Sugar Shock Friday: Chocolate Swoon Bars

I usually save the baking isle for last when I go grocery shopping. There's something about that isle that seems special and so I savor it. My gait becomes noticeably slower and what ever muzak might be playing becomes just a bit more singable. And if there are other shoppers in the isle, I feel a little territorial as though the isle is mine and only mine. These are all signs that I probably need an intervention.

Last Friday afternoon my new friend and fellow baker/food-pusher, Emily, made pound cake as a going away gift for a colleague. It was honestly one of the best I had ever had. It had such a classic "Sara Lee" pound-cake flavor, I almost didn't believe she had made it. When I asked her about the recipe she revealed to me how she used something called "vanilla butter nut extract" to make it. What was this? An extract I had never heard of? Could it be? Surely it had to be exotic and difficult to find. I mean, I had never heard of it or ever seen it in my baking isle! I was intrigued.
On the way home I stopped by the store to, you know, pick up something for dinner (wink, wink) and I headed straight for the extracts. To my surprise, in between "vanilla" and "almond" was a bottle of "vanilla butter nut", patiently waiting for me. I picked up the box to inspect it and found a very small recipe, in paragraph format written on the back. I knew immediately upon reading it that I'd be making it or at least a version of it within the few days. The recipe's first step involved a molten caramel which I had never seen before.

I LOVE how this recipe came out! While it was baking, layers formed inside the bar, creating a cookie crust, then a layer of chocolate brownie, and then a second layer of crust. I'm not sure how that happened but it's pretty neat! Plus, the flavor is really something to swoon over. Both my husband and son said "Awesome!" at the same time after they took a bite. I almost considered calling these "Awesome in Stereo" Bars!

Chocolate Swoon Bars

2 cups light brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla butter nut extract
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 12 ounce bag milk chocolate chips
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease 9"x13" baking pan and set aside.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and baking powder together and mix well with a fork. Set aside.

If you have a stand mixer, have the metal bowl and paddle attachment ready to go. If you're using a hand mixture, get your mixer ready to go. Set up a metal or glass head proof bowl and have a towel or over mit close by.

In another small bowl, mix the eggs and extract together as so as to break the yolks. Set aside.

In a medium sized saucepan, over medium heat, combine the brown sugar and butter together, stirring constantly until the mixture becomes very think and starts to bubble. Once it starts to bubble, continue stirring constantly, scrapping the sides and bottom of the pan for an additional three minutes or so. Do not increase the heat. (Note: you're not looking for a caramel here, but you want the mixture to almost be to the point where the sugar is dissolved, but not quite).

Remove the pan from the heat and continue to mix by hand for about a minute. Pour the hot mixture into the metal stand mixer bowl and mix on low speed for three minutes. Increase the speed to medium and mix for two minutes, stopping once a minute to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. By now the mixture should still be warm, but not molten.

Return the speed back to medium and slowly add the egg/extract mixture. Add a little at a time to avoid the egg scrambling. The batter should get very shiny and turn a pretty shade of light brown. Continue mixing until all the egg is incorporated. Be sure to scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl.

Add the flour in two batches, mixing until it's just incorporated. Add the chocolate chips and mix for about 30 seconds on low until the chocolate is combined. The chocolate will melt and that's okay.

Pour the mixture into the prepared baking pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Remove it from the oven and scatter a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips on top. You may need to add more chocolate chips to fill in any bald areas.

Let cool completely and cut into bars.

Yield: I'll probably get about 40 bars about of this pan so it will feed a bunch of people, but a normal serving size would probably yield about 20 bars. It's all in how you cut them.
Would I Make This Again?Considering my husband and son's reaction, I don't think I'll have much of a choice. I loved seeing the smile on their faces :-) 4 out of 5 stars.

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars

Yeah..... you know you want one...

.....awww yeah...

...Mmmmmmmmmmmmm....

That's right... there's three layers... graham cracker crust studded with mini milk chocolate chips...topped with a smooth and creamy cheesecake that been studded with buttery chocolate chip cookie dough baked right inside and finished with a ribbon of creamy semisweet milk chocolate drizzled over the top..... pure bliss!

