A Treat for Dad

This cookie has oatmeal in it. It's a regular health food.

Well, maybe not. It also has sweetened condensed milk. That ingredient may be the elixir of the kitchen, but don't look at the calorie count. When you add in some chocolate chips, toffee bits and coconut, you get a dynamite bar cookie. But it's no health food, despite a little oatmeal.

I saw the recipe on the blog, Mom on Timeout. Randy loves coconut. So does my Dad. I figured they were the perfect Father's Day treat for both of them.

I love the ease of bar cookies, but while I had the kitchen heated up, I figured I might as well get a stockpile of cookies in the freezer for wheat harvest. 

 

I made my go-to  drop cookie recipe, divided the dough and made four variations. I tripled my basic recipe (find the recipe and add-in ideas by clicking the link), then I divided the dough into four parts before I added any "extras" to the dough. This time, I made:

• White Chocolate Macadamia Nut (white chocolate chips and coarsely chopped nuts)
• Almond Joy (Almond Joy pieces and flaked coconut)
• Chocolate Chocolate Chip (About 1/4 of a cup of cocoa powder and semi-sweet chocolate chips)
• Oatmeal Cinnamon Chip (I used cinnamon chips for the first time. They are in the baking aisle by the chocolate chips. I didn't think they tasted that good separately, but they were good mixed in the cookie dough with about 1 cup of oatmeal.

I didn't really measure the add-ins. I just add until I think it's about right (which I know is not very helpful for less experienced cooks.)  If you're adding dry ingredients - like oatmeal or cocoa powder - to an already-prepared dough you can always add a tablespoon or two of milk to get the dough back to the right consistency, if needed. Yesterday, though, I only had to add the milk to the oatmeal cookies. The dough is a science, but there's some latitude to the "extras."

Noah's Ark animals aren't the only two-by-two matches. I packaged the cookies and bars two-by-two and have them in the freezer, ready to pull out packages for harvest suppers.

But, some of the cookies will be doing double-duty as a Father's Day gift for the special Dads in my life. Happy Father's Day to my Dad ...

Me and my Dad in 1957

and to Randy!

Randy, Jill and Brent - 1988

Coconut Toffee Chocolate Chip

Cookie Bars

From the blog, Mom on Timeout

Crust:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup oatmeal
2 cups flaked coconut
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 egg, lightly beaten
12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Filling:
14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup light corn syrup
8 oz. toffee bits

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 13- by 9-inch baking pan with cooking spray.

Crust: Combine butter and brown sugar in large bowl of electric mixer. Combine well. Add egg; mix well. Add flour, oats and coconut, and combine until it makes a crumbly dough. Stir in chocolate chips.

Reserve 1 1/2 cups of the dough for topping. Press remaining dough into bottom of the prepared 13- by 9-inch pan. Bake 10 minutes.

Filling: Combine sweetened condensed milk and corn syrup and mix until combined. Pour evenly over hot crust. Sprinkle evenly with toffee bits. Top evenly with reserve crust mixture. (There will be places that aren't covered. Just do your best.)

Bake 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown. Cool on wire rack. I cut them into bars while they were still slightly warm, making it easier to cut through all the layers.