chocolate-cherry tart bars (no mixer, one bowl easy)

It was interesting and comforting to receive emails from some of you telling me you loved the "no mixer" recipes I shared.
Definitely comforting as I always felt like the oddball for not having a mixer.
I want one, just don't have the money for one.
Other priorities pop up in life, and the luxury of buying a mixer gets thrown on the back burner yet again.
And you see that book ---> "Baking By Hand"  yes that one, I can relate!
Every year I promise myself I'll get one, and I even post here that I will, but it never happens, so in the mean time I'm more than happy to keep creating "no mixer" and "one bowl" easy recipes.
I think you guys like it too.


These chocolate-cherry tart bars are pretty much like a cross between a shortbread and tart, definitely have the taste and feel of a rich chocolate shortbread.
I wanted to freshen them up a bit with some cherry jam and a hint of texture and crunch with toasted sliced almonds.  You can get creative and use whatever jam you like.

So easy to put together.
As long as you don't mind using your clean hands to mix the dough.
I actually prefer using my hands to mix breads, shortbreads, pastry, and cookie doughs.
You get a better feel for the dough and you have a less chance of over-mixing/over-working the dough.
No one will ever know that you threw this together with no mixer, in one bowl and in minutes.
Shhhh.



Such a pretty tart isn't it?

For me, making it in a round form makes it more fancy schmancy.


chocolate-cherry tarts bars
recipe from vanillasugarblog.com
print recipe

dough:
19 TB unsalted butter, cold
1 cup granulated sugar
3 TB unsweetened cocoa powder (not dutch process)
2 ½ cups flour
1 ½ ts baking powder
1 ts sea salt

jam filling:
¼ cup +/- of cherry jam

Toasted, sliced almonds for decoration & crunch

Cook notes: I did not use a mixer for this as I don’t have one, but feel free to use one.
Just don’t over-work the dough.  You can use any jam you like, I wanted to see if cherry would go well with this and it did. Don’t spread the jam to the edges, it will ooze out when baking and make it very hard to remove tart from pan.
I used a 9 inch cake pan, you can use an 8 inch or other tart pan if you have one.
If you're kitchen runs really hot or it's summer, after you've assembled raw tart, pop in fridge for a few minutes to firm up before baking.

Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Butter and/or non-stick spray up  8-inch cake pan.
In a large bowl cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Next add in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt right on top of the creamed butter. Using your hands mix until you have everything ‘just’ mixed.  It might be a little dry, and that’s fine.
Take your greased cake pan, spread out 2/3 of the dough on the bottom of the pan, making sure to get all the sides well covered. Please make sure to push this down, so there are no cracks. If you do get a crack, just pinch the dough together.
Next spread down a layer of the cherry jam, not letting it get to the edges.
Take remaining 1/3 of dough and making giant crumbs (by squeezing clumps of dough) and place on top.  No need to cover the top completely, we want to see the jam on top and the giant crumbs on top will make a nice crispy topping.
If you want to use almonds, sprinkle a handful or two on the top.
Bake the dough for 23-30 minutes, until the tops of the crumbs are lightly crisp; the dough will still be a bit soft, so let it sit for about 30-60 minutes to firm up.
Once it’s cooled and firm, carefully remove tart from pan using a frosting knife or thin spatula.
Use a sharp knife to slice into wedges.

peppermint creme meltaway bars

Peppermint.
For some reason I crave peppermint more so in the winter than any other season.
Do you?
Is there a vitamin or mineral in the mint that my body is lacking?
I don't know, is that true? Whatever veggie, spice, herb or meat you craving consistently is what you are lacking nutritionally?
Anywho.....How did these bars come about?
My yearning for a peppermint meltaway cookie really.
But I couldn't just do a boring slice and bake cookie;  I added a few more steps
--ok a lot more steps, to fancy it up.
Aren't the colors so pretty and festive?
This recipe is fairly quick and easy.  You can make the dough the night before, let it chill out in the
fridge.
Then assemble and bake the next day.
ONE key step to this recipe: the Andes Peppermint Crunch Baking Chunks.
Have you tried these?  It was the first time I'd seen them. I wish I had found them earlier.
What a great and tasty on its own little baking chip: it comes complete with peppermint and white chocolate in one!
When researching these baking chips I had no idea they were owned by tootsie roll.
I found the chips at Walmart in the candy aisle--NOT the baking aisle.
If you can't find these chips?
Take some crushed candy canes and mix with white chocolate chips; equal portion of each.

