FoCo Joe: Chocolate Raspberry Sugar Cookie Bars
Dearest readers, do not be stunned by the length of this dessert’s name. This mouthful is “definitely in the top ten, maybe even the top five” best desserts I have ever made for this column, Laura McCulloch ’16 said. This dessert s a first for the column in many ways, at least in comparison to the other desserts I have made this summer. It is one of the first I have made that does not feature ice cream — a sad but true fact — and it is also the first dessert I have ever made that utilizes the raspberry preserves spread. It’s very light on the stomach, which is a bit of a departure from past creations. Hopefully my next “bar” will not require silverware, but my friends and I were happy with the results!
There is not much of an inspiration story this week: I finished my meal in FoCo after a swim practice (as usual) when I realized that I had yet to think of something fun to make for my column this week. So I pulled out my cell phone and flipped through some screenshots of photos from Instagram and the web, hoping to find some sort of inspiration. I found a photo of an Instagram post from @thefeedfeed, one of the many food accounts I have begun following as this summer, of a scrumptious-looking breakfast and dessert bar with peaches in them. I wanted this bar dessert to have a similar, home-cooked sort of feeling to it when I was making it, which is why I decided to use the raspberry preserves instead of actual slices of fruit. Of course there are lots of ways to substitute in real fruit, or different jellies or jams, which you could try, but I just went with the raspberry preserve out of personal preference.
Step 1: Head over to the cookies and hope that there are sugar cookies fresh out of the oven. This may sound surprising, but I really do think chocolate chip cookies can work for this recipe if there are not any sugar cookies available. In fact this dessert might even taste better with the melted chocolate chips and raspberry combo.
Step 2: Spread some raspberry preserves onto the cookie to create a solid layer for the granola on top.
Step 3: Carefully sprinkle some granola on top of the raspberry preserves. I chose to use the Kashi GoLean Crunch over by the cereals, on the left-hand side, but any kind of granola or cereal even will taste good.
Step 4: Head over to the far corner of the ice cream bar to add some chocolate syrup as the final layer of your “bar.” This step is optional when using chocolate chip cookies, as the chocolate-raspberry combo is already present, but at the same time the dessert will look more like a “bar” with some syrup (or caramel, why not) on top. Add the syrup diagonally across the “bar” to create a nice geometric pattern.
Step 5: Grab a nice clean spoon and enjoy! This is definitely worth trying at some point. It’s so easy—both on the stomach and in terms of preparation!