Thursday 3 February 2011

Another new book & Butterscotch Bars

Oh dear! I'm so sorry that this picture has turned on it's side...I'm not quite sure why! Anyway, it's the cover of the new book I bought last week...yet another one. It's a book of brownies and bars by Patricia Helding, the owner of NYC's Fat Witch Bakery . I have to say that there isn't much new in the book (to me, that is) Also I don't find the quality of the book to be too impressive - thin pages, slightly faded photographs.
Still, there's always something to learn from any new cookbook I find...like these Butterscotch Bars which I delivered to the Coffee Tree this morning...
They are sort of like Blondies...chewy & slightly crunchy very vanilla-y bars, with butterscotch and chocolate chips folded in at the last minute. The top, like a brownie, is shiny and crackly....while the inside is lovely and soft.
They looked and smelt very good - I'll see what the customers thought tomorrow. It's worth saying though that I made a shortbread base for the bars...and I'm very glad that I did. Without it (as in the original recipe) I fear they would have been far too soft to turn out or cut. Very difficult to handle - also quite thin!
Anyway, this may be a one off. I'll certainly reserve judgement until I've tried a few more recipes from the book.

Butterscotch Bars did their job this morning...tempting the Coffee Tree customers into buying a little extra something!
I hope that your Thursday has gone well so far...so much strange weather about. Thankfully t Australian cyclone is now over with, it seems, no fatalities. I hope that if you're snowed in somewhere, you're warm, cosy & well stocked!
xox


4 comments:

  1. Sounds as if you are a bit like me in the cookery book department. I recently "sorted" out my shelves and discovered that I have about 100. Definitely too many I think but I dip in and out of loads, particularly the baking ones. Then I go and change things anyway.

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  2. I love it when you share some of your new book finds as well- always looking for a wonderful cookbook!!! I never use the recipes exactly as they are, however....well rarely. Your tempting dessert, as always, looks delicious and I do believe the photographs are turning themselves funny; it did for me, too!! Hope Paul loved his special dinner!!
    xx- don't blow away in the terrible wind!

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  3. These look, as always spectacular. You are very talented in that you seem to instinctively know what is going to go well with a different base or just experimenting. I think I'm a bit like that, although not as confident as you! I now know with recipes whether the amount of sugar is going to be too high, and lessen it, and the same with fat. xxxxx

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  4. Oh I love the look of the butterscotch bars and they do sound like something I'd like to eat. I was bemused by all the brownie recipes in Greenspan's Baking book. Seemed like a way lot but then I make the same ones over and over, seldom getting to make them, unlike you who live in a sugarplum fairy world of yumminess.

    I belong to a cookbook club and often it's a very good deal to buy from them. Don't know if they're available out of the States, but check thegoodcook.com. I haven't bought much lately, but in the past they've had offers 4 books 10 bucks each and you can sometimes get 30 or 40$ books that way, a huge bargain.

    Anyway can't wait to see what treats you make tomorrow!

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I love to read what you write! Thanks for visiting! xo