Stay-at-home bakers, I have good news. For those who may be suffering from a dose of baking burn-out, the quarantine culinary revolution can embrace simple-to-make indulgences too. Brioche and sourdough bread are delicious, but bar cookies can also be welcome culinary candidates. They come together quickly and provide delicious flavors and textures. Unlike one-at-a-time drop cookies or cut-out cookies, these bake-in-a-pan wonders are true time savers.
Getting them out of the pan looking pretty can be a challenge. A small offset spatula is immensely helpful for prying them out but prepping the pan with parchment paper with “handles” can make removal even easier.
“For easy removal after baking, line the pan with parchment paper, leaving enough overhang on two opposite sides to use as handles,” write the authors of the new edition of “The Joy of Cooking” (Scribner, $40). “Once the bars have cooled completely, the entire slab can be lifted from the pan to a board for cutting, making cleanup easy as well.”
Often this kind of pan prep is referred to as a “sling.” Aluminum foil can be substituted for the parchment paper. Often the sling is made with two sheets of foil or parchment; the sheets are placed perpendicular to each other so that there is “overhang” on all four sides.
Professional bakers argue that a metal pan with straight sides is a must-have for making bar cookies that call for a 9-by-13-inch baking pan or an 8-inch square or 9-inch square baking pan. Pyrex pans work, but due to their rounded corners the yield can be smaller. Why? Because those pros trim the edges to square them off. My family couldn’t care less about whether some of my bar cookies have sloping sides. Either way, they are scrumptious.
Tomgirl’s Florentine Bars
One of my all-time favorite bar cookies are the Florentine Bars from the now-shuttered Tomgirl Baking Company in Huntington Beach. Thankfully Wonyee Tom, executive baker and co-owner of the bakery, showed me how to make them before they closed more than a year ago. The bars are rich in contrasting textures and flavors, their buttery crust supporting a treasure-filled topping. Cream- and honey-spiked caramel dances between nuts and dried fruits, most often a generous mix of sliced almonds plus diced cranberries and apricots. Cooled and cut into bars, they look like jewel boxes: crunchy, chewy, sweet, and tart nutty treasures.
Yield: About 9 bars (that can be cut into smaller bars if desired)
INGREDIENTS
Sweet dough crust:
1 stick (4 ounces) butter, room temperature
1/2 cup (3 ounces) granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 1/3 cups plus 2 tablespoons (7 1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour
All-purpose flour for dusting parchment paper
Topping:
1 1/2 cups (5 ounces) sliced almonds (not toasted)
1/3 cup (1 ounce) diced dried apricots
1 cup (2 ounces) coarsely chopped dried cranberries
1/4 cup (1 ounce) all-purpose flour
3 1/2 ounces (7 tablespoons) butter, room temperature
3/4 cup (5 ounces) granulated sugar
3 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) honey
1/4 cup (2 ounces) heavy whipping cream
Nonstick spray
PROCEDURE
1. In an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar together using the paddle attachment on medium speed until thoroughly mixed and creamy. Add egg and mix until well-combined. Add flour and mix until dough comes together. Shape into rectangle and enclose in plastic wrap; chill overnight or at least 2 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9-by-12-inch rimmed baking sheet with a parchment paper sling — make the parchment a little larger than the baking sheet so you will have handles later to pull it loose from the pan. Roll out dough to fit sheet on a lightly floured piece of parchment paper; place dough in prepared baking sheet (if it is too cold to roll, let it sit 10 minutes at room temperature). Bake until golden brown in preheated oven, about 15-25 minutes. Remove from oven; do not turn oven off.
3. Mix together almonds, dried fruit and flour; set aside. In a medium-large saucepan with a heavy bottom, combine butter, sugar, honey and cream. Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly with a metal spoon until you reach a light caramel color (heated to about 234 degrees). Remove from heat; quickly stir in nut mixture to combine and pour over baked crust. Using a metal spatula that has been sprayed with a nonstick cooking spray, spread topping evenly over the crust.
4. Bake in preheated oven until a bubbly caramel forms, 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool to the touch (it should still be slightly warm). Lift out of pan and cut into rectangular bars.
