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Loaded Cookie Bars

Moist, fudgy and chewy cookie bars loaded with leftover Christmas candy!

By tastykitchen · From Open Recipes · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Chocolate and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 10,018 recipes mention both. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 9
Prep15 min
Cook15 min

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease or line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment.

  2. In a bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, bread flour, cornstarch and baking soda.

  3. In a large bowl, beat the room-temperature butter with the light brown sugar and white sugar until creamy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract.

  4. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix on low until just combined. Fold in 2 cups of the chopped chocolate, candy or biscuits.

  5. Spread the dough evenly in the prepared pan and press the remaining chopped chocolate, candy or biscuits over the top.

  6. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until the edges are golden and the center looks just set.

  7. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then cut into 9 bars.

By tastykitchen. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Chocolate + vanillatop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together10,018 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Bread + buttertop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together27,145 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together35,031 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Bread + eggtop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together22,584 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  5. Chocolate + sugartop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together15,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Sugar and vanilla share little aroma chemistry, yet 35,031 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs