Cookie Carnival: Black Bottom Coconut Bars

This month, the Cookie Carnival bakers took their inspiration from Martha & Co. and made the Black Bottom Coconut Bars that were featured in the December 2005 edition of Everyday Food magazine.


They were a thin but very chocolatey brownie with a coconut topping.

The brownie layer is baked first and then the coconut layer is added. Here you can see the coconut layer before I smoothed it out and baked.



I thought these were pretty darned good, but that they would have been better if the coconut layer were a wee bit sweeter. If I were to make these again, I would add more sugar to the coconut layer... then they would probably be perfect.

They would make a great addition to a holiday cookie tray. You can find the recipe HERE.

OK, over and out until next month... I can't wait to see what Kate at The Clean Plate Club has up her sleeve for next month. If you'd like to join in the cookie fun, you can click on the "Cookie Carnival" link above :)

Cookie Carnival: Strawberry Shortcake Cookies

This month, the Cookie Carnival bakers made Strawberry Shortcake Cookies from Martha Stewart's site.

These "cookies" were really sweetened little biscuits with chunks of strawberry scattered throughout.

Mmm, they were so GOOD! I will definitely make these again. The kids (normally chocolate chip cookie snobs) were scarfing them down faster than me.

The directions say they are best the day they are made, and I agree. By the second day they were headed toward soggy land.

They were a little strange to make up, not like your typical cookie dough. They were somewhat crumbly before adding the strawberries, but once the strawberries were in, they moistened the dough and it came together.

Here they are before baking.



OK, over and out! See you next month.

Cookie Carnival: Hazelnut Macaroon Sandwich Cookies

Last, but not least, for the month of May, is this month's Cookie Carnival recipe, Hazelnut Macaroon Sandwich Cookies

(As an aside, these are French "macarons" and not the American "macaroons". However, the recipe from Williams-Sonoma calls them "macaroons". Go figure.)

Oooh, fun, we get to pull out the piping bag.


After piping, the cookie tops are tamped down with a wet finger and they're ready to sit on the counter for 45 minutes before baking. I guess that's so the outsides will dry? (I dunno... I just do what they tell me.)


I pulled the first batch out of the oven too soon and they weren't quite done. They were a tiny bit "wet" inside and some had air pockets. The second batch was the more in line with the recommended "firm and golden" and they were noticeably better.


The more-done cookies had better "feet"... I guess that's what the little ridge around the bottom edge is called.


Here, have a macaroon...


(Take two, they're small.)

OK, so my macaroon-making skills need some work, but all in all, I was pleased with my first attempt.

Oh, and they're quite addictive. The more I ate, the better they got! Good thing I only made half a batch.

Thanks so much to Kate at the Clean Plate Club for picking these tasty little cuties. You can find the recipe here.

P.S. I used ground almonds rather than hazelnuts due to a hazelnut over-toasting incident.

Cookie Carnival: Toasted Almond Lemon Bars

This month, the Cookie Carnival bakers made Toasted Almond Lemon Bars from "The Sweet Melissa Baking Book" by Melissa Murphy. Holly from PheMOMenon was guest host, and you can look for a roundup of all of the bars on her site soon. Thanks, Holly, for a great pick.


(Of course, I forgot the sprinkling of powdered sugar on top. I always forget that part.)

I really enjoyed these lemon bars, they were tangy, lemony, and addictive. The toasted almond base was perfect with the lemon. I thought that toasting the almonds added an extra dimension of flavor. If you try these, definitely don't skip this step.

OK, over and out until next month :)

P.S. I apologize for the short posts lately, I'm having a hard time keeping up these days. I blame the warm weather!

Toasted Almond Lemon Bars

From The Sweet Melissa Baking Book by Melissa Murphy

Makes 1 dozen bars

"Everyone loves lemon bars. I make mine extra special by adding toasted almonds to the shortbread crust."

For the Crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup sliced blanched almonds, lightly toasted
1/2 teaspoon salt
20 Tablespoons (2 1/2 sticks) cold, unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces

For the Lemon Filling:
4 large eggs
1 3/4 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice (about 7 lemons)
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar for sprinkling

To Toast the Almonds:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spread the almonds in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until lightly golden and you can smell them. Remove to a wire rack to cool.

