Archive for the ‘Cookies – Bar Cookies and Brownies’ Category
Someone recently asked me what my favorite thing to bake was and I was stumped because it is difficult to narrow it down when I like so many things! The truth is that I like to bake just about anything, but if I have to pick, I would say that brownies are one of my favorite things to bake. They’re easy to bake, huge crowd pleasers and you can put many different spins on them to change their flavor completely. These Banana Brownies with Cacao Nibs, for instance, definitely stand out from your average brownie.
The basic brownie batter here is one that I use often, made with melted dark chocolate and cocoa powder for a strong chocolate flavor. I added mashed banana to the brownie base, along with chocolate chips and cacao nibs. Cacao nibs are chopped up pieces of roasted cocoa beans. The nibs usually go on to become chocolate, but they can also be added to chocolate bars and baked goods for a little crunch and a slightly toasty, nutty, chocolate element.
These brownies are pretty amazing and a fantastic change of pace from your standard brownie recipe. They are super moist and fudgy, yet still tender, and they have a great balance of chocolate and banana flavor. I used dark chocolate chips, but semisweet are a good choice here, as well. The cacao nibs add a crunch, but are more subtle than a big pecan or walnut is going to be, and they enhance the overall chocolatiness of the brownies. You might have to look to a specialty baking store to find the nibs, but if you want to skip them you’ll get good results by using walnuts or pecans in this recipe, too.
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Maple sugar is sugar that is produced when you cook down the sap of a maple tree past the point of being maple syrup, until it has almost no liquid and you are left with sandy crystals. It is an intensely flavorful ingredient and can be a lot of fun to work with – especially if you are a maple syrup fan in general. Maple sugar can be used much like regular sugar, but it is almost twice as sweet, so you need to take that into account when putting together a recipe that uses it.
These Maple Sugar Pecan Bars are made with maple sugar instead of regular granulated sugar. Maple sugar gives them intense maple flavor and makes the bars taste a lot like french toast. To compensate for the sweetness of the sugar in this particular recipe, I added a little extra salt to cut that sweetness and used salted pecans in the mix, too. The result is a bar cookie that is sweet, but balanced, and delivers a powerful burst of maple flavor that maple fans will love.
These bars are chewy and cake-like, but are moister and more dense than cake. They don’t have the same fudgy texture that a blondie does, which makes them a little lighter. They’re perfect when served with coffee or tea, but can make a tasty snack any time. The pecans add a welcome crunch to the bars, and if you use some spiced pecans, you’ll get an extra layer of flavor, although walnuts would also be an excellent option and make a nice pairing with maple. I typically stick with salted nuts in a recipe like this one because the sweet maple flavor is strong and the salted pecans stand up to it especially well.
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There is something about these Lemon Apricot Walnut Bars that tastes like summertime. They certainly look summery, with their bright yellow-orange apricot filling, though it is the combination of that flavorful filling with the citrusy cookie dough that is what really makes them addictive. They’re tender and slightly chewy, with a little bit of crunch to them from the generous amount of walnuts included in the dough.
The bars use the same buttery cookie dough for both the top and the bottom. The lemon-kissed dough is pressed into an even layer in the bottom of the baking dish and is spread with a generous layer of apricot preserves. The remaining dough – about one third of the total cookie dough – is crumbled and sprinkled over the top of the preserves. Choose a high quality preserve with lots of chunks of fruit in it for the best results in this recipe, rather than a jelly or a jam.
The dough includes oatmeal and a hint of cardamom, in addition to the lemon zest, as well as coarsely chopped walnuts. Walnuts and cardamom both have citrusy notes to them, while the lemon ties them together. The cardamom is optional and you will still get a good result if you don’t use it. I do recommend using fresh lemon zest for the best lemon flavor, although a teaspoon of lemon extract can be used in a pinch, as well.
This recipe makes a big batch of bar cookies and uses a whole jar of apricot preserves. The bars keep very well for several days when stored in an airtight container.
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Mexican chocolate can refer to several types of chocolate, including a hot chocolate drink, but all of these chocolates have one thing in common: they’re spicy. Mexican chocolate, in just about every form, is flavored with a variety of spices. Cinnamon is always present and some variations use ground chilis to add some heat to the mix. I like these spicy chocolates (especially when served as a thick hot chocolate) and like to spice up my chocolate recipes from time to time using Mexican chocolate as inspiration.
These Mexican Chocolate Brownies are definitely on the spicy side. The fudgy, slightly chewy brownies are made with dark chocolate and get an extra deep flavor from the addition of some cocoa powder. They’re flavored with cinnamon, cayenne pepper and chili powder, as well as vanilla extract. The cinnamon, cayenne and chili all come together to give the brownies a nice balance of spice and heat that really compliments the chocolate.
I also like to mix in some chocolate chips or chunks of chopped chocolate with this recipe, as the plainer chocolate helps to balance out the spices. The brownies are really complex, but not overwhelmingly hot or spicy. They taste better the day after they’re made, as the spices have time to meld together in that time. If stored for a few days (in an airtight container), the cayenne will actually become stronger and your brownies will be a bit spicier.
These are delicious as-is and I would only recommend cutting back on the cayenne if you are very sensitive to spicy foods, as a smaller amount will not be that noticeable against all that chocolate. If they get a little too spicy, warm them up and serve them with a side of cooling vanilla ice cream.
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Millionaire’s Shortbread is a three-layered dessert, with a shortbread base, a caramel center and a chocolate topping. The bars are popular in the UK and in Canada, but are not as well known here in the US. This is something that I’d like to change because these very tasty bars are delicious and well worth every bit of effort that goes into putting them together (and they’re easier to make than they look!).
The shortbread crust is made with butter, brown sugar, flour and salt. It is pressed into a large baking pan and baked until golden brown and crisp. After the crust has cooled, a caramel layer that uses a lot of sweetened condensed milk and butter is prepared and poured on top. The caramel layer definitely has a buttery, caramel flavor to it, but it is a thick, tender layer and is slightly reminiscent of vanilla pudding because of all the condensed milk in it, rather than straight caramel. This layer is also cooled before adding the final layer of chocolate.
My Millionaire’s Shortbread is a little different from most that I’ve seen because I like to use chocolate ganache instead of using straight melted chocolate to top the bars. Straight melted chocolate ends up being a little crisper as a top layer, but I think that a richer ganache blends a bit better with the sweetened condensed milk filling. It is also much easier to slice through, and you don’t need to worry about tempering it to keep your bars looking beautiful.
These bars are good when served at room temperature but are also quite good cold. I definitely recommend storing them, covered, in the fridge on a warm day or when you simply want them to last a little bit longer.
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