Congo Bars

Absolute goodness coming your way with this one!  I made this instead of a cake for Spencer's birthday party and I've already had two requests from different people for the recipes AND to make them again!  They are called Congo Bars and I got them from the Bakerella blog.  They are very easy and oh so yummy.  You can either make these with a mixer or mix them by hand.  I mixed them by hand and they turned out really good.  The pictures on their blog look just like they did when I made them.


2 3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter, softened (10.5 tablespoons)
1 lb. light brown sugar (2 cups)
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
11.5 ounce package milk chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)


By mixer:

Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.
Combine butter and sugar using a mixer until blended.
Add eggs, one at a time to sugar mixture, mixing on low in between each addition.
Add vanilla and mix.
Add flour and mix until combined.
Stir in chips and then pecans.

By hand:

Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Set aside.
Stir brown sugar into softened (not melted) butter in another large bowl until butter disappears. You can use the back of your spoon to help incorporate the two together.
Add eggs one at a time to butter mixture and stir well after each egg.
Add vanilla, chocolate chips and nuts. Mix well.
Add dry flour mixture and stir until well combined.


Coat a 13 X 9 pan with non-stick spray and spread batter evenly into dish.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until top is golden brown. Make sure you don’t over bake.

I iced a '2' on Spencer's because the kids needed some icing!

(picture is not the greatest because I took it with my Blackberry and it wasn't flashing for some reason)