Recipe: Maida Heatter's Supremes (walnut-oatmeal bars with chocolate filling)

SUPREMES

"These are rich walnut-oatmeal bars with a baked-in sweet chocolate filling. The recipe gives a large yield and the cookies are generally best stored in the refrigerator and served cold."

2 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 teaspoon instant coffee
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups light brown sugar, firmly packed
2 eggs
3 cups old-fashioned or quick-cooking (not "instant") oatmeal
7 ounces (2 cups) walnuts, cut or broken into medium-size pieces
Chocolate Filling (recipe follows)

Adjust a rack one-third up from the bottom of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Butter a (15 1/2-by-10 1/2-by-1-inch) jelly-roll pan.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt and set aside.

In the large bowl of an electric mixer cream the butter. Add the (dry) coffee, vanilla, and sugar and beat well. Add the eggs and beat well. On low speed gradually beat in the sifted dry ingredients and then the oatmeal, scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula as necessary. Finally mix in 1 cup of the walnuts (reserve the remaining cup for the topping).

Remove and reserve cups of the dough. Place the remainder by large spoonfuls over the bottom of the buttered pan. With well-floured fingertips press all over to make a smooth, even layer.

Set aside and prepare the following filling:

CHOCOLATE FILLING

1 (14 or 15 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
12 ounces (2 cups ) semisweet chocolate morsels
2 tablespoons butter
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Place the condensed milk, chocolate morsels, butter, and salt in the top of a large double boiler over hot water on moderate heat. Stir occasionally until the chocolate and butter are melted and the mixture is smooth. Remove the top of the double boiler from the heat and stir in the vanilla.

TO FILL AND BAKE:
Pour the warm chocolate mixture over the bottom oatmeal layer and spread evenly. Place the reserved oatmeal mixture by small spoonfuls over the chocolate, letting the chocolate show through between spoonfuls. Do not spread smooth. Sprinkle the reserved cup of walnuts evenly over the top.

Bake for 25 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Reverse the pan front to back once toward the end of baking to insure even browning. The top mounds of dough will flatten slightly but they will not run together to cover the chocolate.

Cool completely in the pan at room temperature, not in the refrigerator, for several hours or overnight.

TO CUT THE COOKIES:
Cut around the sides to release the cake. Then cut the panful into eighths and with a wide metal spatula transfer the sections to a cutting board. Cut each eighth into 4 or 6 pieces. If the cookies are soft and do not cut neatly and evenly (if they squash), chill the pieces on wax paper on a tray or cookie sheet in the freezer or refrigerator only until they are firm enough to cut neatly. The cookies may be placed on a tray and covered with plastic wrap or packed in a freezer box or wrapped individually in clear cellophane or wax paper.

If the filling is too soft these should be stored in the refrigerator.

Source: Maida Heatter's Book of Great Cookies
From: SueA, CA - 01-02-98