VegaNanaimo bars

What do you get when you make a rich, dense, nutty base with a soft, airy, ultra sweet whipped (vegan) butter (vegan) cream layer, and top it with a crackling thin layer of dark chocolate?  Probably one of the only good things to come from one of my many past trainwrecks relationships; otherwise known as Nanaimo bars, named after the island of Nanaimo off of Vancouver, B.C. where said ex was from.  So, relationships may come and go, but my appreciation for the New Pornographers, Godspeed you Black Emperor, and obscure desserts even many Canadians have never heard stick around.

What with the holiday season in full swing, one is expected to make cookies, cookies, and more cookies!  One of the better annual parties we have is called "The Cookie Party," which is actually an underground warehouse rave that goes til dawn (plus uhm, a party featuring a mountain of like over 90 different types of homemade cookies such as ghost-pepper ginger snaps to tandoori curry cookies and well.. Nanaimo bars). 

From Cookie Party 2011: Not pictured: cookies.  Pictured: sassy erstwhile vegan food blogger Mary and her awesomer, sassier hair stylist, Joolie. 

 Anyway, on to the recipe...

VegaNanaimo Bars(say that 6 times, quickly)

Bottom Layer:

• 1/2 cup Earth Balance (1/3 c oil + 1T water should work)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 5 tablespoons cocoa (I use Valrhona)
• 2 T chia gel 
• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup walnuts

Second Layer:

• 1/2 cup Earth Balance (room temp)
• 2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 2 tablespoons corn starch
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 1-4 tablespoon non-dairy (I used Whole Foods unsweetened soy) 

Topping:

• 4 ounces dark (70%+) chocolate
• 2 tablespoon Earth Balance or coconut oil

Prep an 8x8 dish by layering it with parchment paper. 

Bottom layer: Put the walnuts into a food processer bowl and corsely chop, add the remaining ingredients for the bottom layer, except the butter and pulse a couple of times until the ingredients are evenly mixed.  Melt the earth balance and pour into the bowl, pulse until the mix reaches the desired consistency.  I like mine to be dense and cohesive, relatively homogenous, but some people like the elements to be more distinct. Press evenly into 8x8 pan and let cool in the freezer as you prep the second layer.

Second layer: Cream the earth balance, confectioners' sugar, corn starch, and vanilla in a standing bowl mixture fitted with the whisk attachment. Add  a tablespoon of mylk and beat until light and creamy, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as necessary. Spread on top of bottom layer. Place this in refrigerator for at least 20 minutes.

Topping: Melt chocolate and butter together in a bowl set over hot water. Mix well and spread on top. Chill in refrigerator.

Finished product should look something like this.  When you are ready to cut them up, you want a sharp knife in a vase of hot water to cut through the chocolate with minimum cracking (cracking will likely happen anyway, though). 

 Lift the entire square out of the tray and flatten the parchment, placing the bar on a cutting board.  Remove the knife from the hot water and evenly start to cut squares out into the desired size. I tend to make roughly 1x1 inch squares, as these bars are riiiiiich!  Make sure to rewarm the knife as needed.

Plate up and share as desired... or take all of them and seclude your self in a blanket fort, growling at anything that passes by.

Apricot Kumquat Crumb Bars

These are gratifying, tasty addictive little things that are very easy to share (though not as easy to consume your self). Totally OT but I am so clueless as to why I have writer's block when it comes to food... I have no shortage of things to say about food, and no shortage of things to type about.. But when it comes to writing about food... it just.. Sigh. Anyway. START OVER!

These are tasty little treats you could pretend ... Oh wait, I just solved the problem... I just need to have the tasty, tasty little thing on hand to be thoughtfully chewing on as I write about them!

Take three! These whole grainy bars are a pleasing combination of crunchy, chewy, fruity, earthy, juicy tender morsels that ... that... *takes another one*, *chomp.* The apricot-kumquat filling is sandwiched by a pleasingly textured crust that holds the filling together, bursting out with each bite and mixing with the crust. Really they are a full bodied dessert suitable after lunch, or dinner, yet substantiated with enough fruit that you can pretend they are good for you and justify them as a breakfast treat on the way to work... Just make sure to slather them with a white sugar frosting, before hand.

*reaches for another bite... and finds out she already had the last morsel*

WARNING. As I just found out, running out of this quirky-combo bar can result in a full bodied pout, with an extremely jutted out lip.

These, like many desserts, were based only loosely on a recipe.. It was neither vegan, nor based on apricots and kumquats (rather, it was based on raspberries)... However, I happened to have apricots and kumquats on hand, which seemed like when combined they could echo the tart, tangy, characteristics one gets in raspberry... The apricots giving their body, the kumquats bringing out the tart flavor as well as contributing something funky on their own. As far as labor goes, not so bad. Could be less with having to prepare the apricots, but ripe apricots should fall right off their pits.

