by Joanne Fluke
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.
1 cup cold butter (2 sticks, 8 ounces, ½ pound)
2 cups flour (don’t sift – pack it down in the cup when you
measure it)
½ cup powdered sugar (not sifted)
4 beaten eggs (just whip them up in a glass with a fork)
2 cups white (granulated) sugar
8 Tablespoons lemon juice (½ cup)
1 teaspoon or so of lemon zest (zest is finely grated
lemon peel)
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 Tablespoons flour (that’s ¼ cup – don’t sift)
FIRST STEP: Cut each stick of butter into eight pieces. Zoop it up with the flour and the powdered sugar in a food processor until it looks like coarse cornmeal. Spread it out in a greased 9-inch by 13-inch pan, and pat it down with your hands.
Bake at 350 degrees F. for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden around the edges. Remove the pan from the oven, set it on a wire rack or a cold stovetop burner, but DON’T SHUT OFF THE OVEN.
SECOND STEP: Mix the eggs with the white sugar. Add the lemon juice and the zest. Add the salt and baking powder. Mix thoroughly. Add the flour and stir until everything is combined.
Hannah’s Note: This filling will be runny — it’s supposed to be.
Pour the filling over the crust you just baked and stick it back into the oven. Bake it at 350 degrees F. for another 30 to 35 minutes. Then remove the pan from the oven and sprinkle on powdered sugar if you wish.
Set the pan on a wire rack or on a cold stovetop burner. Let the bars cool thoroughly and then cut them into brownie-sized pieces.
MULTIPLE CHOICE COOKIE BARS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.
½ cup butter (one stick, 4 ounces, ¼ pound)
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
COLUMN A
(1 and ½ cups of)
Graham Cracker Crumbs
Vanilla Wafer Crumbs
Chocolate Wafer Crumbs
Animal Cracker Crumbs
Sugar Cookie Crumbs
COLUMN B
(2 cups of)
Chocolate Chips
Butterscotch Chips
Peanut Butter Chips
Raisins (regular or golden)
M&M’s (without nuts)
COLUMN C
(1 and ½ cups of)
Flaked Coconut (5 ounces)
Rice Krispies
Miniature Marshmallows
Frosted Corn Flakes (crumbled)
COLUMN D
(1 cup of)
Chopped Walnuts
Chopped Pecans
Chopped Peanuts
Chopped Cashews
Melt the butter and pour it into a 9-inch by 13-inch cake pan. Tip the pan to coat the bottom.
1. Evenly sprinkle one from Column A over the melted butter.
2. Drizzle sweetened condensed milk over the crumbs.
3. Evenly sprinkle one from Column B on top.
4. Evenly sprinkle one from Column C on top of that.
5. Evenly sprinkle something from Column D over the very top.
Press everything down with the palms of your impeccably clean hands. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 30 minutes. Cool thoroughly on a wire rack and cut into brownie-sized pieces.
Hannah’s 1st Note: Make sure you cut these cookie bars before you refrigerate them. They harden in the refrigerator and they’ll be very difficult to cut.
Hannah’s 2nd Note: Kids love to help make these cookie bars when they get to choose the ingredients.
OOEY GOOEY CHEWY COOKIE BARS
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.
½ cup white (granulated) sugar
¾ cup all-purpose flour (not sifted – pack it down in the
cup when you measure it)
¼ teaspoon salt
cup unsweetened baking cocoa63 (I used Hershey’s)
½ stick salted butter, melted (¼ cup, 2 ounces, pound)
2 cups milk chocolate chips (I used a 12-ounce package of
Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips)
3 cups miniature marshmallows (pack them down in the cup)
1 and ½ cups flaked coconut (pack it down in the cup
when you measure it)
1 cup chopped nuts (I use either pecans, or walnuts)
1 can sweetened condensed milk (14 ounces)
Mix the white sugar, flour, salt, and cocoa together in a medium-sized bowl. Drizzle the melted butter over the top of the bowl and mix it in with a fork. When the butter is incorporated, the mixture will resemble small beads. (You can also do this in the bowl of a food processor, using chunks of chilled butter and the steel blade.)
