The Best Things are Simple: Chocolate Crunch Bars

I have a bajillion cookbooks, but a few are standouts that have recipes that are made over and over, year after year. Sometimes I go a couple of years without making one of my favorites, but always return eventually. These bars, which I haven't made for a couple of years, is one of those recipes. Julia called to ask for the recipe today, and now I want to make them again. It's a recipe that's so simple, with ingredients that can be pulled from the pantry at any time and made very quickly. Thin, crispy, and full of chocolate and nutty goodness, they are a nice cookie to have with homemade ice cream in the summer, or with a pot of tea in cooler weather.

Chocolate Crunch Bars
 from The Fine Arts Cookbook II, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Butter and flour a jelly roll pan

2 squares of unsweetened chocolate
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 cup walnuts or pecans, finely chopped

Combine the chocolate, cocoa and shortening together in a small heavy saucepan over low heat just until the shortening is melted, stirring well. Remove from the heat, and set aside to cool slightly. Slowly add the sugar and mix well. Then, add the eggs, one at a time, blending well between each addition. Stir in the salt, vanilla and flour and blend until just combined well. Don't overmix. Spread the batter evenly and thinly in the pan, then sprinkle with the nuts. Press the nuts gently into the surface so they don't roll off. Bake in a 350F degree oven for 15 to 18 minutes. Remove and cut immediately into long rectangles. Cool a minute, then remove the thin bars to a rack to finish cooling. They will crisp as they cool. (Which is why they are cut immediately after removing from the oven -- much easier and less messy then.)

Makes 2 dozen or more

THOSE Toffee Bars

My Mom would make Scotch Toffee Bars when we were kids, and I remember seeing the recipe on a Quaker Oats container ... and she wrote it onto a piece of paper, which became pretty dogeared over the years.

Fast forward 45 years, and when going through the recipe drawer as we were sorting out her estate, the recipe was nowhere to be found. That is just crazy! We know it was there, somewhere.

The internet has saved us once again! I did a search for the bars, and eventually recognized the recipe that someone had claimed as their own under a different name. Here it is, in all it's original (And SIMPLE!) glory.

Quaker Oats Scotch Toffee Bars

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Farenheit
Line a METAL 7 x 11 or 8 x 8 pan with heavy duty foil that is very well buttered -- be sure to have 2" or so of excess foil beyond the rims of the pan

1/2 cup melted butter
2 cups Old Fashioned Oats (rolled oats, not quick oats)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup dark corn syrup
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

In a large mixing bowl, add the butter to the oats and stir well. Add the salt and brown sugar and mix well. Add the dark corn syrup and stir until thoroughly combined. Press into the foil lined pan, and bake for 11 or 12 minutes on the middle rack of a 450 degree oven. Remove from the oven, and immediately sprinkle with 6 ounces of semisweet or milk chocolate chips. Allow to melt for 10 minutes, then spread to swirl across the top of the bars. Allow to cool 30 minutes longer, then lift the bars from the pan by the excess foil 'ears' ... and cut into bars ASAP with a VERY SHARP KNIFE.  Don't wait to cut them any longer than 30 minutes or they are very difficult to cut.

Birthday-Worthy Brownies

Liz asked for the recipe for Cream Cheese Brownies to make as a birthday cake substitute for a friend. These are truly a worthy, gooey stand in, and they take no time at all.


CREAM CHEESE BROWNIES

butter a 7 x 11 or 9 x 9 pan

preheat oven to 325 degrees

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

1/3 cup butter

3 oz. unsweetened baking chocolate

Melt the butter and chocolate together in a saucepan over very low heat, then turn off the burner.

Then add in order given, beating after each addition:

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 tsp. salt

3/4 cup flour

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Mix well by hand until combined. Spoon half the brownie batter into the prepared pan, then make the cream cheese filling:

8 oz. bar of cream cheese at room temperature

1/3 cup sugar

1 egg

1/8 tsp. salt

In a mixing bowl, cream together the cream cheese and sugar, beating well, about 2 minutes. Add the egg and salt and blend until well mixed and creamy. Spread over the mixture in the pan, then top with the remaining brownie batter. Swirl through the batters with a knife. 

Bake in a 325 degree oven for about 30 minutes. Don't overbake!

Sunday: Pumpkin Bars

What's more wonderful than waking to the smell of cinnamon and baking?

Claire made Pumpkin Bars as her celebration of the season. The recipe makes a large batch, so she left a plateful at home and took the rest to work with her today.

They are fabulous!

Claire's Pumpkin Bars

4 eggs
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
16 ounces pumpkin
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon

Combine everything in a bowl and blend thoroughly. Smooth batter into an ungreased jelly roll pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Cool in the pan, then frost with:

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 ounces cream cheese
6 tablespoons butter
4 cups powdered (10X) sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat the cream cheese and butter together until blended. Add 1 cup sugar, blend, then add vanilla and salt. Blend in remaining sugar and beat until creamy, about 5 minutes. Frost cooled pumpkin bars.

Makes four dozen pumpkin bars.