Daring Bakers: chocolate

Flourless chocolate cake, a bit too dry, served with Vanilla Frozen Yogurt from 101 cookbooks. It appears the frozen yogurt recipe originally came from David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop.

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef.We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

TWD: Caramel Crunch Bars

I didn't choose this recipe. About a month ago, I recieved the email asking for my pick. I gather I said something like, "oh, goody! It's my turn to pick the Tuesdays with Dorie recipe." Within 10 seconds, my kids had the cookbook off the shelf and were anxiously thumbing through the non-highlighted pages. (I highlight recipe titles after I've made them). Only moments later, or so it seemed, J. told me that we were choosing the Caramel Crunch Bars on p. 112. Being the softie that I am, I replied to the email that I did, in fact choose the Caramel Crunch Bars.

Now, I recognize that some of you are therefore questioning my parenting, and cooking skills, for relinquishing this powerful, once in a lifetime choice to a fourth grader and a pre-schooler. But, reality is, I'm eventually going to make (almost) all of the recipes, right? Besides, I know the truth, they were drawn in by the yummy looking ice cream sandwhich photo on page 113.

So here's where I admit that I momentarily doubted Dorie (Mistake in judgement #1?). See, this recipe reminded me quite a bit of Molly Wizenberg's Coffee Crunch Bars from the February issue of Bon Appetit. Mostly, I suppose because of the espresso powder in the dough. So I made the Coffee Crunch Bars. They were tasty, and crunchy. I wrapped much of the batch neatly in waxed paper and took them to a family from K.'s preschool who had recently had a new baby. (Mistake in judgement #2 might be that I took root veggie pot pies and cookies with coffee in them to a family with 2 and 4 year old boys. I realize that, in retrospect, I was supposed to make lasagna and brownies, or maybe order them a pizza and drop off a half gallon -- or wait, 1.5Q --of Breyers.)

The other day I finally made the Caramel Crunch bars. Did they beat the Coffee Crunch Bars? HANDS DOWN. I wasn't easily able to pat the dough into the pan with my fingertips, I found my palms much more effective. That thick layer of Scharffen Berger 62% -- yum. After eating a dozen or so (cut small, honestly) I packed the rest away for A. to take to work. I saved two large squares in an attempt to recreate my children's treasured ice cream sandwhich photo. After freezing them, however, I discovered that these cookies are total toothbreakers, so I scraped off the ice cream, allowed the cookies to return to room temp and enjoyed my last few bites.

Caramel Crunch Bars

From Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

For the base: 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. instant espresso powder or finely ground instant coffee
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
2 sticks (8oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup light brown sugar
¼ cup sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 oz. bittersweet or premium milk chocolate, finely chopped

For the topping:
6 oz. bittersweet or premium milk chocolate, finely chopped
¾ cup Heath toffee bits

Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly butter a 9x13 inch baking pan, line the pan with foil and butter the foil. Put the pan on a baking sheet.

To make the base: Whisk together the flour, coffee, salt and cinnamon.
Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter at medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add the sugars and beat for another three minutes or until the mixture is light and creamy. Beat in the vanilla and turn off the mixer. Add all the dry ingredients, cover the stand mixer with a kitchen towel (so you and your kitchen don’t get showered in flour) and pulse the mixer on and off at low speed about 5 times- at which point a peek at the bowl should reveal that it’s safe to turn the mixer to low and mix, uncovered, just until the dry ingredients are almost incorporated. Add the chopped chocolate and mix only until the dry ingredients disappear. If the chocolate isn’t evenly mixed, finish the job by hand with a spatula. You’ll have a very heavy, very sticky dough. Scrape the dough into the buttered pan and, with the spatula and your fingertips, cajole it into a thin, even layer.

Bake for 20 to 22 minutes, or until the base is bubbly – so bubbly that you can almost hear it percolating – and puckery. It will look as though it is struggling to pull away from the side of the pan. Transfer the pan to a rack and turn off the oven.

To make the topping: Scatter the chocolate evenly over the top of the hot base and pop the pan back into the oven for 2 to 3 minutes, until the chocolate is soft.. Remove from oven and immediately spread chocolate over bars, using offset spatula or the back of a spoon. Sprinkle the toffee bits over the chocolate and press them down lightly with your fingertips. Place the baking pan on a rack to cool to room temperature.

If, by the time the bars are cool, the chocolate has not set, refrigerate them briefly to firm the chocolate.
Carefully lift out of the pan, using foil edges as handles, and transfer to a cutting board. Trim the edges if they seem a bit thick. Cut about 54 bars, each about 2 inches by 1 inch, taking care not to cut through the foil.

Things to love

I've spent valentine's day with my favorite people. The kids ate a few too many conversation hearts... I ate a little too much Zingerman's bread (both chocolate cherry and bacon black pepper.) Mostly, I've laughed more than I have in while. Why?

1. For all of the "creative" cooking I do, and for all of the times we don't eat meat, A. went to the store and got one of those rotisserie chickens. J and K though that eating a drumstick was the coolest thing.

2. I was able to watch "Happy Valentine's Day, Charlie Brown" with my eyes partially closed, and follow it up with the Brady Bunch episode where Bobby tries to win a trophy. Has DVR changed my life? For 20 minutes a week, you bet!

3. For the past year, J. has been walking both sides of the bigkid/littlekid line. A few minutes ago, he sent A and me into gales of laughter. While cleaning his room, he was listening to his itouch and singing along. It switched from the Boss to a children's song that rapped "the poop goes in the potty..." A. and I looked at each other in agreement, "Can we get this song for Rock Band?"

4. K. has a new upf50 shirt for our upcoming vacation (it's that red hair/dermatologist combo). When I asked her to try it on this morning, she says, "this is going to be fun." I think of vacation as fun, but not the shopping for or trying on of clothes. Is this really my daughter?

TWD: Floating Islands

Definitely volcanic islands. Maybe even tropical ones, with white sand beaches, gently blowing palm trees and fruity drinks. Yes, it's winter, and I'm completely thinking vacation.

I attempted to make these islands smooth, as Dorie instructed, but since that didn't work, I'll continue my daydream. With a touch of advance planning, this recipe came together easily. I added a cinnamon stick to the creme anglaise but otherwise stuck to the recipe.

If I'm back from my tropical daydream, I'd better go figure out how to clean the hardened caramel out of my saucepan.

TWD: World Peace Cookies

A. has always maintained that the excellence in Toll House cookies comes from the salt. I was thrilled to find cookies exhibit that same saltiness. Topped with just a sprinkling for Maldon, I'm saddened that I had to give all of these away to others rather than enjoy them myself. I'll be making them again, though.

R2R: Holopchi

I'm not sure exactly which army, football team, or church social the ladies of the Keld Community Ladies Club of Manitoba were cooking for.

I halved this recipe, and filled a casserole dish with a lovely little collection of bread dough wrapped in kale. By the time these babies were tucked in and surrounded by sauce, I was doubting exactly how much I could pass off on my family. I took the remainder of the bread dough, rolled it, shaped it into a loaf and baked it alongside my holopchi.

I'm surprised at how good these were. I trimmed the calories in the sauce by sauteeing a bit of flour with the onions and then adding skim milk. More sauce might have been better, but they were truly interesting, if not a traditional superbowl snack.

I'll keep these in mind next time I need to feed 5 dozen or so people.