Congo Bar

平安夜，我过得一点儿都不“平安”！儿子踢踢发高烧到40.6度，整个人像个小火炉，人非常不舒服，一直粘住我。家里有个Christmas Eve dinner, 辛好今年是potluck, 我只负责 主食以及甜点，甜点早在前一晚就准备好，主食在party的一小时前煮，很容易，不然大家都得吃西北风了lol。食物虽然很多很美味，可我因担心踢踢所以食不知味:(.

辛好踢踢的烧在第二天就退一点，第三天就完全退，然而每天还是会发烧一次，第五天才完全好。可烧退了就轮到伤风与咳嗽，到现在都还没完全康复。我也被他传染，伤风与咳嗽了快一个星期，现在又多了个病人，连我家佣人也中招。
 
I didn't have a peaceful night for Christmas eve. Little kicker's fever shot up to 40.6C, his whole body was as hot as fireplace, he was so uncomfortable that just quietly cling on me, very unusual of him. 

I had a Christmas eve celebration at home, luckily was a potluck so I only in charged of one main course and desserts. Desserts were prepared a night in advanced and I just cooked the main course an hour before the dinner started. Although there were a lot of delicious food but I didn't eat much cos too worry of little kicker, so heart pain seeing him suffering. 

Luckily his fever was subsided a bit the next day, back to normal on 3rd day but still had fever once a day until 5th day totally recovered. However his running nose and coughing started and until now, still not fully recover yet. I was spread by him, running nose and cough for nearly a week and now, added another patient which is my helper, she is down with coughing too.

This was prepared for little kicker's 1st birthday part. I wanted to bake some sweet treats for little kicker's, I can't decide between this peanut butter chocolate chips cookie cake which I love it or congo bar which got good reviews. Final decision went to congo bar simply because I wanna try out new recipe.

This is easy to bake, I baked it on the night before the party and kept in air tight container.

Recipe adapted from Bakerella.

Congo Bars

2 3/4 cup (305g) all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup (150g) butter, softened
1 lb. (454g) light brown sugar (I reduced to 300g)
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
11.5 ounce (326g) package milk chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

By mixer:

1.    Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.

2.    Combine butter and sugar using a mixer until blended.

3.    Add eggs, one at a time to sugar mixture, mixing on low in between each addition.

4.    Add vanilla and mix.

5.    Add flour and mix until combined.

6.    Stir in chips and then pecans.

By hand:

1.    Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Set aside.

2.    Stir brown sugar into softened (not melted) butter in another large bowl until butter disappears.

3.    You can use the back of your spoon to help incorporate the two together.

4.    Add eggs one at a time to butter mixture and stir well after each egg.

5.    Add vanilla, chocolate chips and nuts. Mix well.

6.    Add dry flour mixture and stir until well combined.

7.    Coat a 13 X 9 pan with non-stick spray and spread batter evenly into dish.

8.    Bake at 350 (180C) degrees for 30 minutes or until top is golden brown. Make sure you don’t over bake.

* I used by hand method and used 11" x 14" cake tray, baked for 20 mins.

Verdict?

The bar tasted a little bit too sweet for me, can reduce the sugar further if you are not a sweet tooth. It tasted nice but well, probably I had set my expectation high after reading the reviews so kind of a bit disappointed. Since I was preparing this for the party, of course I hope I can present bakes that really can impress my guests. I am much much more prefer cookie dough cheesecake bar and peanut butter chocolate chips cookie cake.  However those guests who tasted commented very delicious, I brought some to office and a lot of my colleagues actually like it too. So my guess is if there is no comparison, this congo bar will definitely score more marks.