Chocolate Bavarian Slice recipe - Best Recipes
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Monday, October 12, 2009
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Recipes from Baking bites
I’ve always liked the oat and fig flavor combination of Fig Newtons (or similar knock-offs), as the subtly nutty oat flavor goes very well with the rich, sticky sweetness of the fig filling. The texture of the cake-like cookies is not always ideal, however. It might just be a freshness issue, but I never liked getting a batch of fig newtons were the edges were hard or tough and took away from the otherwise soft chewiness of the cookie.
I used the same flavor combination in these Fig Jam Bars, which are a bar cookie and not individually sliced as Fig Newtons are. The tender dough reminds me of a very soft shortbread, because it has a rich buttery flavor in addition to the flavor of oats, and pretty much melts in your mouth as you chew. Oat flour is sold in many grocery stores, and is easily available at Whole Foods and other health food-type markets. All it really is is oats that are ground to have the consistency of flour. You can make it yourself by whizzing rolled or quick-cooking oats in the food processor until they are very finely ground.
I used fig jam as the fig filling, which is very convenient. I’ve seen some fig bar recipes in the past that have you rehydrating dried figs, cooking them with sugar and pureeing them before using them in the recipe, and while I’m sure it’s good, it’s a little too time consuming for me. I find fig jam at farmers markets and at most grocery/specialty stores, but you can also make your own at home with fresh figs, if you find yourself with a surplus of fruit. I used Mountain Fruit Co.’s The Fig Galaxy - Black Mission Fig Jam for my bars.
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Magic Bars April 20
Filed under Recipes, Cookies - Bar Cookies and Brownies, Chocolate by Nicole 15 comments
Magic bars have been around for quite some time, and even though their name alone isn’t that descriptive, if you’ve been to some kind of school bake sale in the past few decades, you’ve probably seen or eaten them. These chewy bar cookies have a layers of chocolate, nuts and coconut, soaked in sweetened condensed milk, and all stacked on a graham cracker crust. They’re called “magic bars” because you don’t have to do much mixing - just layer everything in the pan and bake. Once the timer goes off in the oven, like magic, the bars have melded into a delicious treat.
I’ve seen the bars with slightly different components and in slightly different orders to the layers. I used the order I mentioned above: graham crust, chocolate, nuts, coconut, sweetened condensed milk. For my magic bars, I used Guittard semisweet chocolate chips, roasted and salted pecans, and unsweetened coconut. I also incorporated some oats into my crust to give it a little more depth of flavor. I think that using salted nuts really makes a big difference in the finished bars because it keeps them from being too sweet. With the salted nuts, there is just the slightest hint of a savory element in with the chocolate and coconut.
The finished bars end up being moist, chewy, crunchy and incredibly addictive. It’s a bonus that they’re so simple to make. These bars are good both at room temperature and when they’re chilled. I especially recommend chilling them if it’s hot outside, as the bars tend to get a little too soft and melty during the summer.
(more…)
By Cracky Bars March 23
Filed under Recipes, Cookies - Bar Cookies and Brownies by Nicole 11 comments
“By cracky!” is one of those great, old-timey phrases that you don’t hear too much any more. Although if you have some older relatives it might come out once in a while in place of “by golly” or “by gosh” (or some similar euphemism). And, you might start hearing it around the kitchen if you add these to your repertoire because they’re By Cracky Bars! The recipe comes from the 1953 Pillsbury Bake Off booklet, and was the 2nd prize winner of the junior baker contest that year.
The bars are quite unusual in flavor and texture, but are easy to make and deliver a lovely presentation with all their stripey layers. They come in somewhere between a pound cake and a cookie in texture. Like a pound cake, they are fairly dense, but not heavy at all and quite tender when you bite into them. Like a cookie, they’re a little bit drier than a traditional cake would be, but have just enough of a crunchy texture that the whole combination works perfectly. They go very well with milk.
The batter/dough for the top and bottom layers of the bar is the same. To one portion of the batter, you stir in a small amount of melted chocolate and a generous amount of chopped walnuts. To the rest of the batter, you simply add chocolate chips. The middle layer is actually graham crackers that have been laid between the chocolate and vanilla batters. The graham adds a subtle crispiness, but is very subtle and seems to add more to the presentation than anything else.
