Dessert bars or simply bars or squares are a type of American and Canadian "bar cookie" that has the texture of a firm

cake Cake is a flour confection usually made from flour, sugar, and other ingredients and is usually baked. In their oldest forms, cakes were modifications of bread, but cakes now cover a wide range of preparations that can be simple or elabor ...

or softer than usual

cookie A cookie is a sweet biscuit with high sugar and fat content. Cookie dough is softer than that used for other types of biscuit, and they are cooked longer at lower temperatures. The dough typically contains flour, sugar, egg, and some type of ...

. They are prepared in a pan and then baked in the oven. They are cut into squares or rectangles. They are staples of bake sales and are often made for birthdays. They are especially popular during the holidays, but many people eat them all year. Many coffee shops and bakeries also offer the treats. Popular flavors include

peanut butter Peanut butter is a food Paste (food), paste or Spread (food), spread made from Grinding (abrasive cutting), ground, dry roasting, dry-roasted peanuts. It commonly contains additional ingredients that modify the taste or texture, such as salt, ...

bars, lemon bars,

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cocoa beans that can be a liquid, solid, or paste, either by itself or to flavoring, flavor other foods. Cocoa beans are the processed seeds of the cacao tree (''Theobroma cacao''); unprocesse ...

coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (biology), family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, ...

bars,

pineapple The pineapple (''Ananas comosus'') is a Tropical vegetation, tropical plant with an edible fruit; it is the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae. The pineapple is indigenous to South America, where it has been culti ...

bars, apple bars, almond bars,

toffee Toffee is an English confection made by caramelizing sugar or molasses (creating inverted sugar) along with butter, and occasionally flour. The mixture is heated until its temperature reaches the hard crack stage of . While being prepar ...

bars, chocolate

cheesecake Cheesecake is a dessert made with a soft fresh cheese (typically cottage cheese, cream cheese, quark or ricotta), eggs, and sugar. It may have a crust or base made from crushed cookies (or digestive biscuits), graham crackers, pastry, ...

bars and the seven-layer bar. In addition to sugar, eggs, butter, flour and milk, common ingredients are chocolate chips, nuts, raspberry jam, coconut, cocoa powder, graham cracker, pudding, mini-marshmallows and peanut butter. More exotic bars can be made with ingredients including sour cream, rhubarb, pretzels, candies, vanilla, raisins, and pumpkin. The

Nanaimo bar The Nanaimo bar ( ) is a bar dessert that requires no baking and is named after the Canadian city of Nanaimo in British Columbia. It consists of three layers: a wafer, nut (walnuts, almonds, or pecans), and coconut crumb base; custard icing in ...

is a bar dessert that requires no

baking Baking is a method of preparing food that uses dry heat, typically in an oven, but it can also be done in hot ashes, or on hot Baking stone, stones. Bread is the most commonly baked item, but many other types of food can also be baked. Heat is ...

and is named after the city of

Nanaimo Nanaimo ( ) is a city of about 100,000 on the east coast of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. "The Harbour City" was previously known as the "Hub City", which was attributed to its original layout design with streets radiating fr ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

. The seven-layer bar variant, which is also called the "magic bar", "Hello Dolly bar", or "coconut dream bar", generally contains a graham cracker base, butter, condensed milk, coconut flakes, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and chopped nuts.The Untold Truth of Magic Cookie Bars

Mashed Mashed may refer to: * Mashed, that created from mash ingredients * Mashed, the result of a mashing * Mashed, the result of a mashup (music) * Mashed, a UK-based animation YouTube channel that parodies video games, anime and pop culture, owned by ...

, October 20, 2020. The recipe dates back at least to the mid-1960s, when early published recipes appear; the name "Hello Dolly" appears to refer to the musical '' Hello Dolly'', though the reason for the connection is unclear. In parts of Canada, dessert bars are called "dainties" and typically include unique staples of

Canadian cuisine Canadian cuisine consists of the cooking traditions and practices of Canada, with regional variances around the country. First Nations and Inuit have practiced their culinary traditions in what is now Canada for at least 15,000 years. The adve ...

such as Nanaimo bars, butter tarts, and confetti squares. Delicate Meyer Lemon Squares

Popular belief holds that lemon squares originated in Trinidad and Tobago.

Commercial variants

In 1993,

Betty Crocker Betty Crocker is a brand and fictional character used in advertising campaigns for food and recipes. The character was created by the Washburn-Crosby Company in 1921 to give a personalized response to consumer product questions. In 1954, Gener ...

added two new varieties to the four existing Supreme Dessert Bar line of baking mixes it introduced in 1992. The two new flavors, M&Ms Cookie Bars and Raspberry Bars, joined lemon bars, chocolate peanut butter bars and caramel oatmeal bars. In 2004,

Krusteaz Krusteaz is a consumer food product brand line of Tukwila, Washington-based Continental Mills, now The Krusteaz Company. Its original product was "the world's first" just-add-water pie crust mix, followed by a factory-prepared, shelf-stable flour ...

added a line of dessert bars to its selection of quick and easy baked goods. The U.S. Navy SEAL Guide to Fitness and Nutrition includes numerous bars in its "lightweight menus".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dessert Bars Cuisine of the Midwestern United States Cuisine of Minnesota American cookies

Commercial variants

See also

References