Invention! Chocolate Almond Shortbread Bars.

This week Derek and I found ourselves with some extra almond filling. This is a common problem in our house. You know sometimes you make almond turnovers and then you have leftover filling. This filling should not go to waste.

On Friday night we split a bottle of Prosecco and invented a new dessert. The recipe sounds complicated and it was a lot of steps. It is worth it, in the end.

Chocolate Almond Shortbread Bars

Almond Filling

2/3 cup blanched slivered almonds

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

7 tablespoons sugar

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1. Grind almonds and flour into food processor until it is a fine powder. Add the sugar, butter, and almond extract. Blend this until it is smooth. Mix in the egg.

2. Transfer the almond mixture to a bowl and cover it. Chill this for 3 hours (it can be chilled for a couple of days).

Shortbread

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. In a mixer, beat the butter, powdered sugar, sugar, and salt until they are fluffy. This will take a minute.

3. Sift flour over the butter mixture while stirring.

4. Lightly knead until blended and smooth. If the dough is too dry to hold together add a few drops of water, do not add too much water. Firmly press the dough evenly into 9 by 9 inch pan. Prick the pan with a fork all over.

5. Bake the shortbread for about 25 minutes. Take out the shortbread and spread the almond filling onto shortbread. Bake this for 20 minutes more. Take out the bars and let them cool.

Chocolate Topping

6 to 8 ounces Bittersweet Chocolate

1 Tablespoon Butter

1. Heat up the chocolate in a double boiler. When it has started to melt add the butter. After it has all melted, pour this on the bars.

2. Use a spatula to spread the chocolate over the bars. Let this cool until the chocolate has hardened.

These are truly amazing. Worth the three step process. Try me.