Toasted Walnut and Raisinette Cookie Bars

As a Christmas gift, my brother gave me subscriptions to a few food magazines. What a great gift for someone like me and a gift I will enjoy all year.  One of the magazines is Food and Wine, which I had not read before. Great choice on Brother's part! The March issue has several recipes I thought sounded great and are on my current menu plan.

These cookie bars are (sort of) one of them. I loved the idea of  making chocolate chip cookies as bar cookies. So much easier to make.  I did deviate from the recipe quite a bit, but that's what we do, right? Use a recipe as a map, but take side roads to the final destination? 

Toasted Walnut and Raisinette Cookie Bars

(adapted from Food and Wine Magazine)

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

4 Tbsp. unsalted butter

2 Tbsp. canola oil

1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp. sugar

1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp. brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup toasted and chopped walnuts

1 cup Raisinettes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line bottom of a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with parchment.

Whisk the dry ingredients together and set aside.

Beat together the butter, canola oil, and both sugars until creamy. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until smooth. Add the dry ingredients just until combined. Stir in the toasted walnuts and Raisinettes until evenly distributed.

Press into the prepared baking pan. Bake for about 10 minutes, until lightly browned. Let cook completely, then remove from the pan and cut into bars.

Linked with Sweets for a Saturday #8 at the blog, Sweet as Sugar Cookies