I am so embarrassed. I extol the virtue of whole foods and sing praises for locally sourced ingredients. Today I fall from grace harder than ever before thanks to a batch of Berry Burst Bar. With equal amount of disdain and glee, I put together these holiday treats using highly processed ingredients that covered my whole kitchen counter. Alice Waters, I beg your forgiveness.
It all began innocently enough, as things like this tend to go. I had a craving for Rice Krispies Squares last weekend. My ankle was recovering well from surgery and I could finally walk to the grocery store without much discomfort. I bought a box of cereal and a bag of marshmallows. I made a batch of Malted Browned Butter Rice Krispies Squares (recipe coming next week) which made me ridiculously happy. I was left with half a box of cereal. Then things got out of hand.
I bookmarked Bakers Royale’s Man-Whore Bars (what a name!) many months ago because I really liked the photo. The idea of putting so many different junk food together into one single dessert horrified and intrigued me at the same time. I poked around my pantry and noticed a new package of Berry Burst Ice-Cream Oreos. Would it be fun to make my own pink and brown version of the bars?
I returned to the grocery store the next day and scouted for ingredients. Berries and chocolate. Pink and brown. Shouldn’t be that hard, right? Except it is now December and the store is flooded with all things Christmas. Suck it, gingerbread. Go home, peppermint. You have no place in my girly creation. This is what I came up with:
- cocoa-coconut graham cookie crust
- dark chocolate ganache
- Rice Krispies treat
- white chocolate with crunchy freeze-dried strawberries
- Berry Burst Ice-Cream Oreos
- more Rice Krispies treat
- More chocolate ganache
- strawberry Pocky sprinkles! I love sprinkles!
There is no lesson to be learned, I’m afraid. Sometimes, junk food is what I want so junk food is what I eat. May as well go all out and spare no expenses. I promise I’ll be good and eat a raw kohlrabi for dinner tonight.
Berry Burst Bar
makes 9x9 inch slab which I managed to divide into 40 slices
inspired by Bakers Royale’s Man-Whore Bars
Ingredients
Cocoa-Coconut Crust
- 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
- 1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut
- 1 cup sliced almond, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1 large egg
Chocolate Ganache
- 8oz dark chocolate, finely chopped
- 1oz unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
Rice Krispies Treat
- 3oz unsalted butter
- 10oz mini marshmallow
- pinch of salt
- 5 cups Rice Krispies cereal
Assembly
- 16 Berry Burst Ice-Cream flavour Oreo cookies
- 16 squares of Strawberry White Chocolate
- 1.41oz/40g box of strawberry Pocky, snap into small pieces
Method
- Line a 9x9-inch square baking pan with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350F.
- Cocoa-Coconut Crust: In a large mixing bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, coconut, chopped almond, and cocoa powder. Toss with melted butter and egg until moistened. Press crumbs into prepared pan to an even layer and bake for 10-12 minutes until firm. Cool to room temperature.
- Chocolate Ganache: Place chopped chocolate and butter in a large (preferably glass or at least microwavable) mixing bowl. Heat heavy cream in a small saucepan until simmering and pour into mixing bowl. Leave it for about a minute and then stir until homogenous. If chocolate is not completely melted by the heat of the cream, microwave at 10 seconds interval to help it along. Cool for about 20-30 minutes until slightly thickened (if ambient temperature is warm, it may need to cool a bit longer).
- Pour half of the prepared ganache on top of cocoa-coconut crust. Smooth to an even layer using an offset spatula.
- Rice Krispies Treat: In a large (4 quart) pot, melt butter under medium heat. Keep your eye on it until butter turns golden brown and smells nutty. Remove from heat and stir in marshmallows until melted. Add a pinch of salt and fold in rice krispies cereal until evenly coated.
- To assemble: scatter small dollops of rice krispies treat over chocolate ganache layer in baking pan. Press into a thin even layer. Place white chocolate squares on top of that, evenly spaced. Place one Oreo cookie on top of each white chocolate square. Cover everything with remaining rice krispies treat. Using a large piece of parchment paper, press everything into an even layer. Pour remaining ganache on top and smooth with offset spatula. If ganache is a bit too thick, microwave for 10 seconds to loosen it. Let ganache to set for about 10 minutes before sprinkling with Pocky pieces.
- Set overnight or chill for about an hour in the fridge. Lift the slab from baking pan and slice into 4 sticks. Cut stick into slices and serve.
