I have a little problem. I'm addicted to cookbooks, food writing, recipe collecting, and cooking. I have a lot of recipes waiting for me to try them, and ideas from articles, tv, and restaurants often lead to new dishes. I started losing track of what I've done. So now I'm taking photos and writing about what I've prepared—unless it's terrible in which case I forget it ever happened.
These days, I mostly try to avoid refined sugar. Mostly. Of course, it can’t be avoided if I’m inspired to bake an exciting, new cake recipe or if ice cream making is on the agenda. But, most days, I opt for savory over sweet or treats lightly sweetened with dates or a little maple syrup. This approach to sweets has been made very easy by the recipes from Good Clean Food: Super Simple Plant-Based Recipes for Every Day. After writing about this book in April, I’ve tried two more recipes that I have to mention. One of the handy things I’ve noticed about the recipes from this book is that they don’t make too, too much. You end up with a tasty treat made from great ingredients that lasts just long enough for two people to enjoy without overdoing it on sweets for days. First, I tried the Cookie Dough Bars, and they really taste like delicious cookie dough. They’re topped with a drizzle of chocolate sauce that you can either make with raw cacao powder or by melting dark chocolate. The other recipe I tried was the Salted Caramel Bonbons. The date- and almond butter-filled bonbons were dipped in chocolate and were surprisingly filling. I didn’t get quite the same sweet, bitter, salty flavors I know from salted caramel, so I might start calling them by another name, but they were great, little treats in their own right.
The processes for making both of these treats are similar. For the cookie dough bars, dates were pitted and covered with hot water. In the food processor, raw cashews, oats, coconut flakes, salt, and vanilla were pulsed until fine. The dates were added with some of the water they’d been soaking in along with cacao nibs. The mixture was pulsed again until it formed a dough. This was pressed into a pan, and you can decide how thick or thin you’d like the bars to be. I pressed the dough into an eight-inch square pan, but only filled half the pan. The pan was placed in the freezer for a few minutes. The chocolate drizzle was made by stirring together cacao powder, coconut oil, maple syrup, and a little salt in a double boiler. The sauce was drizzled over the chilled bars, and the pan went back into the freezer for 20 minutes before cutting into pieces. The bars do need to be stored in the refrigerator.
For the bonbons, dates, almond butter, a little almond meal, coconut oil, and a little salt were pulsed until smooth in the food processor. This mixture was placed in the freezer to firm up for about 10 minutes. Then, the mixture was scooped into balls that were placed back in the freezer while chocolate was melted. Each bonbon was dipped into the melted chocolate and topped with flaked sea salt. These are also stored in the refrigerator.
Both of these quickly-made treats come in handy when you need a boost of afternoon energy. And, both have great flavor from dates, coconut, and nuts. I know I’ll be making them again soon, and I’m especially thrilled to have learned a way of making a pure chocolate topping that’s sweetened only with maple syrup. Although, there’s probably a decadent, sugar-filled recipe in my near future too.
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I love baking cookies, and Kurt loves finding freshly baked cookies in the kitchen. So, it was a happy day when I received a review copy of the new Dorie's Cookies book. In the introduction, Dorie mentions that she’s wanted to write a cookie book since she started working on cookbooks 25 years ago. Of course, her other books have included some cookie recipes, but this is the first devoted to nothing but cookies. The options cover the full spectrum from classics to bars to sandwich cookies, and there are even some savory options to serve with cocktails. One chapter is just for the cookies baked and sold from Beurre and Sel which was a cookie boutique she operated with her son. And, the final chapter is for Cookie Go-Alongs and Basics, and it includes ice cream to serve with cookies, ganaches and spreads to fill sandwich cookies, glazes to top cookies, and more. I started baking as quickly as I could after opening the book. There are a few recipes that call for kasha and specifically Wolff’s medium granulation kasha. I’ve cooked buckwheat groats and baked with buckwheat flour, but I was not familiar with medium granulation kasha. As promised, it is easy to find, and it adds a bit of crunch to a cookie. With buckwheat flour, the medium granulation kasha, and flaked sea salt on top, Kerrin’s Multigrain Chocolate Chip Cookies had a nutty, more complex flavor than your standard chocolate chip. And, they were Kurt-approved. I also tried the Espresso Chocolate Sables. That’s a recipe from the Beurre and Sel collection, and almost all of those cookies are intended to be baked in rings. All of these recipe suggest rolling the dough, chilling it on sheets, cutting the dough into two-inch rounds, and either baking the cookies in metal rounds if you have them or baking them in muffin tins. I went a different route and used the dough for a slice and bake technique. After forming a log of dough, I chilled it, and then cut rounds that I baked on cookie sheets. They spread just a bit, but they were still delicious with espresso flavor running through the crumbly, buttery cookies.
