Bready or Not Original: Peach-Almond Bars
These Peach-Almond Bars are peachy-keen, if you ask me! They aren’t super sweet and they really let the flavors of the fruit shine through.
I don’t do a lot with peaches because I live in Arizona and the peaches available here are not the best. There are a lot of things I miss about Central California, and the fresh fruit is a big one. (Oh, don’t start my yearning for strawberries…)
The good news is, you don’t need ripe or especially sweet peaches for this recipe because you add a touch of sugar and cook down the fruit. Lyle’s Golden Syrup is a British ingredient that can be found in the import section of a lot of grocery stores; there is no exact American substitute, but a mix of half light corn syrup and half honey is one I have seen in recipes more than once.
These bars are a pleasant mix of softness, crispness, peachiness, and crunchy almonds. Not only would they make for a good dessert or snack, but a fine breakfast as well.
Bready or Not Original: Peach-Almond Bars
Equipment
- 9×13 pan
- aluminum foil
- nonstick spray
Ingredients
Peaches
- 6 small peaches about 4 cups, peeled and chopped
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/4 cup Lyle’s Golden Syrup
- 1 Tablespoon corn starch
Bars
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup almond flour sifted to remove lumps
- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 sticks unsalted butter (1 cup) room temperature
- 2 Tablespoons sliced almonds
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Line a 9×13 pan with foil and apply baking spray
- In a medium saucepan, cook the peaches, water, and golden syrup about 15 minutes at a simmer, until peaches are soft. Add corn starch and stir well to bring the liquid together. Let set a few minutes to gel.
- In a mixing bowl, combine flour, almond flour, confectioners’ sugar, baking powder, and salt. Beat in the butter until it forms a lumpy dough.
- Press about 2/3 of dough into the prepared pan. Use a piece of waxed paper and a heavy glass to really compress it. Spread the peach mixture on top. Add clumps of the remaining dough to sporadically cover. Sprinkle almonds on top.
- Bake for about 40 minutes, until middle is set, not jiggly, with a golden brown crust across the top. Cool completely, speeding the process in the fridge if desired. Use foil to lift contents onto a cutting board to slice up. Store in a covered container, with waxed paper between the layers or with bars individually wrapped.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Kerrygold Almond Breakfast Cake
This Kerrygold Almond Breakfast Cake is moist, light, and delicious thanks to Irish butter, ricotta cheese, and a vivid spark of lemon.
I found the original version of this recipe on the Kerrygold website and modified it quite a bit to make it work for a square 9-inch pan. I also added a glaze because, well, I thought it needed one–and it does. Not only does it boost the sweetness, but it helps that layer of sliced almonds adhere more.
Using ricotta cheese in a cake like this doesn’t make it taste cheesy. The ricotta adds moisture, creating a soft, tender crumb, and it plays beautifully with the potent Kerrygold butter.
Now, about that Kerrygold. For baking purposes, I like to buy it at Costco when it goes on sale a few times a year. Stash it in the freezer and it keeps for a long, long time. It’s sure more cost-effective than buying it at the grocery store.
This cake is lemony-bright in flavor with a crisp-top crust thanks to the almonds. It keeps at room temperature for a few days or can be frozen for later.
Bready or Not: Kerrygold Almond Breakfast Cake
Equipment
- 9-inch square pan
- aluminum foil
- uneven spatula
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 8 Tablespoons Kerrygold unsalted butter (1 stick) 1/2 cup, room temperature
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 lemon zested and juiced
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure almond extract
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk ricotta cheese
- 3/4 cup sliced almonds
Glaze
- 3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 3 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Line 9-inch pan with foil extended up all four sides. Apply nonstick spray.
- Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat together butter, sugar, and lemon zest until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add eggs and almond extract.
- To the mixing bowl, alternatively add the flour mixture and the ricotta. Batter will be thick.
- Pour it into the prepared pan. Level off with an uneven spatula. Sprinkle sliced almonds to cover the top.
- Bake for 33 to 38 minutes, until the middle passes the toothpick test.
- Cool in pan for at least 45 minutes, then use foil to lift it onto a rack to completely cool at room temperature.
- Make glaze and drizzle across the top. Let set for 30 minutes before cutting. Cake will keep at least two days at room temperature, or pieces can be individually wrapped and frozen for later.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not Original: Cookie Butter Shortbread
The Cookie Butter Shortbread is a new riff on my classic Shortbread recipe that I’ve also made with espresso powder and chocolate chips–and also with an infusion of lemon and a glaze. It’s a versatile base recipe.
Now, I bet some of you are asking–what is cookie butter? It’s essentially pureed spice cookies with oil, forming a spreadable consistency just like peanut butter. You can find it in stores by the nut butter; Trader Joe’s carries it under the name Speculoos. What cookie butter does is make cookies taste more… cookie. You’ll know what I mean when you try it.
