Fantasy Bars aka Dulce de Leche bars

Fantasy Bars - December 20, 2009 from Fearless Baking by Elinor Klivans

If your fantasy involves chocolate, white chocolate and caramel in a brown sugar bar cookie, these are aptly named. I'm renaming them Dulce de Leche bars because that's what I used in the recipe instead of caramel and it helps me remember what they are. Besides, my fantasies change in any given day, haha.

The recipe calls for making caramel from scratch but when I'm baking for the umpteenth time for dozens of people, I take shortcuts where I can. Substituting dulce de leche for caramel is an easy choice to make. For those of you who don't know what it is, dulce de leche is a milk-based sauce and is made by heating sweetened milk until it resembles and tastes like caramel. In short, it's fabulous. I get the jar from Williams Sonoma which costs an arm and a leg, not to mention having a horrible number of calories. Obviously I care about neither of these things when it comes to baking with it.

This recipe calls for baking the bars for 35 minutes and not being able to rely on the toothpick method since the caramel filling the middle interferes with the toothpick test. I dutifully baked it for the required 35 minutes and even timed it but I think I should've baked it longer to give the bottom crust time to bake a bit more. It was a bit mushy which is fine and didn't interfere with the taste but since the filling is already mushy, I'd prefer the bar cookie part to be a bit firmer. I omitted the nuts on this one and used white chocolate chips instead of chopped white chocolate since I didn't have white chocolate on hand. Overall, it's pretty good but I think what I preferred most about it was the dulce de leche. If I had used real caramel, it might be a trifle too sweet for me.

Cookie Dough
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
½ pound (2 sticks) soft unsalted butter
¾ cup packed light brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

Filling
¾ cup coarsely chopped walnuts
1 cup (about 6 ounces) white chocolate, chopped in about ½-inch pieces, Callebaut or Lindt preferred
1 recipe caramel sauce (¾ cup), cooled until warm to touch, about 30 minutes

1. Position an oven rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Line a 9 x 9 x 2-inch or 11 x 7 x 2-inch pan with heavy aluminum foil that extends over 2 ends of the pan. Butter the inside of the foil in the pan.
2. Sift the flour, baking soda and salt together into a medium bowl or onto a piece of wax paper and set aside.
3. Put the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until the mixture looks blended together thoroughly, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape the mixture from the sides of the bowl and any that becomes caught in the beaters as needed throughout the mixing process. Mix in the egg and vanilla until they are blended in and the mixture is smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. Decrease the speed to low and add the flour mixture, mixing just until it is incorporated and there is no loose flour. Use a large spoon to stir in the chocolate chips. Spoon half of the cookie dough in large clumps evenly over the bottom of the lined pan. Use your fingers or a thin metal spatula to smooth the dough into an even layer that covers the pan bottom. Set the remaining dough aside.
4. Make the filling: Spoon the walnuts and white chocolate pieces evenly over the cookie dough. Leaving about 1 ½-inch edge bare, drizzle the caramel sauce evenly over the walnuts and white chocolate. Some of the caramel will spread to the edge. Refrigerate the pan until the caramel sauce is firm, about 20 minutes. Remove the pan from the refrigerator and drop pieces of the reserved cookie dough evenly over the firm filling. Spread the dough evenly over the filling to cover it completely.
5. Bake the bars for about 35 minutes, until the top feels firm and is lightly browned. Testing with a toothpick does not work, as the thick filling makes the toothpick come out wet with filling. Cool the bars for about 3 hours at room temperature. The chocolate will still be soft, but this is fine for serving or cutting. The chocolate becomes firm after about 8 hours or overnight. To firm the bars more quickly, cool them for 1 hour at room temperature, then refrigerate them for 2 hours.
6. Carefully lift the aluminum foil liner with the bars from the baking pan. Use a small knife to loosen the liner from the sides of the bars. Cut the bars into 35 pieces, cutting 5 rows lengthwise and 7 rows across. The bars will be slightly smaller than 1 ½ inches square. Use a wide spatula to slide the bars off the foil liner. Serve at room temperature. Vanilla, chocolate or caramel ice cream makes a good accompaniment, if desired. Leftover bars can be covered and stored at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Chunky Chocolate-Covered Coconut Candy Cookies

