Tag-Archive for ◊ bars ◊

07 Nov 2019 Paddington Cookies (Marmalade Bars)
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Marmalade Bars, Paddington Bear’s favorite.

What rock have I been hiding under? Up until a few hours ago, I had no idea that Paddington Bear loves marmalade. A quote from Paddington Bear himself,  “A wise bear always keeps a marmalade sandwich in his hat in case of emergency.”

My enlightenment came when I offered one of these cookies (previously known as “Jam Slices” to my daughter). My daughter took one bite and said, “The kids (my grandkids) will love these.” Whaaa? I gave her my ‘You’re crazy’ look and deadpanned “They have marmalade on them”.  She then gave me her ‘You’re crazy’ look and said, “They love Paddington Bear and Paddington Bear loves marmalade. They’ll love these cookies.”

It was not on my radar that Marmalade might make a comeback by way of the children of Millennials! With high hopes, I quickly renamed these cookies “Paddington Cookies”! I hope that they are a hit with the younger set as well as the older set.

The original recipe is from The Food Network’s “Holiday Cookie Cookbook”. I made two changes to the recipe and refined the method, so the FN’s “Jam Bars” are now much improved and have a much cooler name.

Paddington Cookies (Marmalade Bars)

  • 2 cups (250 grams) all-purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon table salt
  • 1 ½ sticks (12 tablespoons/6 oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • ½ cup + 2 Tablespoons sugar
  • 1 large egg, lightly beaten
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • Finely grated zest of one orange
  • 4 to 6 tablespoons marmalade
  • A few tablespoons powdered sugar
  1. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  2. Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
  3. Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl with a mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes.
  4. Beat in the egg, then the vanilla and orange zest.
  5. Reduce the mixer speed to low; add the flour mixture and beat until just combined (the dough will be very soft and a bit hard to work with in the next step).
  6. Divide the dough into 4 pieces and put 2 pieces on each prepared baking sheet. Shape each piece into a 12-by-1-inch log, about 3 inches apart.
  7. Using the handle of a wooden spoon, press a 1/2-inch-deep indentation down the middle of each log. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
  8. Scoop the marmalade into a piping bag or into the corner of a Ziplok bag. Cut the corner of the bag off. Slowly squeeze the marmalade out of the bag, carefully filling the indentations. If you need more marmalade, no problem. Just refill bag and pipe onto cookies as needed.
  9. Place pans in preheated oven and bake until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes.
  10. Let bars cool completely on the baking sheets, then transfer the logs to a cutting board and slice crosswise into 1-inch-wide cookies.
  11. Dust with powdered sugar

Thanks for stopping by my kitchen today!

08 Sep 2019 Pumpkin Spice Biscotti
Author:  |  Category: Cookies & Bars, Holidays & Events, Sweets  | Tags: , , , , , , , , ,  | One Comment
Pumpkin Spice Biscotti

It’s that time of year. Let the fall baking commence! I’ve started with these: Pumpkin Spice Latte Biscotti, my entry for my cookbook club’s ‘Pumpkin Dessert Showstopper Challenge’ last year (sometimes we act like we are contestants on the mythical ‘Great American Baking Show’!).

These biscotti have a subtle pumpkin spice taste, are crunchy around the edges, and somewhat soft and cake-y on the inside. I really should put the word biscotti in quotes since these are not traditional: they are not teeth shattering-ly crunchy, they don’t contain nuts or almond extract, and with the two non-traditional drizzles with a shower of cinnamon-sugar, they are also showstoppingly pretty 🙂

You won’t find this recipe anywhere else on the web. I started with another recipe (regretfully, I don’t remember where I found the original recipe), upped and re-mixed the spices and added the three toppings.

NOTE: When I made these biscotti last year, Caramel Chips (not to be confused with Caramel Bits) were available everywhere. This year I couldn’t find them anywhere (have they been discontinued?) so I substituted Butterscotch Chips for the Caramel Chips.

