Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Caramel Crunch Bars; Tuesdays with Dorie




This week, I have a houseguest, my sister-in-law, L. It is good to have good things to feed family, so I was glad she liked this dish. She seems to have very particular tastes, with no method of logic that I can discern, so it is terribly hard for me to know what she will like. She likes spaghetti, but not macaroni, and NOT fettuccine. She likes 1% milk. Other percentages of milkfat are not pleasing to her. I could go on and on. I'm not complaining or calling her picky, because I strongly believe in people's right to eat what they want. It is just hard to know what I could feed her that she might like. I ask a lot of questions, lists of foods, whether or not she likes them. Oil glaze- yes, creamy sauces- no. Feta- yes, Blue Cheese- no.

So I was happy tonight that she liked not only this dessert, but the whole meal of lasagna, fresh bread, and Dorie's Caramel Crunch Bars with coffee ice cream. (She doesn't like coffee, but she likes coffee ice cream.) This week's recipe was chosen by Whitney of What’s left on the table? They are on Pages 112-113 of Baking: From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan.

This recipe seemed pretty straight forward and I had fun making it. I could not find espresso powder, but found instructions for making it. My espresso powder did not exactly dissolve in liquid though. I ended up with some fine grounds using it in the coffee ice cream recipe I found on Chop Chop A to Z.

I made my bars in a 9" x 11" pan, so they were a little thick, and the ice cream sandwiches were cute, but difficult to eat, so I just served the bars with the ice cream.



They were a hit with everyone.

8 comments:

Jennifer said...

Mmmn... coffee icecream. I, too, like coffee icecream, but not coffee!

I thought these bars were tasty, but not a favorite. No one in my family really liked them.. or so they say, because they did eat almost the WHOLE pan!

Kimberly Johnson said...

Your crunch bars look fantastic! Mine were too crispy to make ice cream sandwiches with!

Anonymous said...

Yum! Your bars look amazing. I paired them with coffee ice cream too. Delicious!

chocolatechic said...

Looks wonderful.

Anonymous said...

Can I stay at your house for my next vacation? Catering to my capricious food whims is a hard to find service.

These bars look very tasty.

Anonymous said...

Ooooh I love that shot with the ice cream! That's just how I enjoyed mine!

Spike said...

These were pretty perfect with coffee ice cream- glad your sister in law liked them!

Marci said...

Sounds very yummy! Cute blog!