|
|
Easier to bake than cookies, bar cookies, such as
brownies or
blondies, are a toteable, simple
goodie few can resist. The most versatile of all, bar cookie
recipes are made essentially by mixing the ingredients in one bowl, baking the
batter in one pan, and then cooling and then serving right from the pan. Bar
cookie recipes are abundant and are usually made with ingredients easily on
hand.
Bar cookie recipes are basic, but
not bland or boring and are always filled with taste. They come in all
sorts of shapes and textures, such as thin and crisp, soft and cakelike like the
Cakey Brownies
or thick and chewy, such as the
Thick Chocolate Fudge Brownies
or the
Chocolate Frosted Chewy Brownies.
Some bar cookies are quite fancy, such as the
Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Brownies
or the
Fudge Puddle "Brownies"
baked in a tart pan with a caramel or mocha variation. Bars cookies can also
be layered as in the
Layered Apricot Bar Recipe.
There are also no-bake bar cookie recipes.
Bar cookies are easy to store. They can be
covered in their pan or wrapped individually where they will remain very good
for 3 to 4 days stored at room temperature. If bar cookies contain perishable
items, bar cookies can be refrigerated for up to 5 days. Most bar cookies freeze
well, too.
|
Some
great tips for baking better bar cookies: |
Unlike drop cookies, which use a soft
dough, bar cookies are made with a fluid batter that needs a baking pan with
sides for support to bake in. (See also information on
brownies).
 Before
serving, cookie bars can be decorated or frosted right in their pans. Some
ideas are:
Top each square with a
dollop of purchased frosting, then press a gumdrop or chocolate candy into
the frosting.
Another way is to drizzle
melted chocolate on top of the bars. melt chocolate chips in a resealable
plastic bag. Snip off one corner and pipe squiggles or designs on the bars.
For a quick icing,
sprinkle the bar cookies with chocolate chips right after they come out of
the oven. Cover with foil and let set for about five minutes or until the
chocolate melts. Use a rubber spatula to spread it. When the cookies are
cool, cut into squares.
For bars made with fruits
or nuts, make a simple icing of sifted confectioner's sugar mixed with
enough fresh-squeezed lemon or orange juice (plus a bit of grated peel) to
achieve the desired consistency; drizzle over bars. |
Measure
ingredients properly. Clear glass or plastic measuring cups are used to measure
liquids. For dry ingredients, always use a measuring cup that comes as a
"nested" set, with a minimum of 1/4, 1/3, 1/2 and 1 cup.
Do not dip the dry measure into the flour
container, otherwise you will get compacted and too much flour. Instead, spoon
flour from the container into the dry measuring cup and use a metal spatula or
the flat side of a knife to level the flour even with the top of the cup.
Never use diet or whipped margarine or any
product labeled "spread" in your bar cookies, the results will be regretful. I
prefer unsalted butter, but some like shortening. (Use them 50 / 50, if
desired). The texture of a bar cookie prepared with vegetable shortening will be
more cake-like. Substitute equal amounts of shortening for butter or margarine
and add 2 tablespoons water for each cup of shortening used.
Like any other cookie dough, be sure once you add
the flour to the batter (as well as other dry ingredients) you don't over-mix
it. Too much handling will develop the gluten
in the flour producing tough bar cookies. Don't use an electric mixer to mix
ingredients, unless the recipe specifies. Mix with a wooden spoon to avoid
overmixing.
With some bar cookies, cooking the topping before
pouring it on top of a baked bottom dough, ensures crispness as opposed to the
usual pastiness of the pastry. This works well when making the
Ultimate
Lemon Butter Bar Recipe.
When baking with a non-stick cooking spray, be
sure pans are washed well. Any cooking spray left on the pan will become sticky
and can cause cookie bars to stick the next time you bake with it.
|
Bars
made with incorrectly
measured
ingredients will result in either a dry or too moist a texture. The recipe
may not bake right at all. |
Always use the pan size called for in the bar
recipe. A larger pan will make the bar thinner, and if baked the amount of time
called for in the recipe will produce dry bars. A smaller pan will make the
cookies thicker, and will produce gummy, undercooked bars, especially in the
center of the pan. If you must substitute baking pans, choose a baking pan or
dish with the same volume
as the baking pan called for in the recipe. You will need to adjust the baking
time.
|
For
a special effect, cut waxed paper into 1/4 inch (6 mm) wide strips. Place
strips in diagonal pattern on top of cooled bars before cutting. Place
confectioners sugar in tea strainer. Tap strainer lightly to dust surface
with sugar. Carefully remove strips. |
Bar cookies baked in insulated baking pans often
don’t brown well. Use a light-colored shiny aluminum, NON-insulated baking pan;
dark pans absorb more heat and transfer it to the bars. If using a glass or dark
baking pan, make sure you reduce the oven temperature by 25 degrees F (10
degrees C), but these pans tend to dry out the bar cookie's edges.