These bars are decadent; taste like a shortbread bars but have the consistency and texture of a meltaway.
The middle filling is gentle on the mint.
I didn't want a heavy mint taste in these bars, so I didn't add any mint extract.
If you do a quick taste-test of the cookie dough and want a little bit of mint in there, then feel free to add some. Or add it to the cream cheese filling.
I made the top of the bars have a nice "crumble crunch" to it.
If you flatten the dough pieces as opposed to circle chunks, the flattened pieces will crisp up nicely.





I made just a little bit of minty icing over the top in order for the sprinkling of chips to stick and stay
on the bars.
And since baking hindsight is 20/20, I could have added a bit of red or even green food coloring
to the icing for a nice festive touch.

Only saved one for me; the prettiest one in fact. :-)

peppermint cream meltaway bars

from vanillasugarblog.com

print recipe

cookie dough:

2 cups unsalted butter, softened

1 cup powdered sugar

4 cups all-purpose flour

4 ts cornstarch

¾ ts sea salt

cream filling:

12 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 egg yolk

3 TB powdered sugar

giant pinch of sea salt

handful (or two) of the Andes Peppermint Crunch chips in the filling

(plus we will use more of the peppermint crunch chips for topping the cream cheese

filling)

you might need some mint extract, if you want a minter filling, optional

topping:

icing (1 cup of powdered sugar, mixed with splash or two of heavy cream, and dash of mint extract)

Andes Peppermint Crunch chips

Cook notes: 

The middle filling is gentle on the mint.

I didn't want a heavy mint taste in these bars, so I didn't add any mint extract.

If you do a quick taste-test of the cookie dough and want a little bit of mint in there, then feel free to add some. Or add it to the cream cheese filling.

I made the top of the bars have a nice "crumble crunch" to it.

If you flatten the dough pieces as opposed to circle chunks, the flattened pieces will crisp up nicely.  I only used about ¾ of the bag of the peppermint crunch chips.

I made just a little bit of minty icing over the top in order for the sprinkling of chips to stick and stay on the bars.

And since baking hindsight is 20/20, I could have added a bit of red or even green food coloring to the icing for a nice festive touch. Also, I love my icing to be very thick, so I only added a splash of heavy cream to the powdered sugar, but if you want to thin it out just add more cream. 

the dough:

Using a mixer or by hand (my method) mix butter and powdered sugar until creamy and no lumps.  Add in the flour, cornstarch and salt.  I used my hands to mix until just combined; no need to over work the dough, we want it to be light and airy, not tough.   This will be a dry dough, that’s ok, just place it on plastic wrap, mold into a large ball or disk and wrap very well and tight. Place in fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight.

When ready to bake, turn out the dough onto parchment paper; separate it into 2/3. And 1/3.  The 2/3 is the bottom layer and the 1/3 will be the crumble topping.

Turn the larger dough onto a greased 9 X 13 baking pan. Using your hands spread the dough out evenly into the pan.  If dough is too cold, let it rest a bit and come to try.  If your kitchen runs cold this might take a while.  While you’re waiting, make the filling.

for the filling:

Mix the cream cheese, egg yolk, powdered sugar and handful (or two) of chips in a bowl. Taste-test it and see if you want more mint, if so, add in a dash of mint extract.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Your dough should be nicely and evenly placed out into the baking pan, making sure to get all the corners.  Add on the cream cheese filling. Do not spread the filling to the edges! Next take the peppermint crunch chips and add a layer on top of the filling. How much? Maybe a ½ cup or more; just use your judgment.

Then taking the remaining 1/3 of the dough, place medium size, flattened dough crumbles on the top. No need to push these down into the dough. Just crumble them on like you would a crumb cake.  The flatter the crumb the better chance it has for crisping up. 

Bake about 43 – 55 minutes. My oven runs horrid and not so hot, so make sure to check these at the 43-minute mark. Look for golden brown edges and lightly golden brown crumbs on top. 

While the bars are baking make the icing by combining the powdered sugar with the dash of mint extract, and heavy cream.  If you want to add in food coloring please do so while mixing. 

When bars have cooled completely, drizzle the icing on top and then top with more of the peppermint crunch chips.

