Coffee Cream Bars
Layers of delicious.
Ok. So I cheated on cookie week. These aren’t technically cookies. But they are dessert that you eat with your hands and they also happen to be really good.
So I hope that you’ll forgive me that I abandoned my own cookie week on Day 3 to bring you a bar instead of a cookie.
These bars are filled with a creamy coffee mixture that is pretty awesome for anytime you need a little pick-me-up.
Coffee Cream Bars
Yield: 16 bars.
Prep Time:
Total Time:
Ingredients:
Crust:
1 Cup graham crackers, crushed
2 Tablespoons sugar
3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Filling:
1 Teaspoon gelatin
2/3 Cup strong coffee
8 ounces cream cheese
1/2 Cup sugar
2 Eggs
Pinch of salt
Chocolate toppings:
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate
4 Tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
Directions:
1) Line an 8x8 baking dish with foil, laying a sheet in both directions.
2) Combine crumbled crackers, butter, and sugar in a bowl and mix well. Pack mixture into baking pan and use a flat instrument (measuring cup) to press the crust down until it's flat.
3) Bake at 325 degrees for 10 minutes and then cool.
4) For filling, add room temp coffee and sugar to a mixing bowl. Sprinkle gelatin over liquid and let sit for 5 minutes.
5) Add other filling ingredients and mix either with a hand mixer or stand mixer with whisk attachment until the filling is smooth.
6) Pour filling into graham cracker crust.
7) Bake in a hot water bath for 45 minutes at 325 degrees.
8) Cool at room temperature for 2 hours, then cover and chill in fridge for an hour.
9) For topping, melt chocolate and butter together over a double boiler or in the microwave if you're careful. Let chocolate cool a bit and then pour over cream bars and spread out evenly.
10) Chill until chocolate hardens, 30 minutes to an hour.
11) Lift up foil to remove bars. The foil should peel right off.
12) Slice with a hot knife and wipe the knife clean between each slice if you're concerned with having really clean slices.
13) Serve in cupcake cups.
Adapted from a Smitten Kitchen recipe.
The First Layer
These bars have three basic layers to them. The most intimidating layer is probably the middle one, but let’s start at the beginning.
These lovely bars sit on a graham cracker crust which, if you’ve never made before, it’s dumb simple to do.
Start with these three simple ingredients.
Makings for a crust.
Then line an 8 inch baking dish with foil. It’s best to lay overlapping sheets of foil going in opposite directions. Make sure you get the foil pressed nicely against the dish walls.
In a small bowl, combine the crumbled graham crackers with the sugar and melted butter.
Next, pour down all your graham cracker mixture into the bottom of the pan and use a flat surface like a measuring cup to pack in the crust really well.
Bake the crust at 325 degrees for about 10 minutes.
The crust should end up lightly browned around the edges. Let this cool before you do anything with it.
Lightly browned.
The Second Layer
This is the layer that’s worrisome. It seems like there’s a lot that could go wrong, but have no fear, the custard/gelatin mixture is really sturdy and will hold up just fine.
You just need a few ingredients for this layer, the most important of which is very strong coffee. Note that if you’re using gelatin, then these guys become a non-vegetarian deal. It might be possible to make a custard that’s sturdy enough without the gelatin, but it would be tricky I think.
Strong coffee is important.
Add your coffee (room temp) and sugar into a mixing bowl and sprinkle gelatin over it. Let the gelatin dissolve for 5 minutes. Mix together with a hand mixer or stand mixer with the whisk attachment. You could also just use a whisk, but you might be in for a workout.
Next, whisk in the cream cheese and eggs together and add a pinch of salt. Mix this until the mixture is really creamy and there are no lumps. This might take a few minutes but it should eventually smooth out.
Then just pour the mixture into your graham cracker crust!
Action shot!
Slow Food
Getting the bars ready for step 3 requires a bit of time. Here’s the procedure I used to make sure the coffee/cream layer is set nicely.
1) Bake the dish in a water bath for 45 minutes at 325 degrees. Your 8 inch baking dish should fit perfectly into a 9×13 inch dish so just add that setup to your oven and then pour boiling water into the larger pan until it comes halfway up the side of the smaller pan.
2) Remove the dish and let it cool at room temperature for 2 hours.
3) Then cover it and chill it in the fridge for an hour.
