Congo Bars

It was one of those lazy saturday afternoon whilst watching tv that suddenly I received a BB message from a friend asking me "Can you bake congo bars?..i'm browsing bakarella site and practically drooling seeing the pictures of her congo bars". I was like .."huh! Congo bars...nvr heard and obviously nvr baked"..."well go and check her site and go bake me some" was the reply I got from my "drill-Sargeant friend"..so "yes Madam! ok Madam...i will go and check bakarella site now..i answered sheepishly...:)

So, i started browsing bakarella site looking for her congo bars and just looking at her pictures made me  hooked. It looked delicious and from the recipe posted, it was not that difficult to do. I did more searches and realised that congo bars or "blondies" were quite famous in the US and everybody seems to love it due to its texture that's a cross between a brownie/cake and a cookie...seeing the rave reviews and mouth-watering pictures, i told myself that I have to do this..die die also must try and do. :)

So, after my little Marissa went to sleep, I told my 2 kids that I will be in the kitchen whipping up somethg to bake and its their tasks to listen to their sister in case she cried :) :) So, off I went to my little corner and armed with the ingredients, I set myself to task. 35 minutes later with OMG! delicious delectable smell in the air, my congo bar was ready. And I tell you...it was SINfully delicious. For chocolate lovers out there, do try this, You won't regret baking this..even if its midnight..like i did :)

right out of the oven ......the smell was so sinful :)

 Here's the recipe from Bakerella for you to try.

Congo Bars

2 3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter, softened
1 lb. light brown sugar (Oh my and thank you!) I use 300 gram only. :)
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
11.5 ounce package milk chocolate chips I use 200 gram Callebaut chunky chocolate and 50 gram of butterscotch chips
1 cup chopped pecans (optional) I use 1 cup of walnuts

By mixer:

Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.
Combine butter and sugar using a mixer until blended.
Add eggs, one at a time to sugar mixture, mixing on low in between each addition.
Add vanilla and mix.
Add flour and mix until combined.
Stir in chips and then pecans.

By hand:

Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Set aside.
Stir brown sugar into softened (not melted) butter in another large bowl until butter disappears. You can use the back of your spoon to help incorporate the two together.
Add eggs one at a time to butter mixture and stir well after each egg.
Add vanilla, chocolate chips and nuts. Mix well.
Add dry flour mixture and stir until well combined.

Coat a 13 X 9 pan (I used 9x9 pan) with non-stick spray and spread batter evenly into dish.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until top is golden brown and skewers inserted in the cake comes out clean. Make sure you don’t over bake.

ENJOY!

Guess whose chubby little fingers is this grabbing for the congo bars? :) :)