These bars keep well and are easy to travel with. They’ll appeal to those who like cookies and those who like cake, and will definitely find fans with the chocolate-loving crowd thanks to all the chips in the top layer of batter. The bars are not nearly as tall as they appear in the photo above; the bars are probably no more than an inch high. I cut my batch into smaller squares, rather than longer bars, so that I could serve more people with it.
(more…)
Chocolate Mint Cookie Squares March 11
Filed under Recipes, Cookies - Bar Cookies and Brownies, Chocolate by Nicole 16 comments
They might look like fudgy brownies, but these Chocolate Mint Cookie Squares are actually far closer to the cookie side of the spectrum where bar cookies are concerned. They are fairly firm, with a nice chew to the center, like a thick cookie. The recipe is a play on the Caramel Oatmeal Brownies I made a while back. This time around, I added some chocolate to the oatmeal cookie crust base, incorporated mint into the brownie layer and topped the whole thing off with a layer of mint chocolate glaze.
Even though the texture is nothing like that of a Girl Scouts Thin Mint cookie, the flavor is pretty similar - which is what I was hoping for, since those cookies definitely served as the inspiration for these squares. The chocolate-mint flavor of those cookies is one of the things that makes them so popular. The richness of the chocolate is cut but the bright mint flavor, leaving you with a slightly fresh feeling in your mouth and the desire for another bite.
As I mentioned above, the squares are chewy and quite cookie-like, not moist and melt-in-your-mouth like a brownie. The filling contrasts nicely with the slightly crispy base of the bar, and the mint chocolate topping adds a lot of richness. I really like the flavor and texture that the oatmeal base provides. It’s hint of chocolate is subtle, but the nuttiness from the oats and the sweetness from the brown sugar makes these treats taste very satisfying. I would cut these into small squares to serve, as they’re almost like eating a mint chocolate cookie candy bar.
These are good the day they are made, but I think they’re even better the next day (after being stored in an airtight container) because the mint chocolate flavors blend and come out more strongly.
(more…)
Buttermilk Lemon Bars March 2
Filed under Recipes, Cookies - Bar Cookies and Brownies by Nicole 19 comments
It’s been quite some time since I made a batch of lemon bars. Lemon bars are a classic bake-sale item, like brownies and chocolate chip cookies, and because they seem like such a staple of homemade baked goods, I think I overlook them a little too often in favor of more unusual recipes. It’s too bad because good lemon bars are really delicious. A slightly crisp shortbread crust is the perfect contrast to a creamy sweet-tart filling.
This lemon bar recipe uses buttermilk, as well as lemon juice, in the filling. The buttermilk mellows the lemon filling a little bit, taking the edge off of the tartness usually associated with lemon alone. As a result, the bars have a wonderful lemon flavor, but seem to taste a bit sweeter and richer than some other lemon bars. The filling recipe is very simple and there is no flour or cornstarch included in it, so the filling is very tender, more like a lemon curd than the chewy lemon topping I’ve encountered in some variations.
For the crust, I used a simple shortbread recipe that I turn to again and again. The filling is poured onto the crust while it is still hot from the oven, so there is no down time waiting for the crust to cool before completing the recipe. The bars are good at room temperature, but also taste good chilled. Dusting the tops with powdered sugar is a nice finishing touch for the bars. Remember to do it right before serving so that the fine sugar doesn’t absorb too much moisture from the bars.
(more…)
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I used the same flavor combination in these Fig Jam Bars, which are a bar cookie and not individually sliced as Fig Newtons are. The tender dough reminds me of a very soft shortbread, because it has a rich buttery flavor in addition to the flavor of oats, and pretty much melts in your mouth as you chew. Oat flour is sold in many grocery stores, and is easily available at Whole Foods and other health food-type markets. All it really is is oats that are ground to have the consistency of flour. You can make it yourself by whizzing rolled or quick-cooking oats in the food processor until they are very finely ground.
