Peek Inside Gluten Free Classic Snacks

Introducing Gluten Free Classic Snacks!

Everyone, this is Classic Snacks. Classic Snacks, this is everyone! I’ve been waiting what feels like forever to introduce you to one another! Gluten Free Classic Snacks, my next cookbook, is coming in just a few short months (March 2015, if you preorder!). Since I just got the proofs for the book (my last chance to make any edits before the book goes deep into the bowels of production at my publisher!), I’m able to show you the actual Table of Contents (well, without page numbers since that hasn’t happened yet!). My editor thought that was a great idea, and I took the liberty of including some of the actual photos from the pages of the book itself (photos taken by the incredibly talented Jennifer May (whose name will be on the final cover and that’s a promise!), styled by the magical Erin McDowell) . Fingers crossed that no one is mad at me for that little executive decision! In the coming weeks and months, I’ll be announcing plenty of exciting giveaways designed to get you as excited about pre-ordering this book as I am excited to share it all with you!

We start off with alllllll kinds of important basic information, as you can see for yourself in the first Table of Contents page above. Ingredients, substitutions (because I know you want to know about substitutions, you tinkerer, you!), equipment (hint: precious little is necessary this time around!), tips and tricks, and (of course) Shoestring Savings info. Then we jump right into the first recipe chapter: cookies!!

Each recipe chapter has an amazing chapter opener, like the one you see above and below. Which cookies can you spot above? It’s like Where’s Waldo, but much more important!

Were you missing all the name brand crackers you used to love? Well, miss them no more. We’ve got you covered.

Snack cakes are in full representation in this book. FULL.

Just look at these Weight Watchers-Style Gluten Free Chocolate Brownies. Oh, didn’t I mention that there would be some Weight Watchers copycat recipes? *my bad* And in answer to your question: YES! Each Weight Watchers copycat recipe has only as many PointsPlus as there are in the original. Of course. Otherwise, what good is that recipe, amIright?! It doesn’t hurt that these brownies taste as good as, if not better than, any other rich, chocolate brownie I’ve ever had. Score!

Weren’t you just daydreaming about Little Debbie Star Crunch? I thought so. And these are not just glorified Rice Krispies treat, by the way. Just like the original, there is an actual thin cookie inside, covered in caramel-chocolate-crispies. Amen.

Breakfast and fruity treats also abound!

Every type of Pop Tart you can imagine is in here—and they’re light and flaky and sweet and they are nothing short of amazing when you pop them in the toaster-oven. Just like the original.

We wrap up with a chapter on every type of gluteny candy imaginable—all safely gluten free. But before we get to those candies….

We have VitaTops. Lots of VitaTops. How delicious are these? Don’t have the proper pan to make larger, flatter muffin-top-style cakes? Just make them as regular muffins (instructions for how to bake are of course in the book). (don’t tell but that’s what I usually do—and I freeze them in batches and defrost on the counter overnight and feel great giving them to my kids for breakfast.

I leave you with these amazingly crispy, crunchy Kit-Kat-style wafers in milk chocolate. Please excuse my melodrama when I tell you that this is the recipe that I’ve been working on (off and on of course!) for 10 years. If you google “homemade Kit Kats,” every gluten-containing recipe you’ll find will make use of something called “tort wafers.” They come in sheets and everyone just buys them, layers them with chocolate and voila. But we are gluten free! We can’t buy tort wafers. And coming up with just the right ingredients and just the right method to make gluten free tort wafers that stay crispy in milk chocolate—and aren’t hard to make? Well, let’s just say it was a proud moment. *sniff*

So now it’s YOUR turn to speak up! Do you have any questions about the New Cookbook? Wondering what equipment you’ll need? What flours? What the difficulty level of a certain recipe is? Is there a photo for a recipe you see in the Table of Contents that I didn’t show here? Ask in the comments! I will do my best to answer, and if there’s enough demand to see a particular photo, I’ll edit this post to include it. So ask away!!

Love,
Me

P.S. If you’ve haven’t pre-ordered Gluten Free Classic Snacks yet, what are you waiting for?! In the coming weeks and months, there will be giveaways galore and the best way to enter is to preorder! Details coming soon….

