italian dessert recipes

Chocolate Cookie Bars

With Rum Soaked Raisins


chocolate cookie bars These chocolate cookie bars almost didn't happen. Last week my daughter was visiting and I was hunting for Italian cookie recipes to make her some goodies for her trip back home.

YEARS ago I had put aside one of those non-descript cookbooks. (You know one of those community cookbooks that are mostly filled with crap recipes and finding a good one is like being on a scavenger hunt.) This 20 year old castaway was filled by good little Italian ladies who knew HOW to cook but NOT how work with photos and printing. The cover of the cookbook had an UNappetizing blue tint cast over every photo of these delicious dishes.

I was focused on family gossip while I reached for this cookbook. In between the blue tinted photos was just a recipe - no photo. This one, the chocolate cookie bar recipe. I half heartedly prepared these and lo and behold wouldn't ya know, it's a hidden treasure?!

These chocolate cookie bars taste best after 'resting'. The big secret for your success - store these in a Tupperware or tightly concealed container - and let 'em sit!!!!

A lot of our Italian dessert recipes use a spirit of sorts. You can make these cookie bars without the rum, or substitute. Check out the substitutions. This is slightly forgiving.





Chocolate Cookie Bars!

(With Rum Raisins)


YIELD - Makes 32 chocolate cookie bars

Ingredients:

1/3 cup raisins

3 tablespoons rum

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup butter



Filling

1 ounce unsweetened chocolate

1/4 cup butter melted and cooled

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/4 cup of flour

1/8 tsp each cinnamon, and allspice

Procedure

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl let the raisins and rum sit for at least an hour.

In separate bowl combine flour, walnuts, brown sugar, baking soda and butter.

Blend until the mixture resembles a coarse meal.

Press the mixture in into a lightly buttered 8 inch square pan and bake.

Bake for 15 minutes or until the dough is golden.

Filling

Melt chocolate, stir in butter until melted and both are combined.

Remove from heat and stir in brown sugar, eggs, raisins, and remaining rum if raisins haven't soaked it all up.

Add flour and spices - blend.

Pour the mixture over the hot baked layer. Spread it gently and evenly over the top and return to the oven for another 15 minutes, or until center is done. (Test with a toothpick - or fancy gadget, or whatever you use to test with)

Cool and cut into bars.




Can I use margarine in place of the butter?

Nope, your eyelashes will fall out.

What kind of raisin?

Who cares? Just make sure you soak it. The rum is what makes it killer.

I'm out of walnuts!

Okay, and the store has more. Do you have transportation? If you need something else in a pinch - we use a lot of almonds in our Italian dessert recipes. You could coarsely chop some.

What can I use instead of rum to soak the raisins in?

Here's some options:

  • orange juice


  • bourbon


  • rum flavoring mixed with orange juice


    • What's in allspice? Do I really need it?

    It's the berry of the evergreen "pimento tree" and it's used more in other ethnic cooking cultures. So, you can skip it. But if you are playing food trivia it has a taste of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves all mixed. So, all that to say, nope you don't really "need it".


    Italian Cookie Recipes



    lisa gianotti I love sugar and I eat dessert EVERYDAY! Ok, not MASSIVE amounts. But I do have to finish off the evening meal with a little sweet something.

    When I was a kid my health conscience mother would ration my Halloween candy. Her mantra was, "white sugar will kill you". But my Italian grandma always told me, "Everybody needs a little bit of sugar." :-) So, to get my October Halloween sugar fix I will make the traditional Italian cookie recipe, Venetian Bones of the Dead. Italians make these for the Day of the Dead on November 2nd. So - hey, our holiday in America - Halloween is the closest.

    So - while the neighborhood is slamming down a bunch of gross mass produced candy on October 31st, I'll have a real goodie. Oh yeah, I'll have to post it too! (Eventually!) You know how it is. Work. Kids. Clean. Cook.



    I'll see if Bones Of The Dead is in my grandma's first recipe file she started when she married in 1932. Most of the recipes on my site came from her influence. If they aren't in her file - then I got them from her friends. And the remainder I experimented with adapting her style.

    I hope she looks down and smiles this Halloween.

    Lisa


    Would you like to share this page? You know how to do it! Thanks for sharing the sugar love!




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    Recipes on this site are from family cookbooks, family traditions, or intentional adaptations from traditional recipes to add an Italian flair. If a recipe was adapted or used from another cook - it is mentioned on the recipe page and the recipe author is given credit.