do the congo

yes, i know the lyrics are “conga” but seriously, once you make these, you will not be able to control yourself any longa’ (longo?). need proof? here are some direct quotes from my co-workers:

“Holy crap that was good!I mean REALLY REALLY good….one of my favorite treats you’ve brought in.”; “Incredible!”;”You just keep getting better!”; “AMAZING!  You really outdid yourself with these bad boys”; “Were you at the bike race yesterday?”

okay, so that last one was an e-mail response i received to my blast about the bars, but would appear unrelated. the answer to the question is: no, i did not go to the bike races. the reason? it was too gosh darn hot out!!! the races in question were the Tour of Somerville bike races, which according to the site  is “known as the ‘Kentucky Derby of Cycling.’The Tour is the oldest major bicycle race in the United States and a legend in the lore of bicycle racing.” i go just about every year, but this year i was sitting on my deck, drenched in sweat after only a few minutes, hoping for the forecasted rain to hopefully cool things off, listening to the curious george soundtrack (jack johnson), thinking that it felt like i was in the rainforest …when i remembered that i had seen these bars on bakerella‘s site. it was so appropriate, and delicious looking, that i could not resist.

now, for you fellow semi-health nuts out there, what i am about to show you may shock you… the entire contents of this bag–ONE POUND of brown sugar–go right on in there for a single batch. yep, the whole thing. and less than 3 cups of flour to balance it.

another unusual thing about this recipe is that you mix in the chips and nuts before the flour. i considered eating the soup, except for the fact that it had raw egg in it. blech!

once flour was added, looked perfectly normal, though!

interestingly enough, we almost got to try them undercooked… the tops were nice and golden, i let them cool for about an hour, sliced them up and found that they weren’t exactly done yet

back into the oven they went!!! …and…ta-da!

now, the only thing left to wonder is how you can get these in your belly within the next hour. that’s an easy one:

2 3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter, softened
1 lb. light brown sugar (Oh my and thank you!)
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
11.5 ounce package milk chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

By mixer:

Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.
Combine butter and sugar using a mixer until blended.
Add eggs, one at a time to sugar mixture, mixing on low in between each addition.
Add vanilla and mix.
Add flour and mix until combined.
Stir in chips and then pecans.

By hand:

Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Set aside.
Stir brown sugar into softened (not melted) butter in another large bowl until butter disappears. You can use the back of your spoon to help incorporate the two together.
Add eggs one at a time to butter mixture and stir well after each egg.
Add vanilla, chocolate chips and nuts. Mix well.
Add dry flour mixture and stir until well combined.

Coat a 13 X 9 pan with non-stick spray and spread batter evenly into dish.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until top is golden brown. Make sure you don’t over bake.