Date & Apple Bars

Date & Apple Bars
What a nice way of using up my soon to expire dried dates and Golden Delicious apples. The recipe in the Good Food Magazine was found upon googling for any tray bakes with apples and dates as main protagonists.

A lot of the volume of the ingredients were changed though, as per comments of reviewers. And out came a very pleasant and delish tea/coffee fodder. See, that's why I like recipe websites where there are a lot of honest reviewers because you can then adjust the recipe according to real life experiences of real people in ordinary kitchens. That way trial and error (that I often do) is minimised and ingredients and efforts not wasted.
[Gosh this is sounding like a IT project writeup.]



Date & Apple Bars

185 g  [3/4 cups] butter
140 g  [about 1 medium] cooking apple - cored, peeled, and chopped
140 g  stoned dried dates - chopped
200 g  [1 cup packed] light brown sugar
175 g  [heaping 1-1/3 cups] plain flour
1 tsp  bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
100 g  porridge oats
  1. Preheat oven to 190°C/fan 170°C/375°F. Grease and line a 18 cm (7-inch) square baking pan.
  2. Put the chopped apples in a saucepan. Add 2-3 Tbsp water and cook until soft and pulpy. This may take between 5-10 minutes and you may have to add a bit more water.
  3. Add in 25 g (2 Tbsp packed) of the brown sugar and the dates. Continue cooking for a further 5 minutes or until the apple is smooth and mixed well with the dates. You should have a very thick paste at this point. Remove from heat and cool completely. You may puree the mixture in a food processor or blender.
  4. Gently melt the butter in a saucepan; cool.
  5. Combine the flour, bicarbonate of soda, and remaining sugar in a bowl.
  6. Add in the melted butter and mix well.
  7. Press half of the flour mixture in the prepared pan.
  8. Spread the apple-date mixture on top.
  9. Cover with the rest of the flour mixture and press gently.
  10. Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden and firm.
  11. Cool copletely in the baking pan. Remove and cut into bars or squares.


Date & Apple Bars

Blondies

Blondies
I've never had blondies but have read about it in some American magazines for years. It intrigued me enough to put it in my list of things to bake if I have a chance. One came up recently when a colleague had a leaving do where we usually bring all manner of snacks and sweet things for everyone to partake.

My verdict? It's essentially a cookie dough baked in the shape of a bar or square. The dough have to be light in colour of course, afterall 'blondie' is the name. So nothing really like a major discovery here but it is delicious just the same. I adapted the recipe from the excellent The New Best Recipe (by Cook's Illustrated) cookbook.



Blondies

230 g  [1 3/4 cups] plain flour
1 tsp  baking powder
1/2 tsp  fine salt
185 g  [3/4 cup] unsalted butter - melted and cooled
300 g  [1 1/2 cups packed] light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp  vanilla extract
200 g  [1 cup] chocolate chips (milk, dark, white, or combination)
1 cup  pecans (or walnuts, macadamia nuts) - chopped
  1. Preheat oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/350°F.
  2. Grease and line a 13x9-inch baking pan with baking parchment.
  3. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
  4. Mix the melted butter and brown sugar in another bowl.
  5. Add the eggs one at a time while whisking.
  6. Add vanilla and mix well.
  7. Fold the flour mixture into the egg mixture. Do not overmix.
  8. Next, fold in the chocolate chips and nuts and mix well.
  9. Pour into the prepared baking pan and bake for 23-25 minutes.
  10. Cool completely in the pan a wire rack.
  11. Remove from pan and transfer to a cutting board and cut into bars.

Rocky Road

Rocky Road
Here's one very simple sweets recipe that's very much welcome all year round especially during the holidays. My youngest was especially proud of this since she did most of this for her Girl Guides confectioner's badge. Granting that was more than 4 years ago, this post took sometime to publish I have to admit.

Some versions of rocky road involves biscuits both in chunks and crumbs. We prefer this version adapted from 101 Cakes & Bakes by BBC GoodFood magazine where no biscuits mar the beauty and deliciousness of chocolates, nuts, marshmallows plus our preferred Maltesers.


Rocky Road


Rocky Road

500 g  milk or dark chocolate - broken into pieces
10 marshmallows - cut into small pieces*
85 g  pecans, walnuts, or almonds (or combination) - roughly chopped
200 g  Maltesers (optional)
  1. Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Cool a little.
  2. Add in the rest of the ingredients, mix well.
  3. Pour mixture into an 8-inch (20 cm) square baking pan lined with baking paper.
    Leave to set for around 2 hours.
  4. Remove from baking pan and cut into 1-inch squares with a knife dipped in hot water and wiped.
Note: You may add biscuits, dried fruits, and other things that may take your fancy.

