Mocha Chocolate Chip Bars

It’s been a snowy and icy week here in the Seattle area. We didn’t have a ton of snow but the ice was terrible. I will say that it has been a short week, but in some ways it feels like the longest week ever. I am glad that the week is nearly over and that we have a Monday holiday. Maybe next week will be normal.

I knew that I wanted to make bar cookies this week, and the question was which one. I had three recipes that I had all of the ingredients, and in the end I chose this one as one of the other recipes sometimes produced an error on my computer. It seems to be ok now, so I’ll save those bars for another time. I also wanted to make these cookies since they called for cocoa mix, the type with sugar. I don’t always have that on hand, but in the winter we like hot chocolate so we had it available. I’ve never baked with a pre-sweetened cocoa mix before!

Like most bar cookies, I made the bars one day and then did the drizzle and cut them another. That saves me a lot of time, and bar cookies are typically sturdy. I had two questions with these bars. First, would you be able to taste the coffee? Most often, when I use espresso powder, it just makes the chocolate taste more like chocolate. Second, how would the cocoa mix taste in a cookie? In tasting the bars, I can tell you that the coffee is extremely subtle, and at times I forget it is there. The cocoa mix is interesting and makes the bars a little sweeter. I guess I like sweet things as I think these bars are wonderful!

Mocha Chocolate Chip Bars

14 tablespoons butter, room temperature

1 ½ cups sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/3 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon instant espresso powder

¾ cup cocoa mix (sweetened)

2 cups chocolate chips

Additional chocolate, for drizzle

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9” x 13” pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick spray.

In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter and sugar. Beat on medium until light, three minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat again on medium to combine. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix to incorporate all ingredients. With the mixer running on low, add the flour, baking powder, salt, espresso powder and cocoa mix. Stir until the mixture almost comes together. Add the chocolate chips and stir on

Low until the dough comes together.

Press the dough evenly into the prepared pan.

Bake for 26-30 minutes, until a knife inserted into the center of the bars comes out clean. Cool completely.

Melt about ½ cup chocolate chips (and a teaspoon of vegetable shortening) in the microwave until smooth. Abstractly drizzle over the cooled bars. Allow the drizzle to set before cutting into bars.

Recipe from Sweet Recipeas