Kelly at work is vegan, cousin Jerry has gone gluten-free, and your neighbor Ava is pescatarian and eats dairy, but not eggs. Even you passed on last evening’s spaghetti carbonara in an attempt to eat more heart-healthy. It’s hard to keep up with everyone’s diet these days, and it can be even more difficult to accommodate each and every one of them at the table — especially during the holidays.
I say it can be difficult, because it doesn’t have to be. All you need is a solid army of recipes that you can employ when the feting gets tough. And if some of them are modifiable, depending on whatever you’re not serving that particular evening, even better.
That’s where my Endlessly Adaptable Cookie Bars come in. For one, they’re vegan, which gives you a leg up on one particular “what am I going to serve” conundrum. I replaced butter with refined coconut oil (it creams up the same way and is essentially flavorless), while eggs are superfluous for our cookie purposes. To keep these bars from venturing into shortbread territory, however, you’ll find a generous amount of dark brown sugar. The molasses-rich sweetener not only works to keep the bar moist and with a bit of chew, but also imparts deep notes of caramel and toffee. A few splashes of non-dairy milk also help to smooth the whole batter together and create a more tender texture in the end.
As for the adaptable part, you can fold in and top these bars with whatever chocolate, nut, dried fruit — you name it — you have on hand or in my case, whatever candy you’re craving at the moment. (Anyone else love those salted dark-chocolate-covered almonds at the store?) But the versatility doesn’t stop there. Go beyond the mix-ins and play around with the flour itself. Loaded with fiber and nutrients, alternative grains such as spelt, rye and kamut can add a wholesome twist as well as complexity.
