Bars or dropped so many baking choices!

Did you know that all drop cookies recipes can be made into bar cookies instead? Well they can! You might not save any baking time but you will save the time it takes to unload and load your cookies sheets plus you will not have to stop what you are doing every 8 to 10 minutes. This option is included in the instructions on most drop cookie recipes. Pan cookies generally call for a either a 13"x 9" inch pan or a 15"x 10" inch jelly roll pan. Once the cookie dough is made instead of dropping the dough onto cookie sheets you spread all the cookie dough into the pan and bake.

If the recipe you are using doesn't have this option, improvise. Start with the same oven temperature listed in the recipe and double the cooking time. If you want thicker cookies choose a 13"x 9" pan, for thinner or crispier cookies choose a larger pan. Be sure to read the directions to see if the pan should be greased or ungreased. I would recommend starting with a recipe that you have used before so that you are familiar with the process, the quantity of cookie dough produced and what the finished product looks like. That is what I did with the recipe I am sharing today, Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Bars. It started out as a recipe I found on a Quaker® Oats package many years ago called “Chewy Oatmeal Cookies”. The first thing I did was to substitute some of the ingredients for “my favorites”, then I changed the recipe from drop cookies to pan cookies, doubled the recommended baking time and a new cookie was born.

Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Bars

¾ C Shortening

1 ¼ C Packed brown sugar

1 Egg

1/3 C Milk

1 ½ t Vanilla

3 C Quick or Old Fashioned Oats, uncooked

1 C Flour

½ t Baking soda

½ t salt - optional

¼ t cinnamon - optional

1 C Dried Cranberries or substitute for your favorites

1 C White Chocolate Chips or substitute for your favorites

Pre-heat oven to 375° F

Combine together shortening, brown sugar, egg, milk and vanilla at medium speed until well blended and creamy. Mix in baking soda, salt, cinnamon and flour. Add oats and mix until blended. Mix in Dried cranberries and white chips. Press cookie dough into lightly greased 13"x 9" inch pan.  Bake 23-30 minutes. Cool before removing from pan.

Tips and Tweaks:

Don’t like dried cranberries or white chips, substitute for your favorites. Nuts, peanut butter chips, raisins, etc. If using different added ingredients consider if the cinnamon should be eliminated.

When measuring brown sugar it is necessary to pack the sugar into the measuring cup to achieve the correct amount of brown sugar needed for the recipe. Start by filling the measuring cup with the brown sugar then press the sugar down with either your hand or a spoon. Repeat this process until the measuring cup if full.

I would recommend that you use shortening not butter or margarine in this recipe as they tend to make the cookies greasy.

Remember to always start with the shortest cooking time and check your oven temperature before baking.

If you line the bottom and sides of the pan with parchment and leave a little hanging over the sides you will have handles to remove the cookies from the pan. Just run a knife along the sides of the pan without parchment paper and carefully lift out the cookies and place on a cooling rack. Always make the parchment handles on the long side of the pan. If you use this method you will be able to easily remove the cookies from the pan to cut them into bars. 

The original recipe can be found on the Crisco® website at 
http://www.crisco.com/Recipes/Details.aspx?recipeID=1634

Crisco® is a registered trademark of Proctor & Gamble Company.
Quaker ® Oats is a registered trademark of The Quaker Oats Company which is owned by PepsiCo.