Nut cakes and nut bars are popular German bakery products. Cut on the diagonal, they are often called "Nussecken" or nut triangles. Nuts, butter and sugar make this nut bar recipe with a butter crust very rich, so cut them small. You can bake these nut bars in an 8 x 8 or 7 x 11 inch pan, or double the recipe for a 9 x 13 inch pan.
Makes 40 nut bars
See larger imagePrep Time: 40 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour, 5 minutes
Yield: 40 nut bars
Ingredients:
- ***Crust***
- 5 T. margarine or butter-flavored Crisco (65 g.)
- 1/3 c. sugar (65 g.)
- 1 T. vanilla sugar (or 1 tsp. extract)
- 1 egg
- 1 c. plus 3 T. flour (150 g.)
- 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 2-3 T. apricot jam
- ***Nut Filling***
- 7 T. butter (100 g.)
- 1/2 c. sugar (100 g.)
- 1 T. vanilla sugar (or 1 tsp. extract)
- 1 T. water
- 1 c. ground hazelnuts (100 g.)
- 3/4 c. whole hazelnuts, chopped (100 g.) or 1 extra cup ground
- ***Decoration***
- 1 c. chocolate chips (optional)
- 1 tsp. butter (optional)
Preparation:
Cream sugars, and butter well. Beat in egg (and vanilla extract, if using). Stir in flour, baking powder and salt until the dough forms a ball.
Press the dough into a buttered pan. The bigger the pan, the thinner the nut bars. The picture shows nut bars baked in an 8 x 8 inch Pyrex dish.
Spread the dough with apricot jam and set aside.
Bring butter, sugar and water for the nut filling to a boil on the stove. Stir and cook for several minutes until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is foamy.
Stir in all the nuts. Remove from heat.
Spoon the nut filling over the crust and smooth.
Bake in a preheated, 350°F oven for 25 to 35 minutes, or until light brown around the edges and set in the middle.
Cool completely, then chill.
Cut the bars into 20 squares, then across the diagonal into triangles. Remove the cookies to a work surface lined with parchment paper.
Melt the chocolate chips and butter in the microwave on high in 15 second intervals, stirring after each 15 seconds. This should take about 4 intervals before the chocolate chips are smooth and hot.
Dip the bottoms of the nut bars into the hot chocolate chips and remove excess chocolate with a table knife or similar tool. Place back on the parchment paper and allow the chocolate to harden.
If the chocolate cools too much before you are done, microwave again for 15 seconds and stir.
If you wish, you can add chocolate drizzles to the top of the nut bars with extra melted chocolate squeezed out of a decorator bag or a sandwich bag with a corner cut off. You can view a video that uses this technique here.
After the cookies have cooled, store them in an airtight tin between layers of wax paper. You may also freeze them.
