Christmas Baking

Over the weekend, the cookie dough made its' way out of the freezer, onto cookie sheets and into the oven.

The baking went on and on into the night. 

I also made some absolutely fabulous bars this year.

I have decided that bars are, in fact, easier to make than cookies.

Here are a few lessons I learned in the bar making business.

1) Choose your bars wisely. I did a seven layer bar (the recipe I used was my aunt's, and I didn't ask her permission to share, so I linked to a similar recipe) and a fruit bar.
* The 7 layer bars were perfect for distributing. They didn't crumble once they were cut but the fruit bars were far too crumbly to make for tidy distribution. I utilized wee cellophane bags to contain the crumbs - but I'll have to search for an alternate fruit-full-but-less-crumbly-bar for next year.

2) Prep your pan

Parchment or wax paper in the bottom, two strips of aluminum foil (folded
over several times for strength) and cooking spray.

*The wax paper keeps the bottom from sticking and the aluminum foil acts like handles so you can lift the entire mass-of-bars out in one piece for easy, accurate, cutting.

3) Choose your pan wisely. I have come to the conclusion that clear glass pans are significantly better for baking anything which might be potentially sticky than dark metal pans. (Also, I've fallen out of love with my dark metal cookie sheets, and much prefer my lighter metal, shiny cookie sheets). The dark metal seems to heat up more than shiny metal or glass, causing chips to melt and stick-age problems.

4) Might I suggest the use of a pizza cutter when cutting your bars? Score the bars with a long knife and then cut with the pizza cutter - it really does a much better job than the knife.

Table of goodness - amazingly there are two more
trays of bars on the counter you can't see.

Bliss!

Happy merry-making, gang.