Chunky Chocolate-Covered Coconut Candy Cookies - December 20, 2009

I would simply call these Almond Joy Cookies just to shorten the name. The recipe actually calls for Mounds bars to be used but since I prefer milk chocolate to dark, I use Almond Joys instead. I first made these back in 2005 to use up some leftover Halloween candy. While they have the same basic ingredients as a regular chocolate chip cookie, they're a bit sweeter and using the candy in them not only sweetens the dough but makes the cookies crisp around the edges. When I first made them a few years ago, I cut bite-size Almond Joys into big chunks. This time, I cut the bite-size pieces into smaller chunks. This seemed to make the cookies spread a bit more. I'm not a fan of spread so next time I would probably keep the chunks fairly big. The only issue with these cookies is, depending on where the candy is located in the ball of cookie dough, it'll leak out, as you can see from the bottom right cookie in the picture. It doesn't affect the taste but if you like a more predictable spread, try to keep the candy pieces from the edges of your ball of cookie dough.

"Almond Joy Cookies" - first made November 16, 2005 from Chocolate Chocolate by Lisa Yockelson

6 packages (1.9 ounces each) chocolate-covered coconut candy (such as Peter Paul Mounds), cut into small chunks
1 ½ cups unsifted all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
3 tablespoons shortening
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup sweetened flaked coconut
¾ cup semisweet chocolate chips

1. Chill the candy: Place the cut-up candy in a baking pan and refrigerate for 30 minutes. (Refrigerating the chunks of candy will prevent them from breaking up too much when mixed into the dough.)
2. Mix the dough: Whisk the flour and salt in a small bowl.
3. Cream the butter and shortening in the large bowl of a freestanding electric mixer on moderately low speed for 3 minutes. Add the granulated sugar and beat for 1 minute on moderate speed. Add the light brown sugar and beat for 1 minute longer. Beat in the egg. Blend in the vanilla extract. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl frequently to keep the dough even-textured. On low speed, add the sifted mixture in 2 additions, beating until the particles of flour are absorbed. Mix in the candy chunks, coconut and chocolate chips. The dough will be chunky.
4. Chill the dough: Cover the bowl with a sheet of food-safe plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
5. Preheat the oven to 325˚F in advance of baking. Line several cookie sheets or rimmed sheet pans with lengths of cooking parchment paper.
6. Shape the cookies: Place heaping and domed 2-tablespoon-size mounds of dough about 3 inches apart on the prepared pans, placing them about 9 mounds to a pan.
7. Bake and cool the cookies: Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 16 to 17 minutes, or until set, with pale golden edges. (The tops should not look like glistening unbaked cookie dough.” Let the cookies stand on the pans for 1 minute, then remove them to cooling racks, using a wide offset metal spatula. Cool completely. Store in an airtight tin.

Bake and serve within 3 days

Chocolate Chip Toffee Bars

Chocolate Chip Toffee Bars - December 19, 2009

I'm doing a lot of baking to give out to church friends tomorrow (Sunday) and for my coworkers (Monday). When you need to bake for a large number of people and want to have a variety of stuff to give away, bar cookies that are easy to make and turn out well are a godsend. I don't like to make large batches of the same thing but prefer smaller amounts of different things. When I bake so much, making the same thing over and over again would drive me crazy because I like baking all sorts of different stuff. Which is why I probably wouldn't do well baking as a job as that's what 95% of those jobs are.

This recipe is especially easy to make, especially when you're pressed for time, because it starts with a cake mix. The additions of toffee bits, chocolate chips and nuts liven up the texture and flavor of this bar cookie. Do yourself a favor though and strain the cake mix before you use it. Boxed cake mixes are notoriously lumpy and if you use it without straining it first, you're forever trying to mash out the lumps in the batter. I always run mine through a large sieve I got when I was in culinary school. It makes sifting a breeze and is well worth the time up front to get it right. Last thing you want when you bite into a bar cookie, cake or whatever is a lump of flour (or cake mix).

Chocolate Chip Toffee Bars - made December 19, 2009 from Cake Mix Cookies by Camilla V. Saulsbury

1 18.25-ounce package yellow cake mix
½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 large egg
1 cup coarsely chopped nuts (e.g. walnuts, pecans or peanuts)
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips, divided
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 10-ounce package toffee baking bits, divided

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (or 325°F for dark-coated metal pan). Position oven rack in middle of oven. Spray the bottom only of a 9 x 13-inch metal baking pan with nonstick cooking spray (or foil line pan).
2. In a large bowl, mix cake mix, softened butter, and egg with an electric mixer set on medium speed until blended and crumbly; stir in nuts and 1 ½ cups chocolate chips. Set aside 1 ½ cups of the crumb mixture. Firmly press remaining crumb mixture into bottom of prepared pan. Bake 15 minutes.
3. Pour condensed milk evenly over partially baked crust; top with 1 ½ cups of the toffee bits. Sprinkle the reserved crumb mixture and remaining ½ cup chocolate chips evenly over top.
4. Bake 25-28 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately sprinkle with remaining ¼ cup toffee bits. Transfer to wire rack and cool completely. Cut into bars.