The third cookie recipe I tried was the Cabin-Fever Caramel Banana Bars as it’s called in the book. Dorie came up with the idea while going stir-crazy during a blizzard. But, they’re great treats for any weather. I had one little problem with this recipe, and I’ll explain how I got around it. You begin by making a quick caramel by melting butter in a saucepan with brown sugar. That mixture was transferred to the bowl of mixer and allowed to cool for about 10 minutes. Flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cardamom were combined. In a separate bowl, a ripe banana was mashed with yogurt. Next, granulated sugar was added to the bowl of the mixer and mixed followed by the addition of an egg and vanilla. The banana-yogurt mixture was added, and then the dry ingredients were stirred into the batter. Chopped salted peanuts were folded in before pouring the batter into a buttered and floured eight-inch square pan. The pan went into the oven for twenty-two minutes or so. For a chocolate topping, finely chopped chocolate was to be sprinkled over the baked bars as soon as the pan came out of the oven. Then, the pan was to go back into the warm but turned-off oven for a few minutes to melt. I must not have chopped the chocolate finely enough because mine didn’t melt well enough to spread even after several minutes. The chocolate seemed to seize up and not want to move. I ended up scraping off the unmelted chocolate and starting over. I melted chocolate by itself in a bowl in the microwave and then poured it over the bars. More chopped salted peanuts were sprinkled on top, and the bars were left to cool until the chocolate set.
Despite the small issue with the chocolate topping, I still really liked these bars. Banana, peanuts, and chocolate make a great combination. Now, I have a decision to make. What should I try next, the Snowy-Topped Brownie Drops or the White Chocolate Poppy Seed cookies?
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Do you have a favorite homemade treat from your childhood? Maybe a cake your Mom used to make? I was reminded of one while reading my review copy of The Italian Baker: 100 International Baking Recipes with a Modern Twist by Melissa Forti. This book is a collection of sweet treats from Melissa’s Tea Room and Cakes located in Sarzana in northwestern Italy. The recipes have been gathered from all over the world from Forti’s travels and have been adapted to Italian tastes. While reading the book, I couldn’t help feeling more than a little jealous of her life. She bakes wonderful cakes and other sweets, changes the menu daily for a crowd of regulars, and all this happens in a charming area of Italy. It was the recipe for Fette All’Ananas, or Pineapple Squares, that reminded me of a pineapple cake my Mom baked when I was growing up. I haven’t tasted that cake in years, but I was sure I had the recipe filed away somewhere. I started searching for it, thinking I had a hand-written card tucked into my recipe binder, but came up empty handed. Thankfully, a quick text message to my Mom was all that was needed for her to send the recipe to me a few minutes later. I remembered her pineapple sheet cake had coconut in the cream cheese frosting, but I had forgotten that pecans were in the frosting as well. These pineapple squares from the book are a little different and maybe a little less decadent with no frosting, and I’m so glad to now have both recipes in my possession. The book offers a range of sweets from elegant, celebration cakes to cookies and candies. But, the recipes are not difficult to create. I’m so curious to try the Red Wine Doughnut Cookies made with olive oil, red wine, and aniseed and the luscious-looking Semolina and Ricotta cake which is a cheesecake with orange and lemon zest. Also, I’ve done several web searches and made several calls in an attempt to locate the Italian liqueur made with peach leaves called Persichetto. It’s the primary flavoring in a pretty bundt cake, and I’d love to taste it. I have yet to find a way of getting it here, but I’ll keep trying. There are also pound cakes, tarts, and more to try. Of course, the first thing I tried, though, was the Pineapple Squares.
An eight-inch by twelve-inch pan was suggested for these squares, but I don’t have one that size. Instead, I used a nine by nine-inch pan and lined it with parchment. First, a crumble topping was prepared with flour, sugar, and butter, and sliced almonds were stirred in at the end. I added some unsweetened, grated coconut just to make this more like my Mom’s pineapple cake. Next, a cookie base was made by mixing butter and sugar, and I used coconut palm sugar. Two eggs were added followed by flour, buttermilk, vanilla, and almond extract. This mixture was spread in the bottom of the prepared pan. Next, canned pineapple was supposed to be used, but I used fresh instead. I pulsed chunks of fresh pineapple in a food processor and then transferred it to a strainer to drain away some liquid. If you do this, set the strainer over a bowl so you can drink the drained pineapple juice later. The chopped and drained pineapple was spread over the cookie base. Next, the crumble topping was sprinkled on the top. Because I was using a slightly smaller pan than suggested and because I added coconut, I had plenty of crumb topping. Note: I sometimes double the quantity for a crumb topping to be sure there’s “enough.” This time, that wasn’t necessary. The pan went into the oven for about 40 minutes until the topping was golden.
