<p>I’m looking for tasty recipes for bar cookies to send to college son, since they seem to mail better. </p>
<p>I felt guilty just asking, so I thought I’d better include the recipe that I mail now and then:</p>
<p>Chocolate-Topped Oatmeal Bar Cookies</p>
<p>1 cup butter (soft, but not melted)
½ cup (packed) brown sugar
½ cup regular sugar
2 egg yolks
1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1 cup regular oatmeal
6 1.55 oz bars if Hersheys milk chocolate
2 tablespoons butter
½ cup chopped walnuts</p>
<p>Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream 1 cup butter and both sugars thoroughly. Beat in egg yolks. Add flour and oats. Mix well. Spread in a greased and floured 13 X 9 pan. (Dough will be very stiff - kind of use your fingers to press it into the pan.)
Bake 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes. Melt chocolate bars with 2 tablespoons butter over double boiler. Quickly spread over cookie layer. Sprinkle with nuts; gently press them in with the flat bottom of a tumbler. Cut into squares.</p>
<p>1 & 1/2 C graham cracker crumbs
Mix with 1 stick melted butter and press evenly into the bottom of a 9x13 for a crust</p>
<p>Top with one can sweetened, condensed milk
Add a layer of 1.25 cup shredded coconut
Add a layer of 1 cup chocolate chips
Add a layer of one cup chopped (favourite) nuts</p>
<p>Bake about 35 minutes at 350F until golden brown
Separate from sides while still hot with a spatula for easier serving later, cut into squares.
no calories!!!</p>
<p>milk & nuts = protein
choc chips come from cocoa beans, so veggie
lots of fibre for the older folks, of which there seem to be many here, based on some of the bar-hopping conversations I’ve eavesdropped upon in Sinner’s Alley! ;)</p>
<p>Cangel is right, if no one sees you and you eat them out of the pan, there are no calories! :p</p>
<p>Hmm, Somemom’s replacement for the Atkins, I like the possibilities, as long as I don’t kick off like Atkins did. How about the pure diet- Everything with fresh, high quality ingredients,-real butter, real milk, real beef, real pasta, real chocolate-we could discuss the advantages of Valrhona vs. the others Maybe I could get wealthy and create university endowments for the deserving children of CCrs!? :D</p>
<p>what do you find is the best packaging to send brownies/bar cookies/choc. chip cookies in? I haven’t sent anything homemade yet, because I thought they would be stale by the time they arrived about 3 days later…<br>
Tins? rubbermaid?
and do you find that bar cookies travel best (over brownies or choc. chip?)
thanks</p>
<p>mishdoob:
I’ve sent both the bar cookies above and chocolate chip cookies. According to son, the bar cookies arrived the best. I packed them in those disposable tupperware things (I think they’re actually made by Hefty) and put those inside the box with some bubble wrap. If you use Priority Mail it’s pretty fast and they’re fine. I froze mine until I mailed them, but I’m sure that didn’t buy much time. Once they hit the dorm, I don’t think they last very long!!!</p>
<p>These are as awespme as the Hello Dollys in their own way, not as rich. Unfortunately, I’m not sure they would ship well.</p>
<p>Graham Cracker Crisps</p>
<p>1 stick butter or margarine, melted
1/2 c. light brown sugar, firmly packed
1 box of graham crackers
crushed pecans, enough to cover crackers</p>
<p>Line a cookie sheet ( may take 2 cookie sheets, and double butter and brown sugar) with graham crackers. Melt butter/marg and add brown sugar, stirring constantly until it comes to a rapid boil and sugar melts. Quickly pour over graham crackers and spread evenly. Spread crushed pecans evenly over crackers. Bake 10 min. in a pre-heated 350 oven. Alternate trays on oven racks at 5 min to prevent burning. Quickly cut into squares and turn whole baking sheet upside down on wax paper to cool</p>
<p>when I have to make large quantities of cookies for school events, etc, I use small muffin tins… and an ice cream scoop to fill the tins, I do this with brownies and choc chip cookies…
the advantage of the small muffin size item is that they end up with a slight bottom crust which protects them during shipping?<br>
