High altitudes make cookies spread in the pan, cakes fall, and few baked goods turn out as they do at sea level. This twice-monthly column presents recipes and tips that make baking in the mountains successful. 

“It’s a family favorite, I still make it often,” said a reader about this recipe published in my column in 2008. So, I prepared it again to see if it’s worthy of a reprint and what, if any, changes would improve it. With a few minor alterations, it’s still a winner. I mean, really — how can chocolate chips buried in coffee-flavored dough with a brownie-like texture and topped with a mocha glaze be anything but good? And, its appeal goes beyond the great match between its ingredients. It’s also fast and easy to make, requires almost no kitchen equipment (not even an electric mixer), and travels well. 

Chocolate coffee bars

Make in a shiny metal 9-by-9 inch baking pan. Works at any elevation.

• 2 cups vanilla wafer crumbs (ground in a food processor or placed in a plastic bag and smashed until fine with a heavy utensil)
• 1 tablespoon instant coffee dissolved in 1 tablespoon hot water
• 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk (one can)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla paste or extract
• 1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup milk chocolate chips

Glaze

• 1 ounce unsweetened chocolate
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 rounded teaspoons instant coffee dissolved in 2 tablespoons hot water
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla paste or extract
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar

Get ready: Heat the oven to 350 degrees, with a rack in the center position. Line a 9-by-9 baking pan with non-stick or regular aluminum foil, extending it beyond two opposing sides of the pan to use as handles when removing the baked bars. If using regular foil, grease it, and any exposed parts of the pan with a baking spray that contains flour.

Make the batter: Combine the vanilla wafer crumbs, the dissolved instant coffee, the sweetened condensed milk and the vanilla in a medium bowl and mix until well combined. The dough will be stiff. Stir in both chocolate chips and make sure they are distributed evenly throughout the dough. 

Bake: Scrape the dough into the prepared pan and spread it so that it’s smooth and  level. Bake until the top is set and a toothpick inserted in the middle of the pan comes out clean or with a few moist (not wet) clumps, 25-30 minutes. Don’t overbake, you want the bars to be soft and chewy. Remove the pan from the oven and set it on a rack to cool completely.

Add glaze: Chop the unsweetened chocolate into small pieces and melt it, with the butter, in a microwave on low or in a small saucepan over low heat. Take care, chocolate burns very easily, so keep the heat low, remove the container from the heat before the chocolate is completely melted, and whisk or stir until it is fully melted and smooth. Whisk in the dissolved instant coffee and the vanilla. The mixture may look curdled at first but whisk vigorously and it will smooth out. Add the confectioners’ sugar, a little at a time, until the glaze has a consistency that will drizzle well.  Drizzle the glaze over the uncut bars and let it harden. Place the pan in the refrigerator to speed up this process. 

Cut and store: Using the foil handles, remove the slab from the pan and cut into any shape you choose with a thin, sharp knife, dipped in hot water and dried it before each cut. If properly covered, the bars will last about 2 days at cool room temperature and 4 days refrigerated. You may also freeze the cookies, unglazed, for about six weeks. If you freeze the glazed cookies, the glaze will discolor but will still taste fine. 

Vera Dawson’s column “High Country Baking” publishes biweekly in the Summit Daily News. Dawson is a high-elevation baking instructor and author of three high-altitude cookbooks. Her recipes have been tested in her kitchen in Frisco, where she’s lived since 1991, and altered until they work at elevation. Contact her at veradawson1@gmail.com.