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Easy Fudge—3 Ways

These 3 recipes are the very definition of “easy fudge.” They’re all 3 made with sweetened condensed milk, and so even though this isn’t strictly a D.I.Y. Friday post (you don’t usually buy fudge at the grocery store, do you?), I was actually quite pleased to see that the fudge sets up best … when you use our homemade sweetened condensed milk recipe. And that was a D.I.Y. Friday post. I only made the recipes with both store-bought sweetened condensed milk and with the homemade variety made with evaporated milk. I haven’t tried any of them with the dairy-free kind, or the whole milk kind, but I have every confidence that they would work that way, too. If you’re dairy-free, try it and let us know how it goes!

We begin with chocolate fudge, since, well, it’s a classic. It sets up quick and easy, and tastes as good as the chocolate you use. I’ve made it with more expensive bittersweet chocolate (usually Scharffen-Berger), and it’s amazing. I’ve also made it with totally cheapo Baker’s semi-sweet chocolate, and you know what? Still delicious. It’s fudge, for crying out loud.

The ingredients are super simple, of course. The title of the post is “easy,” after all.

The peanut butter fudge has no chocolate in it, which really helps fudge set up. So to keep it from being too soft, you add some confectioners’ sugar at the end. No biggie. This one’s for the peanut butter lovers out there. I would not make this with Sunbutter or Nutella, as they’re much softer and I suspect you’d have a mess on your hands. Just my 2 cents. :)

Ah, vanilla fudge. I am working diligently on a non-white-chocolate version of vanilla fudge (coming soon!), but this recipe is all about how to make the simplest fudge, from sweetened condensed milk. This is how you do it. Don’t forget to add the pinch of salt, though, or the sweetness can be a bit much. And don’t try to melt white chocolate chips! They seize. They really just aren’t made to melt. I used white chocolate baking disks, which are made to melt. Want a truly amazing vanilla fudge? Try using homemade white chocolate. Now that would be dreamy…

Meet you back here on Monday for a big intro to my next cookbook, Gluten Free Classic Snacks! I’ll show you the Table of Contents, the cover and a few of the most amazing food photos I’ve ever seen. Simple, unfussy, but gorgeous. I’m planning to include a few photos from the Table of Contents that I select, and then let you guys weigh in on what other photos you’d like to see, and I’ll edit the post the next day to include a few more of the most requested! I can’t wait!!

Prep time: 5 minutes       Cook time: 5 minutes       Yield: 12 pieces per recipe

Ingredients

Chocolate Fudge
11 ounces dark chocolate (or semi-sweet chocolate), chopped

12 ounces sweetened condensed milk

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Vanilla Fudge
15 ounces white chocolate, chopped (or white chocolate disks, but not chips!)

12 ounces sweetened condensed milk

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Peanut Butter Fudge
1 cup (256 g) smooth no-stir peanut butter (the kind that doesn’t separate in the jar)

12 ounces sweetened condensed milk

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups (173 g) confectioners’ sugar

Directions

• For each type of fudge, line an 8-inch square baking pan with two sheets of crisscrossed unbleached parchment paper, each overhanging opposite ends of the pan. These will be the handles that you use to remove the fudge from the pan once it is set. Set the pan aside.

• For the chocolate fudge, place the chopped chocolate and sweetened condensed milk in a medium-size heat-safe bowl. Place the bowl over a simmering pot of water, making sure the water doesn’t touch the mixing bowl, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. (Alternatively, place the bowl in the microwave and heat in short, 45-second bursts at 70% power, stirring in between, until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.) Remove the pan from the heat, stir in the salt and vanilla, and pour into the prepared pan. Spread into an even layer and allow to cool for 10 minutes before placing in the refrigerator to chill until set (about 4 hours). Remove from the pan, slice into 12 squares and serve. This fudge is the most stable at room temperature.

• For the vanilla fudge, place the chopped white chocolate (or chocolate disks) and sweetened condensed milk in a medium-size heat-safe bowl. Place the bowl over a simmering pot of water, making sure the water doesn’t touch the mixing bowl, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. (Alternatively, place the bowl in the microwave and heat in short, 45-second bursts at 70% power, stirring in between, until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.) Remove the pan from the heat, stir in the salt and vanilla, and pour into the prepared pan. Spread into an even layer and allow to cool for 10 minutes before placing in the refrigerator to chill until set (about 4 hours). Remove from the pan, slice into 12 squares and serve.