Spray a 9 inch by 13 inch cake pan with Pam (or other nonstick cooking spray), and dump the crust mixture in the bottom. Gently shake the pan to distribute the mixture and then press it down a bit with a metal spatula.
Sprinkle the milk chocolate chips evenly over the crust layer. Sprinkle the marshmallows over that. Sprinkle the flaked coconut on next, and then sprinkle on the chopped nuts. Press everything down with the back of a metal spatula. Pour the sweetened condensed milk over the very top as evenly as you can.
Bake the Ooey Gooey Chewy Cookie Bars at 350 degrees F. for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the bars are nicely browned on top.
Let the bars cool on a wire rack or on a cold stovetop burner. When they’re cool, cut them into brownie-sized pieces.
WARNING: DON’T REFRIGERATE THESE COOKIE BARS WITHOUT CUTTING THEM FIRST – THEY’RE VERY DENSE AND SOLID WHEN CHILLED.
A Note From Edna Ferguson, the Queen of “Cheat” recipes: If you want a shortcut for the crust, just buy a chocolate cake mix and use half of it dry, mixed with the melted stick of butter. Keep the rest of the cake mix in an airtight bag and you can use it for the next batch you bake.
Hannah’s Note: Kids love the name of these cookie bars.
PINEAPPLE RIGHT-SIDE-UP COOKIE BARS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.
Hannah’s Note: This recipe has a crust you don’t have to roll out. Don’t you just love it?
½ cup frozen concentrated pineapple juice
1 can crushed pineapple (you’ll be measuring it
AFTER you drain it)
1 cup softened butter (2 sticks, 8 ounces, ½ pound)
½ cup white (granulated) sugar
2 cups flour (don’t sift – pack it down in the cup when you
measure it)
4 beaten eggs (just whip them up in a glass with a fork)
½ cup white (granulated) sugar (not a misprint – you’ll
use a total of 1 cup white sugar in this recipe)
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
4 Tablespoons flour (that’s ¼ cup – don’t sift)
Set the frozen concentrated pineapple juice out on the counter to thaw.
Dump the crushed pineapple into a strainer and let it drain while you make the crust.
Mix the cup of softened butter with ½ cup white sugar until it’s light and fluffy. Add the 2 cups of flour. Mix thoroughly.
Hannah’s 1st Note: You can also do this in a food processor with cold butter cut into 1/2 inch chunks, and the steel blade. Just put the sugar in the bowl of your food processor, place the chunks of butter on top of the sugar, and cover the butter with the flour. Process with an on-and-off motion until the resulting mixture looks like coarse sand.
Spread the mixture out in a greased 9-inch by 13-inch pan. (You can also spray the pan with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray.) Shake the pan to spread out the mixture evenly, and then press it down with your impeccably clean hands.
Bake the crust at 350 degrees F. for 15 to 20 minutes or until it’s starting to turn golden around the edges. Remove the pan from the oven, but don’t shut off the oven!
In a medium-sized
mixing bowl, combine the 4 beaten eggs with the second ½ cup of white sugar. Stir in the ½ cup of pineapple concentrate. (If it’s not completely thawed, just spoon it into a half-cup measure, level it off, and stir it into your bowl.)
Use the back of a spoon to press all the juice out of the drained pineapple in the strainer. When it’s as juice-free as you can make it, measure out ½ cup of crushed pineapple and add it to your bowl. Mix it in thoroughly.
Add the baking powder and the salt. Mix them in until they’re thoroughly combined.
Stir in the 4 Tablespoons of flour. Mix it in thoroughly.
Hannah’s 2nd Note: This mixture will be runny. Don’t worry, it’s supposed to be that way. It’s like a baked custard and it will “set up” in the oven when the eggs cook.