I should point out that my cookie base is a darker color than what is seen in the photo in the book because I used coconut palm sugar rather than regular granulated sugar. The pineapple bakes into that cookie base and keeps it very tender resulting in bars that are easy to cut. The flavor of the almond extract with the pineapple is lovely, and the crumb topping is just sweet enough. And now, I’ll return to my daydream about baking different things every morning for a tea room in a charming, small town in Italy
Fette all'Ananas (Pineapple Squares) Recipe reprinted with publisher’s permission from The Italian Baker.
Pineapple is thought to have amazing effects on our body. If consumed regularly it can burn fat and, even better, it contributes to a positive uplifting mood. So, let’s bake a pineapple slice and smile!
Makes 6 large slices
170g (3/4 cup) butter, at room temperature, plus extra for greasing 170g (3/4 cup) caster (granulated) sugar 2 eggs 250g (2 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour 200ml (3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon) buttermilk 1 teaspoon vanilla paste or extract 1 teaspoon almond extract 450g (1lb) canned pineapple in natural juice
For the almond crumble 80g (2/3 cup) plain (all-purpose) flour 60g (1/2 cup) light brown sugar 55g (1/4 cup) butter, chilled and diced 30g (1 1/2 oz) flaked (slivered) almonds
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter a 20 x 30-cm/8 x 12-inch brownie tin and line with baking parchment.
Prepare the crumble. In a food processor, pulse the flour, sugar and butter until crumbly. Stir in the slivered almonds by hand and set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a mixing bowl and using hand-held electric beaters, beat the butter and sugar together until pale. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Fold in the flour, buttermilk, vanilla and almond extract to combine.
Spread the mixture into the prepared tin. Open the pineapple can, drain off the juice and roughly chop the pineapple. Spread the pineapple over the top of the mixture in the brownie tin and sprinkle with the almond crumble.
Bake in the oven for about 40 minutes until the almond crumble is golden, then leave to cool in the tin on a wire rack before cutting into squares or slices.
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I admit that I’m fickle when it comes to cookies. One of my favorite cookies in the world is a basic sugar cookie that my Mom taught me how to make when I was little, but I have trouble choosing a top five and sticking to it. I’ll forget about a favorite cookie after awhile, or a new cookie will come along and be my favorite thing for a few months until I discover something else. There were those Gingerbread White Chocolate Blondies that I fell pretty hard for, those Ganache-Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies that took me by surprise, the Lemon Wreath Cookies that I’ll be making every holiday season, and of course, the Homemade Thin Mint Cookies can’t be forgotten. And, there are probably twenty others that deserve a mention too. However, I can say with absolute certainty, this Irish Coffee Bar is currently, definitely one of my favorite cookies. They’re from the March issue of Living magazine. With a bar cookie, I usually prefer the middle pieces to the ones with crunchy edges, but as proof of just how good these were, I wanted to eat every bar from every region of the pan. The crunchy parts were great, the middles were great, the coffee flavor was aromatic and lovely, the sliced almonds on top added nice texture, and the whiskey glaze was sweet and ever so slightly boozy. They were also just as good after sitting for a couple of days as they were the day they were made.
This is one of those delightful cookie recipes that doesn’t require a mixer. The dry ingredients including flour, baking powder, and baking soda were sifted and set aside. In a mixing bowl, melted butter, brown sugar, ground espresso, and salt were combined. Eggs and vanilla were whisked into the mix, and the dry ingredients were stirred in next. The batter was poured into a parchment-lined nine-inch by thirteen-inch pan, and it was topped with sliced almonds. It baked for about half an hour, and the pan was left to cool. The glaze was made with melted butter, some whiskey, and confectioners’ sugar. You could drizzle the glaze from a spoon, or place it in a bag and pipe it on the cooled bars. I opted to spoon the glaze into a plastic bag, snip the corner, and make diagonal lines of glaze. When the glaze had set, the cookie bars were cut.
So, yes, I like a lot of cookies and sometimes get distracted and forget which ones I said were my favorites in the past, but these Irish Coffee Bars have captured my full attention. Now, I just need another excuse, or occasion, to bake these again soon.
The other day, I mentioned that my blog had just become four years old. During those four years, I’ve visited lots of other blogs and seen lots of fabulous food. I’ve always enjoyed reading about the results of the different baking and cooking groups that show dishes from Dorie Greenspan’s books. I never got around to joining the groups since I knew I’d somehow manage to miss every deadline for posts, but every time I see a dish chosen by the groups, I can’t wait to try it. I think about that every time I open one of Dorie’s books. So, at last, I’ve baked the Chocolate-Oatmeal Almost Candy Bars from Baking: From My Home to Yours. Even though I’ve seen these bars on other blogs in the past, I didn’t quite realize what they're really like. These cookie bars are serious business. They’re crunchy, chewy, chocolaty, nutty, and delicious. Cutting these into small pieces is a good idea since they are filling, but I think they’re actually better than a candy bar. Dorie recommends serving them cold which keeps the layers firm, and I agree.
