I recently bought a couple of cookbooks by Irish celebrity chef Rachel Allen (they were not that easy to get -- I had to buy them from British book dealers on ebay), and the first recipe I decided to try was "Bakewell Bars" from Bake. These bars are a variation of the traditional Bakewell tart; both have a layer of jam sandwiched between a shortbread crust and almond sponge topping.
The recipe is written to be baked in a 8-inch square pan, and I doubled it and baked it in a 9-inch by 13-inch pan. To make the shortbread crust, you cream softened butter, add sugar and beat until light and fluffy, add egg yolk, and mix in flour. The recipe says the mixture will form a dough that you are supposed to roll out and fit into the bottom of the parchment-lined pan. My dough was very dry and did not coalesce -- it was a pile of small distinct bits about the size of Dippin' Dots. I kept mixing, but it never came together. So instead of trying to roll it out, I just poured the pile of bits into my pan and it was actually quite easy to press them into a nice even crust.
The crust is not blind baked. You spread jam (I used raspberry) on the raw crust and refrigerate it while you make the almond topping, which is simply a mixture of melted butter, eggs, almond essence (I am still unclear if this is the same thing as almond extract, which is what I used), ground almonds, semolina flour, and sugar. After you spread the almond batter over the jam, you sprinkle on some sliced almonds and bake.
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You are supposed to bake the bars for 25-30 minutes, or until golden and set in the center. At 25 minutes, the top was completely pale, and at 30 minutes, it was still pretty light -- so I left the bars in for another five minutes and even then the top was not what I would call "golden." But I was afraid of overcooking the bars, so I pulled them out. After the bars were cooled and I cut them, I was a little startled to see that the shortbread crust was basically white; it had not colored at all, not even on the bottom. Appearance-wise, these bars reminded me a lot of the ones I regularly make from a Pillsbury Bakeoff recipe for raspberry-filled white chocolate bars.
Notwithstanding the blindingly pale crust and the not-quite-golden top, the bars were pretty good. Almond is my favorite flavor, and I absolutely loved the moist and delicious almond topping, especially in combination with the generous amount of intense raspberry preserves. However, the bars definitely would have benefited from more time in the oven. While the crust was fully cooked, some browning would have improved the flavor of the shortbread -- and probably the almond layer as well.
Because the crust was so pale, I wonder if this recipe would work better if the crust was partially baked before adding the preserves and almond topping. Or, since the top didn't take on much color, maybe the whole thing just needed another ten minutes in the oven. These bars didn't exactly bowl me over, but they were an encouraging start and made me eager to try more of Allen's recipes.
Recipe: "Bakewell Bars" from Bake by Rachel Allen.
The recipe is written to be baked in a 8-inch square pan, and I doubled it and baked it in a 9-inch by 13-inch pan. To make the shortbread crust, you cream softened butter, add sugar and beat until light and fluffy, add egg yolk, and mix in flour. The recipe says the mixture will form a dough that you are supposed to roll out and fit into the bottom of the parchment-lined pan. My dough was very dry and did not coalesce -- it was a pile of small distinct bits about the size of Dippin' Dots. I kept mixing, but it never came together. So instead of trying to roll it out, I just poured the pile of bits into my pan and it was actually quite easy to press them into a nice even crust.
The crust is not blind baked. You spread jam (I used raspberry) on the raw crust and refrigerate it while you make the almond topping, which is simply a mixture of melted butter, eggs, almond essence (I am still unclear if this is the same thing as almond extract, which is what I used), ground almonds, semolina flour, and sugar. After you spread the almond batter over the jam, you sprinkle on some sliced almonds and bake.
.JPG)
Notwithstanding the blindingly pale crust and the not-quite-golden top, the bars were pretty good. Almond is my favorite flavor, and I absolutely loved the moist and delicious almond topping, especially in combination with the generous amount of intense raspberry preserves. However, the bars definitely would have benefited from more time in the oven. While the crust was fully cooked, some browning would have improved the flavor of the shortbread -- and probably the almond layer as well.
Because the crust was so pale, I wonder if this recipe would work better if the crust was partially baked before adding the preserves and almond topping. Or, since the top didn't take on much color, maybe the whole thing just needed another ten minutes in the oven. These bars didn't exactly bowl me over, but they were an encouraging start and made me eager to try more of Allen's recipes.
Recipe: "Bakewell Bars" from Bake by Rachel Allen.
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