Cara's Aunt Pat's White Chocolate Almost Raspberry Bars

 Let's be real, anything Cara makes is amazing! These are the absolute best bars/cookies ever! They seem labor intensive, but they really aren't, and all the steps are sooooo worth it! Especially if you like the taste of almond. 

Ingredients:

1/2 C Butter

12 oz White Chocolate Chips (2 Cups)

2 Eggs

1 C Flour

1/2 tsp Salt

1 tsp Almond Extract

1/2 C Raspberry Jam

1/4 C Almonds roasted*

Method:

1. Heat oven 325. Grease and flour an 8x8 or a 9x9 baking pan. 
2. Melt butter in saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat and add 1 cup of white chocolate chips. Let stand, and do not stir.
3. In a large bowl beat eggs until foamy. Gradually add sugar, beating at a high speed until lemon colored.
4. Stir butter/chocolate chip mixture, into egg mixture. Add flour, salt, and almond extract. Mix at low speed until just combined. 
5. Spread 1/2 of the batter (about 1 cup) into the greased and floured pan. Bake at 325 for 15-20 minutes or until light golden brown. 
6. Mix the remaining white chocolate chips into the remaining 1/2 of batter, set aside
7. In a small sauce pan, over low heat melt raspberry jam.
8. Spread melted jam over warm partially baked crust
9. Gently spoon the rest of the batter mixture over crust/jam
10. Sprinkle with almonds
11. Bake at 325 for an additional 25/30 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool and cut

*to toast almonds, bake at 325 for 6-10 minutes or until toasted brown. Stir once or twice.

*make 16-24 bars... if you cut them tiny

No Knead Artisan Bread aka Easiest Bread EVER!!

 

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt (for saltier, do 1 1/2 tsp)

1/2 teaspoon instant dry yeast

1 1/2 cups warm water (100-110°F)

Method:

1. In a glass measuring cup, combine to dissolve warm water (100-110°F) and sprinkle instant dry yeast over the top. Let it sit 2-3 minutes.

2. Into a large mixing bowl, sift all-purpose flour and add salt. Whisk to combine.

3. Pour in the water mixture and use a wooden spoon to stir until all of the flour is incorporated (do not knead). The dough will be very sticky, but do not add additional flour.

4. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rest on your counter or inside your unheated oven for 18 hours to 24 hours.

5. Place an empty dutch oven and lid inside the oven and preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Once preheated, remove dutch oven and place on the stove. Be careful not to touch the dutch oven or lid without oven mitts because it will be extremely hot.

6. Meanwhile, generously dust a cutting board or work surface with flour. Using a rubber spatula, scrape the dough out (which will be very thin and sticky) onto the floured surface. With help of pastry scraper or well-floured hands, shape the dough by folding the dough in half and then fold in half again, pulling the dough together into a loose ball.

7. Sprinkle the bottom of the dutch oven with flour or cornmeal and carefully place (or drop) the dough in the center of your hot dutch oven. Cover with lid and bake for 30 minutes at 450°F. Carefully remove hot lid and bake for another 15 minutes to 20 minutes until golden brown.

Substitute for active yeast – instant dry yeast can be replaced for active dry yeast. Use 3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast in this recipe.

Measure correctly – spoon flour into a measuring cup and level off the top with the back of a knife.

Rising the dough – draft-free room temperature, unheated oven or turned off microwave. Avoid placing dough into hot oven to rise. Hot temperature will deactivate and ruin the yeast.

For round, less flat bread – use a 4qt or 5 qt dutch oven so that the bread rises upwards, rather than spreading out over the entire surface of bigger pot.

Preheat the oven and dutch oven – placing the bread into hot dutch will help form a beautiful crust.

Flour the dutch oven – to make sure your bread doesn’t stick to the pot, sprinkle flour or cornmeal on the bottom of the preheated pot.

Cool before slicing – always wait for hot bread to cool to room temperature before slicing. Cutting it while hot, will release too much steam and the bread will become gummy.