Post #96: Serendipity Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

From Chocolate Chip Bars

 
Okay, seriously, I absolutely love to try new recipes, especially when they are ones that I know my family will eat!

Well, today, I was going to bake a batch of cookies using a new recipe from Our Best Bites. It is one of my favorite new blogs. Go over there a take a gander if you have not done so already and you will see what I mean. They have a wonderful site! It always has great recipes, great pictures, and awesome goodies!

So, I tried this recipe that they posted:

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from Cooks Illustrated

www.ourbestbites.com

2 C plus 2 T flour

1/2 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

12 T butter (1 1/2 sticks) melted and cooled until warm

1 cup brown sugar (light or dark)

1/2 C granulated sugar

1 large egg + 1 egg yolk

2 t vanilla extract

1 1/2 C semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower- middle positions. Mix flour, salt, and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.

Either by hand or with electric mixer, mix butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Mix in egg, yolk, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients; mix until just combined. Stir in chips.

Shape with a standard sized cookie scoop and place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet (or a silpat). Bake until cookies are light golden brown and outer edges start to harden yet centers are still soft and puffy, 10-13 minutes. Cool cookies on cookie sheets. Serve or store in airtight container.

I thought I followed the recipe as directed, but I think my definition of "warm" was a bit off and maybe, just maybe, I was in a bit of a hurry. I did want to mail these little bites of awesomeness to my nieces and nephew. However, it was not meant to be. I must have used the butter while it was warmer than warm and it made my dough look gooey!

Which brings me to something I love even more than trying new recipes and that is salvaging a messed up attempt at one!

So here is what you can do if you use overly-warm butter for the above recipe and come up with gLobbily goo:

(continue from above recipe where you left off, which was looking increduosly at a  glob of cookie dough, and raise the oven temperature to 350F)

• Spread the gooey batter into a well-buttered rimmed baking sheet, making sure to coat the sides
• Then, pour batter evenly in baking pan, spreading with the back of a spoon, if necessary (for me it was)
• Bake at 350F for 20 minutes (top of batter will just start looking brown)
• Then, remove pan from oven
• Sprinkle about 6 oz of mini chocolate chips of your choice evenly on top, then place back into oven
• Further bake the cookie dough for another 2-4 minutes, until the chips melt enough to spread
• Remove pan from oven
• Spread softened chips with the back of a spoon until a nice even layer coats the dough's surface
  
• Place additional toppings such as nuts, toffee, or additional chocolates and candies, and press into melted chocolate coating
• allow dough to cool
• Cut into individual bars

My family just loved these. They did have a cookie-cake texture and were soft and chewy. I just knew if I had tried to use this dough for the cookies, they would have come out flattened and awful, but using the batter in a brownie-style method worked! Thank goodness, I hate to waste good products! Believe me, I have had more than my fair share of "straight from the oven into the trash" can moments.
I would also like to give credit to Dorie Greenspan. I used many of her ideas from her Caramel Crunch Bars recipe.


So here is what to do when you do what not to do!