These bars are baked in a nine- by thirteen-inch baking pan, and the recipe makes a lot of cookies once they’re cut into small pieces. The bars can be frozen and thawed in the refrigerator. You start by making the oatmeal layer which becomes both the bottom surface and the crumble on top of the cookies. That’s made by creaming butter with brown sugar, then adding eggs and vanilla. Flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon are added next, and then oats and chopped peanuts are stirred into the dough. A couple of cups of dough are set aside, and the rest is pressed into the buttered baking pan. The chocolate layer was next, and that was made by melting chocolate chips with sweetened condensed milk, butter, and salt in the top of a double-boiler. Once melted, vanilla, raisins, and peanuts were added. The chocolate mixture was poured over the oatmeal layer in the baking pan, and the remaining oatmeal dough was scattered on top. The bars baked for about 30 minutes, were cooled, and then refrigerated before cutting.
It’s delightful knowing I have a stash of these bars in the freezer. They’re there for me any time I need a candy bar or cookie fix. They work for both kinds of cravings. And, when they run out, I’ll have to move on to something else I've read so much about over the last few years.
I don't usually show you the same thing twice, but these caramel bars are worth mentioning again. The first time they appeared, they were one of three cookies in a post and didn't get enough of the spotlight. I made them again recently for a bake sale, and now I'm giving them the attention they deserve. They're from The Modern Baker by Nick Malgieri, and he notes that if he had to choose a favorite cookie this would be it. That's a serious statement coming from someone who has baked as much as he has. I don't know that I could pick one favorite cookie. Maybe I could narrow down a few favorites I've baked this year or possibly an all-time top ten list. Can you name one favorite cookie? I did make one change to the bars this time. Rather than baking them in a nine by thirteen-inch pan, I used a nine-inch square pan. I wanted each layer to be a little thicker than they were last time. I left them in the oven for a few extra minutes, and the change in pan size seemed to work fine.
The dough is as easy as it gets. Butter, sugar, salt, vanilla, and flour were combined in a mixer, and then three quarters of the dough was patted into a pan that had been lined with parchment. The remaining dough was reserved for the crumb topping, additional flour was added to it, and it was worked into about one quarter inch crumbs. The pan with the dough was chilled. Meanwhile, the caramel filling was made in a saucepan from a mixture of butter, corn syrup, brown sugar, and condensed milk. It thickened and turned a nice, caramel color in about ten minutes. It was allowed to cool for five minutes before being poured onto the chilled dough. The crumb topping was sprinkled on top, and the bars baked for 35 minutes in a nine-inch square pan. Since I baked mine in a smaller pan for a few minutes longer, the edges became just slightly darker than I wanted. After the bars cooled and I removed them from the pan, I trimmed a thin slice off each edge. It was an added step to the process, but I really liked the thicker layers in this version.
The cookie base was crunchy, the caramel filling was gooey but held its shape well, and the crumb topping was buttery bliss. I'm easy to please when a cookie includes caramel or a crumb topping, and these have both. I might not mention these on this site for a third time, twice seems like enough, but I'll definitely be making them again and again.
These pecan squares were one more item I baked for the bake sale, but they’re not just any pecan squares. This recipe originated at the Americana Hotel in Miami Beach, it found its way to Maida Heatter so she could include it in her first dessert book, and it appears again in the recently released paperback edition of Maida Heatter's Cookies. This book presents a collection of cookie recipes that were previously included in some of her other books, and I received a review copy. I first learned about Maida Heatter years ago in an issue of Saveur in which she was named The Queen of Cake. This quote from that story explains why I instantly became a fan: “A stranger from the Miami area once looked Maida up in the phone book and called her for help with a recipe that she just couldn't make work. ‘I may have been crazy, but I invited her over to show her how to make it.’ (It turned out that the lady had been using margarine instead of butter and omitting the sugar, Maida recalls—still sounding a bit annoyed.)” I not only became a fan, but I realized she writes the kind of recipes you can definitely trust, so long as you actually follow the recipes. She really wants the reader to get things right, and the instructions for these pecan squares are a perfect example of that. She explains the how's and why's carefully, and I once again really enjoyed learning from her while baking.