This is not a crisp shortbread like the traditional Walker’s brand (which is delicious in its own right). No, this shortbread is cakey and soft, only crisp at the very edge.
Sometimes the first piece out of the pan can even be fussy and break in half; a metal pie spatula helps, but sometimes it can still happen. That’s no major problem, though, because of every bite of Shortbread is good, even if it’s not perfectly photogenic.
Enjoy this Cookie Butter Shortbread for breakfast or snacks, or in proper fashion at tea time.
Bready or Not Original: Cookie Butter Shortbread
Equipment
- 2 pie plates
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter 2 sticks, softened
- 1 egg yolk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup creamy cookie butter
- 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 375-degrees. Apply nonstick spray to both pie plates.
- Stir together the flour, sugar, and salt. Add butter, egg yolk, vanilla extract, and cookie butter. Use hands to compress dough together. Add the chocolate chips and mix, bringing dough together again to form a ball. Divide in half, placing one in each pie plate. Flatten dough with palms to create an even surface. Prick surface all over with a fork then use a knife to slash dough into triangular wedges.
- Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, until edges are golden brown and middle is set. Remove from oven and cut again along slash marks. Let shortbread cool completely, then cut again along existing marks.
- Shortbread keeps for several days at room temperature. It can be stored covered in pie plates, or stacked in a sealed container with wax paper between the layers.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not Original: Berry Frangipane Cake
This Berry Frangipane Cake is a lot of work, and it shows! This cake would make for a stunning breakfast, brunch, or dessert.
Frangipane is a kind of pastry filling made from almond flour. It is absolutely delicious, imbuing treats with nuttiness and sweetness.
In this cake, frangipane works alongside cake batter to form the base for a lovely topping of formerly-frozen fruit and sliced almonds. I used a pretty standard fruit mix with raspberries, blackberries, and strawberries, and it’d come from the dollar store.
If you want to use a single frozen fruit or a more select mix, go for it. Just remember that it should be thawed, drained, and patted dry, and if the pieces are very large, they should probably be cut to be around bite-size.
I found that this kept perfectly well in individually-wrapped pieces at room temperature for about 2 days. It was also great to freeze. I had pieces frozen for weeks and then thawed them, and it was impossible to tell they’d ever been in the freezer.
Greatly modified from Bake from Scratch January/February 2021 issue.
Bready or Not Original: Berry Frangipane Cake
Equipment
- 9-inch springform pan
- parchment paper
- offset spatula
- 2 cookie scoops
Ingredients
Frangipane
- 2/3 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups superfine almond flour sifted if thick or clumpy
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg white
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
Batter
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter 1 stick, room temperature
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 cup milk or half & half
Fruit topping
- 3/4 cup frozen mixed berries drained, thawed, and patted dry
- 3 Tablespoons sliced almonds
- confectioners' sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 325-degrees. Cut a piece of parchment to fit the base of a 9-inch springform pan. Spray pan with nonstick spray, place paper cut-out inside, then spray that as well. Set aside.
- Make the frangipane. In a bowl, beat the butter until it’s creamy. Add the rest of the ingredients to combine well. Set aside.
- Make the batter. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar until they are fluffy. In a stand mixer, this will be 3 to 4 minutes. Add the egg followed by the extracts,
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Gradually add the dry ingredients into the butter-batter alternatively with the milk. Scrape the bottom of the bowl often.
- Scoop about 1 cup of the batter into the pan and even out with an offset spatula. Measure out about 1 cup of the frangipane. Use two spring-loaded cookie scoops (tablespoon or teaspoon-sized, or without those, use a normal tablespoon and get your fingers dirty), scoop from the 1 cup frangipane and the batter to create a checkerboard pattern of dollops atop of base. Continue to alternate in a second layer, using up the rest of the batter as well as the 1 cup frangipane. Use a butter knife to swirl through them to create a slight marbled effect. Tap the pan on the counter a few times to knock out bubbles.
- Use a scoop to place the rest of the frangipane on the top of the cake. Even out with offset spatula. Place the berries atop the frangipane, then sprinkle the almonds all over to coat.
- Bake until the cake has set edges, about 50 minutes to 1 hour. An instant-read thermometer plunged into the middle should read over 202-degrees. Let cool in pan 10 minutes, then release the side clasp. Continue to cool the cake on the metal base until room temperature. Add a sprinkle of confectioners' sugar to pretty it up for serving.
- Cake will keep covered for up to 2 days at room temperature. It can also be individually sliced and frozen for later enjoyment.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Dutch Butter Cake (Boterkoek)
If you want a cake that is simple yet indulgent, this Dutch Butter Cake is for you. It’s a single-layer cake that is straightforward to make.
Really, the fussiest thing about this recipe is doing the crosshatch pattern on the top, and it’s not that bad. Look at my pictures–or others online–for examples of what to do.