Pour this mixture on top of the crust you just baked. Stick it back into the oven and bake it at 350 degrees F. for an additional 50 minutes.
When the baking time is up, remove the pan from the oven and let it cool on a wire rack or a cold stovetop burner. Once your pan of Pineapple Right-Side-Up Bars has cooled thoroughly, sprinkle the top with powdered sugar and refrigerate them until you want to serve them.
To serve, cut the pan of bars into brownie-sized pieces and arrange them on a pretty platter.
ROCKY ROAD BAR COOKIES (S’MORES)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.
24 graham crackers (12 double ones)
2 cups miniature marshmallows (white, not colored)
6-ounce package semi-sweet chocolate chips (1 cup)
1 cup salted cashews
½ cup butter (1 stick, 4 ounces ¼ pound)
½ cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Spray a 9-inch by 13-inch cake pan with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray. (If you like, buy a disposable foil pan in the grocery store, place it on a cookie sheet to support the bottom, and then you won’t have to clean up.)
Line the bottom of the pan with a layer of graham crackers. (It’s okay to overlap a little.)
Sprinkle the graham crackers with the marshmallows.
Sprinkle the marshmallows with the chocolate chips.
Sprinkle the chocolate chips with the cashews.
In a small saucepan over LOW heat, combine the butter and brown sugar. Stir the mixture constantly until the sugar is dissolved.
Turn off the heat, move the saucepan to a cool burner, and stir in the vanilla.
Drizzle the contents of the saucepan evenly over the contents of the cake pan.
Bake at 350 degrees F. for 10 to 12 minutes or until the marshmallows are golden on top. Cool in the pan on a wire rack or on a cool stovetop burner.
When the Rocky Road Bar Cookies are cool, cut them into brownie-sized pieces and serve.
If there are any leftovers (which there won’t be unless you have less than three people), store them in the refrigerator in a covered container. They can also be wrapped, sealed in a freezer bag, and frozen for up to two months.
Hannah’s Note: If you freeze these bars, make sure you put on a label that describes something your family doesn’t like. I thought I was safe with SMELT, but it turns out that Mike actually likes them if they’re deep fried in beer batter!
A Not So Scientific Study of Pan Size
by Grandma Knudson
Sometimes the size of a pan is hard to tell because they don’t seem to stamp it on the bottom anymore. And if they do, the chances are it’s in centimeters. In my day, they... well... never mind about that. I’ll help you with your pan size as best I can.
Find a tape measure. If you have a sewing box, you might have one in there. Chances are, you don’t. Look around to see if one of your kids left a ruler out somewhere. And if that doesn’t work, go out to the garage and look for one of your husband’s tape measures. All you have to do is tip the pan over and measure the bottom.
To make things even easier, a 9-inch by 13-inch pan is a cake pan, the kind you use in a home kitchen. It’s easy to spot, even in a cluttered cupboard. You probably got one for a wedding present with a clear plastic lid that cracked right away. Chances are you threw the lid away, but I’ll bet you kept the pan.
Baking cookie bars is easy if you have the right size pan, but what if you don’t and it’s snowing outside? You surely don’t want to scrape off your windshield and drive to CostMart to buy one. As long as you can remember your times tables and you can do some simple arithmetic, you can get around that problem by using a pan you already have.
Say the recipe calls for an 8-inch by 8-inch square pan and you don’t have anything even approaching that size. Just multiply the two numbers together. Eight times eight is sixty-four. Write it down so you won’t forget it. Just dig a little deeper in the back of the cupboard and see if you’ve got a 7-inch by 9-inch pan. Pyrex used to make those and it’s entirely possible you still have your great-grandma’s set of baking pans. If you find it, do the math. Seven times nine is sixty-three and sixty-three is more than close enough to sixty-four. My rule of thumb is that if you can find a pan that’s six or less off the total inches you need, you should use it.
