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Skor Bar Cookies

Looking for a fast and easy bar cookie recipe? Skor bar cookies skip the fuss of rolling or scooping cookie dough. Just press the dough into a pan, bake and cut into bars. Crispy on the edges, chewy in the center, they’re positively addictive.

I first learned to bake these cookies when I worked at David Wood Food Shop in Toronto. The recipe was created by Chef Karen Barnaby. We baked trays of these every day and they sold out before closing. They have become a family favourite in our house. We love them straight from the freezer. Any frozen cookie fans out there?

Tips for success:

Skip the supermarket chocolate chips and splurge on good quality bittersweet chocolate. I love these from Valrhona, but any good quality bittersweet chocolate bar chopped up would work.

Remove your butter from the fridge about 30 minutes before starting. This is enough time to soften the butter and get it to the optimal temperature for creaming with the sugar. If you let the butter soften for too long the sugar crystals will not incorporate properly into the butter.

Use the back of a metal measuring cup to spread the dough evenly into the pan.

Score the cookies with a sharp knife into bars as soon as they come out of the oven. Then let cool completely in the pan before breaking into squares.

Check out the video to see how they come together:

Skor Bar Cookies

saltandserenity
Looking for a fast and easy bar cookie recipe? Skor bar cookies skip the fuss of rolling or scooping cookie dough. Just press the dough into a pan, bake and cut into bars.
Servings 24 squares
Calories 218 kcal

Equipment

  • quarter sheet pan 9.5 x 13 inches4

Ingredients
  

  • 227 grams unsalted butter removed from fridge 30 minutes before starting
  • 198 grams granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
  • 280 grams all purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal Kosher salt or 1/4 teaspoon Morton's Kosher salt
  • 4 Skor Bars chopped into 1/4 inch pieces
  • 170 grams bittersweet chocolate chopped into 1/4 inch pieces
  • 1 teaspoon flaky sea salt, like Maldon optional

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 325°F.  Line a quarter sheet pan (9.5 x 13 inches) with parchment paper and set aside.
  • Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in vanilla and salt. Add flour and mix just until incorporated. Turn off mixer. Add Skor Bars and chocolate chunks and, using a spatula or wooden spoon, mix in by hand so the pieces do not get too small.
  • Dump dough into prepared pan. Using your hands, press dough evenly into prepared pan.  Use the bottom of a metal measuring cup to smooth out and level dough. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt if desired. Bake for about 30-35 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and while still warm, score dough with a sharp knife.  I usually do 4 rows down and 6 rows across for 24 cookies. Put pan on a rack to cool. When totally cool, turn out onto a cutting board, peel off parchment and finish cutting into squares.

Notes

This recipe was created by Chef Karen Barnaby. I have adapted it slightly by using a good quality bittersweet chocolate (my favourite are Valrhona Manjari feves, 64%) instead of supermarket chocolate chips and omitting the chopped pecans.  

Nutrition

Calories: 218kcalCarbohydrates: 25gProtein: 2gFat: 13gSaturated Fat: 8gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.4gMonounsaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0.3gCholesterol: 24mgSodium: 71mgPotassium: 65mgFiber: 1gSugar: 15gVitamin A: 240IUCalcium: 9mgIron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Salted Skor Bar Shortbread

diagonal on black 3If a cookie could be my Spirit Animal, (and in the fertile playground that is my mind, why the hell not), Salted Skor Bar Shortbread would be mine. These cookies embody everything that I aspire to be. Well balanced, little bit sweet, a little bit salty, with a bittersweet surprise mixed in.

The recipe is based on Martha’s Holiday Shortbread. In December 2012, my blogger friend Bobbi, over at Bob Vivant, wrote about her sister’s adaptation of them, which included the addition of lots of coarse sea salt and chocolate chips. She called them “addictive little buggers.” I deleted the chocolate chips and added chopped up Skor Bars (Heath Bars if you live in America). I think thay are cookie perfection.

If my husband and kids are reading this, please make sure that these cookies are served at my funeral. I am thinking that they could be passed around just before the eulogy starts. If they can pass out candies to throw at Bar Mitzvahs, why not Salted Skor Bar Shortbread at a funeral? I think that a little nibble while listening to all those funny, touching stories about me, would be quite fitting.

My girlfriend Sandy was helping me make these cookies last week. She is a curious person and asks lots of questions, a very endearing quality! She asked me why her oatmeal raisin cookies spread so flat in the oven and mine, using the exact same recipe, spread only slightly. The problem, I suspect is with her butter. Most cookie recipes call for room temperature butter. That does not mean butter that has been sitting on the counter all day. Take the butter out of the fridge and cut it into 1/2 inch cubes. Let it sit for about 30 minutes and it will be at the perfect temperature. Cool butter creams perfectly with sugar, trapping and holding onto air, allowing you to create a better dough. mise en placeOnce the dough is made, form it into a log and chill. You can make a round log or a square log. Square logs are simple to form.

These square cookies look so neat and tidy after slicing.tidy squaresThen all hell breaks loose in the heat of the oven and rogue bits of toffee escape from the dough, forming delicious nooks, crannies and tails of very deeply flavoured toffee, just on the verge of being burnt, providing a wonderful bittersweet flavour and very crunchy texture. rogue melted skor bits have escaped

Click here to print recipe for Salted Skor Bar Shortbread.

with tea 1 625 sq