Day 20…..The Four-Sided Cookie

I love the name of this cookbook, “The Four-Sided Cookie“.  As a busy mom sometimes all I have time to do is a pan of bars so I am right there with the convenience of a bar versus a cookie.  Not a one color picture, but several back and white sketches to give you the overall idea of what a Blueberry Bar With Lattice Top should look like.  It is a bare bones small cookbook that gives you 55 recipes for bars.

I made the Oatmeal Bars with Chocolate-Covered Raisins on page 60 because…..I had all the ingredients in the house.  The idea of using chocolate-covered raisins intrigued me.  But there has got to be something missing from the ingredient list, because my bars did not cover a 9 x 13 inch pan.  I used a smaller one, and it still was hard to cover all of the pan.  My suggestion would be to make this in a 9 x 9 square pan.  The flavors were nice and the recipe was simple to make.  My oldest loved them, ate almost 2 rows himself.  The middle son ate one with little fanfare.  The youngest took a tiny bite and informed me that he doesn’t like the texture of raisins.  Do you get the feeling that I am living with the three bears?  Does that make me Goldilocks?

Oatmeal Bars with Chocolate-Covered Raisins, page 60

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 cup quick (1 minute) oatmeal, uncooked
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup chocolate-covered raisins

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, grease a 9 x 13 (I would suggest a 9 x 9) inch baking pan,  In a small bowl, stir or whisk together the flour, oatmeal, and salt.
2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar.  Add the egg, egg yolk and vanilla and beat well.  Gradually add the flour mixture, blending will with each addition.  Stir in the chocolate-covered raisins.
3. Pat the dough evenly into the prepared pan.
4. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, until the top is light brown and firm to the touch and the edges are brown.  Let the pan cool completely on a wire rack.  Run a sharp knife around the edge of the pan, then cut into bars.

To Joyful, Simplified Living,

MS. Simplicity

To see other sweets from the week at another site, try here.