Ultimate Bar Cookies

          The unfortunate incident that was "Ultimate Bar Cookies" started with high hopes. My step-mom makes bars of all different kinds. She whips them up in no time at all and almost always receives praise. So, when flipping through my Better Homes and Gardens "Anyone Can Bake" cookbook, I was excited to receive the same. I was wrong - or rather, the recipe was wrong - or rather, the directions were wrong. Instead, I made the same mistake that many bakers have made in the past. And, given the nature of blogging, I figured that it was about time to publish that mistake. To learn from it, and to see the reality of substituting/mistaking/forgetting ingredients. I forgot the FLOUR. Here's what they said to do and here is what you too can do wrong.

Ultimate Bar Cookies

Better Homes and Gardens "Anyone Can Bake - Step-by-Step Recipes Just for You"

2 cups all-purpose flour

½ cup packed brown sugar

½ cup butter, softened

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

1 3-ounce jar macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped (I went with sliced)

6 ounces white chocolate baking bars, chopped (I went with white chocolate chips)

1 cup milk chocolate pieces

¾ cup butter

½ cup packed brown sugar

          I greased my baking pan and preheated my oven to 350°F. Using the same softened butter that I used to grease the pan, I mixed the brown sugar and butter. Not the flour. Usually, the part of a recipe that can go wrong happens in the first few steps. In my case, the recipe was doomed from the beginning. 

 

          I pressed the mixture evenly throughout the pan and baked it for 15 minutes. Disaster sign #1: The recipe says that the crust must be light brown. After 15 minutes at 350°F my crust looked like anything but light brown. But, I forged on. 

          In a small saucepan I heated the additional butter and sugar until the sugar had dissolved. And, in a separate bowl I mixed the chocolate and nuts. These ingredients were only headed for one expensive mistake. 

          In a perfect world, I would have waited until the crust cooled, put the other ingredients evenly on top and poured the butter mixture to finish. Off to the oven to bake for 15 more minutes and I was hungry for the "ultimate" bar.  

          TERRIBLE. The "crust" was bubbling, the chocolate was half melted, and the entire mix had set-up permanent camp on my baking pan. As a result, there will be no review today. But, please try this recipe at home and I would be happy to post your pictures as a special: reader-fix-its.

          Just in-case you are curious, this is what my Ultimately Failed Bar Cookies looked like:

 

          See "Better Homes and Gardens: Anyone Can Bake- Step-by-Step Recipe Just for You" for more recipes that really are potentially beautiful.