Source: Wonyee Tom, pastry chef and co-owner of the now-closed Tomgirl Baking Company in Huntington Beach
Peanut Brittle Bars
I love the crunch and the salty-sweet flavor notes of these easy to make bar cookies. The cookie crust is crisp and buttery good. The topping goes on top of the hot crust; it’s a trio of salted peanuts, chocolate chips and store-bought caramel sauce mixed with a little flour. Baked until golden brown and cooled for about an hour, they are ready for cutting into bars. I like to serve them cut into triangles and accompany them with ripe locally-grown strawberries. If you feel ambitious, chocolate dip the strawberries.
Yield: About 48 bars
INGREDIENTS
Butter for greasing pan
Base:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) cold butter, cut into about 16 pieces
Topping:
2 cups salted roasted peanuts (not dry roasted)
1 cup milk chocolate or semisweet chocolate chips
1 (12.5-ounce) jar caramel ice cream topping
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
PROCEDURE
1. Adjust oven rack to middle position; preheat to 350 degrees. Grease a 15-by-10-by-1-inch baking pan (jellyroll pan) with butter.
2. In large bowl, combine all base ingredients except butter. Stir to blend. Add butter; using a pastry cutter or large fork, cut in butter until crumbly (you can also pulse on/off in a food processor, but make sure to stop when it gets crumbly, do not process until it forms dough). Press evenly into prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven until golden brown, about 12 to 14 minutes.
3. Sprinkle peanuts and chocolate chips over warm base. In small bowl, combine caramel topping and 3 tablespoons flour; blend well. Drizzle evenly over chocolate chips and peanuts. Bake at 350 degrees for an additional 15 to 17 minutes or until topping is set and golden brown. Cool 1 hour. Run a knife around the edge. Cut into bars.
Advance preparation: Bars can be prepared up to three days in advance. Store at room temperature loosely covered.
Source: Adapted from “Pillsbury Best Cookies Cookbook” (Clarkson Potter, $19.95)
Cheesecake Bars
Are cheesecake bars really cookies? No, but I’m including the recipe here because cheesecake is so delicious in bar form — and it is so much easier than making it as a cake. No water bath is necessary and no problems with a leaky springform pan. The graham cracker crust is augmented with flour to make it sturdier.
Yield: 16 bars
INGREDIENTS
7 whole graham crackers, broken into 1-inch pieces
6 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
3 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt, if using unsalted butter
Filling:
1 pound cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup (4 2/3 ounces) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1/4 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
PROCEDURE
1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 325 degrees. Make a foil sling to an 8-inch square baking pan by folding two long sheets of aluminum foil so each is 8-inches wide. Lay sheets of foil in pan perpendicular to each other, with extra foil hanging over edges of pan. Push foil into corners and up sides of pan, smoothing foil flush to pan.
2. For the crust: Process graham crackers in food processor to fine even crumbs, about 30 seconds. Add melted butter, sugar, flour and salt (if using); pulse to combine, about 10 pulses. Sprinkle mixture into prepared pan and press firmly into even layer. Bake until crust is fragrant and beginning to brown, 12 to 15 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking. Let cool completely in pan set on a wire rack.
3. Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat cream cheese on medium speed until smooth, 1 to 3 minutes, scraping down bowl and paddle attachment as needed. Gradually add sugar and beat until incorporated, about 1 minute. Scrape down sides. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat until well combined, about 30 seconds. Add sour cream, lemon juice, and vanilla. Mix until incorporated, about 30 seconds.
4. Pour filling over crust and spread into even layer. Bake until edges are set but center still jiggles, 35 to 40 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking. Cool completely on wire rack, about 2 hours. Refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, at least 3 hours or up to 24 hours. Using foil sling, remove cheesecake from pan. Cut into 16 bars before serving. (Uncut bars can be frozen up to 1 month; let wrapped bars thaw at room temperature for 4 hours before serving.)
Source: “The Perfect Cookie” by America’s Test Kitchen (The Editors at America’s Test Kitchen, $35)
Have a cooking question?
Contact Cathy Thomas at cathythomascooks@gmail.com
