Toffee-Topped Bars (and other cookie recipes!)

I have had this recipe in my recipe binder forever. I came in one of those "please buy our recipe card collection" packets. The ones where they give you some sample cards and then want you to pay lots of money for more card, you know? I didn't buy the "more" cards, but I kept the sample ones.

I've been meaning to try this recipe for years and somehow it just never made it to the top of the to-do list. Last week I needed a recipe to take to a gathering I was going to and these just seemed like the ones.

I would make these again, they were very good, and my whole family (as well as the women at my gathering) liked them. However, I am not sure why they are called "toffee-topped" bars. There is no toffee anywhere! I thought, as I was making them, that the part you sprinkle on would melt into a toffee type layer. No such luck. I'm thinking adding some toffee chips would be a good addition - I felt cheated!

In a large mixing bowl mix together:

2 c. packed brown sugar
2 c. all purpose flour

Using a pastry cutter or two knives (or your stand mixer) cut in:

1/2 c. (1 stick) butter or margarine

When it looks like coarse crumbs, remove 1 cup of the mixture and set aside.

To the mixture in the large bowl, add:

1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Lightly beat in:

1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 c. milk

Continue beating until a smooth batter forms. Pour batter into a greased 9x13 pan.

In a small bowl combine:

1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 c. chopped walnuts
1/4 c. flaked coconut (optional)

Sprinkle the reserved crumb mixture over the batter in the pan. Sprinkle with the chocolate chip mixture. Using a long flat spatula, spread topping evenly over the top of the batter in the pan.

Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool bars completely before slicing. (yeah, right, like that's going to happen!)

These were better the second day. Seems like a lot of bar type recipes are like that. Not that there is much left the second day at my house!


Here are some links to other cookie recipes I have done.

Apple Berry Bars are truly wonderful and I can even trick myself into thinking that they are healthy, too.

We made Celebration Chocolate Revel Bars to celebrate the the inauguration. You don't have to wait for the next inauguration to make them. Celebrate Tuesday, just cause you can.

If you, like me, love caramel, try making the Caramel Frosted Brown Sugar Drops. We made them again for our Superbowl party. They are still cookies to die for!

Enjoy!

Jill

Apple Berry Bars

I got a new cookbook for Christmas. I got the Taste of Home Baking Book. I really, really like this cookbook. I love to bake and I love Taste of Home so it is a perfect pair. I have made several recipe and not one of them has flopped. As soon as my KitchenAid stand mixer gets fixed, I'm going to try even more. I love my KitchenAid stand mixer.

I also love my apple-oatmeal bar recipe. As I was going through my new cookbook, I found a recipe for Apple Berry Streusel Bars. It was very similar to the apple-oatmeal bars but with raspberries in the middle with the apple. I made the recipe in the book and it wasn't just right (but still really good), so I tweaked my original recipe and made it tonight. Can you say, YUM?

This recipe is a great way to get oatmeal into my family and one of the recipes that I use my 25 lb bag of oatmeal in. The filling calls for 12 oz of raspberry jam. Since I made tons of raspberry jam this summer, it is pretty cheap. If you had to go out and buy a jar of jam it would raise the price but it's worth it. This would be good with just about any kind of jam, and you could probably just toss some berries (frozen or otherwise) with the apples, too. Blueberry would be good.

Apple Berry Bars
(makes a 9x13 pan, about 4 cookies for me!)

In a bowl, combine:

2 c. flour (I almost always use half whole wheat flour)
2 c. oatmeal (I use the old fashioned kind)
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
1 c. sugar

Cut in (like you would for a pie crust):

1 cup butter or margarine

It should resemble really coarse crumbs when you are done.
Press half (or a little more) of the mixture into a greased 9x13 pan.

In a separate bowl, combine:

4 c. chopped, peeled apple (or whatever you have - just make sure you have at least 4 c.)
12 oz (about 1 1/2 c.) raspberry jam

Spread the apple mixture over the crust in the pan. Sprinkle the other half of the oatmeal mixture over the apple/raspberry mixture. Press lightly.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35 minutes. Let cool and cut into bars. While it is warm it is really good but you'll need to use a fork. After it cools, you can pick them up and eat them with your hands. I think they are better cool, but my family likes them warm. You decide!

Enjoy!

Jill

Cookies to Die For!

I own a bazillion cookbooks. No really, if there is such a number as "bazillion" then I have that many cookbooks. I don't buy a cookbook unless I've checked it out of the library at least three times, I figure by then it has enough good stuff that I should own it. The one exception to this rule was that one time I joined a "book-of-the-month" club. When you joined you got six books for a dollar (or something like that). I joined because there was one book I was drooling over and I figured if I could get it for a buck it was worth it (that book was Homebaking by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid.). I ended up getting several books that I had never read/looked. When they first came I looked through them and put them on my shelf. I have been going through my cookbooks again and finding some great stuff.

The book I'm going through right now is called The All-American Cookie Book, Nancy Baggett. I is sort of a history of cookies in America. The one I tried today is called Caramel Frosted Brown Sugar Drops. Can you say "to die for?" Oh. My. Goodness. If you like caramel, like I do, these are amazing. The frosting recipe that is in the book didn't work for me and I ended up throwing out a lot of weird-looking-burned-caramel-smelling stuff. I found another recipe on CDKitchen, it was fabulous. My kids (and husband) ate almost half the recipe before I frosted them and loved them so I guess you could do it either way (go with the frosting).

Caramel Frosted Brown Sugar Drops

Mix in a bowl and set aside:

2 3/4 c. all-purpose flour (I used about 1/2 c. whole wheat, cause I'm just like that)
1 tsp. baking soda
generous 1/4 tsp salt

In another large bowl or bowl of your stand mixer, beat together:

1 c. (two sticks) butter
1 1/3 c. brown sugar

When the butter/sugar mixture is light and fluffy add:

2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

When it is combined add half of the flour mixture then add:

2/3 c. sour cream

Then add the other half of the flour mixture. If you want them, add:

3/4 c. chopped pecans (I didn't have any and my family has this whole "no nuts in things")

Drop by tablespoons on cookies sheet. With greased (or wet) fingers, press the tops so the cookies are relatively flat. Bake at 350 degrees for 9-12 minutes. Put on wire rack to cool. Top with Caramel Frosting.

Caramel Frosting

Melt in medium saucepan:

1/2 c. butter

When melted, add 1 c. packed brown sugar

Stir and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and boil (still stirring) for two minutes. Add:

1/4 c. milk

Bring back to a boil then remove from heat. Stir well. Cool to lukewarm then add:

2 c. powdered sugar

Stir well and cool (put your pan in a bowl that has cold water in it). Use to frost cookies. YUM!

I'm off to look for more cookie recipes.

Jill