While we waited patiently for a table at dinner last night my husband casually happens to mention that there will be a barbecue following our son's baseball game at the coaches house the next day. I immediately start firing off questions: "Do we have to bring anything. Did you volunteer a specific type of dish? What time is the event?" My husband realizes he made a bit of a misstep, not informing me of the event ahead of time. "I don't recall," he said, "I didn't memorize the email, but I'm sure you could bring a dessert." Well, duh!

Over dinner my husband, son, and I discuss a few options and eventually settled on me making another cake using melted ice cream, but flavored with Cherry Garcia. On the way home I stop at the store to pick up the ingredients but quickly get sidetracked when I walk past a display table filled with various cookbooks. Without hesitation I flip through The Essential Chocolate Chip Cookbook and land upon these bad-boys. I get so sucked in by this book that I have to take it over to the indoor furniture area to sit down and leaf through it. I was in a trance....


So many times I get suckered into buying cookbooks like this. You know the ones. They have gorgeous, dreamy pictures of each recipe, looking so beautiful, so unbelievably scrupulous, you just have to buy it. Only later you find out the recipes don't turn out right or the book is filled with too many that are unappealing and it just sits on the shelf, year after year. I decide to resist the urge to impulse shop and do a little experiment instead: I would test drive a recipe first! Brillant! I pull out my pad and paper and decide to copy (gasp! steal?) down the recipe. I decided then and there if the recipe came out, I'd buy the book. Guess what? I'm buying the book as soon as I'm done posting this entry! :-)

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars
by Elinor Klivans (author) & Kirsten Strecker (photographer)

Crust
1 & 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2/3 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325°F. Butter a 9″-square baking pan. Line pan with parchment paper, leaving enough to extend over the sides. Butter the parchment paper.

Combine graham cracker crumbs and butter until crumbs are moistened. Stir in chocolate chips. Press crust mixture into bottom of pan. Bake for 6 minutes. Set pan on wire rack to cool.

Cookie Dough
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Using an electric mixer, mix butter, brown sugar, sugar, salt, and vanilla extract at medium speed until smooth. Decrease mixer speed to low and add flour. Mix just until incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips. Set aside.

Filling
10 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar just until smooth. Add egg and vanilla extract, beating just until blended. Pour batter into baked crust. Drop cookie dough by teaspoonfuls over the top of the filling.

Bake about 30-35 minutes, or until set. Transfer to wire rack.

For chocolate topping, melt 1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips in a double boiler or in the microwave. (Tip: put the chocolate chips into a zipper bag and heat on 50% power for a few minutes. Cut the corner off the bag and squeeze the bag to make drizzling less messy). Use a teaspoon to drizzle chocolate over top of bars. Cool bars in pan completely, about an hour. (Stick the bars in the freezer for 5 minutes to set quickly if you're in a hurry).

Using the edges of the parchment paper, remove bars from pan. Cut into bars (clean the knife after each cut) and serve.

Yield: I was able to get 20 1"x 1" bars from my 9" pan
Would I Make This Again? These bars were a huge hit! Everyone loved them at the barbecue, adults and kids alike. My hubby and son, who are both connoisseurs of all things cheesecake, gave this recipe 4 out of 5 stars

Nitin's "Snow Storm in April" Bars

I seriously think this is the easiest dessert I have ever made that didn't involve a mix. My coworker Nitin wanted something with chocolate and coconut for his birthday. I really wanted to make him my Mandy's Candy bars which are always a hit, but that seemed like a cop-out. Then I stumbled on this recipe and couldn't resist. Could four ingredients really taste that good? You betcha! What a little gem this recipe turned out to be!

You're probably wondering about the name of these little guys. On the day I brought these bars to work (4/18), we were treated to a very strange day for weather. Throughout the day we had hail, ice pellets, little snow flakes, giant snow flakes, freezing rain, sideways rain, about 10 minutes of sunshine, and flurries. By the time I went to bed we had about 8 inches of heavy, wet snow outside (that's my birdbath!) . I'm not saying these bars caused the crazy weather, but it was an interesting coincidence...

Chocolate Coconut "Snow Storm in April" bars

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups sweetened flaked coconut
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup white chocolate chips (If you don't like or have any white chocolate chips, just increase the semisweet chocolate chips by 1/4 cup)

Optional Topping
1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut or other nut of your choosing

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 9x9 baking pan with parchment paper, leaving extra so it hangs up and over the edges of the pan. Spray the paper with some Pam or butter lightly.

