Friday, January 1, 2010

Big Bar Fiasco

Along with Chocolate chip cookies, it is tradition, no law, that I make my uncle a "BIG BAR". I shudder to think what would happen if I arrived unarmed with this goodie.
I am about to reveal the big secret! The "BIG BAR" recipe!!!! It's actually Nestle Toll House's recipe for Chewy butterscotch brownies with 1/2 T vanilla and half of the butterscotch chips swapped out for semi sweet chips. And you know what? That was actually an accident. The first time I made this recipe, I mistakenly thought I had enough butterscotch chips. I just used what I had. They were such a mega hit with my uncle I thought, why mess with perfection?

You may have noticed the weird shape of this "BIG BAR". This is due to the scientific marvel that is the bakers edge pan. If you are a fan of edge pieces you gotta get this pan. Every portion has an edge! Brilliant eh?

I am one of those who does like the gooey middle brownie pieces, but when you make cookie bars, sometimes the middle is just too gooey. The pan is designed so that heat can be evenly distributed to every piece of bar or brownie. If you wanted to have an entire pan of gooey bars you could easily do that with this pan. You'd just have to cook your bars for a shorter time and the whole pan would be under cooked. The pan is also rockin awesome for lasagna, but that's a whole other story.
As much as I love this pan, I think my love affair has come to a sad end. Lately, the bar has been increasingly difficult to remove from the pan. At first, I didn't have to do anything to the pan. The "BIG BAR" released from the pan like a dream. Last year I had to start spraying the pan with cooking spray. This year even that didn't work. The entire bottom half stuck to the pan!!

There was much crying and screaming when this happened. The bar was still slightly warm so Mrblocko helped me piece the darn thing back together. You can see our scraggly patchwork here:
Before I give up on this pan completely, I will try using PAM with Flour. If that still doesn't work then I'll just give the bar in the pan and my uncle can figure out how to remove it.

Big Bar Recipe
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
1 3/4 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/2 plus 1/3 cups Butterscotch chips, divided
1/2 plus 1/3 cups Butterscotch chips, divided
1 cup chopped nuts

PREHEAT oven to 350° F. COMBINE flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Beat butter, sugar and vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl until creamy. Beat in eggs. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in 1 cup morsels and nuts. Spread into ungreased 13x9-inch baking pan. Sprinkle with remaining morsels. BAKE for 30 to 40 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack.

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