Depending on how you slice them you should get 20 large bars OR 25-30 smaller bars? Make sure to keep them covered in airtight containers.  They should have a shelf life of 3 days.

salted nutella cookie bars

A lot of my friends on Facebook will post food pics on my wall asking:

 "can you make me these?", 

"you HAVE to make me these",

and even, "PLEASE show me how to make these?"

The latter is usually when they are desperate.

Such 'case-in-point' recently was a photo of chocolate chip cookies stuffed with Nutella then sea salted crystals on the top.

Nutella with sea salt?  Seriously indulgence.

How could I even say no to that?

I was going to make the cookies, but I wanted to find an easier way to stuff the cookies since I know the Nutella, when hot, will ooze out--we can't leave that to chance.

So why not make them into bars and the Nutella is nice and sealed inside with no chance of escaping.

Plus bars were a HUGE time saver, instead of filling each cookie.

Of course if you want to make these into cookies feel free.

But the bars were a nice change, time saver, and perfect for a last minute holiday party.

I love that the clumps on top get crunchy, kind of like crumb cake!

Make sure to read my cook notes, for the changes I did.

salted chocolate chip bars with nutella

cookie base recipe from Jacques Torres

print recipe

2 cups minus 2 TB (8 1/2 ounces) cake flour

1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour

1 1/4 ts baking soda

1 1/2 ts baking powder

1 1/2 ts coarse salt

2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar

1 cup plus 2 TB (8 ounces) granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 ts natural vanilla extract

4 ounces of bittersweet chocolate chips

4 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate chips

¾ cup Nutella

Sea salt for sprinkling top of dough

Cook Notes:  

The chocolate chip cookie recipe is from Jacques Torres; I use this repeatedly because it truly is the very best chocolate chip cookie I’ve ever had.

In Jacques recipe he does cookies, you can do cookies if you want, I just was short on time and wanted to do bars as they would hold the Nutella much better.

Also, in Jacques original recipe, he uses 1 ¼ pounds of high quality bittersweet chocolate. I did not in this recipe, as I wanted the Nutella flavor to shine through.  I just used a small amount of chocolate chips, using a blend of bittersweet and semi sweet.  I do not recommend using milk chocolate chips in this recipe—it would be overkill sweetness. 

The whole ‘most important step’ of Jacques Torres famous cc cookie recipe is to let the cookie dough sit and marinate for at least a day or more (48 hours).  Please don’t skip this step.  I have gone as far as 96 hours and the dough was perfect.

Lastly, you all know by now I don't have a mixer so I did this recipe by hand. The dough is very tough and hard to mix, so I used my hands--great workout! But if you have a mixer, please go ahead and use it. 

Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. 

Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. 

Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. 

Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them. 

Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. 

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Spray a 9 x 13 pan with non-stick spray.

Divide dough into 2 piles: 2/3 and 1/3.

Take the 2/3 dough and line the bottom of the baking pan with it, making sure to get all the corners, making sure there aren’t any holes or gaps in the dough.

Spread a layer of nutella; do not spread it to the edges!

Take the 1/3 remaining dough and in clumps, place on the top. Also make sure to take any dough and close up any gaps you see in the corners.

Don’t push the crumble down into the dough, just leave it on the top—it’s ok to have spaces in the crumble—gaps are good on the top, it will let the nutella show through and the crumbles will bake up nice & crisp.

Sprinkle the top with sea salt.

Bake until golden brown but still soft, roughly 25 – 31 minutes. 

Look for golden brown edges, non-jiggly middle.

The middle will be a bit soft, but once it completely cools it won’t be as gooey; it sets up really nice.

You really have to let this cool at least an hour before slicing.

Slice with a sharp knife.

Makes about 20-24 bars depending on how you cut them.

Congrats to the winners of the Savory Cocktails Cookbook Giveaway.

#5 Cook In/Dine Out, #12 Averie, and #24 Katherine-Ivan.

I'll be emailing you wednesday!

frosted pumpkin cheesecake bars with chocolate crust

With a hefty title comes a hefty dessert.
No doubt judging from the photos these bars are rich and delish.
The original bars came from the cookbook Baked Elements and they have a plain vanilla shortbread crust but I wanted to see if a chocolate crust would work and it did.
Also since I'm still on my pumpkin butter kick, I wanted to see if using pumpkin butter would work in these and yes it did. Saves a lot of time using a few tablespoons of pumpkin butter than using pumpkin.
The original recipe can be found here, and my modifications are below.


