Cleta Bailey's Toffee Squares

I don't remember how I came across Pioneer Woman. But ever since, my life hasn't been the same. She is one of the best food bloggers in the world. Perfect recipes, perfect photos, great writing skills, there is nothing in her that you can complain about.

This specific recipe is one of the easiest bar recipes you will ever find. Once when I was preparing it at 5 in the morning, I was just wondering how can something be so easy. That is when I realised that something was wrong. The dough was supposed to be brown, not white. I panicked. How could my fail-proof recipe fail? And that is when I realised, I was so sleepy, I had forgotten to add the brown sugar. Hehehe. A quick sprinkle of sugar and the bars came out as good as they always do. This is one of those recipes that you can prepare when you are having a large group of friends coming over without prior notice. Or if you want to gift your loved ones something special and yet easy. Or if you want to treat yourself some cute bars without sharing with anyone. Yup! Just for you ;)

Take a look at Pioneer Woman's post for step by step photos.

Cleta Bailey's Toffee Squares:
Makes 24 bars(might vary depending on size of bars)


Ingredients:
2 sticks/ 1 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips(use milk chocolate if you like your bar overly sweet)
3/4 cup of your favorite nuts, chopped(optional)

Method:

• Preheat oven to 325 degree Fahrenheit. 
• Cream butter and sugar till fluffy.
• Add egg and vanilla. Beat till combined.
• Add flour and mix well.
• Spread the dough on a 9x13 inch cookie sheet. using an offset spatula.
• Bake for 15 minutes or till golden brown.
• Sprinkle the chocolate chips on the cookie layer and return to oven for 1 minute.
• Spread the melted chocolate using an offset spatula.
• Sprinkle nuts and cut into squares.
• If possible, let them rest overnight. It tastes a lot better the next day. Though it is almost impossible..

Jam tarts

I was experiencing some problem with my internet connection since the past couple of weeks. It is at times like this that one realizes the extent to which one is dependent on technology. I could not check my mails, could not open my facebook account, could not blog surf, and all of this had to happen just when I got 2 weeks off from college. Ugh!

And because of this I couldn’t even do this month’s sweet punch. This month we were asked to prepare Ria’s  jam tarts. I had read the recipe many times so I could prepare them even without internet connection. But I couldn’t post it until today.

Talking about the tarts, they are one of my favourite desserts. Be it a fruit tart or a chocolate one and I will gobble it down in seconds. Ria’s tarts are a tart-lover’s dream. They were perfectly flaky and buttery and since the tart shell does not contain any sugar, the jam did not make it oversweet.

Ria puts the jam into the tart shell before baking. I prepared half of the batch Ria’s way and baked the remaining tarts without jam (I did not put any beans and they came out fine).  Later I microwaved jam till they just started to boil and poured it into the warm shell. The baking time is almost the same for both cases. I think I preferred the second method because the tarts turned out prettier.

Her is a comparison pic. The one to the right was made Ria's way.

Jam tarts:

Makes 9-12 tarts depending on size of tart cases

Ingredients:

Flour 115g

Butter 60g, chilled

Baking powder- 1/2 tsp

Water 4-5 drops

Jam about 1 tsp for each tart

Method:

Mix flour and baking powder.

Add butter and rub with your fingertips till it resembles fine bread crumbs.

Add water drop by drop if required.

Don't knead it too much.

Line the tart tins with dough.

Bake for about 15 minutes in an oven preheated at 180 degrees.

Microwave jam for 30 seconds or till it becomes thin.

Pour jam into warm tarts.

Demould when cooled.

Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti

It's time for another sweet punch, and it is Italian biscotti this month.
Back in Qatar, I was crazy about Indian rusk. Whenever anybody would be coming to Qatar from India, I would ask them to get Indian rusk. Of course, they would be shocked because rusk is so "ordinary". When I was introduced to biscotti, I used to call them American rusk(I didn't know they were originally Italian)

These biscottis were extremely easy to prepare. The original recipe called for almonds which I substituted with hazelnuts, giving it an almost Ferrero Rocher taste. Next time I prepare them, I will add a tad more sugar and try to make it a little more presentable.

Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti:
Adapted from JoyofBaking
Makes 16 biscotti
3/4 cup whole hazelnuts
2/3 cup (135 grams) granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups (225 grams) all-purpose flour
4 ounces (110 grams) semi-sweet chocolate, chopped(can use chocolate chips)

Toast the hazelnuts in a pre-heated oven at 180 degree Celsius for 8-10 minutes or till it tastes cooked.
Rub the between a towel to get rid of the skin. Coarsely chop the nuts.
While the nuts are being toasted, beat the eggs and sugar at high speed for about 3 minutes to get a thick, pale and fluffy batter.
Beat in the vanilla extract.
Add the flour, salt and baking powder and beat till combined.
Throw in the chocolate and nuts and give it a final mix.
Transfer to a baking tray lined wit parchment paper and shape into a 12 x 31/2" log.
Bake for 20 minutes or till firm to touch.
Cool for 10 minutes.
Reduce the oven temperature to 165 degree Celsius.Cut them diagonally into 3/4" slices.
Bake them, cut side down for 10 minutes.

Ultimate Chocolate Cake

It's been 2 months since I returned to India. It was like returning to the pre historic era. No, dear patriotic Indians, I am not criticizing my country. I am just trying to explain how I spent these months, without Internet-without a connection with the outer world, no blogging, no blog surfing, no nothing. 
Alhamdulillah, we got internet connection last week, which means, it's time to return to blogging :). And I have just the perfect dish to restart my blogging journey- The Ultimate Chocolate Cake. No, this is not one among the zillion  chocolate cakes the you have baked. This is special...very special. The best chocolate cake I have had so far...wait, correction, its was the second-best cake I have had. The best one was the Mocha Bavarian Cake. Nothing can beat it.

Anyway, coming back to the cake, the recipe is from here, by Angela Nilson. My cousin, Nabeel gave me the recipe. He had tasted it at a relative's place and really wanted to prepare it. So we donned our chef hats and began preparing it. The preparation was a breeze. No complicated steps or anything. It was fun preparing with Nabeel too. He wanted everything to be perfect, like, large eggs are large and not the small ones you get in the local grocery shop. We fought at almost every step. But by the time the cake was ready, we had forgotten our differences. The cake was simply perfect. It had an intense chocolate flavor and a strong coffee flavor to balance it.
Definitely a keeper!!

Ingredients:
200g dark chocolate, broken into pieces(I used chocolate chips)
200g butter, cut into pieces
1 tbsp instant coffee granules, mixed in 125ml water
85g self-raising flour
85g all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
200g granulated sugar
200g light brown sugar
25g cocoa powder
3 eggs
75ml buttermilk


For ganache:
200g dark chocolate, broken to pieces or chocolate chips
284ml double cream(pouring type)
2 tbs brown sugar


Method:
Butter a 20cm round cake tin and line its base.Preheat oven to 140 C.  
Heat the chocolate, butter and coffee in a heavy based pan over low heat, till everything melts. You don't want to overheat it. Alternatively, microwave it till it melts(3-5 minutes), stirring occasionally.
Mix the flours, bicarbonate of soda, cocoa and sugars.
Beat the eggs in a bowl. Add the buttermilk.
Beat the egg mixture and chocolate mixture into the flour and mix till well blended.
Pour it into the pan and bake for 1hour and 25-30 minutes. A skewer should come out clean hen poked into the cake and the top should be firm. Let it cool for 10 minutes. Let it cool further on a wire rack.
Once cooled, Cut the cake into 3 layers, horizontally.
To make the ganache, place the chocolate in a bowl. Boil the cream and sugar till it is about to boil. Immediately, pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for 30 seconds. Mix till the ganache is well blended. Let it sit for 10 minutes so it cools and thickens. 
Sandwich the cake layers with a little ganache. Pour the remaining on top of the cake and let it fall down the sides.