Brownie Shortbread

Brownie Shortbread - December 16, 2009

While I don't like to try new recipes around the holidays since I'm pressed for time and can't afford failures I can't use, I did take the risk with this one as it seemed like it would turn out. Crisp shortbread base with a brownie layer on top - what could go wrong? When I first read the recipe though, I thought there must be a typo as the brownie layer doesn't contain any flour. So it seemed like it would be supremely fudgy or like a flourless chocolate cake on top. And so it was. It still turned out pretty well as the shortbread layer was crisp and provided a nice contrast to the soft brownie layer. The texture did seem a bit grainy to me though and I think I would have preferred a little flour in it for a more robust brownie. But this is one of those cases where I'm my own worst critic and my coworkers would probably roll their eyes at how picky I am. Because the plate I left out at work pretty much disappeared in under an hour which is always a sign that people like something. So I guess it wasn't that bad.

The only thing I didn't follow to the letter in the recipe was using a food processor to make the shortbread dough. I was feeling lazy about bringing mine out and cleaning it up later so instead I chose to cut the butter into the flour and sugar with two sharp knives. This is how I made the shortbread crust for my lemon bar recipe and that one always turns out so I figured doing it that way for this one would still be okay. And it was.

Brownie Shortbread - made on December 16, 2009 from All-Butter, Fresh-Cream, Sugar-Packed Baking Book by Rosie’s Bakery

Base
1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup sugar
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into 8 pieces

Topping
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 large eggs, at room temperature
¾ cup sugar
½ teaspoon baking powder

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F. Lightly grease an 11 x 7-inch baking pan with butter.
2. For the base, process the flour and sugar in a food processor about 15 seconds. Add the butter and process until the dough comes together, 20 to 30 seconds.
3. Pat the dough gently over the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake on the center oven rack until it is lightly golden, about 20 minutes. Place the base in the refrigerator for 15 minutes to cool completely. Keep the oven on.
4. Meanwhile, prepare the topping: melt the chocolate and butter in the top of a double boiler over simmering water. Cool slightly.
5. Beat the eggs, sugar, and baking powder together in a medium-size bowl with a whisk. Add the chocolate mixture and stir vigorously with the whisk until the batter is blended. Spread the chocolate mixture evenly over the base.
6. Bake the bars until the top rises and forms a very thin crust, about 20 minutes. The center will drop as it cools. (A tester inserted in the middle may come out with a fudgy, crumbly batter on it, but it should not be liquidy.) Cool completely on a rack. Cut the shortbread with a thin knife.

Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies - December 14, 2009

You'd think with all the baking I've been doing that I would be adding more to this blog but I've been baking so much I haven't had time. I've also been going out almost every night this week so every spare moment is spent in actually baking instead of writing about it. Plus some of the stuff I've been baking I've already posted about. During the frenzied holiday baking season, I don't try out a lot of new recipes in case they don't turn out. Case in point, I tried a new fudge recipe last night and it didn't turn out. Too grainy and didn't have that creamy texture I was going for. I should know better than to try a recipe on the package of the jar of marshmallow cream.

This one is a tried and true recipe - Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies from Baking by Flavor by Lisa Yockelson. I like that it doesn't spread much and stays thick and chewy. I used the Guittard milk chocolate chips for this one as they're bigger than the Nestle tollhouse morsels. I tend to make a lot of cookie doughs ahead of time so I can bake them off at the last-minute when I need them. This is especially crucial when I'm not home much between working and going out. This past week, no matter what time I've gotten home, I've turned my oven on the minute I walk in the door and start pulling cookie dough out of the freezer to get ready for the next day's social events. It's so much easier to get things done when I have stuff prepped ahead of time.

Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/3 cup quick cooking (not instant) rolled oats
2 cups plus 3 tablespoons unsifted bleached all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
¼ pound (8 tablespoons or 1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 ¼ cups firmly packed light brown sugar, sieved if lumpy
¼ cup granulated sugar
2 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled to tepid
2 large eggs
2 ¼ cup semisweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup sweetened flaked coconut

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line the cookie sheets with cooking parchment paper; set aside. The baking sheets need to be heavy to prevent from the bottoms of the cookies from overbrowning. Double pan the sheets if necessary.
2. Place the rolled oats in a food processor fitted with the steel knife. Cover and process, using the 3-second on-off bursts, until reduced to moderately fine bits, like a coarse-textured powder. Set aside.
3. Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium-size mixing bowl.
4. Cream the softened butter in the large bowl of a freestanding electric mixer on moderately low speed for 2 minutes. Add the light brown sugar and beat for 1 minute. Add the granulated sugar and beat for 1 minute. Blend in the vanilla extract and melted, tepid butter. Blend in the eggs. Remove the mixing bowl from the stand. Mix in the processed oats. Add the whisked flour mixture, chocolate chips and coconut and stir to form a dense but somewhat sticky dough, using a wooden spoon or a flat wooden paddle.
5. Take up generous 3 tablespoon-size mounds of dough and form into rough mounds about 1 ¾” in diameter by 2 inches tall. The height of the mounds is important if the cookies are to bake up pudgy and chewy textured.
6. Place the mounds on the lined cookie sheets, spacing them about 3 inches apart. Place nine mounds of dough on each sheet.
7. Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 13 to 15 minutes, or until softly set, pale golden around the edges and a spotty pale golden on top. The bottoms of the cookies will be light golden-colored. Let the cookies stand on the sheets on cooling racks for 10 minutes, then remove them to sheets of parchment papers, using a wide, offset metal spatula. Cool completely.

Freshly baked, the cookies keep for 2 days.

Chocolate Peanut Buttercups

Chocolate Peanut Buttercups - December 13, 2009

The title pretty much says it all - this has a graham cracker peanut crust which supports a chocolate cake filled with a peanut butter cream cheese filling and topped with chocolate ganache. You're supposed to garnish it with chopped peanuts but I ran out. Overall, this was pretty good. I ran out of chocolate cake batter though so had to stretch it out towards the end. The peanut butter cream cheese filling was also a little stiff compared to the softer cake batter so getting it in as an even dollop of filling was problematic. I admit I didn't try that hard either.

This is one of those recipes I'd like to make in smaller pans, like muffin tins with removable bottoms. The only pan I have with removable bottoms is my molten chocolate cake pan and it makes for some big peanut buttercups. I made smaller ones in a regular muffin tin but I had to line each one with aluminum foil so I could take it out of the pan easily. Those didn't look as pretty as the ones in the molten chocolate cake pan.

The recipe calls for ganache which I made but I'm not a fan of ganache. Ganache is simple chocolate and heavy cream melted and whisked together. While a boon for serious chocoholics, I don't find it sweet enough for me and would prefer a more traditional chocolate frosting. But still, this is a cute little cake to make for holiday baking.

Chocolate Peanut Buttercups - recipe from the July 1999 issue of Chocolatier Magazine

Peanut-graham cracker crust
1 cup unsalted dry roasted peanuts, finely chopped
½ cup graham cracker crumbs
¼ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup (½ stick) unsalted butter, melted

Chocolate batter
10 tablespoons unsalted butter
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk
½ cup packed dark brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt

Peanut butter batter
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
2 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 large egg yolk

Chocolate glaze
¼ cup heavy cream
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

Garnish
1 tablespoon dry roasted peanuts

1. Make the peanut-graham cracker crust: Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350˚F. Place twelve 4-ounce metal baking cups or ceramic ramekins on a baking sheet. In a medium bowl stir together the peanuts, graham cracker crumbs, sugar and butter until well-combined. Press 2 tablespoons of the crumb mixture into the bottom of each baking cup. Bake until slightly firm, about 5 to 7 minutes. Reserve.
2. Make the chocolate batter: In a medium saucepan over low heat, stir together the butter, bittersweet chocolate and unsweetened chocolate until melted and smooth. Remove the pan from the heat; cool 3 to 5 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, in a large bowl whisk together the eggs, egg yolk, brown sugar and granulated sugar until well-combined. Stir in the melted chocolate mixture. Fold in the flour and salt until just incorporated. Reserve.
4. Make the peanut butter batter: In small bowl, beat together the cream cheese, peanut butter, sugar, and yolk until combined.
5. Assemble the chocolate peanut butter cups: Drop 2 tablespoons of the chocolate batter on top of the peanut crust; level with a small spatula. Form 1 tablespoon of the peanut butter batter into a disc; place over the chocolate batter. Top peanut butter batter with 2 more tablespoons of the chocolate batter. Repeat this process for the remaining baking cups. Bake 18 minutes on a baking sheet until the centers are set. Transfer baking cups to a wire rack; cool to room temperature, about 1 hour.
6. Make the chocolate glaze: In a small, heavy saucepan over high heat, bring the heavy cream to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat; stir in the chocolate. Whisk until the mixture is smooth. Transfer the ganache to a bowl; cool until thick enough to spread, about 15 to 20 minutes. Place baking cups over low heat for 5 to 10 seconds if necessary to loosen the bottom. Unmold and place crust-side-down on a serving platter. With an offset spatula spread 1 heaping tablespoon of the glaze over top of each chocolate-peanut butter cup. Garnish with peanut halves.

