Chocolate & strawberry jam crumble bar

I saw this on the blog Sugar crafter a week or so ago and was intrigued. I added a bit more vanilla, changed up the chocolate chips slightly and added less jam, other than that, the recipe is essentially the same. Also changed the pan as didn't have the same size as the one she used.

Now that I have made this, several variations come to mind that I would like to try.

* Replace chocolate/condensed milk with apple cinnamon filling

* Replace chocolate/condensed milk with caramel, add apple filling

* Replace jam with peanut butter

* Replace the crust with an Oreo or tim tam cookie crumb base

* Replace the crust with the Nestle toll house cookie dough

* Remove chocolate/condensed milk, keep jam, remove chocolate chips, add a strawberry icing. Wow. That brings back memories of a fabulous bar I used to eat all the time growing up in New Zealand.

Anyway.... here is the recipe for the Chocolate & strawberry jam crumble bar

Ingredients:
Base
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
2 cups plain flour
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

Filling
1 cup chocolate chunks
1 can (14 oz) condensed milk
1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste
1/2 cup strawberry jam

Topping
1/3 of base mixture
1 cup chocolate chunks (I used Cadbury top deck)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 176 degrees C and grease and line a 20 x 20 cm square cake pan. I like to have the baking paper overhang (come up further than the top of the cake pan) so once baked, the bar is easy to remove from the pan without breaking.
The original recipe called for a larger pan, so I also greased and lined a 6 capacity cupcake pan. Turns out this was just right for the quantity of mixture.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and vanilla until creamy. In a seperate bowl, sift in the flour and add the brown sugar. Mix to combine.

Add flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat to combine. Remove 1/3 of the mixture and set aside to use for the crumble topping. With the remaining 2/3 of the dough, press 3/4 into the prepared pan, and the rest divide amongst the cupcake liners.

Place the cake pan and the cupcake pan into the oven and bake for 5 minutes. Remove the cupcake pan, and bake the cake pan for another 3-4 minutes, or until crust is a lovely light golden colour.

For the centre, place the chocolate into a microwave safe bowl. I started off by melting the chocolate in short bursts on medium in the microwave. Make sure you check on it and stir frequently - you don’t want to burn it! When chocolate was ¾ melted I added the condensed milk, and continued microwaving and stirring until fully melted and mixed. Add the vanilla bean paste, and stir to combine. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.

Spread jam over the cooled base (in cake and cupcake pans). Pour the chocolate mixture over the jam. Sprinkle remaining dough and top deck chocolate chunks over top of the cake pan and cupcakes.

Place cake pan and cupcake pan in oven, and bake for 10 minutes. Remove cupcake pan, and continue baking cake pan for a further 10 minutes. Let cool before attempting to slice - otherwise you will end up with a crumbly mess. Trust me. Slice, then eat.

Jam “doughnut” cupcakes and Lemon curd “doughnut” cupcakes

"Doughnut" cupcakes two ways - Jam “doughnut” cupcakes and Lemon curd “doughnut” cupcakes

Following on from my apple doughnut cupcake post a while ago, I started thinking about other possible combinations.

I started off with the very vanilla cupcakes from a recent post. I doubled the recipe this time though so I would have enough to take to a friends place for dessert and have some left for Mr X to take into work (which seems to be routine these days!).

I decided on two types - lemon curd and jam filled. Lemon curd paired well with the cupcake recipe because the cupcakes require four egg whites, and the lemon curd needed four egg yolks. I decided the combination was meant to be! I also made jam filled ones because Mr X requested them.

Ingredients:
Cupcake recipe here (double batch) - makes approx 28 cupcakes

Lemon “doughnut” cupcakes

Ingredients:
14 “very vanilla” cupcakes

Lemon curd filling
Recipe here

Drizzle topping (adapted from bbcgoodfood.com)
Juice of 1 1/2 lemons (freshly squeezed, strained)
43 grams caster sugar

Method:

Bake cupcakes. Leave in pan to cool for 10 minutes before turing out onto wire rack. Hollow out the top of each cupcake (instructions here)

Put caster sugar in a small bowl and add lemon juice to it. Mix to combine. Drizzle over cupcakes while still warm.

Fill the cupcakes with lemon curd using this method.

Jam "doughnut" cupcakes
Ingredients:

14 “very vanilla” cupcakes*
* add 3/4 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp nutmeg to batter

Jam filling
Approx 14 tsp good quality strawberry jam

Sugar coating
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
5 tbs butter, melted

Method:

Bake cupcakes. Leave in pan to cool for 10 minutes before turing out onto wire rack. Hollow out the top of each cupcake (instructions here)

Melt a few tbs butter in the microwave safe bowl. Brush cupcakes lightly with melted butter and roll in sugar.

Fill the cupcakes with jam using this method. 

I spent a lazy day at home with Mr X and our dog, Ari Gold. Ari decided to "help" me update my blog. Thanks Ari!

Jam drops

I made these on a whim over the weekend - I had an urge to bake but hadn't been to the supermarket so I was limited by what we had at home. We had jam in the cupboard, so the decision was made! Next time I'm going to go a step further and make my own jam.


Makes about 20 cookies.


Ingredients:

• 130g butter, softened
• 1/2 cup caster sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 egg
• 2 tbs cornflour
• 1 cup plus 3 tbs plain flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 cup jam - I used strawberry

Method:

Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla until light and creamy.

Add the egg and beat until combined.

Sift in flours and mix until combined using a spoon. The dough will be quite soft and fluffy. Refrigerate the dough for half an hour to firm in up.

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C (fan forced). Line two baking tray with baking paper.
Once taken out of the fridge, the dough should be firm and easier to make into cookies!

Roll heaped teaspoons of dough into balls and place them evenly spaced on the baking trays. Make a deep indentation in the centre of each ball. I used the end of a chopstick.

Place half a teaspoon of jam in each hole. Try not to overfill them, or they will overflow during baking.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, until a golden pale colour. Allow to cool before trying them, the jam will burn you otherwise!

On a slightly random side topic, I also made lemon curd the same day as the cookies. Instead of filling all the cookies with jam, I baked some without, and added a teaspoon of lemon curd to the top of them after baking. Sort of like a mini lemon tart, but in a cookie instead! Forgot to take a photo of the finished product though :(

Lemon Curd (A Martha Stewart Recipe)

Ingredients:

(Note - the ingredients below is for half the original recipe)

• 4 large egg yolks
• Zest of 2 lemons (fine)
• 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/2 cup sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter (cold)

Method:

Add yolk, zest, lemon juice and sugar in a heavy bottomed pan, whisk to combine.

Cook over medium high heat - making sure you stir it constantly with a wooden spoon. Make sure you scrape down the sides of the pan. When the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon (after approx 10 mins), remove saucepan from heat.

Add salt, then add the butter one tablespoon at a time, stirring until smooth. Strain through a sieve into a medium sized bowl. Cover with glad wrap (press glad wrap directly onto the lemon curd to stop a skin from forming on it). Place in the fridge to set for a minimum of one hour. mine set within two hours but apparently it can take up to a day according to Martha (she did make double the qty though)

Shoeboxgirl