HOLY *&%# WTF Bars

Might be the best dessert EVER.

HOLY *&%# WTF Bars. Why the profanity, you ask? Because that’s what came out of my man’s mouth when he tasted these….They are hands down, one of the best desserts ever. And they’re legendary in my family. Many years ago, they were nicknamed, “Nancy Reagan Bars,” and that’s actually still what everyone in my fam calls them.

Weird, right? Let me explain.

The story my Mom tells is that back when Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980, all of the living First Ladies were asked to submit a recipe to the Washington Post. Nancy wasn’t exactly known for her culinary skills, so Mom was intrigued by her submission: Vienna Chocolate Bars.

Nancy Reagan…kisses and a recipe that if you don’t try, Mr T would say, “I pity the fool!”

I’ve made a lot of cookie recipes– this one is unique because of the layers of shortbread, raspberry jam, chocolate and a whipped nut merengue on top. It sounds high maintenance, but these ~~badmuthafuckas~~ dessert bars are surprisingly easy to pull together. The only thing I changed was adding white chocolate chips (in addition to the regular chocolate morsels.)

The recipe has been a must-have in my family for the last 33 years. Check out how it looks in my grandmother’s cookbook, Recipes from Ronnie’s Kitchen…now that’s worn with L.O.V.E. (and some smeared butter).

My Mom’s contribution to my Grandmother’s family cookbook

Warning: Prepare for exclamations of HOLY *&^% WTF is this??? when friends and families get a taste of the delish.

Ingredients

2 sticks butter

2 1/2 cups flour

2 large egg yolks

1 1/2 cup sugar divided

4 egg whites

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels

1 cup white chocolate morsels

1 (10oz) jar of seedless raspberry preserves

2 cups of ground nuts (I like walnuts best in this recipe and just pulse them until they’re finely ground in the food processor.)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350.

Layer 1: Cream 2 sticks of butter with 1/2 cup of sugar. Add egg yolks one at a time. Then add flour until combined. Press batter into the bottom of a greased jelly roll pan or a 9×13 cake pan. It will be soft and a little crumbly but will spread out easily to cover the bottom of the pan.

Spread shortbread dough into pan and bake at 350 for 15-20 min.

Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes until golden. It looked like this when I took it out of the oven.

The shortbread layer gives these bars a buttery crunch

Layer 2: Spread jelly on cooled shortbread. Then top with chocolate chips.

Layer 3: Beat 4 egg whites with 1/4 tsp salt until stiff. It took about 2-3 minutes with an electric hand mixer. Then fold in 1 cup sugar and the 2 cups of ground nuts.