CHOCOLATE CUSTARD BARS
BASE
226g (1 cup) butter, diced
187g (1+1/2 cup) flour
31g (1/4 cup) cocoa powder
83g (2/3 cup) icing sugar
TOPPING
300g (1 1/2 cup) white sugar
31g (1/4 cup) cocoa powder, plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 medium eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature
METHOD
1. Preheat oven to 175C (350F) and line a 9 inch x 13 inch baking tray, leaving an ‘overhang’ of baking paper (this makes it easier to pull out after baking).
To make base
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and cocoa and icing sugar. Using your finger tips, rub in the butter until combined and crumbly.
3. Press mixture into prepared baking tray and bake for 20 minutes.
To make topping
4. While base is baking, prepare topping.
5. In a medium sized bowl, sift sugar, cocoa and baking powder. Add slightly beaten eggs and sour cream and mix well, making sure all ‘streaks’ of egg and sour cream have gone.
6. Pour on top of warm baked base and bake for 20-25 minutes.
7. Cool completely before cutting into squares and dusting with cocoa powder.
Store these bars in an air tight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.
By Sarah Sears
PRO TIPS, TRICKS & EXTRAS
Ooey-gooey chocolate custard meets chocolate cookie dough. Oh my. It’s a match made in heaven.
I don’t think there are any words to describe how incredibly delicious these chocolate custard bars are.
Seriously, for once I don’t even know what to say other than:
“WOW”
and
“YOU HAVE TO TRY THESE”
Are you sold?
You might just have to take my word for it, or just take a closer look…
If I were to try and find some better words to describe it (other than wow), I would say this:
Close your eyes and imagine your favourite chocolate fudge…
Now fuse that with a buttery, chocolate shortbread cookie and top it with self-saucing chocolate pudding-like custard…and voila, we have this chocolate custard bar.
(You can open your eyes now).
That’s nearly 4 of my favourite chocolate treats in one bar, no wonder I love it so much.
And guess what? Kevin loves them too.
When I asked him what I should call these bars he first took a bite of one and then said:
“…Uh ridiculously delicious?”
That means a lot coming from Kevin as he doesn’t care much for sweet food (he’s a bit of weirdo, I know).
These bars use a baking method we which haven’t talked much about yet, and that is the rubbing in method. In this method, the fat (in this case butter), is rubbed into the flour so that the proteins in the flour are well coated in a layer of fat, protecting them from getting close to water and preventing too much gluten from being formed.
Too wordy? Sorry.
What I’m trying to say is that the base of these bars is super tender and fudgy (and delicious).
While the base is cooking, you prepare the custard topping and then pour it over the base to bake a little more.
Once baked and cooled, you can cut into bars and dust with extra cocoa.