Lemon Orange Sour Cream Cookies

Lemon Orange Sour Cream Cookies - December 13, 2009

It's a busy social week this week as I have lunch and dinner with different friends nearly every day this week. I like to bring goodie bags of things I've baked for my friends whenever I see them so I have a mountain of baking to do. I'm somewhat prepared by having cookie dough in my freezer ready to bake off at the last minute before a social gathering and I have brownies baked in the last few days that I've already cut up, packaged and have in the freezer, also ready to go at a moment's notice. But still, I have more baking to do. This morning I woke up early before church to tackle this recipe. It's from the 2nd of Rosie's Bakery's cookbooks that I got recently called Chocolate-Packed, Jam-Filled, Butter-Rich, No-Holds-Barred Cookie Book. With that title, what's not to love?

In any case, I decided to give this recipe a try to contrast with the chocolate treats I've already baked. The recipe contains sour cream which past experience tells me this will make a cakey cookie. And so it did. I didn't have any oranges in the house but plenty of lemons so I used lemon zest and made it an all-lemon cookie. I baked the first batch for precisely 10 minutes which is what the recipe calls for. It seemed to be a bit early to take out but I always err on the side of underbaking. Good thing too because once they were cool, they tasted perfect. I left the last cookie sheet in there a minute or so longer and they were overbaked. The thing with cakey cookies is they don't necessarily taste dry but their flavor definitely seems to bake out of the cookie. So don't overbake these.

I also ran out of the glaze since I treated it more as a frosting - once it cools, it thickens/hardens. So if you make this, double the glaze recipe for 1 cookie recipe. Either that or I just had a heavy hand with the frosting. The cookies themselves weren't too lemony but the frosting was and added a nice touch. These cookies are pretty fragile though so once again, not suitable for mailing.

Lemon Orange Sour Cream Cookies

The Cookie
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon cake flour
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup minus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 ½ tablespoons grated orange zest
1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 large egg
½ cup plus 3 tablespoons sour cream

The Glaze
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1. Preheat the oven to 400˚F. Line several baking sheets with parchment paper, or lightly grease them with vegetable oil.
2. Sift both flours, the baking powder, baking soda and salt together into a small bowl and set aside.
3. Using an electric mixer on medium speed, cream the butter, sugar, orange zest, and vanilla in a medium-size bowl until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Scrape the bowl.
4. Add the egg and mix on medium speed until blended, about 10 seconds. Scrape the bowl.
5. Add the sour cream and mix on medium-low until blended, about 8 seconds.
6. Fold in the flour mixture by hand. Then blend with the mixer on low speed for 5 seconds. Scrape the bowl with the rubber spatula, and mix on low speed until the batter is smooth and velvety, 10 seconds. Give the batter a stir or two with the spatula.
7. Drop the batter by large rounded tablespoons about 2 inches apart onto the prepared baking sheets.
8. Bake until the cookies have puffed up, are firm to the touch and are just beginning to turn golden around the edges, 10 minutes. Let the cookies sit for 2 to 3 minutes. Then slide the sheet of parchment onto the counter (or, using a spatula, carefully transfer each cookie to a sheet of aluminum foil or waxed paper on the counter), and let them cool further.
9. Meanwhile, prepare the glaze: Place the confectioners’ sugar in a medium-size bowl. Add the butter and lemon juice, and beat vigorously with a whisk until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
10. Once the cookies have cooled, drop generously rounded ½ teaspoons of the glaze onto each cookie and spread with small butter knife. Allow them to sit until the glaze hardens, about 2 hours (or pop them into the refrigerator for 1 hour).
11. If you plan to eat the cookies that day, leave them sitting out. To store them, place them in an airtight plastic container with plastic wrap, parchment, or waxed paper between the layers. Store them in the refrigerator if you plan to eat them the next day. Otherwise, place the container in the freezer for up to 2 weeks. Bring the cookies to room temperature before eating.

Makes about 24 cookies