Before You Start:
Position a rack in the center of your oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9 x 13 - inch pan with nonstick vegetable cooking spray. Make a parchment "sling" by cutting two pieces of parchment paper, measuring 16 1/2 inches long by 12 inches wide (you can also use aluminum foil). Place one piece across the length, and the other across the width of the pan, with the excess hanging over the edges. You will use this sling later to lift the finished bar from the pan. Spray the sling with the cooking spray.

To Make the Crust:
1. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, pulse the flour, sugar, almonds, and salt to combine. Add the cold butter in pieces and pulse until the dough comes together in a ball.

2. Turn the dough out into the prepared pan and press evenly into the bottom and 1 1/4 inches up the sides. (This crust, once it is baked, needs to act as a liner in which to pour the liquidy lemon filling. So be sure to do a good job of pressing the dough up the sides - no cracks!). Cover the dough with a piece of parchment paper or aluminum foil, and fill with pie weights ( you can use dried beans or uncooked rice as pie weights as well). Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until lightly golden. Carefully remove the pie weights and the liner and bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes, or until the whole crust is golden. Remove to a wire rack to cool.

To Make the Filling:
In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar until smooth. Add the almond extract and flour, and whisk until smooth. Add the lemon juice, and whisk to combine.

To Complete the Bars:
1. Pour the lemon filling into the prepared crust. Reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees F. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the filling is firm and lightly golden. Remove to a wire rack to cool.

2. When cool use the parchment sling to lift the entire bar from the pan and onto a cutting board. Slice into twelve 3 x 3 1/2 - inch bars. Remove from the pan and, using a small sifter, dust with the confectioners' sugar.

The bars keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. For longer storage, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 5 days, or freeze well wrapped in plastic wrap and then aluminum foil for up to 3 weeks. Do not unwrap before defrosting. Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving.

Cookie Carnival: Inside-Out Carrot Cake Cookies

Hello fellow cookie lovers! The Cookie Carnival gang has another great cookie to share with the blogosphere this month - Inside-Out Carrot Cake Cookies, from the April 2004 issue of Gourmet magazine.

It's no surprise that I loved these cookies. After all, carrot cake is my all-time favorite cake.

We were supposed to make larger cookies and sandwich the cream cheese filling between them. Since I was taking these to a get-together, I needed more cookies than the recipe calls for. So instead, I made them smaller and topped them with cream cheese icing.

I did take a few of them, cut them in half and make a sort of half-sandwich cookie. Turns out, I liked them better as sandwich cookies.


If you're interested in these spicy delights, you can find the recipe at Epicurious.com or click ---> here.

Thanks to our host, Kate, from the Clean Plate Club for once again picking a fantastic cookie. If you'd like to join us Carnivalers, please let Kate know.

Cookie Carnival: Chocolate Fudge Cookies with Toffee and Dried Cherries

The title pretty much sums it up for this month's edition of Cookie Carnival.


These cookies were chocolaty with a slight crunch from the toffee and a bit of extra sweet tastiness from the dried cherries. They were soft inside, just the way I like them.

It looks like Regan Daley of "The Sweet Kitchen" knows her cookies. This is the second cookie recipe of hers we've made and it was another home run.

Seriously, these cookies were fantastic.


Try them, you won't be disappointed.

Chocolate Fudge Cookies with Toffee and Dried Cherries

makes 40 large cookies

INGREDIENTS
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened dutch-process cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup tightly packed dark brown sugar
3/4 granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup plump, moist, dried sour cherries
8 oz. bitter or semisweet chocolate chopped into chunks about the size of the cherries
1 cup English toffee pieces for baking such as Skor Bits

INSTRUCTIONS
1. preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two heavy baking sheets, not non-stick, with parchment paper and set aside. Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt together into a bowl and set aside. In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of an electric or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and both sugars until light in colour and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add
the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl. Beat in the vanilla. Stir in the flour-mixture in 3 additions, blending just until the dry ingredients are moistened. I find this part of the job easier with a wooden spoon, rather than a mixer, as I can see better which parts of the batter need more attention without overmixing. Stir in the chunky
ingredients and mix until they seem evenly distributed. (the dough may be frozen at this point for up to 4 months: wrap the dough securely in plastic wrap, then in a plastic freezer bag. Thaw the dough in the refrigerator without removing its wrapping before portioning the cookies and baking.)

