Three Holiday Bark Recipes

First off, who else finds "bark" to be a hilariously unappetizing name for candy treats?

This weekend marked the second annual cookie exchange amongst my girlfriends. Because I had to be out of town all weekend right up until the hour before the party, I had to bake way in advance. Solution? Bark.

I also had no chance to print recipes. Solution? A blog post that all can reference if needed.

Bittersweet Chocolate Lemon Bark

Recipe originally found on about.com. I ended up having to spread the candied lemon peel out on parchment paper to bake it in the oven at 350 for 10 minutes. I needed to make it breakable instead of gummy-sticky.

Mocha Meringue Bark

Delicious and light! I typically cook variations on ingredients and processes that I already know. The world of meringue was rather intimidating, but one must learn these things. Turns out that this was my favorite bark of the three. Found on foodnetwork.com by Claire Robinson.


Somoa Bark

Riiiiiiiiich and delicious. Coconut was another food adventure for me this time around. I used a smaller pan instead of the recommended 9x13 (a girl only has so many 9x13 pans!), so my somoa bark turned out thicker than necessary. Recipe found on cookiesandcups.com.


All together at the cookie exchange :

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Easy Sugar Cookie Bars

These are tasty like sugar cookies, but easy like bar cookies (aka, limited frosting efforts required). I want to call something out for this recipe...they taste better after 24 hours. It is as if the flavors have to settle into each other. Really, make 'em a day early and just let 'em lay.

I adapted this recipe from Annie's Eats.

Easy Sugar Cookie Bars
Cookie Dough :
½ cup (1 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 T. Lemon Juice
2½ cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda

 Frosting:
1/2 cup (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 T.  Crisco
½ tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. salt (I always add a little more to taste at the end
2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2 T. almond milk for texture (or regular milk is fine too)
Food coloring (optional)

 
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  
2. Grease a 8 x 12″ rimmed baking sheet
3. Combine the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer.  Beat on medium-high speed until light and smooth, about 2 minutes.
4. Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
5. Blend in the vanilla, and lemon juice.
6. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking soda.  Stir together with a fork to blend.
7. Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl and beat on low speed just until incorporated.
8.  Transfer the cookie dough to the prepared baking sheet and press into an even layer.
9. Bake 10-15 minutes, until light golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

Frosting :
10. Place the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on medium-high speed until smooth.
11. Blend in the vanilla, salt, and confectioners’ sugar until smooth.
12. Mix in the milk until desired consistency is reached.
13. Tint as desired with food coloring.
14. Spread over the cookie in the pan.

Eating  :)
15. Wait 24 hours!
16. Cut into bars and serve!



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