I used fig jam as the fig filling, which is very convenient. I’ve seen some fig bar recipes in the past that have you rehydrating dried figs, cooking them with sugar and pureeing them before using them in the recipe, and while I’m sure it’s good, it’s a little too time consuming for me. I find fig jam at farmers markets and at most grocery/specialty stores, but you can also make your own at home with fresh figs, if you find yourself with a surplus of fruit. I used Mountain Fruit Co.’s The Fig Galaxy - Black Mission Fig Jam for my bars.
(more…)
amazon code end-->
Magic Bars April 20
Filed under Recipes, Cookies - Bar Cookies and Brownies, Chocolate by Nicole 15 comments
Magic bars have been around for quite some time, and even though their name alone isn’t that descriptive, if you’ve been to some kind of school bake sale in the past few decades, you’ve probably seen or eaten them. These chewy bar cookies have a layers of chocolate, nuts and coconut, soaked in sweetened condensed milk, and all stacked on a graham cracker crust. They’re called “magic bars” because you don’t have to do much mixing - just layer everything in the pan and bake. Once the timer goes off in the oven, like magic, the bars have melded into a delicious treat.
I’ve seen the bars with slightly different components and in slightly different orders to the layers. I used the order I mentioned above: graham crust, chocolate, nuts, coconut, sweetened condensed milk. For my magic bars, I used Guittard semisweet chocolate chips, roasted and salted pecans, and unsweetened coconut. I also incorporated some oats into my crust to give it a little more depth of flavor. I think that using salted nuts really makes a big difference in the finished bars because it keeps them from being too sweet. With the salted nuts, there is just the slightest hint of a savory element in with the chocolate and coconut.
The finished bars end up being moist, chewy, crunchy and incredibly addictive. It’s a bonus that they’re so simple to make. These bars are good both at room temperature and when they’re chilled. I especially recommend chilling them if it’s hot outside, as the bars tend to get a little too soft and melty during the summer.
(more…)
By Cracky Bars March 23
Filed under Recipes, Cookies - Bar Cookies and Brownies by Nicole 11 comments
“By cracky!” is one of those great, old-timey phrases that you don’t hear too much any more. Although if you have some older relatives it might come out once in a while in place of “by golly” or “by gosh” (or some similar euphemism). And, you might start hearing it around the kitchen if you add these to your repertoire because they’re By Cracky Bars! The recipe comes from the 1953 Pillsbury Bake Off booklet, and was the 2nd prize winner of the junior baker contest that year.
The bars are quite unusual in flavor and texture, but are easy to make and deliver a lovely presentation with all their stripey layers. They come in somewhere between a pound cake and a cookie in texture. Like a pound cake, they are fairly dense, but not heavy at all and quite tender when you bite into them. Like a cookie, they’re a little bit drier than a traditional cake would be, but have just enough of a crunchy texture that the whole combination works perfectly. They go very well with milk.
The batter/dough for the top and bottom layers of the bar is the same. To one portion of the batter, you stir in a small amount of melted chocolate and a generous amount of chopped walnuts. To the rest of the batter, you simply add chocolate chips. The middle layer is actually graham crackers that have been laid between the chocolate and vanilla batters. The graham adds a subtle crispiness, but is very subtle and seems to add more to the presentation than anything else.
These bars keep well and are easy to travel with. They’ll appeal to those who like cookies and those who like cake, and will definitely find fans with the chocolate-loving crowd thanks to all the chips in the top layer of batter. The bars are not nearly as tall as they appear in the photo above; the bars are probably no more than an inch high. I cut my batch into smaller squares, rather than longer bars, so that I could serve more people with it.
(more…)
Chocolate Mint Cookie Squares March 11
Filed under Recipes, Cookies - Bar Cookies and Brownies, Chocolate by Nicole 16 comments
They might look like fudgy brownies, but these Chocolate Mint Cookie Squares are actually far closer to the cookie side of the spectrum where bar cookies are concerned. They are fairly firm, with a nice chew to the center, like a thick cookie. The recipe is a play on the Caramel Oatmeal Brownies I made a while back. This time around, I added some chocolate to the oatmeal cookie crust base, incorporated mint into the brownie layer and topped the whole thing off with a layer of mint chocolate glaze.