2. Combine milk and graham cracker crumbs and mix together until well combined. I used my stand mixer on medium speed for about a minute, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl once.

3. Add coconut and mix until well combined. Scrape bowl.

4. Add both chocolate chips and mix on low speed just until they are well combined.

5. Pour into prepared pan and spread until even (batter will be very thick). Bake for 30 minutes. Be careful not to over bake them.

6. If you want to add the topping, when bars are done, remove pan from the oven and scatter the chocolate chips over the top, if desired. Let it sit for about a minute, until the chocolate is melted and spread the chocolate around the surface until the top of the bars evenly covered. While the chocolate is still warm, sprinkle coconut over the top. Let the bars cool completely and then put in the fridge until you're ready to cut them.

7. To cut them, use the parchment paper to pick them up and out of the pan. (Note: If you don't have any parchment, you can just grease the pan and hope for the best. These can be a little tricky to get out of the pan without the aid of the paper.) Using a very sharp knife, cut bars into the desired length. Store in an air tight container.

Yield: 1 batch made about 20 smallish one-bite bars
Would I Make This Again? Yep. It's a great recipe. Very easy to put together and would be a good recipe for kids to make. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Nanaimo Bars: A "Goto" Recipe

In every job there are those that I like to refer to as the "Gotos". These are the people that you "go to"when you need to get something done right or if you have a question; they will always have the right answer or know who does. I knew Amy was a Goto within a few hours of starting my job. I didn't even know what she did, necessarily but I could hear her talk to the constant flow of people at her desk or calling her on the phone, I knew she was the real deal. Once I started working on projects my suspicions were confirmed. "We should check with Amy on that," I hear repeatedly, and so I did.

With a cheerfulness that was a little contagious, she'd answer my questions in a way I could understand. She's been really awesome to work with. Not only that, after we discussed our mutual love of baking and I shared my blog address with her, she had told me that she was reading my blog and liked it. Ding! Ding! Ding! Huge brownie points! Her coolness factor was now in the stratosphere.

About a month ago I found out her birth date and told her I'd love to make her something to celebrate her day. I was pumped! But then, when I got back from Hawaii she told me she was leaving and coincidentally her last day was also on her birthday! *sigh* While I'm very excited for her and her new job, I, and several others, wished she would stay. Amy, you'll be missed!

For her double special day, she eventually decided on Nanaimo Bars. I knew just the Goto recipe too, which I guess is fitting. I have no idea where I got this recipe as I copied out of a book some time ago and never thought to include the name of the book anywhere. What I love about this recipe is that everything is from scratch, except the graham cracker crumbs. The filling does not use custard powder at all and nor should any self respecting Nanaimo Bar recipe! Seriously, if you're in that much of a hurry to make something that you need pudding mix or custard powder, don't bother making these. It's just not fair to the Nanaimo Bar.

When I made this recipe, I made it in stages. First the made the crust and then drove my son to his baseball game. I dropped him off and then headed back home and made the filling, which was about an hour before our two-hour yearly homeowners association meeting. It was then that I found out that I was out of cornstarch and didn't have time to go to the store to get some. During my search for the cornstarch in my pantry, I came across a bag of tapioca flour that I didn't even know I had. On the back it had clear cornstarch substitution information! Lucky me! What I found was that tapioca powder is gluten free (maybe there's gluten free graham crackers out there and this entire recipe could be made sans gluten!?) and that is binds even better than cornstarch. It made the filling quiet thick which made it easier to cut. When I got home from the HOA meeting, I made the chocolate sauce layer. Being forced to take my time in making this dessert was key. The layers really have to be well chilled or the entire dessert will suffer.

This recipe also taught me how to cut a dessert bar in such a way that looks appetizing. Usually I rush though this part and then the bars look messy and cracked. Slowly down, using a very sharp knife, and cleaning off the blade after each cut is key. Anyway, I digress.

Amy, I hope you have a great birthday and enjoy your new job. I really have enjoyed getting to know you and working with you. I'll miss hearing your laughter and seeing your big smile around the office. I know it will just be a matter of time before you're a Goto person in your new position too.

