5th
Coffee Crunch Bars
I wanted to make something sweet for Ely’s barbecue, and had had my eye on the recipe for Coffee Crunch bars ever since they appeared in February’s Bon Appetit. Then I read a little about the Coffee Crunch Bar Controversy over at the Bitten Word. Apparently the recipe was contributed by Molly Wizenberg (of the great blog Orangette), but the Bon Appetit editors modified the original recipe to reduce the baking temperature and increase the cooking time. The results, the Bitten Word guys (and Epicurious commenters) found, were burnt and hockey puck-ish.
I followed Molly’s original recipe (thanks to the Bitten Word for posting it), and I’m glad I did. At first, I was expecting something like a blondie, but because there aren’t any eggs in the recipe, the bars were crispy and without any give. As the bars cooled, they grew on me. The coffee, almond and chocolate flavors melded into a nice mocha treat. Kind of like the Jamoca Almond Fudge ice cream my dad used to get when he took us to Baskin Robbins when we were kids. The bars went fast at the party, and I’ll be making them again. Maybe I’ll experiment with eggs to make the bars more cake-like. Or maybe not. I, as the Bon Appetit editors learned, probably should not mess with a good thing.
(p.s. Excuse the blurry photo… real camera is all out of batteries, and can’t find the battery charger. It’s in a box somewhere.)