montcarte

With autumn now officially here, I thought I would greet the season with some appropriate baked goods. When I found this recipe for pumpkin bars, I thought they would be perfect.

However, I was mostly disappointed with them. I was expecting more flavour – something more interesting. I mean, these were good and there was nothing wrong with them, but there was nothing spectacularly right about them either. They are amazingly moist and have a perfect texture, and the pumpkin flavour really does stand out and goes well with the light orange flavour. They definitely have potential!

I wasn’t fond of the browned butter frosting – all in all, it was pretty much just an icing sugar-and-butter frosting, with no real taste other than sweetness. A cream cheese frosting would’ve made these bars 10x better – perhaps with some cinnamon. A chocolate ganache (either on top of cream cheese frosting, or as the only frosting) would’ve been fantastic. And finally, I would increase the amounts of spices in the recipe. Simply doing that would have really improved the bars.

So all is not lost! Even as they were, they went great as a simple breakfast treat or evening snack, and paired excellently with a cup of coffee. This is the recipe I used, but keep in mind that you may want to up the spice amounts and perhaps change the frosting.

Orange-Spice Pumpkin Bars with Browned Butter Frosting

BARS
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
2 teaspoons grated orange peel
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup orange juice
1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)

FROSTING
1/3 cup butter (do not use margarine, as it won’t brown)
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 to 4 tablespoons milk

BARS
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease bottom and sides of a 15×10x1-inch pan (I used a 9×14x1 successfully) with shortening; lightly flour (or spray with a baking spray with flour).

2. In a large bowl, beat bar ingredients with electric mixer on low speed, scraping bowl occasionally, until moistened. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Spread batter evenly into prepared pan.

3. Bake 25 – 27 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool completely, about one hour.

FROSTING
1. in 2-quart saucepan, heat butter over medium heat, stirring constantly, until light golden brown. Remove from heat.

2. Stir in powdered sugar, vanilla, and enough milk until smooth and spreadable.

3. Immediately spread frosting over cooled bars. Refrigerate about 15 minutes or until set. If desired, garnish each bar with orange strip peel.

The rumor going around is that the Neiman Marcus cookie is the best chocolate chip cookie in the world. Given that I really, really like chocolate chip cookies, and given that I have made about a dozen different recipes for them in my life, I figured I should give this one a try.

Am I ever happy that I did!

The variations between this cookie and any other cookie recipe are small, but those tiny changes make all the difference. The Neiman Marcus cookie is the perfect texture for all cookie lovers. You like them crispy? These have a crispy-ish edge, and a nice crust. You like them chewy? The centres are very chewy, dense and sweet. They have the perfect amount of salt, and a nice buttery overtone to them. The coffee powder (I used instant, as it’s hard to find espresso powder here) adds a whole other dimension, wonderfully balanced with the rest of the cookie.

I understand when people say the quality of chocolate used in cookies is important; I found some special dark chocolate chips and used those, and the end result was far superior to the normal chocolate chips I use. Next time, I’ll even step it up, using higher quality chocolate chunks in them.

They also seem like they would be quite versatile – I’d like to add some shredded coconut next time, and switch up the chocolates used. Perhaps M&Ms? Or white chocolate?

Watch the baking time though – mine only needed 15 minutes.

The Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookie
adapted from Neiman Marcus
2 dozen cookies

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1-3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 teaspoons instant espresso coffee powder
1-1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used dark chocolate)

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cream the butter with the sugars using an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy (approximately 30 seconds)

2. Beat in the egg and the vanilla extract for another 30 seconds.

3. In a mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients and beat into the butter mixture at low speed for about 15 seconds. Stir in the espresso coffee powder and chocolate chips.

4. Using a 1 ounce scoop or a 2 tablespoon measure, drop cookie dough onto a greased cookie sheet about 3 inches apart. Gently press down on the dough with the back of a spoon to spread out into a 2 inch circle. Bake for about 20 minutes or until nicely browned around the edges. Bake a little longer for a crispier cookie.