In the intro to this recipe, she notes that someone who attended one of her classes suggested the use of foil to line the pan to make removing the squares simpler. So, that is step one. The pan was lined with foil, and she explains the best way to do that. Then, the pan was placed in the freezer because spreading the dough on a cold pan is easier, and the dough will cling to it. While the pan chilled, the dough was made by mixing butter until softened, and then sugar was added followed by an egg, salt, and lemon zest. Flour was slowly added until the dough was formed. Next were the instructions for spreading the dough in the chilled pan. It’s explained that the dough should reach all the way up the sides of the pan to contain the pecan filling. The dough was to be placed bit by bit around the sides of the pan and across the bottom and then pressed out to form smooth, even surfaces. The dough was pierced with a fork before it was chilled in the refrigerator while the oven preheated. More details were included for baking the dough to be sure it baked flat and didn’t bubble up in places. For instance, if it puffed, you were instructed to prick it with a cake tester and not to let the dough win the battle. The dough was then removed from the oven while the filling was made. For the filling, butter was melted with honey, and then granulated and dark brown sugars were added and cooked to dissolve. After it came to a boil, it was removed from the heat and cream and pecans were added. It sat for a few minutes before being spooned into the prepared crust, and then the pan went back into the oven for another 25 minutes. There are also careful instructions for turning the whole sheet of bars, once cool, out of the pan removing the foil, and turning the sheet back right side up. After it was back to right side up, it was chilled before being cut.
Yes, these were a lot of specifics for simple cookie squares, but I like that she offers all of those tips from her experience. The crust came out exactly right, the filling worked perfectly, and pan removal and cutting went just as it should have. The lemon zest in the crust was a nice addition to the buttery flavor as was the honey in the filling. These were like little pecan pies in cookie form. And, now I have several more cookie recipes from the book to look forward to, and I know they'll turn out great.
It’s been a month since we were on vacation. I don’t know where that month went, but in early September I was lounging by a sparkling pool with the hot, bright sun in my face, lazily reading Donna Hay magazine issue 51 to be exact. I cut several pages from that issue and I’ll be mentioning some other dishes soon, but first I have to tell you about these cookie squares. They’re from an article about classic bars, or slices, ranging from lemon to chocolate peppermint, and they all looked delicious. What you see here are the first two I tried which were the filled crumble slice and the ginger crunch slice. In the article, the crumble slice was made with a fresh rhubarb filling. Rhubarb season is long gone here in the northern hemisphere, so I used preserves instead. These weren’t just any preserves though. My friend Stephanie has started a new business called Confituras selling her amazing preserves, jams, pickles, and all manner of confitures. Everything is made with locally sourced ingredients, and if you can’t make it to the farmers’ markets or local shops where jars are sold, you can order online. Her lovely ginger pear preserves were delicious in these crumble bars.
The cookie base was made with sugar, flour, baking powder, egg and melted butter. It was pressed into a pan and baked until golden. I spread twelve ounces of ginger pear preserves over the base and then added the crumble topping made by rubbing cold butter into flour and sugar with your fingertips. It went back into the oven for another 40 minutes. These were rich, little squares, and the bits of pear with ginger flavor in the preserves made a nice fruit layer in the middle.
The second cookie bar, and the one shown below, was called ginger crunch. The base for this one was made more like a pastry crust. Cold butter was pulsed in a food processor into a mixture of flour, baking powder, sugar, and ground ginger until crumbly, and then that combination was pressed into a baking pan and baked for about 30 minutes. Once cool, it was topped with a thick glaze made by melting butter with honey and more ground ginger, and then whisking in confectioners’ sugar. I actually ran out of ground ginger and only had about a teaspoon to use rather than the full one and a half tablespoons suggested for the glaze, so I used a little grated, fresh ginger as well. These squares were crunchier than the crumble bars, and the glaze was rich and buttery and fragrant with ginger. Both of these cookie squares are classics for a reason. They're easy to bake and to serve, and I know I'll be making them both again.
It sounds like these should have beer in them, doesn’t it? Well, the original version from Baked bakery in Brooklyn is made with brewer’s malt blended with chocolate that’s swirled into the dough. In the book Baked, the recipe was adapted for home bakers to use malted milk powder and chocolate malted milk balls instead. These are flavor-packed blondies with chocolate chips and toasted walnuts included as well. It’s suggested that they be served warm with a scoop of ice cream, and that’s a very good idea. I chilled them to make them easier to cut, and I might have tasted a bit while cutting. It was for research purposes, though, to confirm the ideal serving temperature. Yes, room temperature or warm is better for serving than cold in this case. The chocolate and malt aren’t as rich-tasting when cold. These blondies taste like a chocolate chip cookie in bar form, but that would be a chunky, malted, rich, and very special chocolate chip cookie.