• For the peanut butter fudge, place the peanut butter and sweetened condensed milk in a medium-size heat-safe bowl. Place the bowl over a simmering pot of water, making sure the water doesn’t touch the mixing bowl, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is smooth. (Alternatively, place the bowl in the microwave and heat in short, 45-second bursts at 70% power, stirring in between, until the mixture is smooth. There is no chocolate that might burn, but the peanut butter will dry out if it is heated too much.) Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the salt and vanilla.  Add the confectioners’ sugar and mix to combine. The mixture will be thick. Scrape into the prepared pan and press into even layer. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before placing in the refrigerator to chill until set (about 4 hours). Remove from the pan, slice into 12 squares and serve. This fudge is the softest of the 3 kinds. For a stiffer, more stable fudge, add more confectioners’ sugar by the quarter-cup until you are satisfied with the consistency.

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Soft and Chewy Gluten Free Gingerbread Men

I have a cookie deadline coming up, and it’s no laughing matter I tell you. There are cookies to be made! Each year, I make a box of Christmas cookies for each of the people on my husband’s team at work. This year, there are 17 cookie-eaters on the list (there were 18, but one person’s freelance contract was up last week and I’m a terrible person because my very first thought was that maybe I can make about 2 dozen fewer cookies and isn’t that a relief?!). Since there are just.so.many.cookies.to.make, I scaled down the boxes this year to 4-inch squares (I buy these sweet little boxes from Jam Paper and Envelope, usually on amazon). What? I’ve got Classic Snacks page proofs due back on the 19th, you see, and they’re not going to review themselves! And I’d rather make fewer cookies and make sure they’re all special than pack the boxes with cheater cookies. These soft and chewy gluten free gingerbread men cookies are the sort of cookies you put on the top of the cookie box. They’re anything but cheater cookies. They’re gingery and cinnamony…

…and they don’t mind a bit if you bite their heads off. Especially if it’s in service of showing their soft and toothsome insides. They’re generous like that.

Don’t get upset, but the dough is sticky. I know I know it’s not great fun to work with sticky cookie dough, but just follow my directions and it’ll all be okay. All you really need to do is roll the dough out between two sheets of unbleached parchment paper when it’s still soft (it will roll out nice and easy), cut out men with a floured cookie cutter, and then place the dough in the freezer to firm up. That will make the dough easy to roll, and the shapes easy to transfer to the baking sheet. Trust me!

Speaking of trust, I almost feel bad that these little guys are so peaceful and trusting. Right up until the moment when they get their heads bitten off. Or perhaps you start with the arms and legs, before you go for the head. So twisted, yet so delicious. The holidays can be confusing!

By the way, if you’re looking for cookie cutters, I seem to find the very best metal cookie cutters in (of all places) my local hardware store. I know! Crazy, right? I’m thinking about doing a post with all my favorite kitchen equipment, large and small, what brands I like best ,and where I buy everything. Like the baking pantry post, but about equipment. What do you think?

Prep time: 15 minutes       Cook time: 8 minutes       Yield: 30 cookies

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups (210 g) all purpose gluten free flour (I used Better Batter)

3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum (omit if your blend already contains it)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup (109 g) packed light brown sugar

6 tablespoons (84 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature

4 tablespoons (84 g) unsulphured molasses

1 tablespoon (21 g) honey

1 egg (60 g, weighed out of shell) at room temperature, beaten

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Royal Icing, for decorating (optional)

Directions

• Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line rimmed baking sheets with unbleached parchment paper and set them aside.

• In a large bowl, place the flour, xanthan gum, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and salt, and whisk to combine well. Add the brown sugar and whisk again to combine, working out any lumps. Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the butter, molasses, honey, egg and vanilla, mixing to combine after each addition. The dough will be thick and sticky.

• Transfer the dough to a large sheet of unbleached parchment paper, cover with another sheet of parchment and roll into a rectangle about 3/8-inch thick (more than 1/4-inch, less than 1/2-inch). If you are concerned that the dough will be difficult to handle, place it in the refrigerator or freezer after you roll it out to allow it to firm up. Pull back the top sheet of parchment paper, dip a gingerbread man cutter in all purpose gluten free flour or cornstarch, and use it to cut out shapes from the cookie dough. With each cut, jiggle the cutter back and forth to create a neat shape. Place the dough on a flat, portable surface like a cutting board and place in the freezer until firm (about 10 minutes).

