Is Raggedty a word?

because that is the adjective used in the title of these delicious little bars.
Raggedty Top Bars.

This recipe comes from a hand written cookbook given to me by my wonderful grandma. She is the baker of all bakers. I have many childhood memories centered around her delicious baked goods (breads, chocolate chip cookies, scones and biscuits to name a few)
I loved going to her house as she always had some yummy goodies baked up for me to enjoy. I don't remember these bars but my mom sure does. These are one of my mom's favorite bar recipes that my grandma used to make for her. My grandma does not remember where this recipe originated so I am giving credit to her, (If someome knows who created the original, let me know and I will cite them).

Upon first looking at this recipe I thought it looked deliciously similar to my Basic Blondie recipe. It is very similar, however the base of these bars are not as ooey and toffee-like as the base of the blondies. Don't get me wrong though, these bars are very very good and are made all the better by the sinful chocolate/coconut/nut topping that blankets the top of them. The topping is thick and gooey and oh so good. It does firm up as it cools but it still may it difficult to store as stacking the bars on top of eachother may cause the bars to stick together.

If you like the Basic Blondies and have run out of combinations of add-ins, try adding a topping to them. This recipe is a great and will definately be made again. Next time I may use butterscotch chip instead of chocolate for the topping and try toasting different nuts to stir into the topping. If desired you could also stir nuts, chips or dried fruit into the batter for the bars before baking (however, I do like that the topping is the main focus of these basic bars).

In any case, I love a recipe that has unlimited possibilites and that allows you to truly make the recipe your own!

Raggedty Top Bars
1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup butter (very soft)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
*Raggedty Topping (recipe below)

Preheat oven to 325. Grease a foil lined 9x13 pan.
In a mixing bowl, beat together the butter, brown sugar, egg and vanilla. Slowly mix in the flour, baking powder and salt just until combined. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 27-35 minutes or until golden on top. Remove bars from oven.

Place dollups of Raggedty Topping evenly over bars using a greased spoon (do not spread).
Return bars to oven for 2 minutes or until topping is spreadable. Remove and with a buttered knife gently spread topping over bars. If desired sprinkle more coconut and nuts over top of bars. Return to oven and bake for 6-7 minutes more.

**Prepare topping with 5 minutes of baking time left on bars

Raggedty Topping
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1 cup chocolate chips (can use butterscotch chips instead) *I used 1/2 milk and 1/2 semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 TBS butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts
1 cup shredded coconut

In a pan over low heat, stir together the syrup, chips, butter and vanilla until chips are melted. Remove from heat and stir in coconut and nuts.

**NOTE: Next time I would double the topping recipe, it was so good and the bars could have handled more.