Marie's Old Fashioned Raisin Spice Bars
I love baking.
Who knew?
I sure didn't.
And don't believe the nonsense that baking is all scientific.
I was scared away from baking many moons ago, thinking I had to have EXACT measurements, blah blah.
Not so.
I have found substituting and playing around with measurements and ingredients are fine. Sometimes you fail, but most of the times, you learn what works.
People often ask me what I do with all the baked goods? Do we eat them all?
The answer is.....drumroll please......
YES.
I have a piece of cake everyday with coffee, and Mr. Snacks has some in the evening.
Of course I give some away to friends that stop by....and I mostly freeze the others for lunchbox snacks.
So there you have it.
Let's bake these old fashioned, easy raisin bars.
They are so moist and so delish.
They are more like a cake, than a cookie. I like to keep them cold in the garage (fridge works too).
Marie's Old Fashioned Raisin Spice Bars: (adapted from 66 Square Feet)
5 1/2 oz (160 g) raisins or currants (I used 1 cup of golden raisins mixed w/ currants)
1 cup (250 ml) boiling water
1/2 cup (125 ml) sunflower or vegetable oil
7 oz (200 g) sugar (I used 3/4 cup)
1 lightly beaten large egg
8 oz (220 g) all-purpose flour (1 cup)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice*
1/4 teaspoon cloves*
2 1/2 oz (70 g) chopped pecans (you can use walnuts)
Preheat oven to 375F.
Pour cup of boiling water over the raisins in a large bowl. Add in oil and let sit 15 minutes until it cools down.
Add in the sugar, egg, flour and other ingredients and stir.
Pour this batter into a greased 9 x 12 cookie or Swiss roll pans with sides. I used a quarter sheet baking pan.
Bake 15 minutes at 375F then carefully flip out onto a cooling rack.
When the rectangle is cool, drizzle icing which is 1 cup of confectioners sugar mixed with a tbsp of lemon juice.
Keep cool until icing hardens and slice into squares.
The perfect treat with a strong cup of coffee.
Comments
Angela Muller
Thank you for noticing.....
The correct baking temp is 375F. I corrected the post.
Stacey
I would not be tempted to tinker with a traditional cake recipe unless I was willing to accept whatever the results turned out to be. But there is latitude in some ingredient substitutions and many good basic cookbooks tell us what those are. In those cakes, add ins like nuts and chips and so forth are pretty optional - can be altered based on taste or availability or skipped entirely without affecting the integrity of the ultimate product.
Many of us turn to bar cookies (a kind of simple cake) that turn out what we are really looking for with minimum fuss: An absolutely delicious treat.
This one sounds like a gem, but I’d have to eat all of them. DH is not a raisin fan.
This looks so good!!
For the flour ...is one cup 220 grams? or 125g
just want to be sure
thanks!
220 grams is about 1 cup, 8 oz.
Use 1 cup of flour if you live in the U.S.