“This candy section is exactly what I need,” Claire said, flipping through the recipes. “I think I can make almost every recipe here.”
“Almost?” Hannah questioned her.
“Yes. The Brown Sugar Drops call for a candy thermometer.”
“I’ll help you with those,” Grandma Knudson offered. “Then you’ll see how easy it is to use one.”
“Thanks.” Claire turned to smile at her. “There’s one more I can’t make. I shouldn’t give the kids Kitty’s Jamaican Rum Balls. They’ve got real rum in them.”
Hannah came over to Claire to glance at the recipe. “You can make them for the kids. Just think up another name and substitute some kind of juice for the rum. They’d be good with orange juice or pineapple juice.”
“The kids will like those. And you could make them with the rum for the church board,” Grandma Knudson suggested, and Hannah noticed that she had a twinkle in her eye. “It might make them cough up the money for a new furnace.”
“Grandma!” Claire sounded shocked, but her lips were twitching with laughter.
The matriarch of Holy Redeemer Lutheran Church gave a ladylike shrug. “I’m just teasing, Claire. If you can’t say outrageous things at my age, when can you?”
Candy
AUNT KITTY’S JAMAICAN RUM BALLS
4 cups finely crushed vanilla wafers (a 12-ounce box is about
2 and ½ cups crushed – measure after crushing)
1 cup chopped nuts (measure after chopping – I use pecans,
but that’s because I really like them – I’ve also used
macadamia nuts, walnuts, and cashews)
½ cup Karo syrup (the clear white kind)
½ cup excellent rum (or excellent whiskey, or excellent
whatever)
2 Tablespoons sweetened dry cocoa (I’m going to use
Ghirardelli sweet Ground Chocolate & Cocoa the next time
I make them.)
1 Tablespoon strong coffee (brewed – liquid)
COATINGS:
Dry cocoa
Powdered (confectioner’s) sugar
Chocolate sprinkles
If you haven’t already done so, crush the vanilla wafers in a food processor, or put them into a plastic bag and crush them with a rolling pin. Measure them and pour 4 cups into a mixing bowl.
Chop the nuts finely with a food processor or with your knife. Measure and add 1 cup to your bowl.
Mix in the Karo syrup, rum (or substitute), sweetened dry cocoa, and strong coffee. Stir until thoroughly blended.
Rub your hands with powdered sugar. Make small balls, large enough to fit into a paper bonbon cup. Dip the balls in cocoa, or powdered sugar, or chocolate sprinkles to coat them. Do some of each and arrange them on a plate — very pretty.
Refrigerate these until you serve them. They shoul
d last for at least a month in the refrigerator. (I’ve never been able to put this to the test, because every time I make them, they’re gone within a week.)
Yield: At least 5 dozen, depending on how large you roll the balls.
Aunt Kitty’s Jamaican Rum Balls make great gifts when they’re packaged like fine candy. Most cake decorating stores stock a variety of frilly bonbon cups and decorative candy boxes for you to use.
Hannah’s 1st Note: To make these non alcoholic, use fruit juice in place of the rum. This should work just fine, but make sure you refrigerate them and eat them within a week. You’ll have to change the name to “No Rum Balls,” but that’s okay. Choose a fruit juice that’ll go well with the chocolate, like peach, orange, or pineapple.
Hannah’s 2nd Note: I’ve always wanted to try these dipped in melted chocolate. I bet they’d be fantastic!
BROWN SUGAR DROPS
Hannah’s Note: The original name of this recipe was “Browned” Sugar Drops. Over the years, it got shortened to Brown Sugar Drops, even though there’s no brown sugar in the recipe.
To make this candy, you will need a candy thermometer. I use the kind with a glass tube and a sliding metal clamp that attaches to the side of a saucepan. And even though the recipe calls for a 3-quart saucepan, I always use my 4-quart saucepan. That way I don’t have to worry about the candy foaming up over the sides.