Recipe: Quick Oatmeal-Chocolate Chip Bars

I’ve been trying to find recipes lately that would start utilizing some of the left over ingredients that I had purchased before for other recipes. When I saw this recipe I thought this would be great since it seemed that it would turn out to be delicious, easy, and as I panned through the contents, I noticed I had most of what it called for.

On a separate note, I will warn you that this isn’t a recipe that is for people who are dieting or are conscious about corn syrups and sugars since it does call for dark corn syrup and a lot of other sweet things (sugar, sweetened flaked coconut, chocolate, etc.).

Now that the background story and the precautions are out of the way, here’s what I thought.

Baking

The preparation for this dessert was extremely easy. Because it uses Bisquick, which is practically instant cookie dough, putting everything together was a snap. It took about 10-15 minutes. The “most difficult” part was melting the butter (or, in this case, margarine) with the dark corn syrup on the stovetop.

There was little clean-up (a saucepan, a bowl, a measuring cup, and 2 spoons).

It took 40 minutes in the oven. I set the timer to 35 and I probably could’ve taken them out then, but I left them in for a couple more minutes for extra measure.

Finally, I liked that the bars didn’t have to be removed from the pan that I used. I simply cut the bars, left them in the glass dish, and put a cover on it.

I definitely give this an A+.

Taste

I was very eager to try these seeing as how I love the combination of oats and chocolate. I wasn’t disappointed. They were very chewy, and a little on the tough side. I attribute this to leaving it in the oven a couple of minutes longer than it should have. I also felt the taste was really oat-y, which I enjoy, but I probably could’ve cut back just a little. The coconut flavor wasn’t overpowering. In fact, it added a nice background flavor to it. The peanuts were the strangest dynamic to this. In retrospect I probably should have chopped the peanuts a little bit since it was weird and a little bit much on my palette when I encountered a cluster of peanuts in my bar.

Over all, I give the taste an A. I loved how chewy they were and I loved how all of the tastes blended together.

Recipe

Quick Oatmeal-Chocolate Chip Bars (taken from Creative Recipes with Bisquick vol. II, 1986)

1/3 cup margarine or butter

¼ cup dark corn syrup

1 ½ cups Bisquick baking mix

1 ½ cups quick-cooking oats

½ cup sugar

½ cup flaked coconut

½ cup salted peanuts

1 package (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

1 egg

Heat oven to 300.

Mix margarine and corn syrup in 1 quart saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until margarine is melted; reserve. Mix remaining ingredients except egg in large bowl; stir in corn syrup mixture and egg until moistened. Pat in ungreased rectangular pan, 13x9x2 inches.

Bake until light golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes. Immediately cut into bars, about 3 x 1 ½ inches; cool in pan 20 minutes. Remove from pan; cool completely.

Makes 40 bars.

Recipe: Yuletide Linzer Bars

This was the third and last cookie I made for the holidays. I didn't go too overboard since my mom was making some as well.

I liked these. They were a favorite amongst the family as well. They are good with a hot cup of coffee or tea. The crust is like a crumble, with a light cinnamon flavor and ground almonds. The raspberry preserves in the middle at a delicious tartness to it that allows the cookie bar to not be too overbearingly sweet. I thought the raspberry was a great touch (as opposed to cherry or any other flavor).

Taste grade: A

Baking these were quite fun, in my opinion. The hardest part was crushing the almonds and putting the dough on top of the preserves. I noticed that there is just enough dough to make the bars. No waste, which we all know I love. In fact, the top will have holes in it and won't quite cover the preserves in parts, which is perfectly fine. After they come out of the oven, they are easy- one and done. Sprinkle some powdered sugar on top and your finished! Over all, I think this was the most put together and best recipe out of the three that I did.

Cook grade: A+

Here is the recipe:

Yuletide Linzer Bars (from Santa's Favorite Cookies: Sweet Treats for the Christmas Season, 1999)

1 1/3 cups butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole almonds, ground
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup raspberry preserves
Powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Grease 13 x 9 inch baking pan.

Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer until creamy. Beat in egg and lemon peel until blended. Mix in flour, almonds, and cinnamon until well blended.

Press 2 cups dough into bottom of prepared pan. Spread preserves over crust. Press remaining dough, a small amount at a time, evenly over preserves.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes until golden brown. Cool in pan on wire rack. Sprinkle with powdered sugar; cut into bars.

Recipe: Mocha Crinkles

Another one of my Christmas cookies was called "Mocha Crinkles". I picked this one because a) I like mocha and b) I thought the picture in the recipe book looked cool. Let's be honest- that's the reason why most of us pick a recipe.

These particular cookies are very cake-y when you taste them. They are PACKED with a big chocolate flavor. You get a very slight coffee after taste. I thought they tasted pretty good, but like I said, because it has a rich chocolate flavor, make sure you have milk nearby. Over all, I thought they were better than what I had thought they were going to turn out to be.

Taste grade: A-

As far as making them, they were pretty simple to make. In fact, I think I liked making them better than eating them. When you make them, though, I have to warn you that they have a strong coffee scent. Don't worry! It's not that strong in flavor once they are made (as I said above). It was really neat seeing them "crinkle" in the oven. The only thing about them is that you have to let them set in the refrigerator for a few hours before you make them.

Bake grade: A

I think these would be a nice addition to any sort of cookie gift basket. I do have to say that they crumble easily, though.

Ok, so here's the recipe:

Mocha Crinkles (from Santa's Favorite Cookies: Sweet Treats for the Christmas Season)

1 1/3 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup low-fat sour cream
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons instant espresso or coffee granules
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Beat brown sugar and oil in medium bowl with electric mixer. Mix in sour cream, egg, and vanilla, set aside.

