I got up at 4:00 this morning and made Monster Cookie Bars for a potluck. They were a big success there.
At that hour of the morning I decided to assemble the ingredients and equipment first. I prepared my pans by lining them with foil so the cookies could be lifted out for cutting. I then sprayed the foil with vegetable spray like Pam. Warning, spray all the foil generously, even that which is on the sides of the pan. If not using foil, spray your pans wherever these cookies will contact the surface. They really do stick. I put 1 stick of butter into each of two mixing bowls, ¾ cups of peanut butter into each, and 1 and a half cups of brown sugar into each. If I had darker sugar I would have used it to add more flavor. I creamed these together, then added 1 cup of white sugar to each bowl, added 1 and a half teaspoons of baking soda to each bowl and creamed again. I added 3 eggs to each bowl and mixed thoroughly.I then added the oatmeal, 4 and a half cups to each bowl, mixed thoroughly. Finally I added 1 cup of semisweet chocolate chips to each bowl and 1 cup of M&Ms to each bowl. This gives you 14 ounces instead of the recipe suggested 12 ounces, but was easier to measure, and worked well. After a final mixing, I put one bowl into each pan, assuring me that I got equal amounts into each pan. Be sure to use the size pan designated. This nearly fills the 9 by 13 inch pan, and they turn out deliciously. Wait for them to cool before removing to a cutting board to cut, if using foil to lift the bars from the pan. Otherwise, cut in the pans. Both pans can cook together nicely in your standard size oven. Dont do what I did because my second pan did not hold together well and got more done on the bottom than the top, almost like the bottom half was a crust. I will go to the store this week and buy one or two more 9 by 13 inch pans. I used a 10 by 15 inch pan and the thinner bars didnt do very well. They didnt burn, but they were quite crumbly, maybe more fit to spread over ice cream as a topping than to eat as a brownie type bar as these are. Because they have no flour but just have oatmeal as a base, all the melted sugars and chips hold it together. As they melt, they add enough more liquid with the eggs to hold it nicely but they need to be left thick. When it says cook for 20 minutes, that is just right for the bars to be soft like brownies but to brown on top like cookies. I will make these again. I might halve the recipe and make only one pan though. That said, the original monster cookie recipe is twice the size of the bar version originally presented to us here. Pamela Fairchild <pamelafairch...@comcast.net> _______________________________________________ Cookinginthedark mailing list Cookinginthedark@acbradio.org http://acbradio.org/mailman/listinfo/cookinginthedark
