Congo Bars

Ever had a Congo Bar? No? Maybe? Well...I don't know what's holding you back because they are uh-mazing. Besides being delicious, Congo Bars are so versatile. You'll see why.

The ingredients needed:

 

Take a moment and look at the right hand side of the picture. You see the Vanilla extract? I love this extract! Some have their preference, but when I initially started using this Vanilla extract- I noticed the difference. Moving along....

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside when done. You're probably thinking to yourself, why does she have a whisk there? Well, if you don't know- whisking the powders or dry ingredients helps you sift them real quick!

Stir brown sugar into the softened (not melted) butter in your mixer bowl until butter disappears. Make sure that your brown sugar is not hard and clumpy. You'll curse the brown sugar all day if you had to break it apart yourself.

Add eggs one at a time to the butter mixture and make sure you stir well after each egg.

Next, add the Vanilla extract and chocolate chips. Mix well. It should look something like this

Refrain from licking the bowl.

Add dry flour mixture and stir. Make sure it is well combined.

Grease your 13 X 9 pan evenly. You definitely want to make sure these suckers are not staying in that pan.

The batter is very thick, so make sure you spread it out evenly in the pan. Grab a spatula if it helps.

The following what I'm about to tell you is crucial to this:

1.) Grab your whisk or bowl and stick your finger in the left over batter.

2.) Lick your finger.

3.) Repeat step 2.

4.) Repeat step 1.

5.) Repeat step 2.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Don't overbake them!

 

As I mentioned earlier, these Congo Bars are versatile. Swap out the chocolate chips and put M&M's, or coconut, or nuts, or peanut butter chips, or all of the above!

There's one more thing you need to do to complete this. Grab a glass of milk.

Enjoy!

Recipe

* 2-3/4 cups All Purpose Flour
* 2-1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder
* 1/2 teaspoons salt
* 1 pound Light Brown Sugar
* 2/3 cups butter, softened
* 3 whole large eggs
* 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
* 11-1/2 ounces, weight package Milk Chocolate Chips