If you like my version of ‘biscotti’, check out my recipe for Gingerbread Biscotti, also on this website 🙂

Pumpkin Spice Biscotti

  • 3 1/4 cups All-Purpose Flour (400 grams)
  • 1 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
  • 1 Tablespoon Instant Espresso Powder
  • 1/2 tsp. Salt
  • 1 Tablespoon Cinnamon
  • 2 tsp. Ginger
  • 1 tsp. Nutmeg
  • 1/2 cup Unsalted Butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup Sugar
  • 2 large Eggs
  • 1 1/2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
  • 3/4 cup Pumpkin Puree

To decorate

  • white chocolate and caramel chips, not combined, melted separately (it’s okay to sub Butterscotch Chips for the Caramel Chips, see the NOTE above)
  • Cinnamon-Sugar mixture
  1. Preheat oven to 300° F. and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
  2. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and spices. Whisk well to combine. Set aside.
  3. In a large bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
  4. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla and pumpkin and beat to combine.
  5. Add dry ingredients and mix until well combined. Batter will be slack, and a bit worrisome because it’s so hard to work with, but it will be fine (it might be easier to refrigerate dough for a few hours to make it easier to handle, but this is not necessary).
  6. On the prepared baking sheet, spoon dough into two logs about 2″ wide by 12+” long (they will spread). Using moistened hands, shape and smooth the dough.
  7. Bake in preheated oven for 40-60 minutes, or until firm and hollow sounding when tapped. Remove from oven and allow to rest on the pan for at least 10 minutes and up to a few hours
  8. Remove logs to a cutting board and using a serrated knife at an angle, cut into 1-inch slices. Return slices to rack over a baking sheet, with cut side down, and bake 15-30+ minutes, or until biscotti loses it’s cake-y feel.
  9. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.
  10. Melt chocolate. Coat one side of biscotti with either caramel chips or white chocolate. Let dry.
  11. Turn biscotti over and drizzle with the chocolate (caramel or white) not used in previous step
  12. Before the drizzled chocolate hardens, sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar mixture.
  13. After chocolate hardens shake off excess cinnamon sugar
  14. Store airtight. Freezes well.

Thanks for stopping by my kitchen today. Be sure to stop by again for the Gingerbread Biscotti recipe after devouring these!

20 Jun 2019 Summer Berry Bars
Author:  |  Category: Cookies & Bars, Seasonal, Sweets  | Tags: , , , , ,  | Leave a Comment

Have you ever made a cover recipe? I’ve made enough of them to figure out that cover recipes are usually a pretty good bet! My daughter saw this cover and said she wanted me to make them for July 4th because of the red, “white” and blue colors. So I tried them, and they were GOOD! They will be on her July 4th dessert buffet.

Mix and match the berries to your preference. Basically, you will need 5 cups of berries. Strawberries usually don’t bake up too well as they tend to release too much liquid and also take on a bit of ugly gray tinge, so don’t use too many strawberries, maybe one cup max. Blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and even pitted and halved/quartered cherries will all work.

There is no need to top these bars with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, but… 🙂

Note that these bars need to rest overnight in the refrigerator before serving, so plan accordingly.

Summer Berry Bars

3 cups (375 grams) all-purpose flour

1 1/3 cups (267 grams) granulated sugar, divided use

1 tablespoon (3 grams) lime zest (OK to sub lemon or orange zest)

1 teaspoon (5 grams) baking powder

¾ teaspoon (2.25 grams) kosher salt

1 cup (227 grams) cold unsalted butter, cubed

1 large egg (50 grams), lightly beaten

1½ tablespoons (12 grams) cornstarch

2 cups (260 grams) fresh raspberries

1 cup (147 grams) chopped fresh strawberries

1 cup (160 grams) fresh blackberries

1 cup (170 grams) fresh blueberries

3 tablespoons (15 grams) fresh lime juice (OK to sub lemon juice or orange juice)

1 teaspoon (4 grams) vanilla extract

  1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a 13×9-inch baking pan with parchment paper, letting excess extend over sides of pan.
  2. Stir together flour, 1 cup sugar, zest, baking powder, and salt.
  3. Using a pastry blender—or a food processor—add butter to flour mixture and process or cut in butter until pea-size pieces remain.
  4. Stir in egg until blended and mixture is crumbly.
  5. Reserve 1½ cups dough and refrigerate until needed in step 11.
  6. Press remaining 3½ cups dough into bottom of prepared pan.
  7. Bake for 20 minutes.
  8. In another large bowl, stir together cornstarch and remaining ? cup (67 grams) sugar.
  9. Gently fold in berries, citrus juice, and vanilla until combined.
  10. Scatter berry mixture over prepared crust.
  11. Crumble reserved 1½ cups chilled dough over berries, pressing the dough to form small clumps before scattering over berries.
  12. Bake until top is golden, about 30 minutes more. Let cool completely. Refrigerate overnight.
  13. Using excess parchment as handles, remove from pan, and cut into bars.
  14. Store bars in refrigerator.

So, off to the farmer’s market! Thanks for stopping by my kitchen today!