Throwing a bunch of stuff together to make a "new" bakery treat works...sometimes. Other times not so much. These are a winner. Only problem is that I'm not sure I can make them again. Here's the (long) story.
I get a magazine called "Modern Baking." One of many trade journals dedicated to the pastry business, it just appeared in my mailbox one day. Most of the content is focused on large independent and in-store bakeries, but it is refreshing to see what others in the industry are doing. We're the only bakery of our kind in Tuscaloosa and don't have many peers to share experiences with.
There is a section in the magazine called "Formula Exchange." Many months may go by without anything that catches my eye but I have found some useful recipes there including granola, croissants and baguettes. Last month there was a recipe for Chocolate almond espresso petit fours, contributed by the Almond Board of California. It was the photo that caught my eye. Some people call this type of photo "food porn" and I understand why. Looks pretty inviting, huh?
I promised the girls in the shop that we would try it if they got all the items on the daily list done at a reasonable hour. (We have a daily list of about 10-15 things to do and items to make -- ranging from the simply obvious (breakfast) to the mundane (bake snickerdoodles) to the more pressing (finish cookie deco for tomorrow's orders). By 3:00 the "reasonable hour" had passed so I took matters into my own hands. This recipe would take too long to make before 6 when we closed, but I could probably throw something else together, and a variation of the multi-textured chocolate covered treats was calling to me.
Back to the dry food storage area in the back of the shop: oats, peanut butter, chopped peanuts. From the freezer: chopped day-old pound cake. Ground the pound cake into crumbs then toasted the oats, cake crumbs and nuts in the oven for about 30 minutes. No patience to let it cool, just dumped it in the large mixer. Added peanut butter, almost an entire 40-oz. jar. Too crumbly and not sweet enough. Added some confectioners sugar. Better, but still too crumbly. I was looking for something I could press into a sheet pan, let firm up, then cut into squares and coat with chocolate.
Epiphany! Added some melted white chocolate and butter. It was crunchy but held together, slightly sweet and begging to be enrobed. I must have said "Oh my God!" out loud because suddenly there were three others standing over the mixer waiting for a taste.
Yep. Delicious. Right out of the mixer.
Only one problem. I didn't measure anything so I am not sure I can ever make it again.