The prettiness of the cake is what initially drew me in, and then when I saw it was called a Butter Cake, I knew I had to make it. I mean, butter. I’m of Southeastern American stock on both sides. I was raised with the philosophy that butter makes everything better except for things like sucking chest wounds.
This cake bakes up with a light, tender crumb. The fresh orange zest shines through along with the butter and vanilla. It’s rich even as it’s not heavily sweet.
Modified from Bake from Scratch March/April 2020.
Bready or Not: Dutch Butter Cake (Boterkoek)
Equipment
- 9-inch springform pan
- parchment paper
- plastic wrap
- pastry brush
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter 3 sticks, softened
- 1 1/4 cups white sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar packed
- 1 orange zested
- 2 large eggs divided
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup unbleached cake flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Instructions
- Preheat oven 350-degrees.
- Cut a piece of parchment to fit in the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan. Apply nonstick spray or butter over the inside of the pan, place the parchment inside, then grease it as well. Set aside.
- In a stand mixer, beat the butter, sugars, and orange zest together. Scrape the bottom of the bowl, then beat on medium until fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add 1 egg. Crack the 2nd egg, placing the yolk with the other ingredients and setting aside the white for later use. Add vanilla bean paste to other ingredients and combine.
- In a separate bowl, stir together flours, salt, and nutmeg. Gradually add dry ingredients into the butter batter to create a thick dough. Scoop it into the prepared pan.
- Use a piece of plastic wrap to press the dough into an even layer. Discard plastic wrap. Lightly beat the reserved egg white. Use a pastry brush to gently apply the egg white across the top of the cake. Use the tines of a fork to make a crosshatch pattern across the top.
- Bake for 25 minutes. Rotate the pan. Continue baking until the surface is golden brown and the middle passes the toothpick test, which should be after an additional 5 to 10 minutes. Let cake cool in pan for 10 minutes, then release the side latch to remove the ring.
- Let cake cool completely on a wire rack. Slice and enjoy. Cake keeps well covered at room temperature for at least 3 days. It can also be cut into slices and frozen for later enjoyment.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Sharlotka (Apple Cake)
As you might have noticed, I’ve been experimenting with many different kinds of apple cakes over the past while. This Sharlotka has a Russian name but British origins, because that’s the way of the world.
I modified this from a recipe in Bake from Scratch’s October 2020 issue. There, they say the first Sharlotka was a very different kind of cake that was served for Czar Alexander during a London visit–and made by a French chef. Because of course.
The cake that evolved after that became more of a basic apple cake. The batter is minimal, and beaten for a prolonged time to increase volume. It’s pretty much there to act like adhesive for the mélange of apples.
The resulting cake is light and airy. The flavor of the apples really shines through.
This cake is great for a breakfast, snack, or dessert. Eat it on its own, or with some ice cream.
Bready or Not: Sharlotka (Apple Cake)
Equipment
- 9-inch springform pan
- parchment paper
- fine mesh sieve
- offset spatula
Ingredients
- 4 medium apples such as Granny Smith, Ambrosia, Fuji, or Golden Delicious; go for a mix!
- 1 cup plus 1 Tablespoon white sugar divided
- 1 large orange or 1 large lemon zested and juiced
- 4 large eggs room temperature
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
- confectioners’ sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Cut parchment to fit the bottom of the springform pan. Grease the pan, then place in parchment round, then spray that as well.
- Peel and thinly slice the apples. In a big bowl, coat the apples with 1 Tablespoon white sugar, the citrus zest, and 2 teaspoons of fresh juice. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, beat eggs, vanilla, salt, and remaining 1 cup of sugar at medium high speed for about 7 minutes. It should turn thick and pale, the batter forming ribbons when the whisk is lifted up. Remove bowl from mixer.
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and cardamom. Use a fine-mesh sieve to sift the dry ingredients into the egg mix. Gently fold the flour in until it’s just combined and there are no white streaks.
- Place half the apples in the prepared pan. Pour half the batter over them. Use an offset spatula to work the batter into nooks and crannies. Scatter the rest of the apples on top, followed by the rest of the batter. Again, use the spatula to spread the small amount of batter. For a couple minutes, thump the pan on the counter and tap the sides every now and then to cause bubbles to rise, smoothing batter again after.
- Bake cake. Check it at 30 minutes to see if it is getting too brown; if so, cover it with foil. Continue baking 10 more minutes (40 total) then test the middle with a toothpick. If it comes out clean, the cake is done. Let it cool on a rack for 15 minutes before carefully releasing the sides of the pan.
- Serve the cake warm, at room temperature, or cold from the fridge. Add a dusting of confectioners’ sugar on top for serving; if keeping cake for later, add fresh sugar each time, as it will gradually be absorbed. Store covered in the fridge or at room temperature.
