Jenni's Blog

Here's another recipe I hope you'll either try, or inspire you to try something like it. I make these bars (when I'm home, at least) for my mother's walking team for the NYC Avon Breast Cancer Walk every October. They are undeniably cookies, but when you walk 39 (I think) miles, anything with dried fruit and nuts is justified. But you don't have to be doing a two day walk to enjoy these.

The base is a slightly tweaked version of my beloved sexy cookies, packed into a brownie pan. The dough lends itself to nearly anything you'd like to pack into it, so I'm just going to list a lot of ideas rather than -tell- you what to put into this. I really hope you give these recipe a shot, these cookie bars are dense, moist and can taste great. I'm not going to claim these are "healthy" but probably slightly less evil than a chocolate bar or fast food. These are a nothing fancy but very tasty sort of food.

Preheat oven to 350 and foil a 13x9 inch pan.

In a bowl, combine:
3 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
dash salt

Mix well and set aside.


In a large mixing bowl (I strongly recommend that you use a stand mixer for this,using a paddle attachment, unless you are up for getting in there and kneading) put:
2 sticks of very soft butter
1 1/4 cups of packed brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar

Cream very well, about a minute.Scrape sides of bowl.

Crack in three eggs and 1 tsp of vanilla and stir, dough will be a little liquidy.

With the mixer running on low speed, slowly add the flour mixture. If the dough is still a little sticky, add more flour a little at a time until it is just past the point of being so.

In a small bowl, combine up to three cups of any of the following:
shredded coconut
chopped dried apricots/dates/cherries/pineapple/peaches/apples/whatever
any dried fruit (cranberries are a must! Unless you really hate them, then it's fine)
chopped nuts
butterscotch chips
white chocolate chips
any chocolate chips

Mix together and slowly add to running mixture on low speed (if you have a dough hook, this works very well) scraping the bowl until well combined, stopping the mixer and turning dough over if needed.

Put all of the dough into the pan and spread, packing it evenly.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick when inserted comes out clean.

These may take a little longer or shorter time to bake depending on how much you add into it.