Cappuccino Bars
Warning: Awesomeness ahead...
Okay, so I may be the only one who feels this way, but I have a thing about food blogposts with a delicious looking header photo and title... and then miles of scrolling through details, photos, and ramblings before you actually get to the recipe. No offense, but I just want to see the ingredient list so I know if I can make it in the first place! So, without further ado, here goes:
Crust
2 cups of chocolate wafer cookies (can use Oreos, but the separation of cookie and icing was tedious - Nabisco would be easier)
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon instant coffee granules
1 egg white, lightly beaten
Filling
1 1/2 (8oz) pkg. cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup sugar
6 tablespoons PLUS 1/4 c. heavy cream
2 tablespoons instant coffee granules
2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa
Garnish
Mini chocolate chips
Crushed wafer cookies
(can use shaved chocolate if you're in a gourmet mood)
(can also use drizzled chocolate sauce) ;)
Step 1
Preheat oven to 325º. Grease and flour a 9x9 inch baking pan. Crush cookies and mix crumbs with butter, sugar, coffee, and egg white until combined. Firmly press mixture into pan and bake until crust is set, about 14 minutes. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.
Step 2
Beat cream cheese and sugar on medium high speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low; beat in 6 tablespoons of the heavy cream. Increase speed to high; beat until stiff peaks form, about 2 minutes. Transfer half of the cream cheese mixture to a medium bowl; set aside. Dollop remaining cream cheese mixture onto cooled crust.
(Note: I'm all about easy when it comes to recipes - and I hate scraping out bowls. So I just dolloped roughly half of the mixture onto the crust and left the rest in the original bowl. Saved me one dirty dish and some time.)
Step 3
Heat remaining 1/4 cup heavy cream in microwave or on the stove until just warm. Stir in instant coffee granules and cocoa until dissolved. Cool completely. Beat cooled mixture into reserved cream cheese mixture in bowl on medium speed until smooth and thickened, about 1 minute. Dollop over cream cheese mixture in crust. Using a spoon, swirl coffee mixture and plain together to edges of crust.
(Note: as you'll notice in the photos, mine didn't swirl today for some reason. I ended up just mixing and smoothing it a bit as the marbled effect wasn't looking great. So don't sweat that step.)
Step 4
Chill in freezer until very cold. Remove and garnish as desired. Slice into bars.
Serves 8... or two hungry sugar/coffee-junkies... or one, given enough time :) Enjoy!
Another thing I have loved my whole life? Baking. To give you an idea of how long I've been doing it, there are photos in existence of me, on a stool, on my tip-toes, going to town with a huge stand mixer that I could barely reach. I was probably making brownies. ;)
Any fellow bakers out there? Do you prefer making desserts to cooking meals...like me? ;)