Easter Baking Experiment: Chick-A-Dee Sugar Cookie Bars

While recently wandering aimlessly in the candy aisle in the drug store, I noticed an item that was on extreme sale: the Palmer Chick-a-Dee chocolate crispie candy. Like seriously--they were 39 cents each or something.

Needless to say, I bought a bushel of these sweet chicks, and maybe one or two more items.

On the way home, I pondered how they might taste all melted on top of a layer of sugar cookie bars. Would the faces melt off of the chicks? Would it all melt into a layer of chocolatey goo on top? Either way, it sounded tasty, so I set myself to this delicious task.

To hasten the process, I used Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix. I mixed it according to the instructions, adding a stick of butter and an egg to the mix, and stirring it until it was a soft, sticky dough.

Then I pressed it into a well greased pie plate (because I couldn't find a square pan). 

And then on top of that, I placed several of the Chick-A-Dee candies. And, for fun and visual appeal, I dotted the negative space areas (can you tell I went to art school?) with Robin's Egg candies. Why not?

Then I put it in the oven. Goodnight, sweet chicks.

Now, to bake the cookies according to the package instructions, you bake them 5-7 minutes. But since I was baking bars, I set the timer for 12 minutes. At 12 minutes here's what I saw:

So I kept 'em in for 20 minutes or so. At that point I felt confident that they'd baked through, and the edges were golden. 

Weirdly, the chocolate candies never actually...melted. They just kind of got melt-y. I guess that's not so different from what happens to chocolate chips while baking in cookies. But still--the baking process altered them just enough to be sort of strange and pockmarked looking. 

But they were still highly delicious. Those little crispies tasted great against the melty chocolate and sugar cookie mixture. I went ahead and ate it with a spoon because let's be honest, this wasn't what I'd call a high-class baking experiment. 

And oh, how satisfying it was. 

Hoppy Easter, friends. If you want to do this at home, it's easy: just prepare a batch of Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix per the instructions on the bag, press it into a greased pan, top with the chocolate Easter candies of your choice, and bake at 375 til nice and toasty around the edges and set in the middle (20 minutes or so). 

Enjoy!