also saw something recently where they described a layer of bubblewrap in between each layer of cookie?</p>
<p>another option to consider is to bake breads instead… I send pumpkin bread and banana bread w/mini choc chips baked in it… like a cookie but not…they slice it on their end so it travels better?? </p>
<p>could do lemon pound cake with blueberries…</p>
<p>cranberry nut bread with white choc chips…</p>
<p>I have one baking sheet that makes up 9 mini loaves… most boxed bread mixes make up 9 mini loaves exactly…</p>
<p>My family likes somemom’s recipe too but I think those bars might be a little fragile for shipping (at any rate mine always turn out very squisky). You might take a look at the King Arthur Flour Web site; it has a link to recipes for all sorts of baked goods, almost certainly including lots of bar cookies.</p>
<p>Weenie, you’re right, bar cookies do better. The recipe Somemom gave is originally from the label of the Carnation sweetened condensed milk, I think.</p>
<p>Here’s another: Dream Bars ( I was surprised to see this one being sold in a lunch bar in Chicago this last weekend)</p>
<p>Mix 1/2 c butter, 1/2 c brown sugar, 1 c white flour to a crumbly mass. Pat into 8x13" pan & bake at 350 for 10 min.</p>
<p>Mix 1 c brown sugar, 2 eggss, 1 t vanilla. Mix 2 T flour with 1/2 t baking powder & sift over 1&1/2 c shredded coconut + 1 c nut meats. Toss and add to sugar and egg mixture. Pour over previously baked crust, and bake 20 min at 350.</p>
<p>No chocolate, but still very, very good. Thanks for reminding me that I should send something to my #1 S, even though he’s all grown up! LOL</p>
<p>I presume w/ all these bakers on here we can expect to place orders for finals week? I mean we would ALL like a tin of cookies…where do I sign up???</p>
<p>Here’s a tip my mom-in-law gave me years ago and works great for shipping baked goods or cookies in the cookie jar – add one or two slices of bread to the top of the package or your cookie jar — cookies stay soft – bread becomes a brick. When I ship cookies I put them in a plastic tub, line the bottom and sides with bubble wrap (enough to go over the top when closed), put wax paper between layers, wax paper on top - then slices of bread on top, close and then tape bubble wrap to container. I’ve shipped all kinds of cookies, bars, cakes and they all arrived yummy!!
Had one package lost for almost two weeks (choc.chip cookies) and they still arrived soft and yummy. You might want to warn, or put a note in, to tell your kids why stale bread is in their package — my kids were used to it, but their friends had a curious look on their faces – didn’t stop them from eating them though. They also request this chocolate/peanut butter square recipe – its great in the summer — NO BAKE - but better to ship in the cooler weather. </p>
<p>Cookie Sheet - 10 x 15
Melt 2 sticks magarine in large glass bowl
To melted magarine add a heaping cup of Peanut Butter (chunky or plain), and a heaping cup of Nabisco Graham Cracker Crumbs - Mix
Add 1 lb. Confect. Sugar - Mix
When dough consistency - press into ungreased cookie sheet
Melt 12 oz. pkg. of Choc Chips in microwave
When choc. melted spread over dough mixture
Put in fridge for approx. 20 minutes, or until choc. is dull
Cut into 2 in. squares </p>
<p>I have made these many times for my own family and just made and shipped them to a friend’s daughter last week:</p>
<p>SunMaid Breakfast Bars</p>
<p>1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups granola or toasted wheat germ (I use wheat germ)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
1/2 cup honey
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups raisins
1 cup chopped walnuts</p>
<p>Heat oven to 350. Grease an 8" square pan. Combine flour, granola or wheat germ, sugar, baking powder and cinnamon. Stir in butter, honey, egg and vanilla. Mix well. Stir in raisins and walnuts. Press mixture into greased pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool. Cut into bars.</p>
with a spatula for easier serving later, cut into squares.