Maple Walnut Bars

These maple walnut bars are about as simple as baking gets. One egg, sugar, melted butter, self-rising flour, maple flavoring, walnuts, and raisins. Everything goes into one bowl, gets spread in a pan, and bakes for 30 minutes. No mixer needed, no creaming, no multiple bowls.

The maple flavoring gives these bars that distinct, warm sweetness without the moisture that real maple syrup would add. It keeps the batter thick enough to hold the heavy load of walnuts and raisins in suspension rather than letting them sink to the bottom.

Self-rising flour does the work of all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt in a single scoop. Combined with just half a cup, these bars stay dense and chewy rather than cakey. A full cup of coarsely broken walnuts means every bite has nut crunch, and the raisins add pockets of fruity sweetness throughout.

Kitchen Tips

• Beat the egg and sugar well before adding anything else. This creates the structure that holds the bars together since there’s so little flour.
• Break walnuts coarsely by hand, not in a food processor. You want chunky pieces, not walnut dust.
• Cool completely in the pan before cutting. These bars are fragile when warm and crumble if you cut too early.
• Line the pan with parchment for easy removal. Greasing alone sometimes isn’t enough with the sticky raisin-sugar base.

Variations

• Pecan maple bars: Swap the walnuts for pecans for a sweeter, more buttery nut flavor.
• Chocolate chip maple bars: Add ½ cup chocolate chips to the batter for a chocolate-maple combination.