2. Drop the batter by heaping tablespoons onto the prepared baking sheets and place them in the center of the oven. If you have a large, evenly tempered oven, place the 2 sheets in at once, on two racks positioned close to the middle of the oven. switch the position of the trays once during baking. If your oven is small, or tends to have hot or cold spots, bake one tray at a time so the cookies bake evenly.

3. Bake the cookies for 15-18 minutes, or until barely set in the center and just firm around the edges. Rotate the sheets once or twice. Cool the cookies on the tray for 3-5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely before storing. (feel free to eat them at any point.) Run the hot tray under cold water to cool it, dry thoroughly and repeat with remaining dough. Store the cookies in airtight containers, layered between sheets of parchment or waxed paper for up to 5 days.

Cookie Carnival: Chocolate Roll-Out Cookies

Hey folks, I haven't baked since before Christmas (for which my thighs are thankful). But I do have some posts to catch up on.

The first is for Cookie Carnival. In the spirit of the holidays, our leader Kate, from the Clean Plate Club, chose roll-out cookies in our choice of chocolate or vanilla. I had been wanting to find a chocolate roll-out cookie for some time, so that's the one I chose. The Chocolate Roll-Out Cookie recipe is from Dorie Greenspan and can be found----> here.

Let me tell you what happened with these cookies, it's kind of funny. In a moment of supreme pre-holiday organization, I decided to mix up all of the cookie dough for my Operation Baking Gals care package (more on that later), as well as my Cookie Carnival entry on one day. I think it was 4 or 5 recipes worth. My plan was to bake all of these cookies the next day. Well, you know the old "best laid plans of mice and men"... I got my Baking Gals cookies baked, but not the Cookie Carnival cookies. So I had this bowl of yummy, sandy, salty, chocolatey dough in my fridge for almost a week.

I'm sure you can see where this is headed.

Over that week, I kept snacking on the dough and by the time I went to bake them, there were only a few cookies worth of dough left (I had made 1/2 a batch). It actually turned out perfect because I needed some cookies for Santa. So anyway, here are all 4 cookies I made for Cookie Carnival, minimally decorated.


And how were they, you ask? Very good! They kind of reminded me of sables, in that they were a more sandy textured cookie. I would definitely make these again. I like the look of the dark chocolate cookie with the bright white cookie icing.

I used an icing recipe I picked up a long time ago during my cake and cookie decorating days. It's a modified royal icing. It sets up hard, but isn't cloyingly sweet and hard like regular royal icing.

Alice's Modified Royal Icing

1lb sifted powdered sugar
3 Tbl. Meringue Powder
5-6 Tbls water
1/2 cup butter, softened
pinch of salt

Mix meringue powder and water in a bowl using a stand mixer or hand mixer. Add the powdered sugar and mix for a few minutes. Add butter and salt and mix until well blended, several minutes.

Cookie Carnival: The Ultimate Chewy and Soft Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Just when I think I've made the best chocolate chip cookie yet, along comes another fabulous recipe. I'm starting to think maybe there's no such thing as a bad chocolate chip cookie.

The lovely, Kate, from the Clean Plate Club, and our fearless Cookie Carnival leader has chosen The Ultimate Chewy and Soft Chocolate Chunk Cookies as this month's cookie. It comes from "In the Sweet Kitchen", by Regan Daley.


Mmmm, these were soft and chewy throughout. They held their shape and didn't flatten out, no doubt due to the large percentage of flour. These cookies contained the same basic amount of sugar, butter, and eggs as the famous Tollhouse chocolate chip cookies, but they have almost a cup of flour more.