For best results, to grease a pan, use either use
a non-stick cookie spray, solid shortening, or line the pan with wax paper,
parchment paper, or aluminum foil. If butter or margarine is used, they can
often be absorbed into the batter.
 | When using parchment paper, spray or lightly
grease the pan, then place the paper in the pan. Finally, lightly spray or
grease it. |
| When using aluminum foil, turn the pan upside
down and "mold" a piece of foil around the pan. Remove "mold" from pan and
turn pan right-side up. Place the foil mold into the pan and lightly grease
the aluminum foil with a no-stick cooking spray or solid shortening.
|
|
Serving bar cookies is
easiest if you first remove a corner piece. |
If
you want an easy way to remove cookie bars from their pan and then cut
uniform bar cookie squares, here's how. Remember: always
cool recipe completely before
cutting, otherwise it will crumble and fall apart.
You need to flip the cooled, bar cookie out of the pan,
and then you'll have a much easier time cutting neat squares. You can also
cut off the dry edges, if you want to.
To do:
|
Before baking, line bottom of pan with parchment paper and grease. This
makes it much easier to get the bars out of the pan. If you don't have
any on hand, waxed paper works, too. |
| Or,
line the pan bottoms of the pan with a
"foil sling". |
|
When the brownies are done, set the pan on a rack until cool enough to
handle. |
|
If using parchment on the bottom: run a paring knife around the inside
edge of the pan and then invert the pan onto a flat surface and peel off
the parchment. If using a foil sling,
when cookies have cooled,
simply pull up foil with its contents, place on a flat surface and
remove. |
|
Flip the baked brownie back onto the rack to cool completely.
Cut into squares with a
sharp knife. |
|
As altitude increases, liquids,
even the moisture in foods, evaporate faster. This causes bar cookies to
continue to brown a bit more than usual after they have been removed from
the oven. To prevent:
| Reduce oven
temperature or baking time. |
|
| Since bar cookies
continue to brown a little after removing from the oven, bake to a
lighter color than desired. |
|
|
For best results, spread the batter evenly in the pan, so that
the finished bars aren't thin and dried out in one corner and thick and
underdone in another.
|
When cutting, for even squares
or rectangles, use a ruler to measure and toothpicks to mark the lines. Then
cut with a sharp knife straight down. Instead, I like to use a
bench scraper
for this job. |
Ideally, only bake one baking pan of bar cookies
at a time, placing it on a rack in the middle of the oven. When baking two pans
at the same time, stagger them and rotate the pans from top to bottom and front
to back halfway through the baking time.
Be sure to check your bar cookies at least 5
minutes before the minimum baking time suggested has elapsed. Use an oven
thermometer for more accuracy.
Generally, bar cookies are done when a wooden
pick inserted in the center comes out clean or a moist not wet crumb is adhered
to it. Brownies
have a different check for doneness.
 Q:
I have made lemon bars for some time now, and lately, they have not had much
of a lemon flavor and seem to be a "muddy" yellow instead of a "clear"
yellow. My recipe simply is just mixing the eggs, sugar, flour, lemon juice,
etc. and then baking. Can lemons have less flavor than others? And, how do
you adjust that each time? Or, could one of my other ingredients be
effecting the outcome?A:
Depending on the time of the season, the weather, the variety of lemon...
lemons can vary in citric acid from as low as 2.5% to as much as 4.5%. The
citric acid is what is perceived as "lemon." Commercially available lemon
juice is standardized to 4.0% citric acid. Most natural ingredients will
vary so you may need to add a little more lemon juice... or just make sure
the lemons you are using will give you the flavor you are looking for ... or
add a dash of the commercially standardized lemon juice to boost the citric
acid which will give it the lemon flavor. |
Ideally bar cookies should be cooled and stored
right in the baking pan, though most are cut after they've cooled. Bar
cookies are usually cut into uniform portions such as squares or rectangles
with a sharp knife or bench scraper. Becoming more popular, they can be cut into
triangles or diamonds, as well.
For triangles, cut into 3-inch
squares, then cut each square in half diagonally. To make diamonds, cut parallel
lines 2 inches apart across the length of the pan, then cut diagonal lines 2
inches apart. Cookie cutters can be used to make different shapes or cut into
triangles or diamonds.
After cooling and before cutting bar cookies, place them in
the freezer a few minutes to harden; you'll have an easier time cutting them.
|
| |
