Halfway Bar Cookies

These were among the many recipes sitting in a long line of recipes; so why did I choose them? Well, first off, I had all the ingredients on hand. It was like fate! And fate was all too kind in this case. And besides who can resist the blondie-esque base covered in chocolate covered in a brown sugar meringue? Not me, that's for sure.

They were super simple, and earned rave reviews from the folks that I routinely foist baked goods upon. I mean, a girl can't eat a whole pan of bar cookies by herself... can she? Ok, she can, but only if she's willing to go running for the next week straight. And eat a bunch of lettuce. Given the choices, I opt to share the wealth.

Let's jump on in to the recipe, which I found here. I followed the recipe to a T. Well, as much as I ever do. I'm from the school of thought that doesn't stress the finicky, just so measurements. And I have to tell you, no one's complained yet.

Halfway Bars
fills a 9x13 pan


2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter - softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups brown sugar - divided into 1 cup and a 1/2 cup
2 eggs
1 tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla
12 oz semisweet chocolate chips

First thing, set the oven to preheat to 350°.
It was recommended to foil line your 9x13 pan, and spray coat the foil. While the bars ended up being super easy to get out of the pan, I'm not totally sure it was all necessary. Spray some pam on there sure, but the foil? Meh. Unless you're super worried about presentation, I probably wouldn't bother.

Combine the flour, salt, baking powder and soda and set to the side for a bit.
Next, cream the butter, sugar, and the 1/2 cup of brown sugar.

Separate the eggs, keeping both the whites and yolks.

Mix the yolks into the creamed butter mixture, followed by the water and vanilla.

Then mix in the flour, until just combined. The dough will be crumbly, kind of like a slightly damp shortbread dough. Once it's ready, dump the dough crumbs into the pan and press to make a relatively even layer of cookie dough.

Now, add the chocolate. Make a nice layer over top of the cookie crust, press the chips in a bit to help them stay in place.

Onto the meringue.

I would use either a stand mixer or hand mixer for this one.
Beat the egg whites until they are nice and frothy. The first time I made these I didn't beat the egg whites quite enough, and while still tasty, wasn't quite as fluffed as it needed to be, so definitely make sure to get these well frothed. Slowly add in the cup of brown sugar, keep mixing. And then keep mixing some more, until the meringue is in the soft peak stage - not liquidy anymore, but it tends to run back on itself, not holding a good shape for very long.

Once the meringue is ready, pour it out over the cookie and chocolate base. Spread it out gently to cover the chocolate. Doesn't have to be perfect, because you're going to be pressing some parchment over top anyways.

Bake for 20 minutes, remove the parchment, and bake for another 5-10 minutes. You'll want it to start looking toasty, like a perfectly done marshmallow... unless you like your marshmallows burnt, then, nevermind.


*disclaimer - the original recipe called these 'halfway cookies', my calling them 'bar cookies' isn't an attempt to make them my own in some way. This recipe is that same recipe,  I just have a hard time calling anything cut from a 9x13 pan a cookie...