• Once the dough has chilled, peel back the rest of the dough from around the cut-outs and gather the scraps. Then carefully peel off the cut-out shapes and place them, about 1 1/2-inches apart, on the prepared baking sheets. Repeat the process with the remaining dough until you have used it all.

• Place the cut-outs on the baking sheets in the refrigerator or freezer until firm (about 20 minutes in the refrigerator, or just 5 minutes in the freezer). This will help them keep their shape during baking. Place in the center of the preheated oven and bake until just set, about 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely on the baking sheets. Decorate the completely cooled cookies with royal icing, if desired. Allow the icing to set for 24 hours before stacking the cookies.

• Looking for crispy Gluten Free Gingerbread Men? We’ve got those, too. :)

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Gluten Free Chocolate Babka

I wasn’t even planning to mention this, but I can’t stop thinking about it: Have you been wondering what’s in the new book, Gluten Free Classic Snacks (please say yes!)? As of yesterday, I’ve started reviewing the page proofs of the book (an electronic PDF copy of the book, with the final layout and photos!!), and it’s simply gorgeous. This new book is packed with recipes and full color photos of every single possible packaged snack, cookie, cracker and candy you never thought you’d have again. The ones  you thought you’d never, ever be able to share with your gluten free kid. Those. ALL of those. And I’ve secured permission to share the whole Table of Contents with you. I plan to tell you all about it on Monday here on the blog, and I can’t wait!! I think I’ll even sneak in a few of the photos from the book, so you can see for yourself what amazing recipes are coming your way next March/April!

Now back to today’s recipe…

Is babka a New York thing? Kind of like black and white cookies and (apparently) rainbow cookies? Babka is a sweet yeast bread (cake?), and if you don’t know it from your local bakery, you at least must know it from Seinfeld, right? (say yes.) This gluten free chocolate babka is basically a version of our (already insanely gorgeous) braided Nutella bread, but swirled with a rich chocolate filling and baked in a loaf pan. It’s sweet and rich and decadent. Perfect for the holiday season!

All that filling keeps the bread moist and tender for longer than you’d expect, too. Just imagine the oooohs and ahhhhhs you’d get if you brought this (along with at plateful of Christmas cookies) to that holiday party you’re looking forward to. You’d be a hero!

Don’t let the number of step-by-steps fool you: this bread is actually incredibly simple to put together. The first rise of the dough is short, since it’s such a nice, enriched dough that’s already quite easy to handle. But if you’ve (finally!) been convinced that a refrigerator rise is the way to go, it won’t hurt the dough any to spend its first rise in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours (you don’t want it longer than that, really, since the yeast flavor will be too pronounced).

Resist the urge to overfill the dough with more and more filling, by the way! I’ve been there, and the filling just leaks out of the dough and pools in the loaf pan. When you try to turn out the bread and slice it, it’s kind of a big mess. Less is more! If you really want more chocolate (and really who could blame you), why not serve the bread with extra chocolate sauce? ‘Tis the season to indulge!

Prep time: 25 minutes       Cook time: 35 minutes       Yield: 1 loaf bread

Ingredients

3 cups (420 g) Gluten Free Bread Flour*, plus more for sprinkling

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon (3 g) instant yeast

1/4 cup (50 g) granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon (3 g) kosher salt

2/3 cup (5 1/3 fluid ounces) warm milk (about 95°F)

2 eggs (120 g, out of shell) at room temperature, beaten

4 tablespoons (56 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1/4 cup Homemade Fudge Sauce, at room temperature

Egg wash, for brushing (1 egg + 1 tablespoon water, beaten well)

*BREAD FLOUR NOTES

1. 1 cup (140 g) Gluten Free Bread Flour, as discussed more fully on pages 8 to 10 of GFOAS Bakes Bread, contains 100 grams Mock Better Batter all purpose gluten free flour (or Better Batter itself) + 25 grams whey protein isolate (I use NOW Foods brand) + 15 grams Expandex modified tapioca starch.
2. For a calculator that helps you build the flour without math, please see my Gluten Free Flour page.
3. If you would like to use Ultratex 3 in place of Expandex, please see #6 on my Resources page for instructions.

