Cricket Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Bars, as in a dessert. :) We've lived in several states and at most potlucks or picnics no one we've seen have brought bars...except in the Midwest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Excelsior! Academy Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Maybe. I remember being suprised at the Pampered Chef bar pan. Everyone was :confused: at the woman selling it. Most people at the party didn't drink. No one was thinking cookies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JennyD Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 I've seen 'bar cookies' as a category in cookbooks, meaning brownies and lemon squares and such, but I don't think I've ever heard the term used otherwise. Could you use it in a sentence for me? I'm from the Northeast (just got to the South, so can't comment on usage here). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 I think lots of parts of the country have foods like "bars" but they often go by different names. No one uses that term with Brownies but they are "bars." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cindy in C-ville Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Oh, I love bars. SO much easier than making cookies and essentially the same thing. Remember our "blondie" episode? Those are certainly bars! And I make breakfast bars too - granola bars, oatmeal bars, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Lemon bars are very popular out here. And I usually bring chocolate chip cookie bars when I go to a dessert potluck. But then, as a German-American Lutheran, I'm practically Midwestern anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 I see bars at potlucks here in the northwest. In fact, the nanaimo bar, which came from British Columbia is very popular here in bakeries etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsmom Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Oh, I love bars. SO much easier than making cookies and essentially the same thing. Remember our "blondie" episode? Those are certainly bars! And I make breakfast bars too - granola bars, oatmeal bars, etc. Me too. They are super easy to make so many possibilities. Now I have always seen them and almost every pot luck, party, get together I have been to has at least 2-3 types. I never really put much thought into it being more from the area I am from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Smith Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 I SO read this as "Bars, as in a desert" I just watched a movie where there was a bar in the middle of desert. You know the kind full of bad characters wearing leather. Most of them outlaws up to no good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cricket Posted August 16, 2011 Author Share Posted August 16, 2011 I SO read this as "Bars, as in a desert" I just watched a movie where there was a bar in the middle of desert. You know the kind full of bad characters wearing leather. Most of them outlaws up to no good. I had to go back and check my spelling. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aggieamy Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Well, I'm smack dab in the middle of the midwest but we eat a lot of bar cookies and love them. My grandmother must have 15 recipes for bar cookies. I can't speak for outside this area much but I know they wildly popular here. Wish I had one right now. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs.MacGyver Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Dh's family is from Ohio, and there are always "bars" at large functions. MIL makes "pumpkin bars" every fall for Dh thinking they are his favorite (he hates them and tells her so every year...), but I love them. Never had anything like that growing up in Texas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cricket Posted August 16, 2011 Author Share Posted August 16, 2011 (edited) I've seen 'bar cookies' as a category in cookbooks, meaning brownies and lemon squares and such, but I don't think I've ever heard the term used otherwise. Could you use it in a sentence for me? I'm from the Northeast (just got to the South, so can't comment on usage here). As in, "What are you bringing to the potluck on Sunday?" "I'm bringing some bars." It seemed to be a generic term for any cookie-type thing that you bake in a pan instead of as individual cookies. I guess we did call brownies "brownies" but everything else was "bars." Say "bars" a bunch of times in a row. It sounds so funny now! I made some last night--kind of an oatmeal cookie with M&Ms. Definitely easier than cookies! As we study the different states, we eat a meal based on popular/unique food or important products from that state. For Minnesota we had blueberry bars (along with wild rice soup and lefse). I was pondering what to make for Iowa's dessert (probably some oatmeal bar-thing because of Quaker Oats) and then I just started thinking about how no one around here in the Southwest makes bars. I grew up in Minnesota and we had so many different kinds at every single potluck. I would guess the most popular one was like a chocolate chip cookie. The kids are done with school for the day and I'm waiting for friends to come over so I have time to ponder stupid things like this. :lol: I should probably scrub the toilet or something! Edited August 16, 2011 by Cricket Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DusksAngel Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 I love bars, I even make chocolate chip cookie bars. It takes a lot less time/effort to put in one pan than try to get in sheet after sheet of "cookies" while chasing three small children. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Smith Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 I had to go back and check my spelling. :) I live in Ontario. I never heard of bars with the exception of ice cream bars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cricket Posted August 16, 2011 Author Share Posted August 16, 2011 Well, I'm smack dab in the middle of the midwest but we eat a lot of bar cookies and love them. My grandmother must have 15 recipes for bar cookies. I can't speak for outside this area much but I know they wildly popular here. Wish I had one right now. :001_smile: This made me laugh. I'm looking through the cookbook my home church put out for its 125th anniversary. It is small but includes 28 bar recipes. Almost the same number as cookie recipes. I don't think a cookbook from the southwest would even have "Bars" as a category. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RhondaJK Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 (edited) I had never heard the term until we moved to MN. My favorite since moving here is Special K Bars. 1 cup white sugar 1 cup corn syrup 1 1/2 cups peanut butter 6 cups Special K cereal 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 1 cup butterscotch chips Bring sugar and corn syrup to boil over medium heat. Add Peanut Butter and stir until blended. Pour mixture over Special K Cereal in large bowl and mix together. Press into 9 x 13 pan. Melt the Chocolate Chips and Butterscotch Chips together in double boiler. Spread over top of cereal. Refrigerate until chocolate is hardened. Edited August 16, 2011 by RhondaJK cut and pasted weirdly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 As in, "What are you bringing to the potluck on Sunday?" "I'm bringing some bars." It seemed to be a generic term for any cookie-type thing that you bake in a pan instead of as individual cookies I grew up in New England, and while bar cookies were certainly fairly common at the various potlucks and holiday cookie swaps I attended as a kid, I don't think I've heard this particular usage before. If I heard that, I'd have a funny mental image of somebody bringing along a portable wet bar :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaxMom Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 I grew up in New England, and while bar cookies were certainly fairly common at the various potlucks and holiday cookie swaps I attended as a kid, I don't think I've heard this particular usage before. If I heard that, I'd have a funny mental image of somebody bringing along a portable wet bar :lol: Me, too. I grew up with "bars" but they were specific - date bars, walnut squares (which are evidently different than bars?), blondies, etc. Nobody was bringing random bars anywhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunflowerlady Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Well, I am in the Deep South (FL). We do have them here, but we don't really use that term on its own. In other words: What are you bringing to the potluck? I am bringing brownies. OR I am bringing lemon bars OR I am bringing chocolate chip bars OR I am bringing peanut butter bars. Nobody here would say "I am bringing some bars." So, the bars themselves are popular, but the terms used differ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kewb Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Maybe. I remember being suprised at the Pampered Chef bar pan. Everyone was :confused: at the woman selling it. Most people at the party didn't drink. No one was thinking cookies. I have been using my pampered chef bar pans (I have every size) for years and have never until this moment made the connection to bar cookies. I always thought the name was odd. Talk about a duh moment. I guess it is because I live in the North East. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slartibartfast Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Dh's family is from Ohio, and there are always "bars" at large functions. MIL makes "pumpkin bars" every fall for Dh thinking they are his favorite (he hates them and tells her so every year...), but I love them. Never had anything like that growing up in Texas. Can I get a recipe? My husband loves pumpkin (but of course I notice when he hates something. :lol:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaxMom Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Can I get a recipe? My husband loves pumpkin (but of course I notice when he hates something. :lol:) Ooh! Pumpkin bars! Yum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slartibartfast Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 My dd and I make lemonbars. :) We lllooovveee them. We use the William Sonoma recipe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LauraGB Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Wait. So bars aren't everywhere? My goodness, what do you other people eat at funerals and reunions? :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 I am bringing lemon bars OR I am bringing chocolate chip bars OR I am bringing peanut butter bars. Nobody here would say "I am bringing some bars." So, the bars themselves are popular, but the terms used differ. No one here would say "I am bringing bars", but I certainly understand bars as a generic term - brownies, hermit bars, date bars, lemon squares, blondies, miracle bars - yummy, yummy. There is always a large selection of various bar types when I go into a Starbucks or other cafe/baked good shop. I'm born and raised in New England - never lived anywhere else in the US (although my lemon square and miracle bar recipes do come from my aunt who lived in TN). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnthemLights Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 I grew up in the northeast and my mom would have used the term bars so that's what I remember growing up. "What are you bringing to the gathering?" "Hmmmm, probably bars of some sort" It sounded perfectly normal, but after reading the other comments and then typing that out, the word is starting to sound weird. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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