Bar cookies are halfway between a cake, and a cookie. In general, they are baked in a pan (although there are many no-bake varieties) and, when cooled, sliced into squares or rectangles.  They differ from cakes because the dough is much stiffer than that of a cake, and once baked, you have a denser product that is usually easy to eat with your fingers (like a cookie).  On the other end of the spectrum, the walls of a cake pan allow you to bake a more liquid ingredient such as custard or cheesecake filling that will then solidify during baking. This allows the baking of the bar cookies in several distinct layers that give them an attractive and sophisticated look.  Baking up a batch of bars is often a quick way to make cookies for a crowd, because unlike other forms of cookies, you don’t have to shape each cookie individually…you bake it all at once. Is something missing?  Submit your favorite bar cookie recipe here!