16.5.14

Chocolate Walnut "Jammy" Bars # Baking Partner's Challenge



This month Suja Manoj of  Kitchen corner try it challenged the Baking Partners with two simple seasonal treats... Chocolate Walnut Bars from Faye Levy's Chocolate Sensations and Lemon Bars  from The Secrets of Baking, Sherry Yard and The Good Cookie by Tish Boyle. Both bars looked tempting... but in a house of chocolate lovers, baking two non-chocolatey treats in a row would be sacrilegious (remember these Blueberry Coconut Friands), so I decided to bake the Chocolate Walnut Bars or  Chocolate Walnut "Jammy" Bars today. 

As I proceeded I felt that a food processor would have been handy. But of course one could always manage without. At least I did...

With a spread of orange marmalade sandwiched between a crumbly walnut base and a layer of chocolate chips topped with crumbly nutty topping, these bars turned out to be the perfect summer-time treat for our family. My husband kept finding excuses to go to the kitchen and returned with a chocolate bar in hand each time.. and the toddler thought he could go for seconds. Of course he did not manage and daddy was more than happy to help. I thought they were a distraction from my weight loss plan. I had to constantly remind myself of the cup of butter that went into the dough in order to resist binging on them... 


So watch out in case you are on a weight loss program too....  These bars are damn delicious and darn addictive !

Chocolate Walnut Bars
Recipe from Faye Levy's Chocolate Sensations.
Prep time: 30 minutes + 3 hours chilling                                                   Cook time: 35 minutes   Yield: 24 squares

Ingredients
For the dough
  • 1 cup walnut
  • 3 egg yolks
  • ½ cup sugar
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 2 tsps vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp lemon zest, grated
  • 1 tsp orange zest, grated
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small cubes
  • 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
Jam Filling
  • heaped ½ cup orange marmalade (or any other fruit preserve)
  • 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chip
Nutty crumble topping
  • 2 tbsps sugar
  • ¼ cup all-purpose flour
  • ⅓ cup walnut
Cooking Directions
  1. For the dough:
    1. Pulse the walnuts in the grinder until it forms a fine textured meal and keep it aside. Take care so that you do not over-grind.
    2. Combine the egg yolks, sugar, salt, vanilla extract, citrus zest and cubes of chilled butter in the food processor and pulse continuously until the ingredients are well combined. (I do not have a food processor and combined the ingredients and pulsed them in my blender.) 
    3. In case you are using the food processor, add the ground nuts and flour to the egg-sugar mixture and scraping down intermittently, process the mixture until the dough begins to form sticky crumbs. Wrap the dough in a plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour.   ( In case you are not using a food processor, empty the  egg-sugar mixture in a big bowl, add the ground walnuts and flour to it and using a wooden spoon mix the ingredients together. I wasn't sure when to stop mixing and ended up mixing the flours with the egg-sugar-butter until I had a soft smooth dough. So I wrapped the dough in a plastic cling wrap and chilled it for 3 hours).
  2. When ready to bake, center the rack and preheat the oven to 350 ° F.
  3. Line a 9×13 inch baking tray with parchment paper.
  4. Cut out ¼ of the dough and put it back into the refrigerator while you spread the jam filling and top it with chocolate chips.
  5. Press ¾ th of the chilled dough against the floor of the prepared baking tray.
  6. Stir the fruit preserve and using a spatula spread it evenly over the dough.
  7. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the jam.  (The original recipe suggests sprinkling chocolate shavings instead. If you prefer you may do the same. )
  8. Finally pulse the reserved dough with 2 tablespoons of sugar,  ¼ cup all-purpose flour and ⅓ cup walnut and sprinkle the mixture over the chocolate. 
  9. Now transfer the baking tray into the preheated oven and bake for 30-35 minutes, until the crumbs are firm and light brown.
  10. Cool in the pan until it is lukewarm, then using a sharp knife slice into 2×2 inch squares. Store in air-tight containers for up to 3 days.

Thanks to Suja and Swathi for suggesting the recipe. It was damn delicious !




I shall be sharing these at the following parties...


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5 comments:

  1. Pamela @ Brooklyn Farm GirlMay 16, 2014 at 10:51 PM

    What a beautiful sweet treat! Craving a bite now!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AngieOuellette-TowerMay 18, 2014 at 6:50 PM

    These look delicious! I'm stopping by from the Happiness is Homemade blog hop.
    Thanks
    Angie

    ReplyDelete
  3. Javelin WarriorMay 20, 2014 at 2:32 AM

    I'll take a dozen! These are so tempting and love the combination of orange with chocolate. I would certainly have a hard time stopping with just one...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Diane BalchMay 21, 2014 at 6:42 PM

    I love the citrus flavor in the dough great looking bars thanks as always for sharing your terrific recipes with us on foodie friday. Pinning all.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Laura@Baking in PyjamasMay 25, 2014 at 7:53 PM

    Yum what a yummy combination, I love all the flavours used in these bars. Thanks for linking up to Sweet and Savoury Sunday, stop by and link up again. Have a great day!!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for stopping by. It was nice having you here. Have a good day.

Take care and come back soon.
Best, Tanusree

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