Mix flour, cocoa, espresso, baking soda, salt and pepper in another medium bowl.

Add flour mixture to brown sugar mixture; mix well. Refrigerate dough until firm, 3 to 4 hours.

Preheat oven to 350. Pour powdered sugar into shallow bowl. Set aside. Cut dough into 1 inch pieces; roll into balls. Roll balls in powdered sugar.

Bake on ungreased cookie sheets 10 to 12 minutes or until tops of cookies are firm to touch. Do not overbake. Cool on wire racks.


Over all grade: A-

Recipe: Almond Milk Chocolate Chippers

These turned out amazing. They weren't too "almond-y", and they had just the right amount of chocolate. They are just like regular chocolate chip cookies except instead of vanilla extract, you use almond (or almond-flavored liqueur), and you put in almonds. I thought they were a great cookie for the holidays, or any time of the year really. They would be great to serve for a party or for kids, and of course, I'm sure Santa wouldn't be able to help himself either.

Taste grade: A+

Baking them was really easy too. Like I said, they were just like chocolate chip cookies, but with minor alterations. Little clean-up and easy to make.

Bake grade: A+

Over all, I highly recommend these cookies. Here is the recipe:

Almond Milk Chocolate Chippers (from Santa's Favorite Cookies: Sweet Treats for the Christmas Season, 1999)

1/2 cup slivered almonds
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 tablespoons almond-flavored liqueur*
1 cup milk chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. To toast almonds, spread on baking sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown, stirring frequently. Remove almonds from pan and cool; set aside.

Increase oven temperature to 375.

Place flour, baking soda, and salt in small bowl; stir to combine.

Beat butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar in large bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in egg until well blended. Beat in liqueur. Gradually add flour mixture. Beat at low speed until well blended. Stir in chips and almonds with mixing spoon.

Drop rounded teaspoonfuls of dough 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 9 to 10 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Let cookies stand on cookie sheets 2 minutes. Remove cookies with spatula to wire racks; cool completely.

Store tightly covered at room temperature or freeze up to 3 months.


*If you don't want to use the liqueur, use 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract for 2 tablespoons of liqueur. I used 1/4 of a teaspoon for a very light taste of almond extract.

Recipe: Cherry Cordial Cookies

Ok, so I guess the real name of this recipe for me should be "Strawberry Cordial Cookies" instead of cherry. I couldn't find cherry cake mix, so I just went with the strawberry (Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Strawberry Supreme to be exact). As it turned out, they were amazing.

Pros: They tasted great. My parents and even my boyfriend, who typically doesn't like fruity things, like them a lot.

Cons: The batter turned out really gooey, so I had to refrigerate it a little bit. Also, the icing was a little difficult to get on the cookie. Furthermore, I wasn't sure how to put them in the cookie jar because it would wind up extremely messy.

Other than that, though, they were your typical cookie to make, and the outcome was great.

This cookie would be great in the spring, especially around Easter (if you use the strawberry). If you use the cherry, I'm sure they would be great around the holidays.

Ok, so behold the recipe:

Cherry Cordial Cookies (from Hershey's Fabulous Desserts, 1989)

1 package (18.25 ounces) cherry cake mix
3/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 eggs
1 cup Hershey's Mini Chips Semi-Sweet Chocolate
Mini Chips Glaze

Heat oven to 350. In large mixer bowl combine cake mix, butter, and eggs; mix well. Stir in Mini Chiips. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until almost set. Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. Drizzle Mini Chips Glaze onto cooled cookies; allow to set.

Mini Chips Glaze

In small microwave-safe bowl place 1 cup Hershey's Mini chips Semi Sweet Chocolate and 3 tablespoons shortening (not butter, margarine, or oil). Microwave at high 45 seconds; stir. If necessary, microwave at high an additional 15 seconds or until melted and smooth when stirred. Use immediately.


That's it! Enjoy, and stay tuned for the next recipe: Cream Filled Banana Cupcakes.

Recipe: Chocolate Chip 'N Oatmeal Cookies

Last weekend, I decided to make cookies, and I stumbled upon this recipe while looking through the ol' Hershey's cookbook. I was pretty excited, especially since oatmeal and chocolate are my favorite cookie ingredients. I have to say that this recipe was pretty neat since it showed me that cake mixes (yes, cake mixes) can be used for other things than just cakes.

Ok, so the pros to this recipe: They were extremely quick to make and there was little mess/cleanup. They were also really, really good.

Cons to this recipe? It's more of a personal thing to me- I like chewy, gooey cookies. The next day after I baked these, they were crunchy. I wasn't a fan of that, but that's just my own personal preference. Also, the batter turns out extremely gooey when you mix it because of all of the buttter that's required. I wound up having to put the batter in the refrigerator for 20-25 minutes before baking, which wasn't something that was mentioned in the recipe.

I think that's about the rundown of these. I would highly recommend them. They are a fun cookie and the recipe doesn't make too much. The cake mix I felt improved the taste of them over all.

Here's the recipe:

Chocolate Chip 'N Oatmeal Cookies (taken from Hershey's Fabulous Desserts, 1989):

1 package (18.25 or 18.5 ounces) yellow cake mix

1 cup quick-cooking rolled oats (one minute cook quaker oats is what I used)

3/4 cups butter or margarine, softened

2 eggs

1 cup Hershey's Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Heat oven to 350. In large mixer bowl combine cake mix, oats, butter, and eggs; mix well. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until very lightly browned. Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely.

That's it! Enjoy and stay tuned for the next recipe-Chocolate Upside Down Coffee Cake.