For the chocolate malted milk balls, you are instructed to coarsely chop them in a food processor. That results in some biggish pieces, tiny pieces, and some powder. Since only three quarters of a cup is used, I might quarter them by hand next time. It will be tedious, but I think the uniform chunks would be better in the blondies. To start, flour was sifted with baking powder, salt, and malted milk powder. Then, butter was creamed with brown sugar, eggs and vanilla were added, and the flour mixtures was slowly added to form the dough. The chopped malted milk balls, chocolate chips, and chopped walnuts were folded in to finish it. The dough was spread into a parchment-lined baking pan and spread evenly. It baked for 25 minutes, it cooled on a rack, and then I refrigerated it overnight.
I always fall for the flavor of malted milk, but with everything going on with these blondies they’re hard not to like. I took these cookie bars to a birthday party so they weren’t left sitting around the house tempting me. That does mean I’ll have to make them again so I can go ahead and cut them while warm from the oven to enjoy with scoops of ice cream.
I don’t know where or when these cookie bars originated. I do know that I started seeing them everywhere over the last year. There are sugar cookies bars on My Baking Addiction, The Repressed Pastry Chef, Completely Delicious, and Love and Olive Oil and many more. The earliest post I’ve found is from Taste Buds. If you know the origin of them, let me know. I have a thing for sugar cookies. They are the best cookie ever, but they are also labor-intensive. The allure of the sugar cookie bar is that the dough is baked in one sheet, it’s frosted all at once, and then the sheet is cut into pieces. This is a very streamlined process for a sugar cookie. When I reached my breaking point and mentioned that I simply had to try baking these myself, my sister demanded that I do so right away and bring them with me when I visited last weekend. My arm was twisted, I pulled the butter from the refrigerator, and got to work.
The recipe for these is always the same. A cup of room temperature butter is creamed with two cups of granulated sugar. Four eggs are added, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Two teaspoons of vanilla are added. Meanwhile, five cups of all-purpose flour are sifted with one teaspoon of salt and one half teaspoon of baking soda. The dry ingredients are slowly added to the butter mixture and are mixed until just combined. The oven should be pre-heated to 375 degrees F. The dough is spread onto a thirteen inch by eighteen inch sheet pan and patted out to the edges evenly. It’s baked for twenty to twenty-five minutes and then allowed to cool. For the frosting, some recipes suggest a mix of butter and shortening, but I used all butter. So, one cup of room temperature butter was mixed with one teaspoon of vanilla and a pinch of salt. Four cups of confectioners’ sugar are added slowly and mixed until combined. For liquid, you can add five tablespoons of milk, but I used a couple of tablespoons of milk and couple of pomegranate juice. I was hoping for a pale pink hue, but it really didn’t color the frosting much at all. After applying the frosting, I do think sprinkles are absolutely necessary here. Then, cut and serve.
In my case, I cut, packed the bars into an airtight container, shoved that into my carry-on bag, and hoped the bars wouldn’t end up too smooshed after being transported. The frosting did get a little flattened by the time I reached my destination, but they weren't ruined. The texture of the cookies was just right. They weren’t too firm or too crumbly, and the frosting kept them from becoming dry. I still have my favorite sugar cookie of all time that can never be replaced, but these are very, very good cookie bars. I know I’ll be baking these again and again. And, who can resist sprinkles?
When I was trying to decide whether to bake some cappuccino thumbprint cookies, re-make some caramel crumb bars, or go for the coconut pecan chocolate chunk bars, I posed the question to everyone on Twitter. I received an enthusiastic, majority vote for coconut pecan chocolate chunk bars. Don’t tell anyone, but I was secretly hoping for that result. These cookies sounded decadent and somehow gooey and crunchy at the same time. All of the options I was considering are from The Modern Baker which is a book that hasn’t failed me yet. Every time I open this book, I’m reminded of something else I want to try. Just now, I was distracted by the photo of some little, Parisian fruit tarts. But, I wanted to tell you about these cookie bars. The base is a crunchy, shortbread kind of layer which is covered with a mixture similar to pecan pie filling and topped with chocolate chunks. Yes, I’m happy these won the vote.
The buttery dough was pressed evenly but not too firmly into a nine by thirteen inch pan, and it was baked until puffed for about 15 minutes. The filling was made from brown sugar, eggs, granulated sugar, vanilla, sweetened flaked coconut, and coarsely chopped pecans. Last, chocolate chunks were strewn about on top, and there was an interesting note about the chocolate. After chunking it into one-quarter to one-half inch pieces, Malgieri instructs you to place the chocolate in a strainer to sift away any dust formed while chopping it. He suggests tidier chocolate gives the bars a nicer look, and chocolate chopped from a block is of higher quality than chocolate chips.
The bars were just as decadent as I thought they might be. In fact, it’s a good idea to cut these into rather small squares. There’s a note at the end of the recipe stating that you should freeze the bars if they’re not eaten right away, so I’m glad to know they freeze well. They are rich and sweet, but a good, bittersweet chocolate prevents them from being too, too sweet. And, the coexistence of gooeyness from the brown sugar filling and crunchiness from the cookie crust and pecans was even better than I’d hoped.