Rocky Road

Lemon Fudge Bars

Fudgy Lemon Bar
Well well well, looks like the recipe I've been tweaking for the last 4 years has finally made it to this blog. It's not that bad really. I probably tried this once a year so that makes them about 4 tries. The original recipe that I adapted came from a cookbook called Brownies & Bars by Liz Franklin. I'm a sucker for gorgeous pictures of food and the accompanying photos of it makes it really look so scrumptious. That's the main reason why I didn't give up on it besides the fact the I wanted a dessert that's not plain vanilla nor chocolate flavoured.

I determined early on that it needed a lot of tweaks. For one, the pan size was too small. Then the cooking time is way too short. Maybe even the temperature needs tweaking. Other than that the recipe stands as it is. I really prefer this over the Lemon Bars where the filling can be quite cloyingly rich. This one is just right making it very moreish.


Fudgy Lemon Bar


Lemon Fudge Bars

*Shortbread base:
200 g [1 1/3 cups] plain flour
100 g [1/2 cup + 1/3 cup] cornflour (cornstarch)
100 g [1/2 cup] caster sugar (superfine)
200 g [3/4 cup + 1 Tbsp] butter - softened to room temperature

*Lemon Fudge Filling:
4 eggs
600 ml [2 cups + 1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp] double cream (heavy cream)
300 g [1 1/2 cups] caster sugar (superfine)
100 g [2/3 cup] plain flour
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 3 lemons) - strained
zest of three lemons (optional)


*For shortbread base:
  1. Mix the plain flour and cornflour in a bowl.
  2. Cut in the butter into the mixture with a pastry cutter or two knives until they resemble fine breadcrumbs.
  3. Add the sugar and knead the mixture together to form a smooth, soft dough.
  4. Form into a ball, wrap in plastic and put in the fridge for 30 minutes.

*For filling and to assemble:
  1. Preheat oven to 180C/fan 160C/350F. Grease a 13 x 9-inch baking pan and line with parchment paper.
  2. Remove dough from fridge and roll out or pat level into the bottom of the prepared pan.
  3. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden in colour.
  4. While the base is baking, mix the eggs, cream, and sugar together.
  5. Add the lemon juice and zest (if using) and whisk until smooth.
  6. Add the flour a little at a time while whisking and mix until well combined.
  7. Once the base is done baking, pull out the oven rack with the baking pan halfway and immediately pour the lemon-cream mixture on it.
  8. Push the baking pan back in the oven and continue baking for about 45-50 minutes or until the topping is set.
  9. Remove from oven and cool completely in the pan before cutting into bars.

Lemon Fudge Bars

Fudgy Lemon Bar
Well well well, looks like the recipe I've been tweaking for the last 4 years has finally made it to this blog. It's not that bad really. I probably tried this once a year so that makes them about 4 tries. The original recipe that I adapted came from a cookbook called Brownies & Bars by Liz Franklin. I'm a sucker for gorgeous pictures of food and the accompanying photos of it makes it really look so scrumptious. That's the main reason why I didn't give up on it besides the fact the I wanted a dessert that's not plain vanilla nor chocolate flavoured.

I determined early on that it needed a lot of tweaks. For one, the pan size was too small. Then the cooking time is way too short. Maybe even the temperature needs tweaking. Other than that the recipe stands as it is. I really prefer this over the Lemon Bars where the filling can be quite cloyingly rich. This one is just right making it very moreish.


Fudgy Lemon Bar


Lemon Fudge Bars

*Shortbread base:
200 g  [1 1/3 cups] plain flour
100 g  [1/2 cup + 1/3 cup] cornflour (cornstarch)
100 g  [1/2 cup] caster sugar (superfine)
200 g  [3/4 cup + 1 Tbsp] butter - softened to room temperature

*Lemon Fudge Filling:
4 eggs
600 ml  [2 cups + 1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp] double cream (heavy cream)
300 g  [1 1/2 cups] caster sugar (superfine)
100 g  [2/3 cup] plain flour
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 3 lemons) - strained
zest of three lemons (optional)


*For shortbread base:
  1. Mix the plain flour and cornflour in a bowl.
  2. Cut in the butter into the mixture with a pastry cutter or two knives until they resemble fine breadcrumbs.
  3. Add the sugar and knead the mixture together to form a smooth, soft dough.
  4. Form into a ball, wrap in plastic and put in the fridge for 30 minutes.

*For filling and to assemble:
  1. Preheat oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/350°F. Grease a 13 x 9-inch baking pan and line with parchment paper.
  2. Remove dough from fridge and roll out or pat level into the bottom of the prepared pan.
  3. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden in colour.
  4. While the base is baking, mix the eggs, cream, and sugar together.
  5. Add the lemon juice and zest (if using) and whisk until smooth.
  6. Add the flour a little at a time while whisking and mix until well combined.
  7. Once the base is done baking, pull out the oven rack with the baking pan halfway and immediately pour the lemon-cream mixture on it.
  8. Push the baking pan back in the oven and continue baking for about 45-50 minutes or until the topping is set.
  9. Remove from oven and cool completely in the pan before cutting into bars.