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks everyone... now I just have to choose one!
posted by sarajane at 1:59 PM on August 29, 2016
posted by sarajane at 1:59 PM on August 29, 2016
Blondies is what I would have and I use the Cook's Illustrated version. I omit the nuts and find that using high quality high cacao percentage dark chocolate chips works really well. Their natural bitterness is counteracted by all the sugar and fat in the recipe.
I'll also say that really good chocolate chips added into rice krispie treats is also very nice.
posted by mmascolino at 2:07 PM on August 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
I'll also say that really good chocolate chips added into rice krispie treats is also very nice.
posted by mmascolino at 2:07 PM on August 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
Best answer: I'm late to this party but we make fancy rice krispie treats by topping them with extra melted marshmellow/butter goop and then pseudo-bruleeing the mixture until it is carmelized and almost burnt. Sometimes we also add birthday sprinkles because I love birthday sprinkles.
posted by beepbeepboopboop at 2:20 PM on August 29, 2016
posted by beepbeepboopboop at 2:20 PM on August 29, 2016
Came to recommend the Tollhouse Cookie recipe in bar form. I make it in a pan larger than 13x9 (15x10? No idea, just a standard metal pan). The result is about an inch / inch and a half high cookie bar that people scarf down. I find it amusing because they are SO EASY to make and I almost always have the ingredients.
posted by kellygrape at 7:41 PM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by kellygrape at 7:41 PM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
Dude, Not Darby Pie Bars are one of the most magical things ever. People at work asked me for that recipe for like a week after I brought them in.
posted by guster4lovers at 6:48 PM on August 30, 2016
posted by guster4lovers at 6:48 PM on August 30, 2016
Given the time of year, blueberry crumb bars are tough to beat. They're also super easy and delicious.
posted by peppermind at 6:12 AM on August 31, 2016
posted by peppermind at 6:12 AM on August 31, 2016
This thread is closed to new comments.
Melt 2/3 cup of shortening or butter.
Add to 1 lb (2 cups packed) brown sugar.
Mix, then let cool.
Beat in 3 large eggs. Add 1.5 tsp vanilla.
Mix together separately: 2.75 cups flour; 1/2 tsp salt, 2.5 tsp baking powder.
Stir dry ingredients into wet mixture, will be stiff and hard. Add 1 cup chocolate chips, 1 cup chopped nuts, or whatever you like.
Spread in a greased 9x13-inch pan, bake at 350F about 25 minutes, or until the edges begin to pull away from the sides. They're excellent warm with ice cream. They go stale fast, but they never last very long.
Possible variations: toast the nuts in advance, use almond extract instead of vanilla, add flaked coconut.
I've been making these since 1975 or so, they've never come out badly.
posted by suelac at 9:46 AM on August 29, 2016 [11 favorites]