Hausfreunde (Friends of the House) Cookies

My family has a longstanding tradition of baking cookies together at Christmas to give as gifts. Its a big production and one that we truly enjoy as it is the one time of year where we regulary spend weekends in Mom's kitchen measuring, mixing, baking and decorating thousands (yes thousands) of cookies. We are always on the lookout for new additions to our trays and this German bar cookie looks to have some possibilities as the original recipe indicates that it stores well. The ingredient list is not a mistake - just exacting in the amounts needed to result in a perfect bar. Made a half batch to test and the result is an incredibly rich, almost candy-like, bar. I've checked out several versions and the glaze seems to be optional. That said, it does give the finished product a nice gloss.

• Ready In: 40 mins
• Serves: 36

Ingredients

• Bar Cookie

• 4  eggs
• 1  cup sugar
• 4  teaspoons sugar
• 1  cup  grated baking chocolate or 1  cup bittersweet chocolate
• 4  teaspoons  grated baking chocolate or 4  teaspoons bittersweet chocolate
• 1  cup  chopped  almonds
• 4  teaspoons  chopped  almonds
• 1  cup raisins
• 4  teaspoons raisins
• 1  cup flour
• 4  teaspoons flour
• 1⁄4 teaspoon baking powder

• Glaze (optional)

• 1⁄3 cup milk
• 3  tablespoons powdered sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2. Beat the eggs with the sugar till foamy.
3. Add the remaining ingredients one by one, ending with the flour and baking powder together.
4. Spread dough into a large greased 11 inch baking pan. Bake for 28-32 minutes. The top should look dry and crusty with some nice cracks.
5. When done, ice with a mixture of milk and powdered sugar. Let cool 2 hours or more and cut into small squares. (They are good before the, just a bit of a mess.).
6. Stored in a cookie tin and refrigerated, these bars keep for quite a while.