Chocolate almond bars

July 11, 2007 (Last Updated: January 11, 2019)
Chocolate almond bars recipe

Chocolate almond bars are devilishly rich and buttery. These lovely pastries are perfect for a tea party – their elegant shapes and toppings are too pretty not to share. Just as delicious without the ganache and almonds. 

Chocolate almond bars

Serves: Makes 30
Cooking Time: 2 hours 15 mins including standing time

Ingredients

  • Beat the butter, icing sugar, egg, milk, vanilla extract and rind together.
  • Mix the flour and almonds into the butter mixture and knead to a workable dough.
  • Roll the dough with your hands to make a long thin roll, about 2,5cm in width, and then press flat. Wrap in foil or plastic wrap and leave for 2 hours in the fridge. Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
  • Cut the strips of dough into 3cm-long pieces. Place them on greased baking trays and bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes.
  • Allow to cool slightly before transferring to a wire rack with a palette knife.
  • For the ganache, place the chocolate in a bowl. Bring the cream to scalding point then pour it over the chocolate, stirring to blend until the chocolate is melted.
  • Drizzle the nuts with the Frangelico and sprinkle with the icing sugar. Toast the nuts until golden brown.
  • Place the nuts on the biscuits and drizzle over the ganache. Allow the chocolate to set before storing the biscuits in an airtight container.

Instructions

1

125g butter

2

80g icing sugar, sifted

3

1 egg

4

15ml milk

5

1ml vanilla extract

6

rind of 1 lemon, grated

7

250g cake flour, sifted

8

100g blanched almonds, coarsely chopped

9

Chocolate ganache

10

120g good-quality dark chocolate, finely chopped

11

120ml fresh cream

12

Topping

13

15ml Frangelico

14

100g slivered almonds

15

icing sugar, to garnish

Notes

Cook's tips: • Scalding means heating the water close to boiling point. • When melting chocolate over water, don’t allow the water to boil as it heats the chocolate to above 40°C, which changes the texture of the chocolate. • Butter should always be at room temperature. Cold hard butter does not cream as easily when you incorporate it with sugar, and will result in flat cookies. • Do not use imitation vanilla extract, use the real thing – it really does make a difference.

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