Bars range from fudgy slabs to crumbly grab-and-go snacks with a pie-like crust to many-layered splendors. Depending on the form they take, they can be casual enough for a camping trip or classy enough for a formal dinner party. Plus, they feed a crowd generously: The trick is to keep cutting the pieces smaller as the group gets bigger. Here are a few techniques that guarantee great results.
Line the bottom and all four sides of the pan with foil or parchment paper. (Square-cornered metal pans produce the neatest edges.) This ensures that nothing will stick and allows you to lift out the bars to cut them. Lining with parchment will give a professional finish, but foil’s easier to use.
• Grease the pan with nonstick cooking spray.
• Tear off a sheet large enough to cover the bottom and sides of the pan. Place the pan on top of the foil, bring up two opposite sides, and crease the foil at the bottom edges of the pan. Bring up the other two opposite sides and crease the edges. Fold in the overlapping foil at each corner as if wrapping a gift; this keeps the foil flat and smooth so your bars will have neat sides.
• Ease the foil liner into the pan. Press it into the bottom, keeping it smooth, and run your fingers along the bottom edges to create sharp corners.
• Press the foil against the sides of the pan, trying to keep the sides smooth. If the foil extends beyond the rim of the pan, crimp it over the rim.
• Coat the foil with nonstick cooking spray or very soft butter. If you use hard butter, you’ll crumple the foil.
• Tear off a sheet large enough to cover the bottom and sides of the pan. Place the pan on top of the paper, bring up two opposite sides, and crease the paper at the bottom edges of the pan. Bring up the other two opposite sides and crease the edges.
• Remove the pan from the paper and cut out the squares at each corner formed by the creases. You should have a rectangular base and flaps as long as the sides of the pan.
• Grease the pan with nonstick cooking spray to anchor the paper. Press the parchment into the bottom and up the sides of the pan, aligning the folds in the paper with the edges of the pan. If the paper extends above the rim of the pan, you can trim it.
• Grease the parchment with butter or spray.
Ever wonder how bakeries cut their bars so neatly? Follow these five simple steps.
Unless the bars are very solid to begin with, chilling ensures that they’ll cut more neatly. You can pop them into the fridge or freezer in the pan or lift them out first, transfer them to a cutting board or flat pan, and chill.
A sharp long chef’s knife, preferably with a thin blade, works well for fudgy items like brownies and blondies. A serrated bread knife used in a sawing motion is best for cakey or crumbly sweets, such as crumb bars. For bars that have both topping and crust, use a chef’s knife if there’s more of the former and a bread knife if there’s a thicker layer of the latter.
If you care about uniformity, slice ¼ to ½ inch from each edge. Added advantage: You get to eat the trimmings! If you prefer a homey look, keep the edges and let your friends battle over those pieces.
Unless you have an incredible eye, you need a ruler to make sure each piece is the same size. Hold it against one edge and make notches at the intervals you want to cut. Do the same on the opposite side. Then repeat on the other edges. Hold the ruler so it runs from each notch to the opposite notch and cut against the ruler for a perfectly straight line. If you are very good at cutting straight lines, you can skip the ruler and eyeball it, but start by cutting the whole thing in half. Then cut each half in half or thirds, and continue until you get the number you want. This will result in more even pieces.
Anything that sticks to the knife will stick like glue to the bars you’re trying to cut, leaving ragged edges in its wake. Keep a damp kitchen or paper towel next to you and carefully wipe the blade after each cut. (Freezing helps prevent very sticky bars from messing up the blade.) If the blade gets really messy, wash it and wipe it dry.