Not too many steps, the crust is fairly easy to make.
All that stuff about baking the crust with pie weights, nah, I'm not into that, I don't have any pie weights and my crust turned out fine.



This is a really good frosting base. Tasty.

See that wasn't too hard, right?

When it all comes together it's really good. Three nice layers of flavor.  Makes a lot, so you can share without feeling you will short yourself.  LOL!  I tease.



And congrats to the winners of the G.H. Cretors Popcorn Giveaway!
#33 BeeBubba and #70 Lisaiscooking.
I'll be emailing you today!

frosted pumpkin cheesecake bars with chocolate crust
adapted from Baked Elements
print recipe

chocolate crust:
2 ¼ cups flour
5 TB high quality cocoa powder (not dutch process)
½ cup sugar
¾ ts salt
16 ounces cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 large eggs

pumpkin cheesecake filling:
1 lb cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
½ cup canned pumpkin (plain, not pumpkin pie)
3 oversized TB of pumpkin butter
½  ts salt
2 large eggs

cream cheese frosting:
4 oz unsalted butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 TB pure vanilla extract
1/2 ts salt

Grease the sides of a 9x13-inch baking pan. Line with parchment paper and then grease again.  Or do whatever greasing method works for you.

For the pastry dough, put the flour, cocoa powder, sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until combined. Add the butter and pulse a few times, until it resembles coarse sand. In a separate small bowl, whisk the eggs. Add it to the food processor and pulse just until the dough starts to come together.  Pat the dough into a disk and wrap it in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least an hour or overnight.  I did all this by hand, using my hands to incorporate the butter with the flours and then the eggs; worked fine.  I also left dough in fridge for 3 days and it was fine.
When ready to use dough, roll out the dough between two pieces of parchment paper until it is a bit larger than the pan (9x13-inches). Turn the dough into the pan and lightly press it into the bottom and corners. Trim off any excess. Freeze for 30 minutes.  After I rolled out the dough, I used wet fingers to push the dough into the corners.  Then back into the freezer to set up again before baking.
Preheat the oven to 375.
Line the dough with aluminum foil and fill it with pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and beans and bake for 10 minutes, or until lightly browned.
I don’t have pie weights and this step was NOT necessary at all, my crust came out perfectly.
Allow the crust to cool while you make the filling.
Reduce the oven to 300.
For the pumpkin cheesecake filling, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese on medium until it is smooth. Add the sugar and beat again until combined.
Add in the pumpkin, and the pumpkin butter, and mix. Add in the salt, and then the eggs and mix again until nice and smooth.
Pour the cheesecake into the prepared crust and bake for 20-27 minutes, or until set and the middle is not runny; a little jiggle is ok.
You must let this cool for at least an hour and it needs to go in the fridge to set up for at least 2 hours.
For the cream cheese frosting, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (I don’t have a mixer so I mixed all this by hand):  cream together the butter and cream cheese until well combined and fluffy. Add in the powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt and mix until smooth.
Using an offset spatula spread the frosting over the pumpkin cheesecake filling. Allow to set up in the fridge for 30 minutes before cutting and serving (I skipped this step).

pumpkin butter crunch bars

So not being able to find canned pumpkin last week, what's the next best thing?
No, I'm not roasting a whole pumpkin and then pureeing it, as much as that sounds like a fun "little house on the prairie" moment, I will pass.
The next best thing was pumpkin butter!
The pumpkin butter at Trader Joe's is pretty good, a little too sweet for me, but it's ok.
It's MUCH better to bake with----
And it's cheap...let's go with that.

This creation came about after I asked on my Facebook page: pumpkin-chocolate chip cookies yeah or nay. And a lot of you said yeah BUT not cakey.
So off I set to create a "crunch-like" pumpkin cookie.
And one of you said pumpkin powder!  Where can I find pumpkin powder?
Oh yes indeed.
These pumpkin butter crunch bars are based on the VERY popular ginger crunch bars.
Do I even have to tell you how good they are?
No.
Let me put it to you this way: almost everything I create I give away to friends and family.
These were on the list to give to my doctor and his wife, who are total foodies btw (my doc makes
his own pasta BY HAND--no machine!).
When I dropped these bars off everyone in the office huddled around the plate like a buffalo stance, making those sounds of "ohhh and ahhh and whoa...".  Secretly?  I love, and I mean love to hear the resounding voices of people in love with my creations.  It's literally what drives me to create.
There were I think 12-15 bars on the plate?
In five minutes they were all gone.
Five!!