Even though the texture is nothing like that of a Girl Scouts Thin Mint cookie, the flavor is pretty similar - which is what I was hoping for, since those cookies definitely served as the inspiration for these squares. The chocolate-mint flavor of those cookies is one of the things that makes them so popular. The richness of the chocolate is cut but the bright mint flavor, leaving you with a slightly fresh feeling in your mouth and the desire for another bite.
As I mentioned above, the squares are chewy and quite cookie-like, not moist and melt-in-your-mouth like a brownie. The filling contrasts nicely with the slightly crispy base of the bar, and the mint chocolate topping adds a lot of richness. I really like the flavor and texture that the oatmeal base provides. It’s hint of chocolate is subtle, but the nuttiness from the oats and the sweetness from the brown sugar makes these treats taste very satisfying. I would cut these into small squares to serve, as they’re almost like eating a mint chocolate cookie candy bar.
These are good the day they are made, but I think they’re even better the next day (after being stored in an airtight container) because the mint chocolate flavors blend and come out more strongly.
(more…)
Buttermilk Lemon Bars March 2
Filed under Recipes, Cookies - Bar Cookies and Brownies by Nicole 19 comments
It’s been quite some time since I made a batch of lemon bars. Lemon bars are a classic bake-sale item, like brownies and chocolate chip cookies, and because they seem like such a staple of homemade baked goods, I think I overlook them a little too often in favor of more unusual recipes. It’s too bad because good lemon bars are really delicious. A slightly crisp shortbread crust is the perfect contrast to a creamy sweet-tart filling.
This lemon bar recipe uses buttermilk, as well as lemon juice, in the filling. The buttermilk mellows the lemon filling a little bit, taking the edge off of the tartness usually associated with lemon alone. As a result, the bars have a wonderful lemon flavor, but seem to taste a bit sweeter and richer than some other lemon bars. The filling recipe is very simple and there is no flour or cornstarch included in it, so the filling is very tender, more like a lemon curd than the chewy lemon topping I’ve encountered in some variations.
For the crust, I used a simple shortbread recipe that I turn to again and again. The filling is poured onto the crust while it is still hot from the oven, so there is no down time waiting for the crust to cool before completing the recipe. The bars are good at room temperature, but also taste good chilled. Dusting the tops with powdered sugar is a nice finishing touch for the bars. Remember to do it right before serving so that the fine sugar doesn’t absorb too much moisture from the bars.
(more…)
Next Page »
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Kuwait Bakers Blog: Kuwait Bakers Blog
Kuwait Bakers Blog: Kuwait Bakers Bloggenevasweetsblog.blogspot.com
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Historical Background of Chocolate
Historical background of Cocoa
Cocoa was first introduced into England during the seventeenth century. But the Aztecs in Central America had been drinking chocolate hundreds of years before the Spanish explorer Cortez conquered Mexico in 1519. They called it ‘chocolatl’. Cortez is said to have tasted his first drinking chocolate in a golden goblet in the palace of the Aztec Emperor, Montezuma. It must have been a rather bitter, pungent drink for the Spaniards improved the flavour by adding sugar and guarded the secret of its preparation for almost a century.
When it was finally introduced into the courts of Spain, Italy, Germany, France and England, chocolate remained an expensive luxury. When the first chocolate house opened in London in 1657, chocolate cost from 50 pence to 75 pence a pound in weight (when the pound sterling was worth far more than in the 1970s) and the high price was sustained for many years by heavy import duties.
It remained a luxury product until Gladstone’s time when, in 1853, he lowered the duty to a uniform rate of one old penny per pound. In the early days, it was sold by auction in London. Producers sent samples to manufacturers who roasted and tested the beans and then bid for the variety they preferred. Auctions were known as ‘sales by candle’. This was derived from the practice of having a lighted candle with pins stuck at intervals down its side on the auctioneer’s desk. The last bid before the pin fell out secured the cocoa beans.
