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[the_rck]

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.

Comments

[evalerie.livejournal.com]

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!!

[evalerie.livejournal.com]

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.

[the_rck]

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.

[the_rck]

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