One bowl easy?  Meh, pretty much.

This could also be called pumpkin shortbread, if you doubled up the dough and made it thicker.

A little of this stuff goes a long way....it's strong.

Don't panic when the dough is crumbly, just go ahead and push it the pan!


Icing is strong too, so I only used half (see cook notes).

pumpkin butter crunch bars

from this recipe

print recipe

cookie base

9 TB unsalted butter, room temp

¼  cup granulated sugar

1 ¾ cup flour

1 ts baking powder

 giant pinch of sea salt

3 giant TB of pumpkin butter

icing

4 TB unsalted butter

2 TB golden syrup

1-2 TB pumpkin butter

½ cup powdered sugar

pinch of sea salt

cook notes:

I used an 8-inch tart pan with removable bottom. 

You could use another size tart pan with removable bottom.

For me, the icing makes a lot, I just wanted a little bit of icing, so I only used half and saved the rest of the icing for pumpkin scones!  It keeps perfectly in the fridge, covered, for a week.  I can’t remember how much pumpkin butter I used in the icing; it was either 1 or 2 TB.  So use 1 TB, taste it, and see how you feel and go from there.

I know a lot of you always ask is there a substitute for the golden syrup—no, I haven’t found one yet.  If you can please invest in buying a can of this, it’s really good and one can lasts a long time, plus I have the ginger crunch bars you can make with it!  It’s just such a great ingredient for frostings, icing, etc…

Butter and/or spray up a 8 or 9-inch rectangular tart pan with removable bottom.

You can use a stand mixer—I mixed by hand.  In a large bowl cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the pumpkin butter

In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Mix the dry ingredients into the creamed butter mixture until well combined.

The dough will be very crumbly!  This is fine.

Turn the dough out onto the pan and spread it out, making sure to get into all the corners.   Stick the dough in the fridge for at least 15 minutes before baking.

When ready to bake preheat the oven to 375ºF.

Bake the dough for 18-20 minutes, until it’s light golden brown or if you want really crunchy then golden brown --  I did somewhere in between.

When the dough is almost done baking, make the icing by heating the butter and golden syrup over low heat in a small pan; add in the powdered sugar and pumpkin butter.  Keep stirring until it’s all smooth. Do NOT let this boil, take off heat when everything is nice and combined. 

Once the dough is done baking pour the icing over the top (I used about 1/2 of it).  When smoothing out the icing try not to let it get into the edges.  You want the edges to be seen as it gives a nice decorative appeal when it’s all cooled.

Let this sit for at least 30 minutes to let the icing harden up/set up. 

If your kitchen is hot, then pop in the fridge.

Use a sharp knife to slice into bars or squares.

cookie butter protein bars

OK so I've gone cray cray with the cookie butter.
BUT...I had to see if the protein bar would....well.  cookie butter!
And it did.
They came out great!
If cookie butter isn't your thing and you want a "healthier" version of a protein bar then just sub in
almond butter or peanut butter.
I've made these protein bars with peanut butter before and it's a really good "base" recipe
easy for add in's, other nut butters, etc...
Super easy to make, literally one bowl easy, and the molding part is fairly easy too.
My apologies for crappy photos. Protein bars are...well...not exactly pretty; tasty though!
I think protein bars become "pretty" with all that fancy packaging.


This recipe is a great base for any kind of add in's: you can experiment with various nut butters,
add in raisins, nuts, coconut, give it a drizzle of chocolate on top, etc...
If you don't want chocolate, then omit the cocoa powder.

cookie butter protein bars

print recipe

4 ounces whey protein isolate powder (plain)

3 cups of rolled oats

1 cup of coconut milk

1 TB unsweetened cocoa powder

small pinch of salt

hefty pinch of cinnamon

½ cup cookie butter

1 ripe banana

chopped peanuts, optional, for decorating the tops

you could also add in raisins or other nuts

cook notes: 

make sure to use a plain protein powder; not sure how flavored would taste.  This recipe is a great base for any kind of add in's: you can experiment with various nut butters,

add in raisins, nuts, coconut, give it a drizzle of chocolate on top, etc...