Anyway, they were delicious and perfect for dunking into an ice cold glass of milk. I sent most of them to one of the soldiers for Operation Baking Gals (I'll post about that later). I hope the soldiers enjoy them as much as I did.

(I'm not usually one to fall for nick-nacks and do-dads, but I couldn't resist buying this chicken, er, rooster (thanks, Vera!).)


The Ultimate Chewy and Soft Chocolate Chunk Cookies

INGREDIENTS
1 cup unsalted butter at room temp
1 cup tightly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
3 cups plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
16 oz. flavorful bitter or semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, or lightly butter them, and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, or stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, or a large bowl if mixing by hand, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well and scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Beat in the vanilla.

2. Sift the flour, baking soda and salt together in a small bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the butter-sugar mixture, and mix until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chunks.

3. Using your hands, shape knobs of dough about the size of a large walnut and place them 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Stagger the rows of cookies to ensure even baking. Bake 12-15 for smaller cookies, 14-17 for larger ones or until the tops are a light golden brown. If the cookies are neither firm nor dark when they are removed from the oven, they will cool chewy and soft. Cool the cookies on the sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. If somehow they don't get inhaled immediately, they may be stored airtight at room temperature for up to one week.

Cookie Carnival: Mini Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

(Yes, that picture does have a nuclear glow to it, lol.)

I'm so glad I joined Cookie Carnival. If I could only bake one type of baked good for the rest of my life, it would be cookies. I love making them, and eating them. The cool think about Cookie Carnival is that it forces me to reach outside of my comfort zone and try new things.

Like sandwich cookies. This is my second sandwich cookie (the first being the surprisingly scrumptious Pink Grapefruit Sandwich Cookies). This time around it's chocolate cookies with pumpkin filling, also known as Mini Pumpkin Whoopie Pies.


I was curious about the origin of Whoopie Pies. According to Wikipedia: "A whoopie pie, sometimes alternatively called a gob, black-and-white, or bob is a baked good traditional to the Pennsylvania Dutch culture as well as New England, made of two small, chocolate, disk-shaped cakes with a sweet, creamy frosting sandwiched between them."

Interesting, since I thought the cookies tasted exactly like Devil's Food cake. (Ha, can't fool a cookie expert, trying to disguise a little round cake as a cookie!) I wasn't too keen on the filling. My tastebuds didn't think it went very well with the chocolate cookie. I think I would have liked them better with a fluffy white filling, as with the original.

Quite a few other Cookie Carnival bakers said their filling was runny. Mine wasn't runny, just kind of slimy-ish. I whipped the heck out of it with my Kitchenaid mixer, so maybe that's why it stayed together.


I enjoyed making them though. They're super cute and make for a nice take-along for the holidays feeding frenzies. I might try them again with a different filling. The cake/cookie was lip-smacking good.


If you'd like to give them a try, you can find the recipe at Martha Stewart's site.

Cookie Carnival: Pink Grapefruit Sandwich Cookies

A long time ago, I asked my mom what she thought about Marilyn Monroe, back in the day. I don’t recall what she said exactly, but I do remember her saying that Marilyn was one of those people everyone had an opinion about. Some loved her, some hated her, and some were in between, but everyone had something to say about her.

One of those “everybody has an opinion about her” types from this era is Martha Stewart. Personally, I admire her. Now, I’m not so sure whether I would like her very well, if we met. It’s hard to say. She seems like a fairly serious person. I tend to gravitate more toward the easy-going types, so I don’t know if Martha and I would click.


But I do admire her. I mean, how many people build an empire starting out with a catering business? How many company heads can make a wedding cake? And I liked how she just went to prison and got it over with… heck, she made prison seem like a vacation.

I get a kick out of watching her show. Only because she seems to struggle sometimes between having to chat up the guests and actually trying to accomplish something. I get the feeling she really wants to accomplish the task, but the pesky guests keep getting in the way.


Take the video for this month’s Cookie Carnival recipe, Pink Grapefruit Sandwich Cookies, for example. Her guest is clearly not a cookie-maker and I chuckled watching Martha getting those cookies made, come hell or high water.

