Quick! Point me toward the nearest bake sale! There’s a batch of cute, mini loaf pan M&M cookies that need a new home.
And I didn’t even have to buy a special pan. During a rainy day closet cleaning, I found what appears to be a Wilton Aluminum 9-Cavity Petite Loaf Pan
At any rate, finding and using this pan convinced me that a new metal mini loaf pan would be a good investment. Do you have any recommendations? I’ve never liked silicone due to the smell it gives off during baking, but if you use silicone bakeware and love it, let me know. Maybe the products have improved.
Update: I ended up buying the Fat Daddio’s 12-Cup Square Muffin Pan
So metal vs. silicone, rectangles vs. squares, whatever shape you have, this recipe is perfect for using in a mini bar pan. Because I was lazy and didn’t feel like pulling out the hand mixer, I mixed all the ingredients together with a spoon and got a dense, not-too-cakey bar. I was baking for kids and left out the nuts, but of course they’d be great. And icing might even be fun. Wrapping the bars was even more fun, because the fit perfectly in a plastic sleeve and were easily tied with ribbon.
Recipe
Mini Loaf Pan or Bar Pan Cookies
Ingredients
- 4 oz unsalted butter room temperature
- 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar packed
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 3/4 cups 8 ounces all purpose flour (Spoon and level)
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt omit if using salted butter
- 2 cups dark chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup miniature M&Ms
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Generously grease a 9 count mini loaf pan or other mini bar cookie pan.
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together the softened butter and both sugars. Stir in the eggs and vanilla.
- Add the salt and baking soda and stir until well mixed, then gradually stir in the flour. Add the chocolate chips and M&Ms and stir until mixed. Using a generously rounded tablespoon (equal to a little over 2), divide the batter evenly among the loaf indentations. Spread the batter out with the back of the spoon. It doesn’t seem to matter if it goes all the way to the edges of the pan, as the dough spreads as it bakes.
- Bake the cookie bars for 15 to 18 minutes or until they appear set, edges are brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then loosen edges with a butter knife and invert.
Jennifer
I love this! I’m absolutely going to steal this idea. 🙂
Cookie Sleuth
I’m thinking I need to get a mini loaf pan now!
Julie @ Sugarfoot Eats
Ha! Zappos really does have everything!
Sue
Ditto to what Louise said about aluminum in the dishwasher.
I’m not a fan of silicone for baking either. I think it smells a little weird, and I think it even makes the baked product taste a little off. I like it for frozen things. I have silicone muffin cups. I keep a few filled with ice in the freezer. They are perfect for icing down bumps, bruises, and other boo-boos.
As for the cookies they’re cute! As usual I’ve really been wanting CCC’s lately.
Louise
Aluminum anything should never be put in the dishwasher. There’s stuff in dishwasher detergent that degrades aluminum which is what you are seeing. Old or new, makes no difference. There’s nothing wrong with the piece as long as you hand wash it. My husband, a metallurgical engineer, is on the road to Alaska, so I can’t ask him the specifics, but if you Google it, I’m sure you can read the details. The box of Cascade even singles out aluminum.
Katrina
They could be called soap box cookies. 😉 Love the different shape for a cookie.
Jan Harris
I forgot to say that I added vanilla. The recipe didn’t call for any, but I always add it to any recipe. I know that the ratio of sugar is somewhat scientific, but the cookies taste o.k. to me. I like my cookies flat and chewy, and these didn’t flatten as much as I like, so I flattened the dough with the bottom of a glass.
Anna
Lisa, it happened to me with a set of 9 inch round metal pans as well.
Jan, I thought about mini parchment, but that would be a last resort. A good coating of butter and flour worked, so I’m not too worried.
Good question about the sugar. The answer is that I only cut the sugar if I’m trying to make a new cookie. Sugar is an important ingredient in a cookie’s texture. Cutting a small amount of it will make the cookie less sweet, but cutting it out might also make it cakier, or thicker, or less moist. It really depends on what else is in the recipe, but every recipe is a composition and changing one or two of the important ingredients (like sugar) will give you a new final product. That’s been my experience, at least. However, there’s nothing wrong with cutting the sugar if you’re experimenting or just open to changes in the final recipe. Also, I bet your new improved cookies are really great!!! Maybe the originals were supposed to be really flat and chewy. Some people like that.
Chewthefat
It looks like your bar cookies didn’t ‘stick’ and they look very bake sale-worthy. I would love to try them with a mix of M&M flavors…
Jan Harris
I read the reviews on that amazon one, a couple of people suggested lining the bottoms with squares of parchment paper, phooey on that, I say. The Calphalon on Zappo’s only has one review. Let us know what you decide. On another subject, do you ever cut the sugar down in the cookies you bake. I recently made chewy ginger snaps with crystallized ginger, from thegingerpeople website. The recipe called for a cup of sugar, quarter cup of molasses and the whole package of ginger, which was 3 1/2 ozs. I figured with the molasses and ginger, Why did it need a cup of sugar, so I halved it. They were plenty sweet, I’ve made them twice now and people really like them. I might cut the sugar to 1/3 cup next time. Love your blog! Jan
Lisa Ernst
The mini loaves look like fun, I’d love to try some out with fun mix ins and a good chocolate topping (naturally). As for the pan itself I’ve run into the same thing with a couple of metal pans for my toaster oven – they develop a strange look and even rub off on dish cloths. Makes me wonder what I’ve been eating with my mini batch cookies.