Ranger Bars

When I offered these to Dr. Pete last night, he asked what was in them. When I told him, he said he needed to time eating them, implying that he wanted to get home before the prunes worked on him. Why is it that prunes have such a functional reputation? Please don’t wait until you have bowel problems to try these delicious cookies.

These cookies are very moist, soft and very sweet. They were well received by the staff in the emergency department.

Recipe By:

San Jose Mercury News

Yield:

24

Ingredients:

2 cups flour, plus 2 tablespoons
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
9 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1 large egg
1/4 cup unsulphured molasses
1 1/2 cups prunes, chopped
3/4 cup raisins

  Directions:

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Sift together flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.

3. Using an electric mixer, beat together butter and sugar.

4. Add egg and beat until combined.

5. Add molasses and beat, scraping down sides of bowl.

6. Slowly add dry ingredients, chopped prunes and raisins.

7. Mix until dough comes together, about 1 minute.

8. Divide dough in half. Shape each half into a log that is 12 inches long and 1½ inches in diameter.

9. Arrange logs on prepared baking sheet, 3 inches apart. * SEE NOTE

10. Bake until golden and puffy in the center, but still very soft to the touch, about 20 minutes. The logs will flatten out as they bake. Cool logs on baking sheet.

11. Slice into 1-inch pieces on a slight diagonal.

Notes:

* I found this to be a lot harder than you would think from the way this is written. The dough is very soft and sticky. I had to put the dough into plastic wrap in order to form the log, the carefully roll the log our of the plastic wrap onto the parchment. Don’t even think of trying to move or reposition the log after it is down on the parchment. This was such a pain that, next time, I would just try scooping them with a cookie scoop.