Nanaimo Bars

Bottom Layer
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened and cut into several pieces
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (Dutched process is best)
1/4 cup of sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts (or run through the food process until fine)

Middle Layer
3 ounces white chocolate chips or a bar finely chopped
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened and cut into several pieces
4 tablespoons tapioca starch or 2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons milk
2 egg yolks
pinch of Kosher salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Top Layer
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

Bottom Layer
Line a 8x8 or 9x9 with two long strips of parchment or wax paper that extend over the sides of the pan. This makes it so much easier to get the bars out of the pan.

In a large bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, coconut, and walnuts until its mixed together really well. Set aside.

In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the butter, cocoa powder, sugar, egg, and vanilla. Cook, whisking constantly, for about five minutes. Add to the coconut, graham cracker, and walnut mixture, being sure to mix the really well (don't be afraid to use your hands).

Pat the crust mixture into the prepared pan, being sure to keep it level and packed down (I like to use the bottom of a juice glass to smooth and push the crust down). Refrigerate for at least an hour so that it gets really firm.

Middle Layer
Before you start making the filling, take the crust out of the frig. Pull the wax paper up and out of the pan a little, just to ensure it's easy to remove. This will help a lot later on. Put the crust back in the frig.

Set a medium sauce pan filled half way with water and bring to a very low boil. While you're waiting for the water to bowl, combine the tapioca starch, milk, egg yolks, and salt into a medium bowl and whisk to mix.

Place a large metal bowl over the top of the boiling water so as to create a double boiler. Melt the butter and white chocolate in the bowl and stir together until well combined. Take the crust out of the frig and put it somewhere close by.

Add the tapioca flour, milk, egg yolk and slat mixture to the butter and white chocolate mixture, being sure to whisk together vigorously. Continue whisking the mixture over the simmering water for about 5 minutes (mixture will thicken). Whisk in the vanilla and then the powdered sugar until smooth and even (the mixture will be really, really thick). Working quickly, pour the white chocolate custard into the cold crust and smooth the top as best as you can. Refrigerate again for at least an hour or more.

Top Layer
Set a medium sauce pan filled half way with water and bring to a very low boil. Place a medium bowl over the top of the boiling water so as to create a double boiler. Melt the butter and unsweetened chocolate in the bowl and stir together until well combined and smooth.

Take the crust and custard out of the refrigerator. Run a sharp knife around the perimeter and slowly lift the wax paper up and out just a bit. (This is yet another attempt to keep the crust and custard from sticking to anything in the pan. This makes it SO much easier later when you need to cut the bar.) Leave the pan on the counter.

Working quickly, pour the glaze over the filling. tilting the pan and spreading the chocolate to evenly coat. (Tip: When you have all the chocolate in the pan, hold the plan firmly in both hands and shake the pan vigorously back and forth on the counter. This helps to create a smooth surface of chocolate. However, if the chocolate has set at all, this technique doesn't work -- I leaned the hard way :-)

Refrigerate for at least twenty minutes until the chocolate is solid.

Cutting the Bars:
Gently pull up on the waxed paper and remove the bars from the pan. They should come out easily. Peel the waxed paper down so you can clearly see the three beautiful layers. Using a very sharp, non-serrated knife, cut small strips off each of the four sides, creating a very clean square.

Determine the size of the bars that you want to cut. I have a normal school ruler that's a foot long and about an inch wide. I used this to measure the rows and columns that I wanted to cut. Using the tip of the knife, slowly score the chocolate with the desired size, then come back to cut. Don't rush it! Take your time and slowly cut through to the bottom layer, using firm pressure. This will keep the chocolate on the top layer intact. If you go to fast or don't clean the knife between cuts, the chocolate will crack and you'll get the crust mixed in with the other layers.

Yield: 1 batch made about 20 bars
Would I Make This Again? Yes! This is one of the ones you pass down. 5 out of 5 stars.

Orlo's Power Bars

For Olro's birthday he asked for either chocolate chip cookies or for something called a Biff Bar. Since I've made chocolate chip cookies a gazillion times, I decided I'd take a stab at the Biff Bar. I had no luck finding a Biff Bar recipe but I did find a recipe called Jo-Ann's Power Bars on Allrecipes.com . Orlo said looked good so I gave it a shot.