Needless to say, enjoy. But really, I wasn't kidding about last-bite sadness.

Apricot Kumquat Crumb Bars

For the Crust and Crumb

• 1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
• 1 C firmly packed dark brown sugar (I used muscovado)
• 1 1/4 C rolled oats
• 3/4 t salt*
• 3/4 t baking powder
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 3/4 t cinnamon
• 1/2 c shortening, chilled and cubed
• 1/4 c butter sub, chilled, cubed

*closer to 1 t if using a nice mild fleur de sel or pink himalayan

For the Apricot Kumquat filling

• 1/2 c dark brown sugar (re: muscovado)
• 2 T grated orange or lemon zest
• 1 t cinnamon
• 4 T All-purpose flour
• 2 pounds pitted and quartered apricots
• 1 small handful of kumquats, chopped and seeded *
• 1/2 C lemon juice
• 3 T coconut butter, softened and liquidy
  
• 1 T water
• 1/4 c almond extract
• 2 T amaretto

*I used what I had! If you like it sharper, use more, if you have sweet lovely apricots with flavor that can stand up on its own, use less.

Directions: Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13 inch glass baking pan OR line it with parchment paper, which creeps all the way up the sides (this will make removing the bars incredibly easy, when they are cooled).

Put the crumb's dry ingredients into the food processor and pulse a few times, until just mixed. Add the fats, and pulse until loose crumbs form.

Put aside half a cup of the crumb mixture. Pour the rest of the mix into the prepared pan and flatten it into an even layer. The crust should touch the sides of the pan but should not edge up above. Bake until golden brown, about 12-15 minutes. Transfer to wire rack and cool. Leave the oven on and prepare the apricot filling.

TEH FILLIN'

In a medium bowl whisk together the sugar, lemon zest, flour, and cinnamon together. Add the apricots, kumquats, liquids, and fat (re: coconut oil). Gently mix with your hands until everything is evenly coated.

Spread the mix over the cooled crust. Sprinkle the reserves atop.

Bake for 35-40 minutes, rotating the pan at 20 minutes. Bake until the top is golden brown and the filling is bubbling around the edges.

Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack. Cut up into squares (or triangles, or diamonds) and serve. This can also be frozen, or kept in an airtight container in the fridge for a couple of days.

Peanut Butter Marbled Rocky Road Brownie bars

Five half pence (two and a half pence?) to the first person who can guess what the above picture is of. No cheating and reading the title before hand!

Oops, probably too late for that, isn't it? So these are tasty, decadent, rich, happy little things. Like many things the recipe I am posting isn't exactly what I did. So first I will post the recipe I originally intended to go with... And then I will have a discussion about my dance

with these bars...

Peanut Butter Marbled Rocky Roads

• 2 1/4 c vegan graham cracker crumbs
• 2 T firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 2/3 c butter sub*
• 15 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 1/2 light corn syrup
• 1 c soyatoo cream or cashew cream**
• 20 halved vegan marshmallows***
• 1/2 C whole, salted peannuts****
• 1/2 C to 1 C smooth peanut butter

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Grease the sides and bottom of a 9x13 inch baking pan.

In a large bowl, stir together the graham cracker crumbs and brown sugar, then add the butter sub. Stir gently until combined. Pour and evenly distribute into the prepared baking pan, pressing down with your hands along the bottom and up the sides of the pan.

Bake the crust for 10-15 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown. Remove the plan, let cool on a rack.

Set up a double boiler. In the large heatproof bowl, toss the chocolate together with the corn syrup. Place over double boiler, add "cream" of choice. Cook, stirring, until everything is melted. Fold in the marshmallows and whole peanuts. Pour the mixture into the pan and spread as evenly as possible (using an off-set spatula helps).

Now lay down horizontal 'stripes' of peanut butter on the oozy yummy top, then drag a knife up and down vertically to create a marbling effect.

Refrigerate for at least 3 hours, or until set. Cut into triangles and serve. The bars freeze well, and will keep for about 3 days.

Asterix!

So my notes... I hate letting food go to waste, so a few things I did to illustrate alternative uses for things...

So...

*Butter sub. I used a mix of canola oil, coconut oil, and about 15% water. There was no need to use more expensive vegan butter for the task at hand.

** I used a failed cashew-based raw ice cream with touches of cinnamon and raisen for the cream. It had decent flavor, was good, rich, but didn't quite click right as an ice cream.

*** I used a failed batch of vegan marshmallows and swirled it in the chocolate mix, rather than getting some vegan marshmallows. I know I've said it before and I'll say it again. I try not to get fairly narrow-use ingredients, especially if they are unnecessarily expensive.

**** Other nuts are usable. I tossed some yummy walnuts in there!