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By Cracky Bars

By Cracky Bars

“By cracky!” is one of those great, old-timey phrases that you don’t hear too much any more. Although if you have some older relatives it might come out once in a while in place of “by golly” or “by gosh” (or some similar euphemism). And, you might start hearing it around the kitchen if you add these to your repertoire because they’re By Cracky Bars! The recipe comes from the 1953 Pillsbury Bake Off booklet, and was the 2nd prize winner of the junior baker contest that year.

The bars are quite unusual in flavor and texture, but are easy to make and deliver a lovely presentation with all their stripey layers. They come in somewhere between a pound cake and a cookie in texture. Like a pound cake, they are fairly dense, but not heavy at all and quite tender when you bite into them. Like a cookie, they’re a little bit drier than a traditional cake would be, but have just enough of a crunchy texture that the whole combination works perfectly. They go very well with milk.

The batter/dough for the top and bottom layers of the bar is the same. To one portion of the batter, you stir in a small amount of melted chocolate and a generous amount of chopped walnuts. To the rest of the batter, you simply add chocolate chips. The middle layer is actually graham crackers that have been laid between the chocolate and vanilla batters. The graham adds a subtle crispiness, but is very subtle and seems to add more to the presentation than anything else.

These bars keep well and are easy to travel with. They’ll appeal to those who like cookies and those who like cake, and will definitely find fans with the chocolate-loving crowd thanks to all the chips in the top layer of batter. The bars are not nearly as tall as they appear in the photo above; the bars are probably no more than an inch high. I cut my batch into smaller squares, rather than longer bars, so that I could serve more people with it.

By Cracky Bars
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-oz semisweet, dark or unsweetened chocolate, melted
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup chocolate chips
9 graham cracker squares

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease an 8×8-inch square baking pan
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt and baking soda.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Stir in half of the flour mixture, followed by the milk and the vanilla extract. Mix in remaining flour mixture and stir only until no streaks of flour remain.
Transfer 1/3 of the batter to the medium bowl and stir in melted chocolate and chopped walnuts. Pour into prepared pan and smooth into a single layer. Arrange graham cracker squares in a single layer over chocolate/walnut layer.
Stir chocolate chips into remaining batter and pour over graham cracker layer. Carefully smooth the batter out so that it covers the grahams completely.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the bars spring back when lightly pressed in the center. The top should be golden brown.
Cool in pan, on a wire rack. until ready to cut and serve.

Makes 25 bars

Note: A 9×9 pan will work for this recipe, but the bars might cook a few minutes faster in the larger pan.

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13 Comments
  • ash
    March 23, 2009

    I like!! They do look very nice!

  • Linda
    March 23, 2009

    Layers and textures and flavors fascinate me. This one looks like it will fit all the criteria! I needed something new to share with the library folks this weekend. I think I found my recipe! 🙂

  • Kerstin
    March 23, 2009

    Very interesting – I like the graham cracker in the center. I love that this is a Pillsbury BakeOff recipe!

  • Elyse
    March 23, 2009

    Mmm, these look totally delicious. I love the layers. What a unique looking treat!

  • Lorelei Craig
    March 23, 2009

    These are so unique and look great. I bookmarking these (like most of your recipes) for sure. Thanks.

  • unconfidentialcook.com
    March 23, 2009

    It’s 10 pm, and do I wish I had one of those right now!

  • dawn
    March 24, 2009

    wonderful! kind of reminds me of graham cracker muffins. I must try this.

  • Carla
    March 24, 2009

    Oh I have this cookbook! I probably wouldn’t have made this recipe, but after seeing yours, now I will! Definitely interesting.

  • Rowenavic Lopez
    April 1, 2009

    Great.I love grahams, must try this at home.

  • Donna
    April 1, 2009

    Wow, just what a dessertaholic would want.

  • mitchy
    April 5, 2009

    YAy these look so good. I’m just waiting for them to cool now….Mine took 30 min…I got scared because the top wasnt getting browned but now it looks good! just took a lil bit more time! YAY!

  • mimsic
    February 26, 2010

    My grandmother made these for me and my sisters in the 1950’s. They were a junior winner in the 1953 Pillsbury Bake-Off. Yum!

  • Christopher
    September 18, 2012

    The recipe was created by my mother when she was a 15 years old from New Bedford, MA!

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