I tweaked the recipe a bit (as usual) but accident I left out the eggs which made the bars a bit more crumbly then I would have wanted. But the good news is that they are vegan friendly! Yey!

Orlo's Power Bars

2 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups Nature's Path SmartBran
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2/3 cup applesauce
1/2 cup honey (for vegan bars use maple syrup or agave nectar)
6 tablespoons brown sugar
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup unsalted sunflower seeds
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup of chopped pecans
1 (7 ounce) bag chopped dried mixed fruit

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray a 9x13 pan with Pam. Set aside.

In a large bowl, stir together the oats, flour, cereal, and cinnamon. Add the applesauce, honey, brown sugar, and oil. Mix well. Stir in the sunflower seeds, walnuts, and dried fruit. Spread mixture evenly in the prepared pan.

Bake 30 minutes, or until firm and lightly browned around the edges. Let cool completely then cut into bars or squares, and store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator. Note: The flavor of the bars improves over time. I found that the flavor was much better the next day.

The best part about this recipe is that you can really add anything you'd like. My only regret would have been to use more fruit and to not use one that has any "essence" added. I think the dried fruit I used had a slight orange essence added to it.

Yield: 15-20 servings. It really depends on how you cut the bars.
Would I Make This Again? Yes. I want to try it with different fruit, more fruit, and raisins. I'd also like to try it with 2 egg whites too. 3.5 stars out of 5

Buckle's Snickerdoodle Blondies

This year Buckles requested brownies and said I could surprise her, providing they didn't have nuts. I wanted to make her something really unique. After a few days of thinking about it, I had the idea for creating a Snickerdoodle Blondie. I wanted to combine the same texture of a brownie with the crunchy cinnamon shell of a Snickerdoodle. I couldn't find any on the web, so I invented one. This recipe came out exactly as I wanted! It's nothing short of bliss!

Snickerdoodle Blondies

2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened
2 egg
1 tablespoon vanilla extact
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 9 x 13 inch pan.

2. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. In large bowl, beat together butter, sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth.

3. Stir in the flour mixture until well blended. Spread evenly in prepared pan (mixture will be somewhat cookiebatter-ish.) Combine white sugar and cinnamon in a little bowl. Evenly sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture over the top of the batter.

4. Bake 25-30 minutes or until surface springs back when gently pressed. Cool slightly. While still warm, cut into bars with a sharp knife.

Yields: approxiamately 30 servings
Would I Make This Again? Yes! 4 stars out of 5

Traci's Almond-Chococonut Bars

Traci's birthday falls on a Friday the 13th this year, but the only thing scary about it is the amount of calories I managed to fit into her dessert! She said she would like something that resembled an Almond Joy candy bar and it didn't matter what it was. She just wanted it to have coconut, chocolate, and almonds as part of it's ingredients.

I checked around the web and a few cookbooks and eventually settled on a recipe in the Cake Doctor's Chocolate Lovers cookbook called, "Joy of Almonds" Bars. Unfortunately I made a tiny error when I was at the grocery store and ended up buying condensed milk instead of evaporated! So I had to scramble and get creative. I ended up tweaking the dessert and I think it came out pretty good. It's definitely Almond-Joy-ee!

Happy Birthday Traci - I hope you enjoy your dessert!

Almond Chococonut Bars

• 1 box of Devil's food cake cake mix
• 1 teaspoon almond extract

Prepare as indicated on the box but add the almond extract at the same time you add the eggs. Pour into prepared jelly-roll pan. Bake at 350F for about 12 minutes or until a toothpick comes out of the cake clean. Cool. Keep the oven on.

• bag of sweetened shredded coconut
• 1/2 can of condensed milk
• 20 big marshmallows

Put the condensed milk into a small medium sized saucepan and bring to a low boil over medium heat. Stir often so that the bottom of the pan doesn't burn and turn the milk into caramel. Add the marshmallows and continue mixing until the marshmallows are completely melted. Add the coconut and mix well. Spoon the coconut mixture over the cooked the cake and put it back in the oven for 8 minutes. Cool. (Turn off oven) .

• 1/2 cup of milk chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup of chopped almonds

In small bowl, melt chocolate chips in the microwave for a minute at a time and mix well. Continue until completely melted. Drizzle over bars. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.