Everything Bars
Featuring a whole wheat-friendly swap, think of these gooey, chewy bars as fudge meets cookies.
Fudge and cookies, together at last in these gooey and chewy bars. "Everything" in the name means they're loaded with chocolate chips, coconut, dates, and nuts. If that sounds like too much, check out the variations for "nothing" and "something" bars that follow the recipe. All three come together in one bowl and are made with hearty whole wheat flour.
Note: This recipe was sized for the 9x13” Baking Slab. Feel free to halve this recipe to fit in an 8x8” Baking Dish.
Recipe variations:
Nothing Bars
If you do this, you’ll have “blondies,” which are like brownies without chocolate. Use only 2 eggs, not 4, and forget the coconut, chocolate chips, dates, nuts in Step 3 but add the vanilla, flour, soda, and salt. These will only take 25–30 minutes to finish baking.
Something Bars
Prepare the variation for Nothing Bars. Then pick one thing to stir in before baking—either the coconut, chocolate chips, dates, or nuts.
Everything Bars
Featuring a whole wheat-friendly swap, think of these gooey, chewy bars as fudge meets cookies.
Mark Bittman
Before you’re ready to bake, take the butter out of the fridge and let it soften for about an hour. Make sure all the other ingredients are ready to go. Heat the oven to 350F. Grease a 9x13 Baking Slab with the tablespoon of extra butter.
Put the sticks of softened butter in a large bowl with the sugar and eggs. Use an electric mixer or whisk to beat the ingredients into a creamy, smooth mixture. (If the butter or eggs are cold you might have some tiny lumps, but that’s fine.) This will take 1 or 2 minutes with the mixer or about 3 minutes by hand. Stop once or twice and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a soft spatula as you work.
To the same bowl, add the vanilla, flour, coconut, chocolate chips, dates, nuts, baking soda, and salt. Stir with the soft spatula until there are no more streaks and everything comes together in a stiff batter.
Spread the batter into the prepared baking pan or dish. Use the soft spatula to push the batter into the corners and scrape every last bit from the bowl. Bake until the edges turn golden and the center is no longer jiggly when you shake the pan, 30–40 minutes. Let the bars cool completely in the pan or dish before cutting into squares or rectangles. Store in an airtight container for a couple days or refrigerate for up to a week.
Mark Bittman is the author of more than 30 acclaimed books, including the How to Cook Everything series and the #1 New York Times bestseller VB6: Eat Vegan Before 6:00 to Lose Weight and Restore Your Health . . . for Good. Over his long career at The New York Times, Bittman wrote for both the food and opinion pages, and was the lead Magazine food writer. He has received six James Beard Awards, four IACP Awards, and numerous other honors. Together with daughter Kate Bittman, he has hosted the podcast Food with Mark Bittman since 2021.
Bittman is currently special advisor on food policy at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, where he teaches and hosts a lecture series. His most recent books beyond the How to Cook Everything Series are How to Eat; Animal, Vegetable, Junk; and Bittman Bread. If you're hungry for more from Mark, catch him at The Bittman Project.
