the_rck | (no subject)

Scott is really missing Christmas cookies. To be honest, I am too. It doesn't seem like the holidays without having three or four different kinds of cookies around all the time. The problem is that I can't manage cookies-- all the in and out of the oven, filling and emptying cookie sheets, wears me out until I can't stay upright any longer-- while Scott doesn't have time to make them. I have a zillion recipes. We just don't have the wherewithal to make them

I've been thinking, though-- I can make anything that is baked as one unit. I know that chocolate chip cookies can be baked that way and cut into bars. I can also make butterscotch brownies (though those tend to come out in such a way that they don't come out of the pan neatly). I'm trying to think of other things that can be baked as bars. After I get through this week and the book fair, I'll look at my copies of Joy of Cooking. I don't know what I'll find, but there's got to be something.

Anybody know any great recipes for bars or other things that don't require a lot of time on one's feet? I can't have walnuts or peanuts, but other nuts seem to be safe.

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If you like lemon, my mother's lemon bars are probably doable without much on-foot time, especially if you have a set up where you can mix while not standing.

http://kyrielle.livejournal.com/pics/catalog/1755/22625

I have to stand while I mix, but I can do that.

Thanks for the recipe! I'm definitely going to be trying some form of lemon bars.

Is this a time where Cordelia could be involved more? Not that I'm suggesting getting her to do all the work, but it would be a fun thing for her to do, and she could have fun decorating them as well as baking.

I wish you lived nearby. I have a couple of awesome recipes that I'd love to drop off at your house!

Cordelia can't yet do the parts that wear me out. She's not ready for handling hot pans. Maybe next year, maybe not. I'd prefer that she get some experience helping with batch cookies before I ask her to do the work I can't. I'm just not sure how to get her that experience.

I wish we were geographically closer, too. I'd like to meet R (I could babysit!), and sharing cookies would be wonderful.

I have a zillion recipes for pans of bars -- all you usually need is a 13X9X2 pan. Some require the 15X10 which is the jelly roll pan. But really better than me listing what I like is to link you to my two go-to sources for cookies nowadays

King Arthur flour, http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/cookies-bars-and-candy/brownies-and-bars

And BHG, http://www.bhg.com/recipes/desserts/cookies/bar-cookies/#page=1
and here,
http://www.bhg.com/recipes/searchResults.jsp?searchType=text&searchTerm=bar%20cookie

Now a lot of these recipes do have nuts -- they are a very common ingredient in bar recipes. I omit nuts all the time because my family isn't crazy about them. Or, because we like almonds, cashews, and hazelnuts, I'll used them rather than pecans or walnuts.

BHG has tons of cookie recipes so definitely check out their site. That one link is for their "favorite bar" cookies, but there are many, many others. Just search the site for "bar cookies" and you'll find no bake options, holiday options, and many, many, many others.
Shortbread is also an option.

I've loved most of the recipes from BHG -- nothing has ever gone badly. They do also have a basic brown sugar drop cookie recipe with add-ins that can be adapted to bars. You just mix up the brown sugar dough, add your stuff, and then pat it into a pan. Let me know if you have any questions!!

Thanks for the links. I'll follow them up this afternoon and tomorrow and figure out what ingredients I need to put on the grocery list.

If you like lemon bars, the Joy of Cooking does have a really good one that was probably my first bar cookie recipe after the Toll House Cookie mix it up and pat them into the pan. Speaking of, if you can eat M&Ms (no peanuts) you can mix up a batch of those cookies using M&Ms rather than chocolate chips (the recipe is on the bag) pat them into a pan and bake them. These are really popular with kids (and grown ups too)

Hey hey! I was just thinking of cookies. Would it wear you out if, say, I came over with dough in hand and we made cookies? I could do this thing if you wanted. Probably better when my cold is past the moist stage so next weekend would be more ideal than this weekend. I also have a TON of cookie cutter shapes that never get used if you like cut out Christmas cookies.

As far as bar cookies, I have a really good recipe for a candycane/chocolate chip one which is a bit of a pain mashing up the peppermint and you have to cut it right out of the oven but it makes a lot and it's pretty simple (bonus: no nuts). I also have one that has a dark chocolate cream cheese like middle layer that is super tasty called Split Levels (http://www.quirkspace.com/booniverse/?p=2828).

Both of those recipes sound good to me. I like peppermint, so that's a bonus.

I would enjoy getting together to make cookies. Next weekend, one day, we're taking the girl up to visit her cousins so that we can do some shopping. I don't know yet whether that will happen Saturday or Sunday. There was some possibility that Scott's sister's family might have an event of some sort scheduled one day. They weren't sure.

Any cookie recipe can be baked as a sheet of cookie dough and then cut into bars -- though the tricky part is figuring out how long to bake them, and I'm thinking that repeatedly checking for doneness might be as wearing to you as the activities that you're trying to avoid. I have a food thermometer that I use for checking doneness in everything. Baked goods are usually done when the thermometer reads about 190 to 200 degrees Fahrenheit. I'm not so sure how to tell for doneness without a food thermometer -- I use mine all the time and rely on it heavily, but I don't think most people have one. Though at least for egg-free cookies, undercooked means "gooey" rather than "potentially lethal".

Another option would be to google "vegan bar cookie recipes" and see what comes up. I'm always stunned by how many awesome vegan recipes can be found that way. I've had especially good success with recipes from this site:
http://www.theppk.com/ -- though my current passion is the Chocolate Covered Katie blog:
http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/
Her recipes tend to be healthy, vegan, and quick. Here's Katie's index of cookie and bar recipes -- it starts with cookies first, then switches to bars:
http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/chocolate-covered-recipes/healthy-cookies-and-bars/
Some of the best cookies I've ever made are these:
http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2011/10/14/chocolate-cookies-filled-with-pumpkin-pie/
They are complicated and finicky if you do the filling, but last time I made them I only made the chocolate part and baked that, and the cookies it made were fabulously dreamily awesome!!

I googled for vegan no-bake cookie recipes, in case no-bake foods would work better for you. But nearly all of those recipes contain peanut butter -- though some can substitute sunflower butter for peanut butter. So I am wondering if you can use sunflower butter, and if no-bake cookies sound like any kind of an improvement over baked ones.

I can have sunflower butter, but it's expensive enough that I would hesitate to bake with it. The same is true of almond butter, which I can also have. Then again, we don't use it for much else. Cordelia won't eat sandwiches, and I seldom think of it when she's complaining that she hungry and has rejected everything I've offered her to eat.

I think no bake cookies would be better than baked because it's not batch after batch. All the work is done at once, and I'd be able to go rest after that was done.

Thanks for all the links! I'll follow up on them tonight and tomorrow and put the ingredients I need on our grocery list.

My favorite bar recipe, bar none (sorry): we always called them "Magic Squares". They could easily be made without nuts and not lose much. Easy to make, too!

http://www.eaglebrand.com/recipes/details/?RecipeId=3934

You have so many good recs already! I wish you the joy of it.