Chocolate Chip Bars: Updated

A few weeks ago, the wonderful Joanne Camas found this site and was nice enough to write up a piece for her blog on Epicurious. She helped put out the call for some test chefs, as I've always been curious to see how some of those recipes might turn out. I got over 100 emails, and I'm still sorting through them - this is the first of what I hope are a series of posts.

Our first guest post is by Malorie:

For my first entry on Handwritten Recipes, I couldn’t resist the Chocolate Chip Bars, something warm and comforting on a grey New England day. These did not disappoint and made a wonderful afternoon snack. Enjoy!

Recipe as found in "The Green Mile" by Stephen King. Published by Plume, 1997.:

Chocolate Chip Bars

1/3 c. shortening
1/3 c. butter or margarine
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sug. (packed)
1 egg
1 teas. vanilla
1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 teasp. soda
1/2 teasp. salt
1/2 c. chopped nuts
1 pkg. (6 ounces) semi-sweet choco. piece

Heat oven to 375° Mix short., butter, sugars, egg and vanilla thoroughly. Stir in remaining ingred. Spread in ungreased oblong pan, 13 x 9 x 2 inches. Bake 20-25 minutes. Cool; cut into bars.

My notes: I chose pecans for the nuts in this recipe, but really think that any nut (or omitting them and adding more chocolate for those with allergies or aversions) would work just fine. I also used a slightly smaller oblong pan, because of personal preference for a thicker bar.

Ingredients:

Cream together the butter, shortening and sugars, then add the vanilla and egg.

Add the dry ingredients.

Stir in nuts and chocolate chips.

Dough! It’s delicious at this stage too ;-)

Spread dough into oblong pan. I used a slightly smaller one than stated in the recipe because I like the consistency of a thicker bar cookie.

After 25 minutes at 375 – Voila! Warm and delicious Chocolate Chip Bars. The hard part is waiting for them to cool enough to consume one.

After some impatient waiting, a bar ready to be eaten:

Overall Verdict: Wonderful. Thumbs up all around from my husband, a visiting friend, and myself. These bars taste like thick chocolate chip cookies with a soft interior, an excellent crunch from the nuts and a nice crust on top. I think they’re best while warm, and I am planning on enjoying my next one with a scoop of ice cream on top.

-Click to enlarge photos-