Saturday, April 12, 2008

Cookbook Library: The Silver Palate

Other than The Joy of Cooking, which I bought when I was still in high school just because I loved it so, The Silver Palate was the first cookbok I ever owned. The recipes now seem “so Eighties” to me — but that isn’t a bad thing. I am often nostalgic for those ‘80s treats I used to make, like these “Toffee Bars” that are easy and very good: 1 cup butter (2 sticks) 1 cup light brown sugar 1 egg yolk 2 cups flour 1 teaspoon vanilla 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts 1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9×12 baking pan. 2. Cream butter and sugar. Add egg yolk; beat well. 3. Sift in flour, mixing well, then add vanilla. Spread batter in greased pan. Bake for 25 minutes. 4. Cover cake layer with chocolate chips and return to oven for 3 or 4 minutes. 5. Remove pan from oven and spead melted chocolate evenly. Sprinkle with nuts. Cool in pan completely before cutting. About 30 bars. The only change I made was adding a little salt to the batter because I used unsalted butter.

4 comments :

  1. Don't those sound yummy? Makes me hungry. Did you ever used to make those 7-layer bars with graham cracker crust, chocolate chips, coconut, pecans, condensed milk and I can't remember what else. You baked them and they were so rich and good. Haven't made them for years.

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  2. I know the bar cookie you mean, although I've never made it myself. But I found the recipe on line, so I might give it a try. Here's what I found:

    "Hello Dolly bars are also known as seven layer bars."

    INGREDIENTS:
    1/2 cup unsalted butter
    1 cup graham cracker crumbs
    1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
    1 cup butterscotch chips
    1 cup coconut
    1 cup chopped walnuts
    1 can (15 ounces) sweetened condensed milk

    PREPARATION:
    Melt the butter; mix in graham cracker crumbs. Pat crumb mixture in a 9-x13-inch baking pan. Sprinkle the remaining ingredients over the crumbs in order given, in layers. Drizzle the sweetened condensed milk over all.

    Do NOT stir. Bake at 350° for about 25 minutes. Cool and cut into bars.

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  3. That's the one. I changed it to not use the butterscotch chips and I used pecans instead of walnuts. Lots of pecans here in Texas.

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  4. It's the butterscotch chips that put me off -- too nasty! But leaving them out is the solution.

    We have filberts here in Oregon. Maybe I'll try those. :)

    ReplyDelete

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