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Community Corner

Bar None: A Tasty Competition

Meeting fellow food bloggers and checking out the state's best bars.

I attended my first MN Food Bloggers event the other night in Minneapolis. It turns out that my big idea of writing a food blog isn’t that out of the ordinary.

In fact, there are many people in Minnesota who love to cook, eat and write about it. And here I thought I had come up with this fabulous idea all by myself.

The truth is that there are some amazing food blogs out there—written not by famous chefs but by really fabulous home cooks.

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These food bloggers are conjuring up some pretty spectacular cuisine in the comfort of their own homes. I’ve put a link to some of my favorites over on my own blog: www.Dinnertime.Typepad.com.

The MN Food Blogger’s event was a great chance to put a face with a blog and to mingle among the “twittersphere.”

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There was even a bake-off. The challenge was to come up with the best bar.

The judges were no slouches in the culinary world. One was from Minneapolis/St. Paul magazine and another wrote a book on artisan bread.

Had I known that this wasn’t going to be a small little party with a few stay-at home-moms showing up with their best lemon bar recipe, I probably wouldn’t have entered.

There were 15 of us in the bake-off. I have to say that there were quite a few salty caramel brownies (I didn’t know these were so popular). One of my favorite entries was for a lime cheesecake bar with a gingersnap crust.

Long story short, I didn’t win. Although, I’m pretty impressed with myself that I was even brave enough to enter the bake-off.

The best part was at the end of the evening, we got to eat all of the bars entered in the contest. I could have stood there all night noshing on baked goods with Andrew Zimmern.

The winning bar recipe was for “Rosemary Apricot Bars” and you can find the recipe here: www.ihadadelicioustime.com.

These bars really did deserve to win. The rosemary in the shortbread crust made these bars something quite special.

Below is my recipe for the bars that I entered in to the contest. Even though I didn't win, it was great fun trying. If you are a fan of the salty/sweet thing, you’re going to love these.

Salty Caramel Coconut Brownies

Brownie Ingredients

  • 6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
  • 3/4 cup unsalted butter, cubed—use good European butter if you can.
  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1 3/4 cups salted caramel glaze (see below, prepare glaze when brownies are cool)
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • Coconut ( for topping)
  • 2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate

Salted Caramel Glaze

  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter, cubed
  • 2 tsp ground sea salt

Directions: For the brownies, melt 6 oz chocolate and butter on top of a double boiler. Use a very low heat. Be careful not to burn the chocolate. Then stir in the sugar. Then whisk in the eggs and flour. Bake in a prepared 9x13 inch pan at 325 degrees for 30 minutes. Let cool completely.

Caramel Glaze Directions: In a small saucepan over low heat, warm heavy cream until hot, but not boiling. In a saucepan, combine sugar and water. Place over medium-high heat. Do not stir as sugar dissolves and mixture reaches a dark amber stage.

Add cream, butter, and salt. Stir gently until mixture is smooth and well combined. Remove from heat and add gelatin, stirring to combine. Use the caramel glaze immediately.

Once the caramel has cooled and set. Melt 2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate in a double boiler until completely smooth and melted. Then swirl the chocolate over the top of the caramel. It will be a very thin layer. If you want the layer thicker, simply use more chocolate. Let cool. Top with the coconut.

 

Check out Katie’s blog at www.dinnertime.typepad.com

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