Adapted from
Dorie's Cookies by
Dorie Greenspan
I baked my bars in a 10-inch (25cm) iron skillet. The heavy skillet encourages more caramelization around the edges, giving these bars a darker crust than other types of pans. If you don't have a cast-iron skillet, Dorie notes they can be baked in a regular cake pan, although the baking time will be about 10 minutes less, so keep an eye on them. Like most variations on chocolate chip cookies, it's better to err on the side of underbaking than overbaking.
I used milk chocolate, like Dorie advised, but yes, you could use chopped dark chocolate or chocolate chips. I also swapped out the sweetened coconut with unsweetened coconut, since I prefer the flavor. It's available at natural food stores and
online. If you can only get sweetened coconut, or you prefer to use that, feel free to do so.
The original recipe called for diced dried apricots which I swapped out with dried cranberries, making them more holiday-friendly if you're so inclined. You can use another favorite fruit, cut into bite-sized pieces, in place of the cranberries.