What do faith, miraculous spectacles, and little coconut cakes with whiskey have in common? For us, May 21st, feast day of Saints Constantine and Eleni.
Feasting and giving shape the Greek year. The major name days (Saints' days) are known to all, and it is general practice on one's name day to have an at home, and at work or school to treat your peers with wrapped cakes. Today- Constantine and Eleni- is special for us as I have a daughter with Helen as a middle name, a dear niece and a dear friend Constantina both, and many beloved Elenis in the family and dear Kostas friends. It's also the only name day I know of that is celebrated with such faith and zeal- we have been to see the Anestanaria walking on coals in the nearby village of Langada (otherwise a destination for public thermal baths) and my was that something! We went early and were told just to wander into people's backyards, like trespassing but everyone was doing it. Great heaps of coals were being prepared and we were there for some hours before things were underway, the Anestanaria wandering serenely, ankle deep in glowing coals, icons help aloft. Have a look:
Well, after that interlude of metaphysics and faith, a recipe for bar cookies seems anti-climactic, but custom is custom, and our daughter who will hand out treats at film school in the afternoon, and at work in the evening (Principal- her father's club for live shows), and a dear niece who studies architecture and lives on the prettiest street in town, right near the Church of our little city's patron Saint Dimitrios (October 26th is his feast day, and that of our beautiful Thessaloniki). And these are really delicious- crispy crust, a bite of bitter coffee, chocolate, a gooey butter rich topping, smoothed with the depth of copious amounts of whiskey, and lifted with a tang of salt. Also you can make lots of them at once. and they stay very pretty in their individual saran wrapping. Miraculous? No. But this is some very fine, fairly foolproof, indulgent baking, ideal for celebration and sharing.
We will need (For two 9" x 13" or 25 x 28 cm pans):
250 g/ 1 generous C butter
320 g/ 2 1/2 C flour
10 ml/ 2 tsp/ baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
30 g/ 1/4 C sugar
1 teaspoon nescafe granules
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon vanilla
60 ml/ 1/4 C water
2 egg yolks
2 bars of dark chocolate, 200 g/7 oz. each.
Melt the butter, combine with the dry ingredients, and add the water and egg yolks. It will form a soft crumbling dough with alarming bitter specks of coffee throughout. Line the baking pans with non-stick paper and press the dough into them to form a thin layer. Bake for about 15 minutes at 180 C/350 F.
While they are in the oven we can make the filling.
We will need:
5 eggs
2 egg whites (leftover from making the crust)
400 g/ 2 C sugar- half dark brown, half white
4 ml/ 1 tsp. salt
250 g/ 1 generous C butter, melted
some vanilla extract (homemade here)
80 ml/1/3 C whiskey (or rum!)
225 g/ 3 C dried coconut. Sweetened flaked coconut is great but we do not have it in Greece. When I am in San Francisco, that is what I use.
Whisk together and taste for vanilla and salt.
As soon as the crusts come out of the oven, break up a 200 g/ 7 oz. bar of dark chocolate and scatter the pieces over each hot crust. Put them back in the oven for just a minute, and take them out again to smooth the now melted chocolate over the surface with the back of a spoon.
Pour the filling- evenly divided (I use a cup to scoop it out and alternate between pans) over these, and put them back in the oven for another 20 minutes, switching racks halfway through. Sometimes the filling rises in a great mound here and there- it's just an air pocket and it will settle back into place like nothing ever happened as soon as it rests for a minute. Cool, then chill, then cut into bars with a sharp knife.
Makes more than enough for sharing- the happy point of turning on the oven.
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| Our humble ingredients, probably already in your cupboard! |
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