My version of the cookies were subtly grapefruit-flavored, and oh so yummy. I rolled them a tad thicker than called for (me not reading instructions properly is emerging as a common theme around here). My cookies had more heft than I imagine they were supposed to. Next time I will try to roll them thinner. I didn’t bake them as long as called for in the recipe, either…I like my cookies soft. And, with sugar-type cookies I prefer to keep them creamy white with no visible browning. I bake them just until they’re set. In this case, around 10-12 minutes. I did bake one batch longer just to see what they were like.



We were supposed to roll them 1/8" thick... um, yea, this is not 1/8" thick, lol.


I cheated and piped my icing on. I knew they would look like poo if I used a spatula.


Thanks so much to Kate of The Clean Plate Club for hosting Cookie Carnival and choosing this delicious little treat. I will be making them again, no doubt.

Pink Grapefruit Sandwich Cookies
(Recipe courtesy Martha Stewart’s website)

You can bake the cookies and make the filling a day ahead.

Ingredients for cookies

Makes 15 sandwich cookies.
* Grated zest of 1 Ruby Red grapefruit, plus 1/4 cup freshly squeezed juice
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
* 3/4 cup cake flour (not self-rising)
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
* 2 large egg yolks
* Pink Grapefruit Cream Filling

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. In a small bowl, combine zest with 1 tablespoon sugar; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together both flours, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and remaining sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add egg yolks, and beat until combined, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in reserved zest-sugar mixture. Add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the juice, and beat to combine.

3. Turn out dough onto a piece of plastic wrap, and shape into a 1-inch-thick disk. Wrap in plastic, and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.

4. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out disk to 1/8 inch thick using a lightly floured rolling pin. Using a lightly floured 2-inch round cookie cutter, cut out rounds and place about 1 inch apart on prepared sheet. Bake, rotating sheet halfway through, until edges are golden, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack to cool 5 minutes. Transfer parchment paper and cookies to rack to cool completely.

5. Using an offset spatula, spread 1 tablespoon filling onto flat sides of half the cookies. Sandwich with remaining cookies, keeping flat sides down. Once filled, cookies can be kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Ingredients for filling

Makes enough to fill 15 sandwich cookies.

* 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
* 2 cups confectioners' sugar
* 1 tablespoon honey
* 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed Ruby Red grapefruit juice
(I added a drop of red food coloring)

Directions

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Beat in honey. Add juice, 1tablespoon at a time, until filling holds together and is smooth and creamy, about 2minutes. Transfer to a small bowl, cover, and set aside until ready to use.

Cookie Carnival: Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti

Ewwww, biscotti… hard, dry, tasteless, break-your-teeth biscotti. I’ve only had it one time before and that about sums up my impression of it.

As I embarked on this month’s Cookie Carnival recipe, Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti, I was prepared to pitch the freshly baked cookies in the trash and declare smugly “I knew it!”.


But, as usual, I didn’t know. (If anything, this baking blog has been a humbling experience.)

In case you don’t know, biscotti are a twice-baked cookie. First they are baked as a log, then the log is sliced into pieces and the pieces returned to the oven for round two. I, not wanting the experience to be a total bust, held some of the pieces back and didn’t bake them a second time.

Here's the log of cookie dough ready for the oven. I rolled the dough in saran wrap to help form the log and then refrigerated for about 30 minutes to firm it up a bit first.



Here's the baked log being sliced into pieces. It spread more than I thought it would.


To my complete and utter surprise, I actually liked this biscotti. Even the twice-baked version. And the once-baked biscotti? They were awesome! I loved them so much I wanted to marry them.


The only thing I changed in the recipe was the whole hazelnuts that get mixed in at the end. I still haven't recovered from the hazelnut-skinning fiasco from last month’s Daring Baker’s Challenge, so I used roughly chopped macadamia nuts instead. I really liked the crunch they added. I will definitely sub macadamias again.

Oh, yes, I WILL be making these again. Fo sho!


Many thanks to Kate at The Clean Plate Club for hosting Cookie Carnival. I can’t wait to see what September brings.

Here's the recipe... give it a try!

Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti

1 1/2 cups hazelnuts, toasted, husked
3 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line heavy large baking sheet with parchment paper. Grind 1/2 cup toasted hazelnuts in processor. Set aside. Whisk flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Beat butter and sugar in another large bowl to blend. Add eggs and vanilla and almond extracts and beat until well blended. Beat in flour mixture. Mix in 1 cup whole toasted hazelnuts, chocolate chips and 1/2 cup ground hazelnuts.

Divide dough into 2 equal pieces. Shape each piece on baking sheet into 2 1/2-inch-wide by 14-inch-long log. Place logs on prepared baking sheet, spacing 2 1/2 inches apart (logs will spread during baking). Bake until logs feel firm when tops are gently pressed, about 35 minutes. Cool logs on baking sheet 15 minutes. Maintain oven temperature.

Using long wide spatula, transfer baked logs to cutting board. Using serrated knife, cut warm logs crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices.

Arrange slices, cut side down, on 2 baking sheets. Bake biscotti until firm, about 15 minutes. Transfer to racks and cool completely. (Chocolate-Hazelnut Biscotti can be prepared ahead. Store in airtight container up to 4 days, or wrap in foil and freeze in resealable plastic bags up to 3 weeks.)

Cookie Carnival: Blackberry Almond Bars

I joined a monthly cookie baking group called Cookie Carnival, hosted by Kate at The Clean Plate Club.


In keeping with the summer fruits theme, Kate picked Blackberry Almond Bars for this month’s cookie.

I had some blueberries and raspberries that were on the verge of heading south, so I used those rather than blackberries. And, since I didn’t need them right away, I made the blue–raspberry curd on Thursday and refrigerated until Sunday when I baked the cookies. I wasn't sure the curd would last, but it turned out fine.


The verdict? They were very tasty... a nice change from the chocolate-somthing type cookie I invariably end up baking. The fruit layer was sweet and just the right consistency, the cookie layer was like buttery shortbread.

My only complaint is that they weren’t very photogenic, lol.

BLACKBERRY ALMOND BARS
Williams-Sonoma

INGREDIENTS:
For the shortbread:
* 12 Tbs. (1 1/2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/2 cup ground toasted almonds
* 1/2 cup granulated sugar
* 1/2 tsp. salt

For the blackberry curd:
* 2 pints blackberries (I used 1-1/2 pints blueberries + 1/2 pink raspberries)
* 4 eggs
* 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
* Pinch of salt
* 1 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
* 4 Tbs. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into 1-inch pieces

Confectioners’ sugar for dusting

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat an oven to 350°F. Lightly butter a 9-by-13-by-2-inch cake pan.

To make the shortbread, in the bowl of a food processor, combine the butter, flour, almonds, granulated sugar and salt and process until small lumps form. Sprinkle the mixture into the prepared pan and press evenly into the bottom. Bake until the shortbread is golden, about 20 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack. Reduce the oven temperature to 325°F.

Meanwhile, make the blackberry curd: In a food processor or blender, puree the blackberries until smooth. Pass the puree through a chinois set over a bowl, using a pestle to press on the solids and extract as much juice as possible; discard the solids. You should have about 3/4 cup juice.

In the top pan of a double boiler or in a nonreactive saucepan, whisk together the eggs and granulated sugar until blended. Then whisk in the blackberry juice, salt and lemon juice. Set the top pan over but not touching simmering water in the bottom pan, or set the saucepan over medium-low heat. (If using a saucepan, take care not to heat the mixture too quickly.) Cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spatula or spoon, until the mixture is warmed through, 1 to 2 minutes.

Begin adding the butter a little at a time, stirring each addition until blended before adding more. Continue cooking, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom of the pan, until a finger drawn across the back of the spatula leaves a path, 8 to 10 minutes more. Immediately remove the pan from the heat. Pass the curd through the chinois set over a bowl and let stand for 10 minutes. Whisk to blend, then pour the curd over the shortbread, spreading it evenly to the edges.

Bake until the curd is set, about 30 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool completely. Cut into individual bars, cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Dust the bars with confectioners’ sugar before serving.

Makes 20 bars.