Directions

• Make the bread dough. In the bowl of your stand mixer, place the flour, cream of tartar, instant yeast and sugar, and use a handheld whisk to combine well. Add the salt and whisk to combine well. Add the milk, eggs and butter, and mix on low speed with the dough hook until combined. Raise the mixer speed to medium and knead for about 5 minutes. The dough is a lovely, smooth, enriched dough. It climbs up the dough hook during kneading but remains intact and smooth. Spray a silicone spatula lightly with cooking oil spray, and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl or proofing bucket large enough for the dough to rise to nearly double its size, spray the top of the dough with cooking oil spray, and cover with an oiled piece of plastic wrap (or the oiled top to your proofing bucket). Set the covered dough to rise in a warm, draft-free environment until nearly doubled in size (about 1 hour). Once it has risen, place it in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes or until it is chilled. This will make it much easier to handle.

• Preparing the dough for shaping. Once the dough has risen and chilled, line a small rimmed baking sheet with unbleached parchment paper, and set it aside. Turn out the chilled dough onto a lightly floured surface and, using the scrape and fold kneading method and using a very light touch, sprinkle the dough with more flour and knead it lightly, sprinkling with flour when necessary to prevent it from sticking, scrape the dough off the floured surface with a floured bench scraper, then fold it over on itself. Repeat scraping and folding until the dough has become smoother. Do not overwork the dough or you will incorporate too much flour and it will not rise properly.

• Rolling out and filling the dough. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough into a rectangle about 1/4-inch thick, and 10-inches high x 12-inches wide, sprinkling very lightly with more bread flour as necessary to prevent sticking. As you work, shift and move the dough frequently, as shown in my pizza shaping video. Before the dough is fully shaped, transfer it to a piece of unbleached parchment paper. Spread the fudge sauce in an even layer on the dough, leaving a 3/4-inch border clean around the perimeter. Beginning at a 12-inch side of the dough, and using the parchment paper to assist you, roll the filled dough tightly into a cylinder, like a jelly roll, ending with the seam side down. Cover the dough loosely with plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator to chill for about 10 minutes. This will make the final shaping easier.

• Final shaping and rise. Grease or line a standard loaf pan with unbleached parchment paper and set it aside. Once the dough has finished chilling, remove it from the refrigerator and uncover it. With a very sharp knife or pizza wheel, beginning about 1-inch from one end of the roll of dough, slice along the length of the dough all the way through to the end. You will have 2 strands of layered dough. Beginning at the intact end, twist each strand gently so that the cut sides of the dough are facing up. Braid the strands gently but securely back and forth over one another until you reach the end. You should have 4 twists before you reach the end. Cinch the open ends together and tuck them under the bread slightly. Place one hand on each end of the braid, and press the ends gently toward one another to create a slightly wider, shorter braid. Invert the braid onto a piece of parchment paper on top of a cutting board, then invert the prepared loaf pan over the top of the bread dough, covering the braided dough completely. Quickly re-invert the whole operation—from the loaf pan all the way down to the cutting board—and remove the cutting board and top parchment paper. Cover the dough with a piece of oiled plastic wrap, and place in warm, draft-free location to rise only until just beginning to swell (about 20 minutes, but it could be more if your rising environment is particularly cold and/or dry). Do not overproof.

• Bake. As the dough is in its final rise, preheat your oven to 375°F. Once the dough has finished rising, uncover it, brush the surface evenly with the egg wash, and place in the center of the preheated oven. Bake for 10 minutes, and turn the oven temperature down to 350°F. Continue to bake until the dough is golden brown all over and the bread seems mostly firm to the touch (about 25 minutes more). Remove from the oven, place the loaf pan on a wire rack and allow to cool for about 10 minutes before removing from the loaf pan, slicing and serving.

• Adapted from the recipe for Cinnamon Rolls on page 166 of Gluten-Free on a Shoestring Bakes Bread, as adapted into my Braided Gluten Free Nutella Bread recipe.

