Improbable almond bars

18 Servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
1½ cup Unblanched almonds; (or hazelnuts, or pecans) toasted in a 350 degree oven and cooled (Sorry, I did not wait for them to cool)
1 cup Packed brown sugar (light; dark, or mixed)
1 Egg; large or extra large
¼ teaspoon Almond extract or 3 drops oil of bitter almonds

Directions

Hi there. As a long-time lurker, I decided to move the archives towards 4,000 by sharing a recipe that I just made out of a cookbook that I just received: "The Good Stuff Cookbook" by Helen Witty. It is more a collection of from-scratch recipes for prepared items (sausages, pates, breads (including rolls, pretzels hard and soft, crackers, etc.), sauces, pickles, jellies (FINALLY a recipe for ginger marmalade!), cookies (amaretti!), etc.) rather than dishes that you serve - if you know what I mean. It looks really great!

This recipe attracted me by its simplicity and the fact that it has no flour or dairy, so it can be used for Passover, it's pareve, and I can make it for loved ones with allergies.

Source: The Good Stuff Cookbook, by Helen Witty (paraphrased - too much typing) - attributed to Cathy Lipkin's grandmother.

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. (If you just toasted the almonds - no problem!) 2. Combine nuts and sugar in food processor. Pulse the machine just until the nuts are coarsely chopped. Take care of any whole or overlarge chunks with a knife.

3. Stir in the egg by hand (mixture will be stiff). (NOTE: the recipe fails to mention the extract - I assume it gets mixed in at this point.) Spread the nut batter in an ungreased 8" square baking pan; if there are a few gaps in coverage, they won't matter. (NOTE: I used 9" pan, it worked out fine.)

4. Bake in the center of the oven for 20 minutes, then check; the top should have deepened to a rich caramel color and become crusty. If this is true only of the edges, lower the oven to 300 and bake another 5 minutes or so until the top is crusty over a soft inside and edges have begun to shrink from the pan a little. If in doubt, choose to underbake; otherwise, the bars will be dry. Remove from the oven.

5. Cool for 3 to 5 minutes, then loosen the edges with a metal spatula and cut to mark out 18 bars. (Don't worry if edges are raggedy.) Let cool until comfortable to handle, cut through, and move bars to cooling rack. If necessary, smooth the edges with fingers and attach loose bits.

6. When cold and crisp, store in airtight container at room temperature.

For longer storage, they can be freezer-wrapped and frozen up to 3 months.

Thaw in the wrappings.

Posted to JEWISH-FOOD digest V97 #316 by Henry <hbg@...> on Dec 4, 1997

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