Smores Cookie Bars
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Over the last couple of years, and especially when I was out of work, I started taking after my dad and stocking up on certain items when they’re on sale. This easily explains why I have about a million bars of soap as well as a lifetime supply of Glad Press N Seal (best stuff ever!). Anyway, sometime at the beginning of summer, I noticed graham crackers and marshmallow creme on sale. Not a big fan of the creme, I bought and figured I’d use it to make fudge or something. Well, that something turned into these bars.
The original recipe calls for these to be made in an 8×8″ pan and cut into 16 bars. We have way more than 16 people at my office, so I knew this was one recipe that needed to be doubled. (You’re welcome Evan!) The bars were easy to pull together and taste incredible. I was on the fence about them the night I baked them, but the following day they won my heart. A soft, chewy cookie, a layer of chocolate, a layer of marshmallow, and topped with another cookie.
Ingredients
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 (1.55 oz. each) milk chocolate candy bars
1 cup marshmallow creme
Preparation
Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 8-inch square baking pan.
Beat butter and sugar in large bowl until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt; add to butter mixture, beating until blended. Press half of dough into prepared pan.
Arrange chocolate bars over dough, breaking as needed to fit. Spread with marshmallow creme. Patch together pieces of remaining dough over marshmallow; carefully press to form a layer.
Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars.
Recipe adapted from Hershey’s.
Sugar Cookie Bars
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Did you know last Friday was Sugar Cookie Day? Neither did I, until Thursday afternoon when two coworkers hinted at it. (This is what happens when you’re the coworker with the baking blog.) Not wanting to let anyone down, and always up for trying a new recipe on willing guinea pigs, I decided this was the perfect opportunity to test the sugar cookie bar recipe I’ve had bookmarked for a few months.
I love sugar cookies, but they’re a pain–you have to roll the dough, cut the shapes, then frost each individual cookie. That is why sugar cookie bars are such a brilliant thing! No rolling or shape cutting–simply put the dough on a cookie sheet, bake it, then frost and slice the giant cookie. Simple!
Flavor-wise, I really like the cookie. The frosting was not my favorite (I like a glaze or cream cheese frosting on sugar cookies), but it was a HUGE hit at work, so it may be best to ignore my opinion. My coworkers especially liked the cookie to frosting ratio, which was about 50-50. Overall, these were a tremendous success and I would definitely use this recipe again.
Cookie Ingredients
1 cup butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
5 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Cookie Preparation
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 13 x 18 inch sheet pan and line with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking soda and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixture, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes on medium high. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each. Add the vanilla. Add the flour mixture in 2 addition, mixing until just combined.
Press the cookie dough into the sheet pan, using a greased spatula or parchment paper to spread it evenly. Bake for 10-15 minutes until lightly golden and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool completely.
Frosting Ingredients
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
4 cups confectioners sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4-5 tablespoons milk
Pinch of salt
Frosting Preparation
In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the shortening and butter until combined and smooth. Add the vanilla and salt and mix until combined. Add the confectioners sugar 1 cup at a time, mixing after each addition. Cream together on medium high for about a minute. Add the milk 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing until smooth.
Spread onto cooled cookies. Slice into bars and serve.
Recipe from And Now for Something Completely Delicious.
Malted Milk Cookie Tart
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As soon as I saw this recipe I ripped it out of the magazine and stuck it on my fridge. I knew I would love it, and not only because it has a tart shell, chocolate, and malted milk balls, but also because it can be made using only one 1/2-cup measuring cup. I hate doing dishes and love recipes that are simple like that. And yes, I am a dork.
I should also mention that I had a really hard time finding malted milk powder in Los Angeles. After calling all of the major grocery store chains in the city, I finally found the Carnation brand at Gelsons, a more upscale chain. Weird and annoying.
Fortunately, this tart was well worth the time it took to find the malted milk powder. It was super easy to pull together (in fact, I made a second one which I baked in a disposable pie tin), and it tastes amazing. The shell is chewy, not overly sweet, and has a hint of salt, and is the perfect match to the chocolate and malted milk balls on top.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup malted milk powder
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon (scant) coarse kosher salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces, room temperature
1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips (about 3 ounces; do not exceed 61% cacao)*
1/2 cup malted milk balls, coarsely chopped
Photos of the process.
Preparation
Preheat oven to 325°F. In processor, pulse flour, malted milk powder, sugar, and coarse salt. Add butter; pulse until moist clumps form. Transfer dough to work surface; gather into ball. Press evenly onto bottom of 9-inch-diameter tart pan with removable bottom.
Bake crust until evenly golden brown, about 45 minutes. (Mine was done somewhere around 35-40 minutes. Set the timer for a shorter time and check it regularly.) Scatter chocolate chips over; let stand 5 minutes to soften, then spread melted chocolate over hot crust in well that forms as center sinks. Sprinkle malted milk balls over. Cool completely. Remove tart from pan; cut into wedges.
*Don’t tell anyone, but I didn’t have enough bittersweet so I used some semi-sweet. Shhh.
Recipe from page 50 of July 2010 issue of Bon Appetit.