If you’re keeping track, that’s about 4 hours of stuff. It’s pretty important though if you want your bars to be set nicely. So watch a movie or something while you wait for these guys to set up.
Layer Three
Once the center layer is chilled and set, you can prep the top layer of chocolate.
The chocolate layer is really easy to make. Just add chocolate and butter to a double boiler (I use a metal bowl over a pan with some boiling water in it) and whisk until chocolate is melted.
Let the chocolate cool for a few minutes just so it isn’t too hot and then pour it onto your bars!
Chocolate on top.
Spread this out and let it chill thoroughly for another 30 minutes to an hour so the chocolate and set up firmly as well.
Slicing the bars
I got a bit sloppy with my slicing, but if you use a sharp hot knife (heat it under hot water and then dry it off), it should slice right through the bars. Be sure to take your bars out of the pan and foil before slicing them!
Be sure to wipe off the knife after every slice. I did a four by four slicing pattern which yields 16 good sized bars.
If you’re traveling with these bars, it helps to have some cupcake tins to keep them in because they are kind of messy.
Cupcake papers are important.
Even though the filling looks light, it actually ended up having a pretty rich coffee flavor. There’s not a lot of other flavors going on so you can really taste the coffee.
Sure, these things do take some time, but they are a pretty unique treat I think. If you’re baking cookies or something on a weekend, you could make these while you work on other stuff.
Sorry for cheating. I’ll be back tomorrow with an actual cookie!
Anne-Marie - "This looks awesome! My husband and I are going camping this weekend, a..."
Claire - "As a lover of all things Cajun (I lived in Louisiana for several years..."
Marc - "This was great. I had no tahini so used peanut butter. Thanks for shar..."
Rob P - "I prefer cast iron pizza to using a stone. I have skillets but I also ..."
Whitney @ The Newlywed Chefs - "Nick, you've done your job well! I've been reminded that I need to mak..."
Nick - "Absolutely! Just be sure to cook it over low heat and start it cold in..."
Yeah, I think I can forgive you. Heh. They look wicked good, I'm with Tania it totally reminds me of tiramisu too.
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I mean seriously? Are you trying to turn me into a big fat fattie? Because this is dangerous… I have to make it!
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Nick replied: — December 8th, 2010 @ 10:18 am
It's not my goal! I promise! ;)
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YUMMY!!!!!!!!! this looks divine Nick – reminds me of tiramisu, gotta try it!!!!
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Hoping all the gans's will help me make it for our chanukah party on Christmas day after we go to our family movie tradition; time for the goodie To set
TO ALL:: HAVE A FUN SAFE HOLIDAY SEASON & HAPPY NEW YEAR ESPECIALLY IN GOOD HEALTH
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Fantastic. Love these.
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Nick replied: — December 8th, 2010 @ 10:18 am
Glad you guys like them!
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oh Nick those look so good!!
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I require these right now. Now. Annnnnd appear!
**puff**
Hmm.
Annnnnd APPEAR!
**puff puff**
Hm. Nothing.
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I tried this last night – absolutely amazing, thank you!
I also made these. If anybody's after a profiterole recipe, this is the best one I've ever tried: http://www.bukisa.com/articles/413455_chocolate-p…
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Good stuff here. Happy holidays to your and all your blog readers!
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Since I was running out of time and traveling with them, I cut them after the second layer set, put them into paper-lined mini muffin tins, then added the chocolate layer. After 5 minutes I transferred the bars (in their paper liners) onto a plate and let the last layer set while riding in a cold trunk wrapped in non-stick foil.
When I make them again I plan cut them at the same juncture. It was easier, less messy and presented well.
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Laurie replied: — October 10th, 2011 @ 8:18 pm
Good idea, but was their shape ok? Was it like a little peanut butter cup then?
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These would be really good with Fair Trade Chocolate and Coffee! http://www.equalexchange.coop makes some delicious chocolate and coffee. Also Divine Chocolate is Fair Trade and most locals have Fair Trade coffee from a local roaster as well.
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Just a thought….
Why not make them from start to finish in muffin tin with paper liners? No messy cutting, easy serving.:-) Just adjust time in the water bath as smaller portions will cook at a quicker rate.
Some adventurous soul may wish to experiment to see how they turn out without using water bath at all….make sure to report back if it is an unnecessary step
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