Traffic Light Cookie Bars

Isn’t it funny how kids seem to love so many of the things we despise?

Mud: I see stains and soggy socks; kids see super fun splashy time.

Lego: I see hoover clogging, messy little foot injuring pain cubes; kids see creative play and building smashing.

And of course traffic lights: I see the red light of lateness (usually on the school run when we’ve already had ‘one of those mornings’; my kids see Ready….Steady…GO GO GO!

In all fairness their glee at watching the lights turn from red to orange then green can be pretty infectious! So I’m embracing it with these traffic light cookie bars. Gooey and chewy enough to be a satisfying grown up treat and an excellent fun activity for kids.

You will need a 12″ by 9″ rectangular baking tin or eqivilant, well greased or lined with baking paper.

Ingredients

300g plain flour

200g butter

200g caster sugar

150g soft brown sugar

2 eggs

Teaspoon vanilla essence

100g chocolate chips

150g coloured chocolate beans (m&ms/Smarties etc)

Preheat the oven to 170°C Gas Mark 3

If your baking with much younger kids I would recommend separating the colours of chocolate beans into separate bowls to make it easier for them to make the traffic light pattern later on. Older kids will happily root out the red, orange and green chocolate on their own (eating the other colours along the way!).

In a large toddler friendly bowl combine the butter with both sugars and mix well until smooth.

Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until combined, then stir in the flour and chocolate chips until you have a sticky cookie dough.

Transfer into the prepared tin and smooth the surface with the back of a spoon.

Then add the traffic lights! Again there’s no need for perfection here and our bars went from red-orange-green to green-red-green to just green!

Arrange 2-3 rows of chocolate beans in straight lines vertically down the pan and approximately 6 across. Depending on the size and shapes of the tin you should get between 12 and 18 bars.

Bake for 20 minutes or until the surface of the cookie bars has turned golden.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 20 minutes before slicing into bars. (You want them to be cooler but not completely cold and set)