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Gluten Free Rainbow Cookies

It’s (finally!) Christmas Cookie Baking Season! I take this time of year very seriously, as I am in love with just every single thing about baking cookies. There’s something for everyone, and if I ever meet a person who swears that they just don’t like cookies at all, I will make it my business to find the cookie they do like. These gluten free rainbow cookies are the Cadillac of Italian bakery cookies. They’re the ones I always looked for first in the bakery box. Simply put, they’re my favorite—and this sweet chocolate-covered almond cake treat is at least as good as the gluten-filled bakery cookies of my childhood. All 3 of my children love them, too, but that might at least be partly because they love a good competition and, well, they know they’ll have to fight me for that last cookie.

I first posted a recipe for rainbow cookies on the blog over 3 years ago (that recipe now redirects to this one). Over the years, as I’ve learned more about gluten free flours and blends, I’ve tried reworking it. I thought I could make it better—even though it was already perfect. Well you can guess how that turned out. I just kept coming right back to the original recipe I created way back in 2010, so I’ve contented myself here with better pictures including plenty of (admittedly totally unnecessary) step-by-step photos, and better instructions.

And you probably already know this since you’re most likely not me as a small child, but all 3 layers taste exactly the same. They’re just different colors. Okay part of me still thinks they taste different in the most subtle, but incredibly important, way. Still you should of course feel free to make three “natural” layers and skip the food colorings altogether if you’re against that sort of thing.

We’ve got just over 3 weeks until Christmas Day, and I for one plan to make gluten free cookie baking a major part of my life. Stay tuned for more cookies (always more cookies!) and keep that oven warm for me!

Prep time: 25 minutes       Cook time: 10 minutes       Yield: 21 cookies

Ingredients

Cookies and Filling
8 ounces almond paste (Love ‘n’ Bake brand and Solo brand are both gluten free, or you can use this homemade marzipan), broken up with a fork

16 tablespoons (224 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

3/4 cup (150 g) sugar

4 eggs (240 g, weighed out of shell) at room temperature, beaten

2 cups (280 g) all purpose gluten free flour (I used Better Batter)

1 teaspoon xanthan gum (omit if your blend already contains it)

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Red liquid food coloring (8 to 10 drops)

Green liquid food coloring (8 to 10 drops)

1/2 cup (160 g) seedless raspberry or strawberry jam

Chocolate Topping
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/3 cup (2 2/3 fluid ounces) heavy cream

Directions

• Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line 3 quarter sheet pans (each 9-inches x 12-inches) with unbleached parchment paper, and set them aside.

• Make the cookie dough. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or a large bowl with a hand mixer), cream the almond paste and butter until well-combined. There may be some remaining small clumps in the almond paste, which is fine. Add the sugar and eggs, beating to combine well after each addition. The batter should be thick. Add the flour, xanthan gum and kosher salt, and mix until the dough comes together and is smooth. Divide the dough into three equal parts (each about 500 grams). Add the green food coloring to one part, and mix to combine. Add the red food coloring to another part, and mix to combine. Divide the 3 parts of dough among the three prepared pans. Stretch and press the dough into an even layer in each pan, using wet fingers and a wet spatula. The dough will be sticky.

• Bake and assemble the layers. Place each pan, one at a time, in the center of the preheated oven and bake for 10 minutes, or until the dough just begins to brown around the edges. Allow the layers to cool slightly in the pans. Carefully place the green layer on a piece of parchment paper, spread evenly with one half of the jam. Place the plain layer carefully on top, taking care not to handle the cakes too much or they may begin to crack. Spread the remaining jam on top of the plain layer, and top with the pink layer. Place a sheet of parchment paper on top, and place a few books on top of the stack to compress the layers. Place the stack of cakes in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes, or until the layers have begun to flatten and compress.

• Once the cookies are chilled, make the chocolate topping. Place the chopped chocolate in a medium-size heat safe bowl. In a small saucepan, heat the cream and butter over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until the butter is melted and the cream is just beginning to simmer. Pour the hot cream and butter mixture over the chocolate, mixing to combine. The chocolate should be smooth and shiny. Pour the melted chocolate over the top of the chilled cookies, and spread into an even layer with an offset spatula or knife. Chill once more in the refrigerator until the chocolate topping is set (about 20 minutes). Using a large serrated knife, trim all of the edges and then slice into about 21 even rectangles. Serve immediately or wrap tightly and store in the freezer until ready to serve.

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