Cake Batter & Crumbs

White Chocolate, Cranberry & Pistachio Bark

I made this holiday bark to give out with my Christmas cards at the office. It packages every well in clear cellophane bags with a nice ribbon tying it closed. This recipe was featured on the Food Network's website and looked so festive with the white chocolate, dark red cranberries, and pale green pistachios.

The recipe has just a few ingredients to pull together such a lovely treat. Although I found the overall directions a bit long for such a simple recipe. To be honest, I didn't follow the instructions as listed on the website, so I'm linking to that recipe. I didn't have a candy thermometer so I just pulled the chocolate off the heat as soon as the majority was melted. It turned out perfectly. My simplified version is below.

I used Craisins to give it a sweeter rather than tart flavor. Also, I couldn't find any pre-shelled pistachios in my area so I spent a good part of the afternoon shelling them. I suppose it would have gone faster if I hadn't eaten one for every couple that I shelled! Although the original recipe didn't call for it, I coarsely chopped my pistachios and some of the cranberries.

White Chocolate Cranberry and Pistachio Holiday Bark

1 pound finely chopped white chocolate
1 1/2 teaspoons nut or plain oil
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 1/4 cups shelled pistachio nuts, toasted and papery coating peeled

Melt the white chocolate over a double boiler. I used a small pot with a few inches of water and then placed the bowl to my stand mixer on top. When most of the chocolate begins to melt, remove it from the head and add the oil. (I just used Canola.) Then add all of the cranberries and pistachios.

Spread the mixture out on a silpat or foil-lined baking sheet and allow to cool at room temperature until it's set and ready to break apart.

The bark as it's cooling.

Katharine Hepburn's Brownies

Brownies are usually classified into two different categories. There are the cake-like brownies on one side and then the fudgy, gooey brownies on the other. Everyone has his or her own preferences, but for me, the gooey brownies take the cake... err brownie!

The recipe for these brownies comes from Katharine Hepburn's family. I've read that gossip columnist Liz Smith got the recipe from Hepburn about 25 years ago to publish in her column and since then this popular recipe has been republished numerous times in many cookbooks. I've seen this recipe with rave reviews on a lot of sites, and I can definitely agree that these brownies are superb.

In my mind the perfect brownie is slightly crispy on the outside and soft and gooey on the inside. These little beauties come so very close to achieving that ultimate glory for me. They have a nice little, crisp crust and a moist, gooey center. I think if I were to only swap out the nuts for chocolate chunks, I'd be in blissful brownie heaven.

Katharine Hepburn's Brownies

2 squares (ounces) unsweetened chocolate
1 stick (1/4 pound) butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
                      

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Butter an 8-inch square baking pan.
Melt the chocolate with the butter over low heat in a large saucepan; stir until completely melted.
Remove from the heat and stir in the sugar; add eggs and vanilla extract and beat mixture well.
Stir in the flour, salt and nuts and mix well.
Pour the batter into the 8-inch square pan.
Bake for 35-40 minutes at 325 degrees F until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Cool on a wire rack.