Add the vanilla extract. Mix it in until it is thoroughly combined.
Add the flour in half-cup increments, beating at LOW speed after each addition. Beat until everything is combined.
Hannah’s 2nd Note: When you’ve mixed in the flour, the resulting sweet dough will be soft. Don’t worry. That’s the way it’s supposed to be.
Measure out a heaping cup of sweet dough and place it in a sealable plastic bag. Seal the bag and put it in the refrigerator.
With impeccably clean hands, press the rest of the sweet dough into the bottom of your prepared cake pan. This will form the bottom of the crust. Press it all the way out to the edges of the pan and a half-inch up the sides, as evenly as you can. Don’t worry if your sweet dough is a bit uneven. It won’t matter to any of your guests.
Bake your bottom crust at 325 degrees F., for approximately 20 minutes or until the edges are beginning to turn a pale golden brown color.
When the crust has turned pale golden brown, remove the pan from the oven, but DON’T SHUT OFF THE OVEN! Set the pan with your baked crust on a cold stovetop burner or a wire rack to cool. It should cool approximately 15 minutes.
After your crust has cooled approximately 15 minutes, take the lid off the jar of hot fudge ice cream topping and put it in the microwave.
Heat the hot fudge topping for 15 to 20 seconds on HIGH.
Let the jar cool in the microwave for 1 minute. Then use potholders to take the jar out of the microwave.
Pour the hot fudge ice cream topping over the baked bottom crust in the pan as evenly as you can.
Open the bag of white chocolate or vanilla baking chips and sprinkle them over the baked crust as evenly as you can.
Here comes the salt! Sprinkle the Tablespoon of sea salt or Kosher salt over the hot fudge in the pan.
Take the remaining sweet dough out of the refrigerator and unwrap it. It has been refrigerated for 35 minutes or more and it should be thoroughly chilled.
With your impeccably clean fingers, crumble the dough over the hot fudge and chip layer as evenly as you can. Leave a little space between the crumbles, so the hot fudge sauce can bubble up through the crumbles.
Hannah’s 3rd Note: If the hot fudge topping bubbles up through the top of your bar cookies, it will look very pretty.
Return the pan to the oven and bake your bar cookies for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the crumbles on top are a light golden brown.
Hannah’s 4th Note: Your pan of Hot Fudge and Vanilla Bar Cookies will smell so delicious, you’ll be tempted to cut it into squares and eat one immediately. Resist that urge! The bubbly hot fudge topping will burn your mouth.
After 5 minutes of cooling time, use potholders to carry the pan to a wire rack to cool completely.
Hannah’s 5th Note: When I bake these bar cookies at home in the winter, I place a wire rack out on the little table on my condo balcony and carry the pan out there. The Hot Fudge and Vanilla Bar Cookies cool quite fast when exposed to a Minnesota winter.
When your Hot Fudge and Vanilla Bar Cookies are completely cool, cut them into brownie-size pieces, place them on a pretty plate, and serve them to your guests.
Yield: A cake pan full of yummy brownie-size treats that everyone will love. Serve with icy-cold glasses of milk, mugs of hot chocolate, or cups of strong, hot coffee.
Hannah’s 6th Note: Mike says these are his favorite bar cookies. Of course, Mike has never met a bar cookie that wasn’t his favorite!
CHOCOLATE, FRUIT, AND NUT CUPCAKES
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.
Ingredients:
1 cup regular raisins
1 ounce rum (I used Bacardi)
4 large eggs
? cup vegetable oil
? cup heavy cream (whipping cream)
8-ounce (by weight) tub of sour cream (I used Knudsen)
1 Tablespoon chocolate syrup (I used Hershey’s)
1 box of chocolate cake mix, the kind that makes a 9-inch by 13-inch cake or a 2-layer cake (I used Pillsbury)
5.1-ounce package of DRY instant chocolate pudding and pie filling (I used Jell-O)
1 cup salted cashews chopped into small pieces (measure AFTER chopping)
12-ounce (by weight) bag of chocolate mini chips (11-ounce package will do, too—I used Nestlé)
Hannah’s Note: If you don’t want to use an alcoholic beverage in this recipe, you can use 1 teaspoon of rum extract. That will give you the rum flavor without the alcoholic content.
Prepare your cupcake pans. You will need 2 twelve-cup pans lined with double cupcake papers.
Directions:
Start by plumping the raisins. Do this by measuring 1 cup of raisins out in a 2-cup microwavable bowl. (I used a 2-cup Pyrex measuring cup.)
Pour the rum (or the extract) over the raisins and then pour enough water in the cup or bowl to cover the raisins completely.
Place the bowl or cup with the raisins and liquid in the microwave and microwave it on HIGH for 1 minute.
Let the raisins and liquid sit in the microwave for an additional minute. Then stir and remove the bowl or cup from the microwave, and set it on a towel on your kitchen counter to cool.
Crack the eggs into the bowl of an electric mixer. Mix them up on LOW speed until they’re a uniform color.
Pour in the half-cup of vegetable oil and mix it in with the eggs on LOW speed.
Add the half-cup of heavy cream. Mix that in at LOW speed.
Scoop out the container of sour cream and put it into a small bowl. Add the Tablespoon of chocolate syrup and stir it in.
Add the sour cream and chocolate syrup mixture to your mixer bowl. Mix that in on LOW speed.
When everything is well combined, open the box of dry cake mix and sprinkle it on top of the liquid ingredients in the bowl of the mixer. Mix that in on LOW speed.
Open the package of DRY instant chocolate pudding and sprinkle in the contents. Mix it in on LOW speed.
Shut off the mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl, remove it from the mixer, and set it on the counter.
If you haven’t done so already, chop the salted cashews in a food processor with a steel blade or cut them into small pieces with a sharp knife. Measure out 1 cup and add the chopped cashews to your mixing bowl.
Stir the raisins in the bowl or cup on your counter. If they’re plumped and most of the liquid has been absorbed, drain off the excess liquid and add the plumped raisins to your mixing bowl.
Stir in the raisins and mix until everything in your bowl is well combined.
Sprinkle the mini chocolate chips in your bowl and stir them in by hand with a rubber spatula.
Use a mixing spoon or a scooper to fill the cupcake papers three-quarters full. The cupcakes will rise to the tops of the papers when you bake them in the oven.
Bake your Chocolate, Fruit, and Nut Cupcakes at 350 degrees F. for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a cake tester, wooden skewer, or long toothpick inserted a half-inch from the center of the cupcake comes out clean.
When they are done, take your cupcakes out of the oven and set the cupcake pans on cold stovetop burners or wire racks.