If you don't want chocolate, then omit the cocoa powder.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. 

If you feel confident, go ahead and mold them into squares. 

If dough is too loose for you then cover dough and place in fridge to firm up for about 15-30 minutes.

You should get about 8 -10 squares/rectangles.

Place on parchment lined baking sheet about ½ apart (the bars don’t spread when baking).

Bake about 15-20 minutes.

You’ll know when they are done when the bars are slightly firm to the touch.

Don’t look for browned edges—it won’t happen.

You should get about 8-10 squares/rectangles; depending on how you shaped them.

brookie bars

Have you heard of the brookie?
A brownie layer, a cookie layer all rolled into one cookie?
There are a couples variations of it, I wanted to try my own spin on it.
After having found the best chocolate chip cookie ever--the jacques torres cookies; I wanted to use those as a base and then the top layer I figure why not try jacques torres famous brownie recipe.
The brookie does the brownie on the bottom and the cookie on the top and molds them into cookies.
I didn't have those molds so I used a pan.
I put the cookie on the bottom because it can hold the heat better and the brownies on top since they are a bit more delicate.
If you like fudgy brownies then this recipe is for you.
This is a really good brownie recipe all on its own, fudgy middle and crisp top--perfect combo!



Fairly easy to make.  Just make the cookie base and refrigerate (as per instructions) for a couple days.
When ready to bake, just make the brownie batter.


A few thoughts: I did not add nuts to the brownie batter, and after tasting it, it really did need that "texture".  And of course feel free to use your own brownie recipe too.  Just make sure you have enough batter for a 9x13 pan--this is what the cookie dough batter needs.  Also, there was a bit of extra brownie batter left over; I used a mini loaf pan and baked off the rest.

Brookie bars

both recipes from Jacques Torres

print recipe

Cook notes:  In the brownie recipe, there is no place where it says to add in the flour mixture to the mixer, so I added it in below. Very strange.  But I think I nailed it.

I did not add nuts to the brownie batter, and after tasting it; it really did need that "texture".  And of course feel free to use your own brownie recipe too.  Just make sure you have enough batter for a 9x13 pan--this is what the cookie dough batter needs.  Also, there was a bit of extra brownie batter left over; I used a mini loaf pan and baked off the rest (about  20-30 minutes baking time for a mini loaf pan)

For the brookies:

mix up the chocolate chip cookie recipe (below), cover, and chill in fridge for a day or a couple days.

When ready to make brookies bars, make the brownie batter (below).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, spray a 9x13 baking pan with non stick spray.

Layer down the cookie dough batter, making sure to get in all the corners.

Then place the brownie batter on top, smooth it out. 

Bake for about 45-55 minutes. 

The brownies are fudgy-like so it will be a little loose still after about 45 minutes of baking.  How to know they are done when the jiggle in the middle of the batter should be gone.  Please check at the 45-minute mark.

These need to cool completely before slicing.  To help them set up, I placed in the fridge for about an hour. 

Chocolate Chip Cookies

from Jacques Torres

2 cups minus 2 TB (8 1/2 ounces) cake flour

1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour

1 1/4 ts baking soda

1 1/2 ts baking powder

1 1/2 ts coarse salt

2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar

1 cup plus 2 TB (8 ounces) granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 ts natural vanilla extract

1 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate disks at least 60 percent cacao content

Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes.

Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla.

Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds.

Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them.

Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours.

Jacques Torres’s brownies

12 ounces 72-percent chocolate, chopped

¼ cup Dutch processed cocoa powder

1¾ cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1½ teaspoons salt

1½ cups (three sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

3 cups sugar

6 large eggs, room temperature

10½ ounces 60-percent chocolate, chopped

2⅔ cups walnuts, toasted and chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Line a 15½×10½×1-inch baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat, or lightly spray it with nonstick vegetable spray.

Place the 72-percent chocolate in the top half of a double boiler and stir occasionally until completely melted. Remove from the heat and beat in the cocoa powder until well blended. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, beat the butter on low until softened.

Raise the speed to medium and beat for about three minutes, until creamy.

Add the sugar and continue beating for about four minutes, or until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition until incorporated.

Add the chocolate mixture and beat just until incorporated.

Then add in the flour mixture and mix till just combined.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and, using a rubber spatula, fold in the 60-percent chocolate and the nuts.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, lightly smoothing the top with the spatula.