Fudgy Cookie Bars

I wanted to make a fudgy sourdough bar for a Scout potluck, so I made a "slimmed down" version of my Over the Top Candy Cookie Sourdough Bars

Ingredients:

• 312 gr (2.5 cups or 10.625 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 113 gr (1/ cup, aka 1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small dices
  
• 113 gr (4 ounces) sourdough starter (or 2 ounces of water + 2 ounces flour)
  
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  
• 125 gr (5/8 cups) granulated sugar
• 150 gr (3/4cups)  brown sugar
• 1  large egg
• 1  teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• ~ 16 ounces choccolate Dulce de Leche (or spreadable caramel or a fudge topping)
  (I made up 1/2 of the recipe in the link)
  
• ~240 gr (8.5 ounces) chips
  (I used half butterscotch chips and half white chocolate chips)
  

 

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Line a 9 x 13 inch pan with parchment paper and set aside.
   (Use parchment paper not a Silpat line for easier removal and cutting.)
   
2. In a large bowl add flour, salt, baking, and sugars and mix well.
   (I used my food processor for mixing the dry ingredients)
3. Add the butter chunks, and whisk or whirr to create a slightly sandy mix.
4. Stir the egg and vanilla extract into the sourdough starter and mix well.
5. Fold the wet ingredients into flour mixture until combined.
   (I moved everything into a large bowl, and stirred this together with a sturdy spatula.)
   
6. Press 3/4 of the shortbread into pan, leveling and spreading to edges of pan. Reserve the rest of the shortbread for the streusel. The shortbread will puff up a bit when baked.
   
7. Top the shortbread by spreading the chocolate Dulce de Leche over the shortbread all the way to the edges.
   (As needed, warm up the chocolate spread a minute or two in the microwave depending on how spreadable it is.)
   
   
    
   
8. Sprinkle the chips on on top
   
9. Drop little clumps of the remaining cookie shortbread over the pan.
   
10. Bake for 26-28 minutes until the streusel bits have some color.
    
11. Let the pan cool on wire rack, then remove using the parchment and cut into small pieces when cooled.
    

 

Carole's Notes:

We liked this!  The bars are very rich - a tender cookie shortbread layer, a soft chocolate Dulce de Leche layer, white and butterscotch chips, and a crunchy streusel topping. 

I cut these into 24 bars, since they are very rich.

The recipe is lightly adapted from https://carolelikesroundfood.blogspot.com/2022/11/over-top-candy-cookie-sourdough-bars.html