Congo Bars

The SD Union Tribune recently showcased an article featuring several local SD Foodbloggers. Three of them were our very own Jenny of Foray into Food and JennyWenny Cakes, Leanne of Three Dog Kitchen, and Marie of Meandering Eats. See the article "Will Blog for Food" here.

That same article also had a recipe by another foodblogger, The Gonzo Gourmet.

This here's the result of my attempt at making "Congo Bars":

I gave away the middle pieces to my neighbor, saving the tasty edges and corners for myself the family...

Fk yeah, just look at those dark chocolate Ghirardelli chips...

Congo Bars
(recipe courtesy of The Gonzo Gourmet)

Ingredients:
2/3 cup butter

2 ¼ cups brown sugar
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
3 eggs
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used a larger than usual size of chip - the dark chocolate Ghirardelli type)
*Optional - 1 cup nuts (I used thin sliced almonds because they were the only nuts I had on hand, otherwise I would have used walnuts)

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350°.

2. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the brown sugar and remove from heat. Set aside to cool.

3. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

4. Beat the eggs into the brown sugar and butter mixture, one at a time. Add the flour mixture to the saucepan, then the chocolate chips (and nuts, if using).

5. Spread into a greased 9×13” pan.

6. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the dough is lightly browned and a fork or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool completely before cutting into squares

They came out pretty good. I had all the ingredients and my daughter enjoyed measuring out the ingredients and cracking the eggs. Man, this recipe called for an assload of butter! But it sure tasted good! The neighbors, who were the recipients of the middle pieces enjoyed their plate; the girls finishing off their squares in less than a day.
Okay, I was nice. I gave some edges to CAB when I met with her for lunch last weekend!
 
I also tried making a chocolate zucchini bundt cake from another friend's blog, C from Life on Manitoulin. I'd never tried making a cake with vegetables before. Let's put it this way, there's a reason I didn't post my results.Total Fkg Cake Fail. I think I didn't use enough prune puree (which takes the place of butter and sugar) and I used regular flour instead of wheat. Who knows what else I did wrong but normally my bundt cakes always come out decent.

The cake is now taking up space in my kitchen trash. For the recipe and a photo of the Chocolate Zucchini cake, see C's post here.

Now that I'm on vacation, I have more time to be Mrs. Suzie Homemaker.

Not.

But really, it's great to be able to sleep past 6 am and go wherever I want to eat. This vacation, TC and I will be going on coupon adventures for lunch, so stay tuned for that.