I hope there's a statue of this woman someplaceRuth Wakefield’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Ruth Wakefield’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion Copyright 2004

2 ¾ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2/3 cup (1 1/3 sticks, 5 ¼ ounces) unsalted butter, melted
2 ¼ cups brown sugar
3 large eggs

I added some vanilla, about 1 tsp
2 cups (12 ounces) chocolate chips I used a mixture of regular and mini-sized semi-sweet chips
1 cup (4 ounces) chopped walnuts or pecans I omitted these

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 10x15-inch jelly roll pan, 1 14-inch deep-dish pizza pan, or similar sized pan. I used a 10x15-inch baking dish.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In another large bowl, combine the melted butter and brown sugar, stirring until smooth. Allow the mixture to cool slightly. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the flour mixture, then the chocolate chips and nuts. Spread the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake the bars for 24 to 26 minutes, until their top is shiny and golden. Don’t overbake, or the bars will be dry; a cake tester inserted into the center will not come out clean. Remove the bars from the oven and cool to room temperature before cutting.

Yield: 35 bars. Per bar: 198 cal, 9 g fat, 3 g pro, 8 g complex carbs, 19 g sugar, 1 g fiber, 28 mg chol, 77 mg sodium, 118 mg potassium
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It's time like this when I think I could be tempted to sell my soul for a faster metabolism. These are basically chocolate chip brownies. They have the flavor of a chocolate chip cookie with the fudgie texture and crackling top of a brownie. At the moment, I'm thinking these are way better than a chocolate cookie.

The recipe didn't call for vanilla but I added it anyway. I found myself wondering if these bars needed the vanilla or not. I certainly don't think it hurt them. I thought they could have used a dash more salt, just a tiny dash more.

If you didn't know, Ruth Wakefield was the owner of the Toll House Inn. She invented the chocolate chip cookie - invented the chocolate chip cookie! How great is that? It's a very special thing to be known as the inventor of a recipe since while it's not that difficult to actually put the ingredients together, it's quite difficult to actually lay claim to a recipe.

I made these because my husband likes to have a couple of cookies after dinner. I usually buy Oreos (since they don't tempt me) but I knew I had a surplus of baking ingredients and the weather was cooler this weekend. The advantage of the bars is that the oven only has to be on about 30 minutes and the bars are taken out and cooled in the pan. No multiple batches of cookies, standing near the oven, and removing cookies from hot baking sheets.

I can pass up Oreos, but I can't pass up these bars!

Blast From The Past: Big Chocolate Chip Cookies from July 2006, if you're a chocolate chip cookie purist.

Question of the Day: Have you ever made the Toll House Cookie recipe straight off the bag of Nestle chocolate chips?