I think of all the cookies and bars in the world Chocolate Chip bars have to be my absolute favourite! Golden brown and stogged full of semi sweet chocolate chips. So good with a glass of ice cold milk, or a cup of tea, a cup of coffee, or whatever beverage that floats your boat!
The cookie/bar part is beautifully crisp and buttery . . . those chocolate chips creamy and chocolaty . . . oh, they are so very delicious.
They are not something I have made really often, largely due to the fact that most recipes make far too many and we are only two, and to be honest, cookies and bars are at their very best on the day that they are baked.
Not that that has ever stopped me from enjoying my fill every day that I have them in my house. Therein lies my dilema. I just cannot be trusted with a full cookie jar. In my quest for smaller recipes for the smaller family, and to lessen my temptation, I present to you Small Batch Chocolate Chip Bars!
Small in size, but HUGE on flavour! These incredibly moreish bars lack none of the tastiness of their larger sized counterpart!
They bake to perfect golden crispness in a 9 by 5 inch loaf tin! Just the perfect size for only two!
I suppose you could cut them into squares or rectangles, but I like to add interest and cut them into wedges.
Beautifully crisp and buttery . . . not overly sweet. They are just sweet enough, with an almost shortbread-like texture!
I toyed with the idea of adding toasted pecans and perhaps some sultana raisins, but in the end I went old school with just the chocolate chips.
And now I am wondering how nice they might be with chopped cranberries and white chocolate chips. Oh boy, that would be tasty. I would add some grated orange zest in that case.
These however, are pretty perfect just as they are. They scratch the itch without going over the top. They fill that chocolate chip cookie bar gap.
This recipe is just the perfect size for us . . . a husband who can annoyingly eat whatever he wants without gaining an ounce . . .
And me who shouldn't be eating anything like this at all. Not at all . . . but at least with this recipe there is less temptation around to break my will.
They are incredibly temptingly delicious however . . . and I could not resist enjoying one.
And like a child I had it with a small glass of milk. Oh boy . . . some good.
Small Batch Chocolate Chip Bars
Yield: About 8 bars
An incredibly edibly moreish small batch bar recipe for the small family. Crisp and buttery and filled with lots of semi-sweet chocolate chips!
ingredients:
- 105g plain flour (3/4 cup)
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 60g softened butter (1/4 cup)
- 50g soft light brown sugar (1/4 cup)
- 2 TBS granulated sugar
- 1 large free range egg yolk
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 90g good quality chocolate chips (1/2 cup)
instructions:
How to cook Small Batch Chocolate Chip Bars
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Line a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan with baking paper. Set aside.
- Cream together both sugars and the butter until smooth and creamy. Beat in the egg yolk and the vanilla.
- Sift together the flour, salt, soda and baking powder. Stir into the creamed mixture. It will look quite crumbly. Stir in the chocolate chips and then press the dough evenly into the lined pan, pressing it down firmly.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 23 minutes, until puffed and golden brown. Remove from the oven and let sit in the pan for 15 minutes before lifting out and cutting into serving sized wedges. Store any leftovers in an airtight container.
If you are a smaller family and are looking for something incredibly tasty this might well be it. If you are a larger family and are wanting not a lot of temptation hanging about to cause you to go over board, this might still be it. Enjoy!
This really looks kind of perfect to me. My new oven will be hooked up next week and I think I will try this as one of a small batch to test the temperatures and all. Plus, it's a win-win!
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