World’s Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Sometimes I refer to myself as being lazy. This is not accurate. I am a hard worker. My dad once told me that he thought my husband and I were there hardest working couple he'd ever seen. At one point in college I was taking a full course load while working five jobs. Hard work does not scare me. However, I occasionally find some great shortcuts so that I can either A) enjoy life more, or B) find ways to finish one thing so I can get moving to something else.

I love to cook and bake. I am not the fastest at this. Any time I see one of those reality cooking shows where there is a time limit imposed on contestants I know, with every fiber of my being, that I could never finish on time. Some of it is economy of time. I am a clean as I go kind of person. I don't like a pile of dishes at the end and I don't like to cook in a mess. Baking is therapy for me. I like the rhythm and the product, and it makes me uneasy to feel rushed. All of this being said, I do like to keep my style rustic. I don't want to spend unnecessary time on fussing over something when my goal is mostly to make something just taste great. Simplicity is the key.

So, what if I told you that you can make fantastic, crazy-delicious chocolate chip cookies without painstaking process of scooping many mounds and without waiting to load trays in the oven? Well, perhaps born out of laziness, or the need to get to the rest of my busy life faster, I have created a recipe for Chocolate Chip Bar Cookies. Make the dough, spread it in the pan, then you bake just the one pan of cookies and you are done. I mean, these are GREAT cookies, made all the better by how simple they are. Huzzah!

World’s Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Ingredients
1 cup oats, pulverized with a pastry cutter (or food processor) till coarsely ground
2 1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) room temperature butter
1 cup brown sugar
¾ cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
12 ounces (or 1 package) chocolate chips or chocolate chunks (I like a mix of chocolate chips and chunks, some semi-sweet and some dark chocolate. I feel strongly that variety is the spice of life)

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter 9x13 pan and set aside.

Combine dry ingredients (first five, thru salt) in a bowl.

In a stand mixer, or in a bowl suited for a hand mixer, cream together butter and sugars till creamy and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla and combine till blended. Add in dry ingredients in 2-3 additions. Mix till combined, but not over mixed. Add chocolate chips and stir in with spatula or wooden spoon. Chill for at least ten minutes.

Put chilled batter in buttered 9x13 pan and bake .for about 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned and just done in the center.

I assume this goes without saying, but you can now cut into as many squares or bars as you see fit. I suppose this could be just two bars, if you want. I won't tell.