UPDATE: New photos were added on 12/13/2011, and the recipe now includes a link to a printable version.
Did you have a favorite candy bar when you were a kid? I had a few that I preferred, but the best ever to my mind was a Twix. That’s why I was determined to get these cookie bars right even though it took a couple of tries. This all started when I read the recipe for millionaire’s shortbread in the Baked book, and it sounded straightforward enough. The concept is exactly what you see here which is a layered bar of shortbread, caramel, and chocolate otherwise known as a homemade Twix candy bar. I had a caramel disaster in that the sweetened condensed milk which cooked in a double-boiler (for more than twice the suggested time) never became caramelly or thick enough. Plan B was using store-bought dulce de leche, but that didn’t work either because even chilled it isn’t firm enough. But, then I remembered the chocolate caramel squares recipe I had mentioned from The Golden Book of Baking, and its caramel layer is built in a slightly different way. After comparing the two recipes, I ended up mixing and matching and adding my own touch by keeping the chocolate glaze from Baked and using the caramel from The Golden Book of Baking and sprinkling the chocolate with French sea salt. To clear up all this confusion, I’ll include the final, complete recipe below.
The shortbread cookie base was made first, and the two books differ in that the Baked version is richer with a little more butter and an added egg yolk. For my final version, I went with the more basic shortbread with no egg from Golden Book of Baking. While the shortbread cooled, the caramel was made. In the successful version, butter, sugar, light corn syrup, and sweetened condensed milk were combined in a saucepan over medium heat. It was stirred while the butter melted, then brought to a boil, reduced to a simmer, and stirred while simmering for about 20-25 minutes. The recipe suggests five minutes, but at that point it wasn’t caramel yet. I was not willing to accept failure number two, so I continued cooking until it looked right. From time to time during the 25 or so minutes, I would drop a little caramel onto a white plate to see the color clearly and how it set up at that point. When it looked like the filling in a Twix bar, the caramel was poured over the shortbread and was left to cool. Then, the chocolate glaze was made with melted chocolate, corn syrup, and butter. Once melted together and smooth, that combination was poured over the cooled caramel. Last, I sprinkled sea salt on the chocolate before it set because I’m addicted to doing that with anything involving chocolate and/or caramel.
So, finally, after testing, failing, tinkering, and persevering, I did produce what could be called a homemade Twix bar kind of cookie. The three steps can easily be spaced out over two days, and the steps are simple now that I know what works. I did store the cut bars in an airtight container in the refrigerator to keep them firm, but they are solid enough to remain at room temperature and would travel well. Now that I’m happy with this version of a Twix, I may have to move on to trying Michel Richard’s adaptation of a Kit Kat.
Shortbread base:
2 c (300 g) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (250 g) butter, softened
1/2 cup (100 g) sugar
Caramel layer:
1 c (250 g ) butter, cut into small pieces
1 c (200 g) sugar
4 tablespoons light corn syrup
2 cans (14 oz/400 g) sweetened condensed milk
Chocolate glaze:
8 oz chocolate of your choice (I used milk chocolate with about 40% cacao), chopped if from bars (I used feves)
1 teaspoon light corn syrup
1/2 c (125 g) butter, cut into small pieces
Fleur de sel for sprinkling
Shortbread base:
-Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees F (170 degrees C) and line a 9-inch by 13-inch baking pan with parchment paper.
-Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Beat butter and sugar in a mixer on high speed until light and well-combined. Turn mixer speed to low and slowly add the dry ingredients. Place dough in the prepared pan and press into an even layer. Placing plastic wrap over the top and pressing with a flat-bottomed glass helps to spread and flatten the dough. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden. Cool pan completely on a rack.
Caramel layer:
-Place butter, sugar, corn syrup, and sweetened condensed milk in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Allow butter to melt, and stir to combine. Raise heat to medium-high and bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low again to maintain a simmer while stirring constantly. After ten minutes or so, you may want to switch to a whisk if the butter seems to be separating. For this step, the time could vary a lot depending on the heat of your burner, so watch carefully. The mixture should become a light amber, caramel color, and it should thicken a bit. You can drop a small amount onto a white plate to check the color and consistency while it's cooking. Mine cooked for about 25 minutes. When it reaches the desired color and thickness, pour mixture over shorbread, spread evenly with a heat-proof spatula, and allow to cool completely.
Chocolate glaze:
-In a large, heat-proof bowl, combine chocolate pieces, corn syurp, and butter pieces and place over a saucepan of simmering water. Cook, stirring constantly, until melted and well-combined. Remove from the saucepan and allow the chocolate glaze to cool for 30 seconds. Then, pour the glaze over the cooled caramel and spread evenly with an off-set spatula. Allow the glaze to sit and cool for a few seconds before sprinkling with coarse sea salt.
