Monday, December 15, 2008

Cookie recipe

As I promised in the comments of the previous entry, here's the recipe for the bar cookie that uses raspberry preserves. I found a recipe measurement converter online, so there are metric measurements in parentheses. I rounded up or down to one decimal point, when necessary

Raspberry Coconut Bars

3/4 c. butter, softened (170 g)
1 c. sugar (228.5 g)
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract (2.5 ml)
2 c. all-purpose flour (453.6 g)
1/4 tsp baking powder (1.2 g)
2 c. flaked coconut, divided (453.6 g)
1/2 c. chopped walnuts (113.4 g)
1 12-ounce jar raspberry preserves (352.9 ml or 342.8 g)*
1 c. vanilla or white chocolate chips (228.5 g)

1. Preheat oven to 350° F (177° C).
2. Grease a 13" x 9" x 2" baking pan (33 cm x 22.9 cm x 5.1 cm. I looked around on Amazon.co.uk, and I think this would be called a brownie pan).
3. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Set aside.
4. In another bowl, combine flour and baking powder; gradually add this to the creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in 1 1/4 c. coconut (285.7 g) and the walnuts.
5. Reserve one quarter of the dough to use as topping. Press the rest of the dough into the greased pan. Spread with preserves. Sprinkle with chips and the rest of the coconut. Crumble reserved dough over the top; press lightly.
6. Bake at 350° F (177° C) for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire rack. Cut into bars.

This recipe says the yield is 36 bars. I think that may depend on how you cut them.

And personally, I don't think the white chips were necessary. I didn't notice them in the piece I ate. Also, the recipe didn't specify, but I used seedless preserves to save my gift recipients from getting jabbed in the gums.

*Not sure whether jam is measured as dry or liquid, so I did both conversions. Wish I hadn't already thrown the label away.

10 comments:

Hotch Potchery said...

YUMMMM. I will make them next week in my quest to bake Mr. P the 12 desserts of Christmas.

Just Me said...

They sound maaaahvelous!

I wonder if the chips are partly intended to bind things together. If you skipped the chips, the end result might not be sturdy enough for the handlng involved in cutting, plating, or packaging.

Today's word sounds like one of the "curse words" used by "the old man" in A Christmas Story "Rismsodn Bumpuses!"

K said...

That sounds absolutely delicious. I like raspberry and dark chocolate, myself, so if I make this I might try substituting dark chocolate chips and see what happens.

Anonymous said...

Erm - we don't know what all-purpose flour is. We have plain or self-raising. I think baking powder in the recipe means plain flour, but I'm not sure.

Calutede to all followers of the word.

--V said...

G: I think all-purpose flour is probably plain flour. Over here we have all-purpose and cake flour. I don't know if I've ever seen self-raising, but then I've never looked for it.

I just looked up self-raising flour on the web, and it looks like self-raising flour is plain flour mixed with baking powder. So if you substituted that for the all-purpose flour and the baking powder, you should be fine.

What do you think, K? Does that sound right to you?

Just Me said...

Hmmm... I'd sooner go with plain flour versus self-rising, since recipes call for varying amounts of leavening depending on the desired outcome.

FWIW, Cake flour has a lower gluten content, which gives cakes a lighter texture than plain or all-purpose flour.

If you have a recipe calling for cake flour and have none on hand, you can substitute 7/8 cup all-purpose flour blended with two tablespoons cornstarch.

Anonymous said...

V, I wonder why your word verification is consistently so funny? Did you set an option somewhere? It's litylata this time - like a Hawaiian farewell, sung to the strains of a ukulele choir.

I think you're right about the flour and the baking powder. That's an expert talking about gluten. Thanks.

--V said...

I think maybe blogger's computer has developed a sense of humor. Or maybe there's one bored code monkey somewhere who has to come up with all these word verification things, and he's started to get really creative.

Did you ever read "The Deeper Meaning of Liff," by Douglas Adams? He took place names and made words out of them. The one I like best is "bickerstaff." That's the colleague who everyone complains about when they go to the pub after work.

Anonymous said...

Rodney Bickerstaff was head of a big trade union here - Brother Rodney, to the comrades.

Dicanme this time - Italian? Latin? Dicanme, mia cara, perche io sono scorragiato.

--V said...

Maybe an Italian dialect. Or just something to mess with the heads of people who leave comments.

(For those playing the home game, I think G wrote: "Tell me, dear, because I am discouraged." Thank you, Babelfish.)