Cocoa was first introduced into England during the seventeenth century. But the Aztecs in Central America had been drinking chocolate hundreds of years before the Spanish explorer Cortez conquered Mexico in 1519. They called it ‘chocolatl’. Cortez is said to have tasted his first drinking chocolate in a golden goblet in the palace of the Aztec Emperor, Montezuma. It must have been a rather bitter, pungent drink for the Spaniards improved the flavour by adding sugar and guarded the secret of its preparation for almost a century.
When it was finally introduced into the courts of Spain, Italy, Germany, France and England, chocolate remained an expensive luxury. When the first chocolate house opened in London in 1657, chocolate cost from 50 pence to 75 pence a pound in weight (when the pound sterling was worth far more than in the 1970s) and the high price was sustained for many years by heavy import duties.
It remained a luxury product until Gladstone’s time when, in 1853, he lowered the duty to a uniform rate of one old penny per pound. In the early days, it was sold by auction in London. Producers sent samples to manufacturers who roasted and tested the beans and then bid for the variety they preferred. Auctions were known as ‘sales by candle’. This was derived from the practice of having a lighted candle with pins stuck at intervals down its side on the auctioneer’s desk. The last bid before the pin fell out secured the cocoa beans.
Detailed Historical Background of Chocolate
Historical background of Cocoa
Cocoa was first introduced into England during the seventeenth century. But the Aztecs in Central America had been drinking chocolate hundreds of years before the Spanish explorer Cortez conquered Mexico in 1519. They called it ‘chocolatl’. Cortez is said to have tasted his first drinking chocolate in a golden goblet in the palace of the Aztec Emperor, Montezuma. It must have been a rather bitter, pungent drink for the Spaniards improved the flavour by adding sugar and guarded the secret of its preparation for almost a century.
When it was finally introduced into the courts of Spain, Italy, Germany, France and England, chocolate remained an expensive luxury. When the first chocolate house opened in London in 1657, chocolate cost from 50 pence to 75 pence a pound in weight (when the pound sterling was worth far more than in the 1970s) and the high price was sustained for many years by heavy import duties.
It remained a luxury product until Gladstone’s time when, in 1853, he lowered the duty to a uniform rate of one old penny per pound. In the early days, it was sold by auction in London. Producers sent samples to manufacturers who roasted and tested the beans and then bid for the variety they preferred. Auctions were known as ‘sales by candle’. This was derived from the practice of having a lighted candle with pins stuck at intervals down its side on the auctioneer’s desk. The last bid before the pin fell out secured the cocoa beans.
Cocoa was first introduced into England during the seventeenth century. But the Aztecs in Central America had been drinking chocolate hundreds of years before the Spanish explorer Cortez conquered Mexico in 1519. They called it ‘chocolatl’. Cortez is said to have tasted his first drinking chocolate in a golden goblet in the palace of the Aztec Emperor, Montezuma. It must have been a rather bitter, pungent drink for the Spaniards improved the flavour by adding sugar and guarded the secret of its preparation for almost a century.
When it was finally introduced into the courts of Spain, Italy, Germany, France and England, chocolate remained an expensive luxury. When the first chocolate house opened in London in 1657, chocolate cost from 50 pence to 75 pence a pound in weight (when the pound sterling was worth far more than in the 1970s) and the high price was sustained for many years by heavy import duties.
It remained a luxury product until Gladstone’s time when, in 1853, he lowered the duty to a uniform rate of one old penny per pound. In the early days, it was sold by auction in London. Producers sent samples to manufacturers who roasted and tested the beans and then bid for the variety they preferred. Auctions were known as ‘sales by candle’. This was derived from the practice of having a lighted candle with pins stuck at intervals down its side on the auctioneer’s desk. The last bid before the pin fell out secured the cocoa beans.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Historical Background of Chocolate
Cocoa was first introduced into England during the seventeenth century.But the Aztecs in Central America had been drinking chocolate hundreds of years before the spanish explorer Cortez conquered Mexico in 1519. They called it'chocolatl'. Cortez is said to have tasted his first drinking chocolate in a golden goblet in the palace of the Aztec Emperor,Montezuma. It must have been a rather bitter,pungent drink for the Spaniards improved the flavour by adding sugar and guarded the secret of its preparation for alomost a century.
Friday, September 4, 2009
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