-Cut into narrow bars and serve with a little nostalgia on the side.
Posts
. After writing about this book in April, I’ve tried two more recipes that I have to mention. One of the handy things I’ve noticed about the recipes from this book is that they don’t make too, too much. You end up with a tasty treat made from great ingredients that lasts just long enough for two people to enjoy without overdoing it on sweets for days. First, I tried the Cookie Dough Bars, and they really taste like delicious cookie dough. They’re topped with a drizzle of chocolate sauce that you can either make with raw cacao powder or by melting dark chocolate. The other recipe I tried was the Salted Caramel Bonbons. The date- and almond butter-filled bonbons were dipped in chocolate and were surprisingly filling. I didn’t get quite the same sweet, bitter, salty flavors I know from salted caramel, so I might start calling them by another name, but they were great, little treats in their own right. 
book. In the introduction, Dorie mentions that she’s wanted to write a cookie book since she started working on cookbooks 25 years ago. Of course, her other books have included some cookie recipes, but this is the first devoted to nothing but cookies. The options cover the full spectrum from classics to bars to sandwich cookies, and there are even some savory options to serve with cocktails. One chapter is just for the cookies baked and sold from Beurre and Sel which was a cookie boutique she operated with her son. And, the final chapter is for Cookie Go-Alongs and Basics, and it includes ice cream to serve with cookies, ganaches and spreads to fill sandwich cookies, glazes to top cookies, and more. I started baking as quickly as I could after opening the book. There are a few recipes that call for kasha and specifically Wolff’s medium granulation kasha. I’ve cooked buckwheat groats and baked with buckwheat flour, but I was not familiar with medium granulation kasha. As promised, it is easy to find, and it adds a bit of crunch to a cookie. With buckwheat flour, the medium granulation kasha, and flaked sea salt on top, 
by Melissa Forti. This book is a collection of sweet treats from Melissa’s Tea Room and Cakes located in Sarzana in northwestern Italy. The recipes have been gathered from all over the world from Forti’s travels and have been adapted to Italian tastes. While reading the book, I couldn’t help feeling more than a little jealous of her life. She bakes wonderful cakes and other sweets, changes the menu daily for a crowd of regulars, and all this happens in a charming area of Italy. It was the recipe for Fette All’Ananas, or Pineapple Squares, that reminded me of a pineapple cake my Mom baked when I was growing up. I haven’t tasted that cake in years, but I was sure I had the recipe filed away somewhere. I started searching for it, thinking I had a hand-written card tucked into my recipe binder, but came up empty handed. Thankfully, a quick text message to my Mom was all that was needed for her to send the recipe to me a few minutes later. I remembered her pineapple sheet cake had coconut in the cream cheese frosting, but I had forgotten that pecans were in the frosting as well. These pineapple squares from the book are a little different and maybe a little less decadent with no frosting, and I’m so glad to now have both recipes in my possession. The book offers a range of sweets from elegant, celebration cakes to cookies and candies. But, the recipes are not difficult to create. I’m so curious to try the Red Wine Doughnut Cookies made with olive oil, red wine, and aniseed and the luscious-looking Semolina and Ricotta cake which is a cheesecake with orange and lemon zest. Also, I’ve done several web searches and made several calls in an attempt to locate the Italian liqueur made with peach leaves called Persichetto. It’s the primary flavoring in a pretty bundt cake, and I’d love to taste it. I have yet to find a way of getting it here, but I’ll keep trying. There are also pound cakes, tarts, and more to try. Of course, the first thing I tried, though, was the Pineapple Squares. 
. Even though I’ve seen these bars on other blogs in the past, I didn’t quite realize what they're really like. These cookie bars are serious business. They’re crunchy, chewy, chocolaty, nutty, and delicious. Cutting these into small pieces is a good idea since they are filling, but I think they’re actually better than a candy bar. Dorie recommends serving them cold which keeps the layers firm, and I agree.
, the recipe was adapted for home bakers to use malted milk powder and chocolate malted milk balls instead. These are flavor-packed blondies with chocolate chips and toasted walnuts included as well. It’s suggested that they be served warm with a scoop of ice cream, and that’s a very good idea. I chilled them to make them easier to cut, and I might have tasted a bit while cutting. It was for research purposes, though, to confirm the ideal serving temperature. Yes, room temperature or warm is better for serving than cold in this case. The chocolate and malt aren’t as rich-tasting when cold. These blondies taste like a chocolate chip cookie in bar form, but that would be a chunky, malted, rich, and very special chocolate chip cookie.
